Multiple Monitors...Multiple Graphics Cards?

Say I want my primary monitor to handle demanding graphical applications (ie video games) and I want two other monitors (3 total) connected at the same time. Disabling them whenever I want to play a game is too much of a hassle, so I want to be able to run them at all times regardless of what Im doing with the primary monitor.



The question is this: if I have an extremely powerful card that is connected to my primary monitor and a much smaller, much cheaper card to connect my 2 secondary monitors, will my primary graphics card be limited in any way by having a second card for my other monitors? In other words, will my graphical processing done by my primary card be slowed by having a second card with more monitors attached?



Logic would say that the primary card is completely independent from, and therefore unaffected by, what the second card is doing. I have a two card setup at the moment, but I have reason to believe that this logic is incorrect. My graphics processing doesnt seem to be on par with what I have been led to believe regarding my current primary card's capacity. I suppose I could use a 3DMark test to compare, but Id like to hear some thoughts on the matter.|||You realize there are cards that support up to 6 monitors. You don't need more than one video card.



Assuming you have a PCI-X slot, look at the ATI 5xxx series. You can even combine the monitors to play games.



The monitor connected to your primary video card will be driven by the primary video card. Unless you have a SLI setup, you will not be hampered because your 2nd card is slower. Your second card will take up bandwidth and CPU resources regardless if you have it enabled or not. If you pull out your second video card, you will probably get better overall performance and higher benchmark score.|||Well, your on the right path but graphic cards mirley render the graphics, for example if you have two graphic cards then they work together to render the video. so you can have one monitor and two video cards and itll increase your power.