Recommendations for a second video card

Lisa_Staplin

Hello,
My husband's HP computer has an Intel HD 4600 Graphics card.  i5-4590 CPU@ 3.30GHz with 3292 processor speed. 
We have three monitors connected via daisy chain, but he'd like more screen.  We're trying to figure out the most cost-effective way to do this. Is there another card that I could add to his system to create the extra connections, or would it be cheaper to just buy another screen that we could chain in with the others? I know just enough to be a little dangerous, but this is beyond my skills.
Thanks for any input!

PowerSpec_MichaelB

Welcome to the forum, @Lisa_Staplin. This is a great question. There are a few things we'd need to determine before we can give a definitive answer. First and foremost, you'll need to make sure that your HP system has a setting in the BIOS that allows you to enable both the integrated graphics (Intel HD 4600) as well as a discrete graphics card. On standard desktop boards, this setting is called "iGPU Multi-Monitor" and you'll have to change it from Disabled to Enabled. I am not entirely sure what it would be called on prebuilt systems like HP's, but I'd start by looking in the BIOS for something similarly named.

Next, we need to determine if your system has a spare PCIe slot available to add a secondary graphics card. If it does, be mindful of the max length, max width and max height of the card. Most prebuilt chassis have limited support for video card sizes.

Lastly, we need to determine the type of connections your husband will need for his monitors. Are they VGA? DVI? HDMI or Displayport? Depending on the graphics card you buy, you'll have a different combination of ports. The cheapest cards typically have a combination of VGA, DVI and HDMI. Newer cards typically have multiple DisplayPort ports and an HDMI port. Luckily we carry adapters, so if there isn't a card within your budget that supports his monitors, we can likely adapt to support them.

Once we have this information, we can help find a card that will best meet his needs. If you have any questions in the meantime, let us know.