Char Jackson wrote:
On Tue, 5 Nov 2019 16:57:06 -0600, Jean Fredette
wrote:

Ken Blake posted:

On 11/1/2019 4:37 AM, Jean Fredette wrote:
Win19 desktop settings will show the 3 monitors 1, 2, & 3.
But so far Win10 will only let 2 monitors work at any one time.
It seems I can change to any two monitors but not all three.

Is a setup issue or a fundamental limitation?

Display 1 is connected by a HDMI cable.
Display 2 is connected by a VGA cable.
Display 3 is connected by a DVI cable.

Advanced Settings
Display 1 is 1680x1050, 59Hz, 8bit, RGB, SDR.
Display 2 is 1680x1050, 59Hz, 8bit, RGB, SDR.
Display 3 is 1280x1024, 60Hz, 8bit, RGB, SDR.


All recent versions of Windows supports 9 (or is it 10?) monitors. The
issue is not with Windows.

How many monitors your computer can support depends on what video cards
(note the plural "cards"--you can have more than one) you have installed
and whether your motherboard can also support a monitor.

Most video cards support either one or two monitors, so unless you have
one that supports more or have a motherboard that supports one, you are
limited to the number of video cards your video card supports.

The NVidia GeForce 210 s apparently has three video ports but only
supports two monitors at a time. So unless your motherboard can also
support a monitor, the only way for you to run three monitors is to buy
and install a second video card.
I removed the VGA from the Nvidia GeForce 210 and plugged that cable into
the AMD motherboard. The instant I removed the VGA from the Nvidia card,
the Windows 10 Settings Display disappeared the third adaptor so Windows
"knows" that the third display exists.

Plugging that third VGA into the AMD motherboard, which has VGA and DVI,
didn't do anything yet. It did not show up as a third display in the Win10
settings either.

Maybe there's a switch somewhere to flip?

Does your CPU include a GPU? Not all of them do, and if there's no GPU then
it doesn't do you any good to have video connectors on the motherboard.


With a Phenom II, that's not an APU, so the Northbridge
has the GPU inside it. The Phenom II likely has six cores,
which are split (for power management), into two
1x3 groups. That's a lot of silicon, leaving little
space to be adding a GPU.

An example of a chipset, might be a 785G or a 780G.
The 785G is a better one. Support-wise, they'd both be
orphans now, but the 785G was better hardware (UVD2?).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ocessing_units

The article here, compares a couple chipsets, and there is
a 785G block diagram.

https://www.extremeoverclocking.com/...RO_USB3_2.html

On the AMD chipset (where CPU is a "pure" CPU), the GPU
in the Northbridge has both the shaders, as well as the
lookup table for the 400MHz bandwidth VGA outputs.

Whereas on the combo Intel CPU/GPU chips, the chipset
still has the final output stage driving the connectors.
If you buy a socket-compatible Intel CPU which happens
to have no GPU in it, the Northbridge is still sitting
there with VGA/DVI/HDMI to drive, but there are no signals
coming from the CPU package to make it work. And then you
plug in a video card, to be able to use the machine.

*******

The motherboard user manuals, don't usually do a good
job of accurately describing the options. There have
been mistakes in that section of the manual (specifically,
about how many monitors work, or if you use the DVI-I
connector, the VGA stops working, and all sorts of
other stupid ****).

Paul