How To Make Multiple Monitors Work Together For PC Gaming

Only those who can splurge on the ultra-wide gaming screens can skip the task of making multiple screens work together. The rest of us, the humble mass, will still have to our homework if we want to immerse in the 4K games or multitasking. Linking two monitors is no problem but that is far from enough.

The reasons for one to need extra screens are plenty, maybe you need a better field of view, or you want to use several apps at once. Whatever the reason, here is a step-by-step guide on how to make several screens work seamlessly with each other.

Before you attempt anything, make sure that your desk is big enough to accommodate multiple screens and you have extra outlets.

Check All Your Monitors

If you can, choose screens of the same model to avoid lots of troubles entailing using displays that are not compatible with each other.

When you have had the monitors of the same model, it is easier to prepare and measure them. Maintenance will be easier too. With different heights, you will get lots of issues with setting up the displays so that they are parallel with each other.

Displays of the same models make sure that you have similar ports, and these days, that means you have either DisplayPort or HDMI connections. We know that DVI exists but it is less likely you will see one.

Check again and ensure that all of the displays support the same features, like graphic syncing for example. There is no point in connecting multiple monitors together if they run on their own display features. If you have made the attempt to have the most immersive experience possible, try to check all of these boxes otherwise all your effort will go wasted.

The last criterion to check is to make sure that your graphics card can connect to three displays. For instance, if you plan to set up three 4K displays, check if there are three HDMI ports on your GPU. Mixing and matching ports are possible but it is way easier if you have monitors of the same model.

If you do not own a dedicated graphics card or you have no knowledge of this matter, you should learn some because, without a custom GPU, you have no way to make many monitors work together.

If you have a competent graphics card but it has only one or two ports, you can use splitters.

Check Your Graphics Card

The good news is most GPUs nowadays are designed to prepare for users to connect several monitors together. So as long as yours is not too old, you will probably find support in the box.

However, if you have to buy a new card for this particular project, make sure that it has enough ports and multi-screen features.

AMD

AMD has built its cards to support multiple displays for a long time now. It even introduces the Eyefinity technology which can support the maximum of three screens simultaneously with one GPU.

With Eyefinity technology, images are evenly spread across all three displays. It also ensures no important information is covered up by the bevels. This sounds like a handy setup for an immersive gaming experience.

If you want to use this tech, bear in mind that it works best with DisplayPort connections, so look for those ports on your monitors.

Nvidia

NVIDIA also has its own solution for connecting multiple displays, which is called Surround. When you are on the market for a new graphics card, make sure that it features this technology. With Surround onboard, you have multiple-screen support as well as 3D gaming.

The best part of Surround is that it works with all monitor connections.

In case you have no extra budget for the ideal graphics card, your best bet is adapters for Eyefinity and similar technologies.

Connect Everything And Turn It On

This is arguably the easiest step. All you have to do is to plug everything in and check again to make sure that you have got all the right ports and then turn the setup on.

Since it requires only one screen for setting up, do not put much effort into how the others look at this step.

Change Settings As Necessary

If you care only for gaming, operating system settings are unnecessary so feel free to skip it and go directly to the GPU control panel, which will make a real impact on your experience with the screens.

Both NVIDIA and AMD provide control panels that allow you to hook up several screens together and adjust them in the way you want. For a detailed guide on how to work with cards from each provider, here is the one for NVIDIA and here is AMD’s.

You are supposed to adjust the monitors until they work seamlessly with each other so do not be afraid to change things at this step.

Game Compatibility

If the games you want to play are not compatible with multiple screens, there is no point in setting up the whole thing.

Most recently released games support this kind of experience and so do some titles from the last decade, so it is beneficial to check again, just to be sure. Some indie games or those which are too old will not be able to spread across several screens.

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