I want to add a third monitor to my setup, but I am not sure how. I currently have an 8800 Ultra with dual monitors. Would I just add any video card for the third monitor? I assume if I add another 8800 Ultra and do SLI, I would only be able to do 2 monitors, or would I be able to do up to four with SLI?

I would think you could only get SLI when running two monitors.

If you are looking for a cheap way to add a third monitor, just get a second cheap video card. For example, at work I've got a Geforce 9400 as the primary card running two of the monitors and an 8400 (I think) running the third monitor.

AFAIK SLI does not support multiple monitors. I have seen setups though that have 2 nvidia cards doing SLI for one monitor, and adding a second monitor required a third non-nvidia card. Seemed kinda hackish to me though.

<rant>
SLI is not worth the extra cost. They've done a very good job marketing it, and hyping the cool factor, but that's about all you get. The performance gains you see relative to the cost are extremely minimal. Also, you mentioned an 8800 Ultra, there are newer cards that will give better performance in single mode than an 8800 in SLI mode. In the long run, a single card solution is much more cheaply maintained than an SLI one that effectively doubles your cost for much less than even a 25% performance gain in most cases. A few games are heavily optimized for SLI, but not most.
</rant>

Edit: Sorry realized I didn't answer your question. I'd suggest two monitors off the 8800, it should have 2x DVI outputs. You'll need a second card for the third monitor. I'd think the second card doesn't have to be as expensive/powerful as an 8800 Ultra. We have similar setups at work where to get a third monitor a cheapo $20 PCI-X card is installed to basically just provide another DVI port.

Check to see if the DVI-I are dual or single links. I can't really tell from most specs listed. If they're dual link, then all you should need is an adapter to split one monitor output to a dual.

Would it work if I bought an iMac and used the Synergy software to use the iMac as my third monitor?

I need to buy a Mac so that I can develop for the iPhone. I thought maybe this would kill two birds with one stone :)

I would not count on that solution being a long-term viable solution that you'd actually stand working with.

If you're not going to play games on the third monitor, get a second cheap card. If you have multiple 8x or 16x slots or your motherboard, then great -- if you don't, then you'll have to buy a 1x card, which is harder to find (but there are a few). Don't expect great performance from it in the 3D department, though.

I have the Asus Striker Extreme Motherboard with an MSI 8800 Ultra video card. I currently have two 22" CHIMEI monitors. I believe there is another PCI-E slot for another video card.

I was hoping to find another 22" CHIMEI monitor, but they no longer sell it at New Egg. I paid less than $200 for each and they work great. Now I see them on Ebay for $250 or so.

I am curious how the setup would work with a 24" in the middle?

Quote: Original post by Sshado
I am curious how the setup would work with a 24" in the middle?

It should work just fine, but it does make things a little odd, as the heights aren't the same on the monitors. I've got a 20" widescreen in the middle and two 19" 4:3 monitors on each side at work. Dragging a window so it sits on more than one monitor makes things look a bit funny (ie: half the window is bigger than the other half on the other monitor), but other than that, it works fine.

If you're not already using UltraMon then you should definitely get it for working with three monitors.

I ordered a 9600GT for $99 and another CHIMEI 22" to match my other two :)

I will look into the Ultramon when I set it up...

Thanks for all the advice.