JULY 2020 • TECH ADVISOR 57multi-monitorset-ups.YoucanevenuseyourTVasan
extracomputermonitor(seeTechAdvisorMay2020).
But beforeyoujumpin,youwanttogiveyour
multi-monitorplansomeforethought.Thisguidewill
walkyouthroughallthefactorsyouneedtotakeinto
accountbeforesettingupthreeormoremonitors.
Step 1: Check your graphics card(s)
Before you run out and buy a bunch of extra monitors,
checktoseewhetheryourcomputeris physically
capableofhandlingallthatgraphicsprowess.First,
lookatthebackofyourPC:howmanygraphicsports
(DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort and VGA) do you see?
If you don’t have a discrete graphics card, you may
only see two video ports – most motherboards come
with integratedgraphicsthatcanonlyrundual-monitor
set-ups.Ifyoudohaveadiscretegraphicscard,you’ll
probablyseeatleastthreeports,notincludingthe
portsonyourmotherboard.
Just because you see three or more ports on your
discretegraphicscard,however,doesn’tnecessarily
meanyoucanuseallofthematthesametime.For
example, many older Nvidia cards are unable to run
morethantwomonitorsona singlecard,evenif they
havemorethantwoports.Thebestwaytofindout
whetheryourgraphicscardsupportsmultiplemonitors
istofindthenameofyourcard(ControlPanel>Device
Manager> DisplayAdapters)andGoogleit withthe
monitorset-upyou’relookingtorun.
If your graphics card supports – and has enough
portsfor– thenumberofmonitorsyouwanttoset
up,excellent.Ifnot,youmayneedtopurchasean