Intel HD 4600 Multi Monitor question

[NDeBa]

playI have 5 Dell OptiPlex 3020 machines with intel HD 4600 graphics. They have a vga port and a display port. I want to know what I need to be able to use that to display an extended desktop on two vga displays. Im thinking a vga cable for one, then a displayport to vga adapter for the other. What I am not sure about is if it needs to be a passive or active displayport adapter for this to function. I know with 3 ports I have to use active since two of the ports are bridged. Just not sure on this model.

Can you help me out?

[Kevin_M_Intel]

Hi JustNickk,

Let me help you with this.

For the two monitor configuration you can use 2 VGAs or VGA/HDMI, VGA/DVI depending on the motherboard out ports. In your case since the motherboard have a VGA and DP you can use an adapter to have VGA/VGA.

Please note that we do not recommend adapters when trying to get multiple display configurations but you can try with an active adapter. We have received reports from customers about passive adapters not working properly but this will be your decision.

[NDeBa]

Thanks for the reply. That is what I thought. I am ordering some active adapters and will see how it goes.

[KSteg]

Kevin and JustNick,

Sorry for coming to this party late! But, I have done a lot of research on this issue, and I believe you cannot set up three monitors with HD 4600 with only HDMI and DVI enabled monitors. You must use VGA on one of the three monitors, although you can get 1920x1200 resolution even with the VGA input.

Please let me know if I'm wrong because I have two DVI monitors and one HDMI monitor.

My motherboard (Asus Z97-A) has one DP, one HDMI port and one VGA port.

I connected one DVI monitor to the DP using a DP to DVI converter. I connected the HDMI monitor to the HDMI port with a straight HDMI cable. And, I connected the second DVI monitor to the DVI port using a straight DVI cable. I could get two monitors working at the same time in various configurations, but I could not all three to work at the same time. I guess that when I connect the DVI monitor to the DP via an adapter, the HD 4600 still recognizes it as a DVI monitor. And, the HD 4600 does not allow a DVI, DVI and HDMI combination. So, I think my only option is to remove one of the DVI connections and instead connect one of the monitors via VGA.

Again, please let me know if I'm wrong or if I am missing something.

[Kevin_M_Intel]

You almost have the perfect configuration. I say this because it is true that you must have a DP connection and the others can be either VGA or DVI or HDMI if and only if you are using direct connection. Depending on the adapter you can find problems when doing triple monitor configuration so we strongly recommend you using direct connections.

Here you have more information:

http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-033714.htm http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-033714.htm

Kevin M

[KSteg]

Kevin,

I have now been able to get all three monitors up and running. However, I have not been able to get the monitor connected by VGA to display 1920x1200. Instead, I have the option of doing 1920x1080, which I am using now, or a higher resolution than 1920x1200 (I think it is 2048x1152). But, the picture is quite blurry and out of proportion with the 1920x1080 resolution.

At first, I thought it was the VGA cable I was using that was dulling the picture because the monitor was great when connected via DVI-D. But, then I remembered that when I used only two monitors with the VGA, I was getting 1920x1200 on the VGA monitor, and it was as good as the DVI. So, it must be the 1920x1080 resolution that screws up the picture because the monitor's native resolution is 1920x1200. Do you know if there is anything I can do about this?

Thanks!

Kenneth.

[Kevin_M_Intel]

Hello musikkant,

When having three displays you will be able to set 2560x1600, 1920x1200 and 1920x1200 but you may find problems depending on the refresh rate and other things.

Here you can get more information about the triple display:

http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-033714.htm http://www.intel.com/support/graphics/sb/CS-033714.htm

Check where it mentions the resolution configuration.

Kevin M