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Apex MI-008 case and triple display

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Oct 20, 2011
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Motherboard
Asus P8C WS
CPU
Xeon E3-1245v2
Graphics
Asus GeForce GT 640
Classic Mac
  1. LC
Mobile Phone
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Hello

I have a Skylake i3 machine built into a case that is about the size of Apex MI-008 (the Thermaltake version of the same chassis).

Thermaltake - Global - Element Qi (US) - VL520B1N2U

This means a single slot graphics card must do. I originally went with a passively cooled 1 GB MSI.

GT 710 1GD3H LP | MSI Global | Graphics card - The world leader in display performance

I bought an Asus, but the heatsink was too big, but happily I was able to swap it for the MSI.

710-1-SL | Graphics Cards | ASUS Global

My problem is, the MSI has HDMI, DVI and VGA connectors. I have three displays, two of them currently in use. I attempted to hook the third one to the VGA connector, but El Capitan did not recognize it. I haven't yet tried booting into linux to see if the card is able to use three displays simultaneously.

Edit: MSI says two simultaneous displays is the maximum.

From what I gathered, VGA connectors are supported with luck or not at all. So I assume there is nothing I can do. I went looking for more single slot nVidia cards with three connectors. Preferably passively cooled, but in case this would be impossible, I'm ready to accept a fan. I found EVGA GeForce GT 710 2GB (Single Slot, Dual DVI):

EVGA - Products - EVGA GeForce GT 710 2GB (Single Slot, Dual DVI) - 02G-P3-2717-KR

I just wanted to check if anyone knows any better choices for me. I think that GT 710 is better than any of their similar GT 730 offerings, and faster even. I mean, has anyone had luck running three displays from an EVGA GeForce GT 710 with two DVI and one HDMI?

Edit: EVGA promises triple display support. But will El Capitan be able to take advantage of it?
 
Last edited:
They confirmed to me that triple monitor should work with the GT 710, so I ordered that. This current MSI GT 710 has been powerful enough for my needs.

I wish to find out if I can remove the heatsink and put a bigger passive one in its place. But for this I'd need someone to open his Apex case and see how much space there is between the card and the side panel. I will eventually do that myself, but for now it has to wait.
 
Got the EVGA GT 710. Can't hear the fan, so I have postponed any tinkering with the heatsink. I now have one unused MSI GT 710. Saw that if three displays are connected, and the one at the DVI-I is analog, it will be the BIOS startup screen, but only the two digitally connected screens will work.

Connecting three screens digitally they all work. Mission accomplished. Can recommend this.

Edit: There are 2 mm between the board and the heatsink, and the heatsink is 13 mm wide. From the top of it to the case's side panel is some 9 mm. A passive heatsink 20 mm thick could possibly do the trick.
 
An update. Been running a triple display setup for a while now. A 20" 1600 x 1200, a 24" 1920 x 1200 (my main display) and 22" 1680 x 1050 (the BIOS boot screen). All are connected digitally. The maximum supported would be three 2560 x 1440 displays of any size at 60 Hz.

Every time I install a newer version of the Nvidia driver, I need to use Remote Display once, just to reboot the machine, and then everything will work perfectly.

I would have gone with the GT 740, but I assume its UHD support would have been only at 30 Hz and therefore subpar. I'd like to know now the most affordable way to get a single UHD display at 60 Hz via HDMI for my other hackintosh.
 
Hi there, I would message you directly, but unfortunately it's not letting me.

As far as I know, here are rules against that, and also a good reason is given for that.

I was wondering if you knew someone that could help with these two threads:

All questions in those threads were already answered in this thread.
 
As far as I know, here are rules against that, and also a good reason is given for that. All questions in those threads were already answered in this thread.

Oh, under the "contact" section

No they weren't.
 
Injury,

Per the tonymacx86 Forum Rules and Policies,
  • ...
  • Members may not solicit nor provide assistance via private communications. This forum was created to provide help by posting questions and getting answers. By not publicly discussing you are depriving others of solutions to problems they may encounter.
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