Multiple monitors, different size, different resolution

[stratplaya83]

I have a nvidia geforce gtx 1060 6gb running HDMI to a Samsung 4k TV and I am perfectly happy with this for the little gaming I do and watching videos. I would like 2 more small cheap 1080 monitors positioned under it for general browsing.

Should I install 2nd cheap non-gaming GPU card with two of the same outputs for those two monitors? I know windows is going to weird about the resolutions being different and the mouse will change size and position when going from the different resolutions but I don't mind that. I'm just looking for the most efficient way to run this setup and have full 4K at the TV and do general PC stuff on the two monitors below.

The 1060 has an open DP and an open DVI port, but my thinking is to not tax that GPU anymore. Let it only worry about the single 4K display. My built in graphics has one HDMI port. I was thinking I could buy a $30 graphics card with two inputs for the two smaller monitors. I don't know if there are going to be any driver issues to worry about or windows issues to see all 3 monitors and allow me to place them the way I want.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks!

 

[Brian Boru]

Welcome to the forum

I don't know if there are going to be any driver issues to worry about or windows issues to see all 3 monitors and allow me to place them the way I want

I used 3 monitors for a short while in the 00s. No driver issues or problems with Windows seeing and identifying them correctly. It took a bit of jigging to place them as I wanted with the mouse cursor traveling in the directions I wanted, but I got it done—my 3 were horizontal, ie 3 in a row.

I'd be amazed if any of that functionality has been lost, and most likely it's improved with Win 10. These days I run 2 TVs as my monitors without any problems.

One of them will be your default monitor where everything launches, so consider that—of course most apps will remember which screen they're on when you close them, so usually not an issue.

1060 … my thinking is to not tax that GPU anymore

I'm no expert on loads, but I agree with your thinking for what it's worth—1060 is oldish now. I bought a cheap 2nd GPU to run my 3rd monitor back then, so that's the way I'd go in your situation.