Can I run (2) 4K monitors on a DP 1.4 port and a third 4K monitor from the HDMI 2.1 port?

Fijidreamer

I don't know that it matters, but the 4K are actually Televisions and are near to or 55".

I would also need each of the monitors to be able to allow me to cut and paste from one to another (monitors do not need to share the image and make it larger, but would need to allow interaction between them.

I can run any GPU necessary, would like to stay at 60 Htz refresh rate on all three (at a minimum). I would like to be with Display Port 2.0 since it works backward with DP 1.4. From what I have read I would need three HDMI 2.1 ports to use HDMI. Which brings me to my question. I am having trouble finding compatible or even available hardware that would give me enough DP 2.0 ports and since TV's are hard to find that have DP 2.0 yet, it seems easier to share the job between several ports.

Thank you!

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Fijidreamer

You could get a DisplayPort 1.4 MST Hub if you want to run both TV's off of one port. Then convert from DP to HDMI with an adapter. You're going to be limited to 60hz.

You can daisy chain with DisplayPort but the monitor needs to support it. They'll have a DP in and out. Otherwise, the MST hub is your best option for daisy chaining.

https://www.startech.com/en-us/audio-video-products/mst14dp123dp

magarity

" My question then is can I use the other port, the HDMI 2.1 port, at the same time, and run the third monitor from that (supposedly at 120 Hz)? Will I still be able to cut and paste across the multiple screens, will I still be able to adjust each separately, etc. Also, will I impact some software by doing it that way? "

Yes, Yes, Yes, No

Windows 11 has no limit on number of monitors. Any video card with 4GB or more can handle at least 3x 4K screens for office applications. However, most 4GB models don't have the multiple DisplayPort and HDMI ports.

Here are two cards that will not only handily do 4k on 3 screens, each has a 4th port that you could have a total of 4x 4K screens attached:

2xDP, 2x HDMI: Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Eagle Rev 2 Overclocked Dual-Fan 12GB GDDR6 PCIe 4.0 Graphics Card - Micro Center < the 12GB makes this probably a better choice for "intense image editing"

3xDP, 1x HDMI: ASUS AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT Dual Overclocked Dual Fan 8GB GDDR6 PCIe 4.0 Graphics Card - Micro Center < this can also handle "intense image editing"

Something crazy like a 3090 is only needed to play games at 4K on multiple monitors, not productivity applications. Can you be more specific as to "intense image editing" because that could be a lot. What does "intense image editing" software vendor's system requirements say?

magarity

Your video card should have several DP or HDMI ports on it. Exactly what model is it?

Fijidreamer

i would like to stay with the RTX 3090 or 3090Ti GPU cards. ( I listed the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 Strix Overclocked, Triple Fan 24 GB, GDDR6X PCIe 4.0 card.

I would rather stay with the Intel i9-12900K chip

I could upgrade to whatever motherboard is necessary, I was looking at the ASUS z690 ROG Maximum Hero.

Someone mentioned that maybe I could go with (2) cheaper GPU's... but I am not familiar with that process at all. I am open to anything.

Finally, I am not gaming, I will be editing massive (file size) Infrared Images and will need supporting software and many tabs open at the same time.

magarity

Oh, so you have yet to get a card. Well if you are determined to have DP 2.0 then you must wait for nVidia 4000 or AMD Navi 31. But it doesn't sound like you are doing competitive gaming at 4K so I'm not sure why 1.4a will not do.

Many 3090/3090Ti come with two or more DP 1.4a and an HDMI or two. Heck, you can get 3060 with 3x DP 1.4a and HDMI and those cards have 12GB, plenty for the large image files.

Fijidreamer

Thanks for the responses! I have seen that neither the monitors (TV's) nor the cards themselves come with the 2.0 Display Port (at a realistic price anyway). I was looking at all of the DP 1.4 data and feel comfortable that I could run 2 monitors at 60 Hz from the 1.4 port (some sites said it goes to 90 Hz each). My question then is can I use the other port, the HDMI 2.1 port, at the same time, and run the third monitor from that (supposedly at 120 Hz)? Will I still be able to cut and paste across the multiple screens, will I still be able to adjust each separately, etc. Also, will I impact some software by doing it that way? I am on almost all of Microsoft's (work related, HA!) tools, tons on Excel, and I have a very intense imaging editing software package for my IR images, will run VR to this computer by mid year 2023, and manage very large machine learning and data mining data files and software. I am seeing that the 120 Hz goal for each monitor is most likely a pipe dream right now... but I am in deep enough now that I need to find something that at least works! Thanks again for all of the support!

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Fijidreamer

Yes, just put your monitors into extended mode and arrange them appropriately in Display Settings.

Fijidreamer

Thank you both very much. I appreciate the info and the stress off of my shoulders about choosing something that in the end, would not work at all... let alone do what I had hoped!

I will look at both of the cards you listed. Thank you.

A lot of the program that manages my analysis and editing of infrared images has been designed for me. Each pixel carries tons of data and programming to have it represent color and temperatures and much more. Images are in 4K and many are in video mode as well. As a rule of thumb, each image I pull up is equal to about 55 regular camera images (at the same resolution) and I generally am dealing with groups of over 100 images, and have had to deal with 900 images at a time several times. Video is its own monster... I am often limited to dealing with clips of about 15 seconds just to make it feasible to share findings.

Added to that is my goal to allow much of this to be done in VR and begin to include machine learning applications and continue to use datamining tools. I just figured I would jump on something massive and not worry that it could be handled... I had no idea earlier or smaller versions could manage that already. Wow.

Much of the desire to see high refresh rates is due to a medical condition, I am epileptic and we have discovered that the higher the refresh rates the less impact it has on me... and lets me work for longer periods. Just moving up to High Def was a game changer, and as things have gotten faster I have generally tried to keep everything as fast as possible

magarity

In that case change the AMD suggestion to the 6700XT which has 12GB same as the nVidia: MSI AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT MECH 2X Overclocked Dual-Fan 12GB GDDR6 PCIe 4.0 Graphics Card - Micro Center

There are 16GB cards but the price jumps a lot and you'll need to ask the maker of that software if it's worth it to get one.

PowerSpec_MikeW

@Fijidreamer

ASUS Strix cards are a good option here for the port configuration. Should have 2xHDMI and 3xDP. Go straight HDMI 2.1 to 2.1 for two of the TV's, 4K@120. For the third convert the DP 1.4A to HDMI. With just one DisplayPort being utilized you should be able to use all DP 1.4 bandwidth to run the third monitor 4K@120 as well. You won't have adaptive sync(G-Sync, FreeSync) on the third TV, that's really the only downside.