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Having one monitor hooked to your PC is fine but a multi-monitor setup is much better. Whether you want a secondary monitor to read your Discord feed while raiding in Destiny 2, multiple monitors where each lists a different stock market feed, or just want more desktop space while working, a multi-monitor setup is the way to go. In this guide we have included picks both for productivity and gaming scenarios. BTW, if you’re looking for more interesting stuff to read, visit our graphics cards and monitors sections to learn more about GPUs and monitors in general.
Anyway, today we’re covering the best video cards for every multi-monitor setup. We have found the best GPUs for up to six monitor setups, which is the upper limit for most users sans professional brokers and such. At the bottom of this guide, we’re talking a bit about the pros of multi-monitor setups. Finally, we’re also talking about some less known but still important multi-monitor video card-related topics. Stuff like daisy chaining, Eyefinity, and Nvidia Surround. You can find that section at the very bottom of this piece.
Now, if you need the best GPU for multi-monitor setups, you probably also need an extra monitor or two. If that’s the case check our guides for the best 1440p 240Hz monitors, best 4K 144Hz monitors for gaming or our best IPS monitors guide. We also have informative articles that explain differences between 1080p vs 1440p vs 4K vs 8K resolutions as well as an explainer piece talking about what is a monitor and the differences between a monitor and other displays. Last but not least, our complete list of 16:9 resolutions could be extremely handy for people planning to build a multi-monitor setup.
Zotac GT 710: Best general usage GPU for dual monitor setups
The best dual monitor graphics card is easy to find, in case you need it for productivity reasons. Just get a cheap video card that matches video inputs on your monitors.
Our recommendation is the Zotac GT 710. It’s cheap, supports up to 3 displays, and will work just fine as long as you don’t game. You can find display adapters (in case your monitors don’t support video outputs present on these cards) for cheap in case you need them. This is the best general usage video card for dual monitor setups.
EVGA RTX 3060 XC Gaming: Best gaming graphics card for dual monitor setups
If you game on your dual monitor setup, you’ll need something much, much beefier than the GT 710. If you use two 1080p monitors (3840 x 1080 resolution) we recommend getting at least the RTX 3060. Two 1080p monitors create a resolution higher than one 1440p unit so the RTX 3060 is the minimum for a 60fps AAA experience with most settings cranked up. If you want something beefier, check out our picks for setups that include three or more monitors.
The RTX 3060 offers usable ray tracing performance combined with DLSS. It also comes with 12GB of memory, which should be enough for for current and future titles. We didn’t forget about AMD’s FSR (FidelityFX Super Resolution) but we just don’t think the current adoption rate is high enough to make FSR a deciding factor when buying a new graphics card. On top of that, FSR does work both on AMD and Nvidia cards, it’s not an exclusive feature.
Zotac GT 710: Best general usage video card for three monitor setups
Video cards that support 3 monitors simultaneously are easy to find today. The Zotac GT 710 is the best 3 monitor graphics card to buy in case you don’t play video games.
ASUS TUF RTX 3070 OC: Best 3 monitor GPU for gaming
The combined resolution of three 1080p units accounts for 6,220,800 pixels, which is dangerously close to the 4K territory. If we’re being lenient, we would say that the RTX 3070 would do the trick.
This graphics card should provide enough horsepower for 60fps experience in most AAA games with some settings turned down. This isn’t the best overall gaming GPU for a three-monitor setup but it should be performant enough for most users.
If you’re looking for the best possible experience you know the drill. Scroll down and check our gaming GPU recommendations for setups that include four or more displays.
PowerColor RX 570 Red Dragon: Best 4 monitor video card for general usage
Finding a graphics card that supports 4 monitors and that’s dirt cheap is next to impossible. Our best recommendation is the PowerColor RX 570 Red Dragon. It doesn’t cost a ton; it features 3 HDMI ports and one DisplayPort; You can even use it for gaming on one of your monitors. This is the best graphics card for four monitor setups, in case you aren’t a gamer.
XFX RX 6800 XT Speedster MERC 319: Best gaming GPU for four monitor setups
Four monitor setup is the upper limit of what you can run from a single card without an adapter. For this adventure, we recommend getting the AMD RX 6800 XT. This is a beast of a GPU and one of the fastest gaming video cards for any multi-monitor setup. That said, even this card won’t allow you to play AAA games with all settings cranked to the max, unless you’re rocking four 1080p monitors.
PowerColor RX 570 Red Dragon: Best 5 monitor video card for general usage
The PowerColor RX 570 Red Dragon is the best video card for a 5 monitor setup. The card itself features 5 video ports (3xDisplayPort, 1xHDMI, 1xDVI) and it officially supports up to 5 monitors in total. So, you are covered in case you “only” have five units.
The great thing is that you don’t need a DisplayPort MST hub. Only a couple of adapters depending on which monitors you use. Do note that, for the best experience, you’ll need native DisplayPort monitors.
XFX RX 6800 XT Speedster MERC 319: Best 5 monitor gaming GPU
While AMD didn’t have a card that could match Nvidia flagship GPUs for a long time, the RX 6000 series changed that. This is why the RX 6800 XT is the best gaming GPU for five monitor setups. You can run up to six monitors from a single AMD card without issues. All you need is a Multi-Stream Transport (MST) Hub. The DisplayPort 1.4 MST can power up to three 4K monitors@60Hz refresh rate and it supports G-Sync, Freesync, and HDR video.
And since 4K@60Hz requires about the same amount of bandwidth as 1440p@144Hz (12Gbps vs 12.7Gbps, respectively) it’s safe to assume that you will be able to at least run 1440p monitors at a 120Hz refresh rate, with an MST hub.
Do note that if you want to achieve 4K@60Hz or 1440p@120Hz experience your monitors need to support Display Stream Compression (DSC). There’s also the MST hub based on DisplayPort 1.2 tech but, with it, you’re limited to three 1080p@60Hz monitors and you lose VRR and HDR support.
Now, while most RX 6800 and RX 6800 XT cards don’t officially support more than four displays some cards, like the RX 6800 XT from XFX, support up to six displays when using an MST hub. If you’re gaming, the RX 6800 XT should be the most optimal choice.
But since we’re talking about extreme resolutions here, even when using five 1080p monitors (we’re talking about 10,368,000 pixels here, that’s noticeably more than 8K resolution), you’ll struggle to achieve 60fps in any AAA game no matter which card you’re using.
On top of that, it seems that the maximum horizontal resolution supported by AMD cards is capped at 16384 pixels. This means that you won’t be able to run five 4K monitors in a surround setup since their horizontal resolution greatly surpasses 16384 pixels. On the flip side, you should achieve a surround setup with five 1440p units, since their total horizontal resolution is 12,800 pixels.
Note that with Nvidia GPUs you need to run two graphics cards on the same system because Nvidia cards support up to four monitors, despite some cards featuring six display outputs. This isn’t SLI, just hooking up two different Nvidia cards to the same motherboard.
While the first one will do all the grunt work in games and other applications, the second card will be nothing more than a glorified display output. Despite being only used for video output, the secondary GPU will use PCIe lanes. If you have a CPU with an integrated GPU, you could use the iGPU for that. In that case, you’ll be limited to display outputs you have on your motherboard.
Finally, if you want to hook five monitors in a surround setup and use them all for gaming at the same time, the only way to do that with an Nvidia card is via SLI. Dual GPUs can output the signal to more than four monitors, but only up to four monitors can be used for gaming at the same time.
VisionTek 7750: Best 6 monitor video card for general usage
The RX 570 cards can work with 6 monitors, at least in theory. You should be able to run 6 monitors with the PowerColor RX 570 Red Dragon. You’ll need one DisplayPort MST hub though.
In practice, it’s better to stick with a card that is designed to run 6 monitors. One of those cards is the VisionTek 7750. This is our pick for the best video card for six monitor setups if gaming isn’t part of the formula. This card features six mini DisplayPort outputs. It should work with six monitors without issues.
XFX RX 6800 XT Speedster MERC 319: Best 6 monitor video card for gaming
The same story goes here as with the five-monitor setup. The best gaming GPU for six-monitor setups is the RX 6800XT. Just get the RX 6800 XT and combine it with two MST hubs. Nvidia cards aren’t the best GPUs for multi-monitor setups that include more than four monitor. Keep that in mind if you’re in the market for a multi-monitor gaming GPU that is to run four or more monitors.
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