what hardware is needed to connect 4 monitors to one pc?

Question

The video needs to go to all 4 monitors at once so that you can view a different application in each monitor. (ie monitor 1 - internet explorer, monitor 2 - Microsoft word, Monitor 3 - Microsoft Excel, monitor 4 - Quickbooks)

I am guessing that it will require 2 video cards that each have two video outs.

Does anyone know of a good solution? Specific make / brand info would be most usefull.

Thanks!

Rj

Answer 1

You may find this link useful: http://www.multiplemonitors.org/Pages%20-%20Hardware/Hardware%20-%20Multi%20head%20Video%20cards.html

You could use 2 dual head card, or a single quad head card. Once drivers are installed and monitors connected, open display properties, click the setting tab and you'll see 4 monitors. Here you can modify the orientation of the monitors.

Answer 2

The SideCar.
http://www.digitaltigers.com/sidecar.shtml
The SideCar attaches to the notebook via a simple PC Card (PCMCIA) interface, enabling easy docking and undocking of the notebook from the multi-monitor display setup. Combined with a notebook's built-in LCD display and external monitor support, the SideCar enables up to six displays to be driven by a single Windows laptop.

Each SideCar display is an independent monitor under Windows and Mac OS. You can run different applications on each display, move your mouse seamlessly across all displays, and even stretch applications across displays.
One vid card.
Power Point
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/powerpoint/default.aspx
May need 2 PCs and split the screens with the PCI or onboard graphics set. Probablly cheapest and most sure way.

Answer 3

That setup would drive me nuts! lol
You can go to to multiplemonitors.org for more info regarding hardware and anything else needed to do this.
http://www.multiplemonitors.org/
Alternate solution:
If you don't need to seem them all at the exact same time you can try out this solution for free...
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx
Look for "Virtual Desktop Management". I've used this before and it works quite well.