MST or 2 cards and which?

Updated on 01-02-2018 in Graphics cards
9 on 25-01-2018

Hello guys, first of all: I hope everybody  can understand me as my english is not the very best.
I have got following problem:
Actually I have got an older I7 2600K computer who is able to drive 8 monitors through 2 older matrox graphic cards (M 9140 and M 9148) My major job is looking on charts the whole day and for this and the normal office software everything is fine. Nowadays I would also like to play from time to time an game called world of warships- might be strange that`s how it is. But this computer is not able because of the graphics. so I need to pimp the graphics card.
I need 6 standard monitors now (they have got DVI D) and it would be nice if I can get a quiet solution like passive graphic cards or not too noisy fans. water cooling is not an option because too complicated. I read something regarding the Club 3D Multi Streaming. What I understood: If I have got a Radeon Card with display port 1,2 (minimum) and I have got let´s say 2 displayports then I can put 2 MST on and max put on 8 monitors (4 for each MST CSV 5400/csv 6400) in HD? is that right? do I need special adapters then? Is that a good solution or will it be better to have 1 or 2 graphic cards?
I do not need a power gamer card, just an ok card (or 2)  which can provide 6-8 monitors and that I can play from time to time.
I have to say that I have an older mainboard with pcie 2.0 (ASUS P67Pro Rev 3.1)
It would be very nice if somebody can help me out.kindest regards
Marc

 
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0 on 26-01-2018

Good day nordgermane,

You understood correctly, almost completely.
An MST Hub or Multi Stream Transport Hub, make suse of the MST feature which is supported form DisplayPort 1.2 onwards under windows, which means the system can send multiple video signals over a single DP1.2 ouput. The limitation to that is mostly determined by the Bandwidth of DP 1.2 being 21.6 Gbps or 4 x 1920×1080 at 60Hz.
http://www.club-3d.com/en/technology/7/multi_stream_transport/

Almost all Graphics Cards however are limited to support no more then 6 screens in total.
Most of them can do 4 screens directly via its own outputs, and you would need for instance an MST Hub to connect 6 screens.

An MST Hubs iaan active device so you can connect DVI screens by using passive DP to DVI adapters plus normal DVI Cable.
Passive DP to DVI Adapter:
CAC-1000:
http://www.club-3d.com/en/detail/2374/displayport_to_dvi_d_single_link_passive_adapter/

Assuming you are not making A Singel Large Surface out of the screens …
To conenct 8 screens you would need either
2 Graphics Cards
or
use 1 graphics Card + MST Hub to get to 6 Screens plus an External USB Graphics like CSV-1477 to get to 8 screens
or
use 1 graphics Card + 2 x  External USB Graphics like CSV-1477 to get to 8 screens

CSV-1477: http://www.club-3d.com/en/detail/2413/sensevision_usb_a_to_displayportt_1.2_dual_monitor_4k_60hz/

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0 on 26-01-2018

Thank you very much for your answer and informations. But I am a bid confused about the External USB Graphics. I can put it in as normal USB Plugin (of course must be USB 3.1). Is that right? it sounds fanatstic but where is the disadvantage???
Where does tha graphic power comes from – I have read that the resolution is 5120 x 2880 Pixel but what about the performance? Does the CPU and RAM is doing the calculation power for this instead of the graphic card? and if it is like that what is the performance then and how high does it influence the CPU and the RAM? 
same question for the MST system: the calculation power comes from the graphic card then I guess?
it really sounds interesting.
Yes, you are right, I need different surfaces 🙂
If you have to solve my problem what would be your choice?
1 or 2 graphic cards? and which one will you choose?
is there any Club 3D passive card available too?

Thank you very much.
Marc

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2 on 26-01-2018

one more question:
Is the MST tool also working in the same way with Nvidia Cards?

on 29-01-2018

Hello Nordgermane,

Is the MST tool also working in the same way with Nvidia Cards?
Yes an MST Hub also works on Nvidia Graphics.

CSV-1477 needs to be connected to a USB 3.0 Type A port.
It will also work on a USB 3.1 Gen 1 or Gen 2 but those normally come in USB TYpe C connector, so then you would need to convert from Type C to Type first.

What happens with these external USB graphics adapters is that the system will make the video signal, the Displaylink driver software will convert the signal to a data package so it can be send over USB, the Graphics Chip inside the Ext. USB Graphics Adapter will unpack the data package and re-create a video signal (or 2) to send out.
So it does take system resources.

An MST Hub bisically only forwards the video signals coming from the source system, it is able to recognize the different video- and audio streams and MST SIgnal and distribute those to the connected screens. It does not need any software/driver for that.

Club3D does not make any Discreet Graphics Cards anymore sinds end 2015, so we have no Graphics Cards to offer you.

1 or 2 graphic cards? and which one will you choose?
I would always go for 1 Graphics Card, is more stable that SLI or CrossFire with on many apllications.

on 29-01-2018

i ones connected 8 screens to an Intel NUC using a docking with MST Feature for 2 screens and connected the remaining 6 screens via Ext USB Graphics Adapters.
that NUC had an integrated HD 5000 graphics, so no real cpu power, but it worked just fine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S413037czMU

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1 on 29-01-2018

thx a lot for your informations! the video was really interesting. Asus told me today that NVidia Cards or the cards from them are not able to work with Club 3D MST. ….

on 31-01-2018

that is utter nonsense!
We have been selling MST Hubs and MultiMonitor solutions like that since medio 2013.
With the implementation of MultiStreamTrasnport (MST) to the DisplayPort 1.2 specifications, MST Hub became a popular and often used solution for mulit monitor setups.
I understand and respect that Asus/Nividia might prefer to sell more Grpahcis Cards instead, but if their product has a real DP 1.2 (or newer) output, and MST hub will work.
Assuming the OS is WIN Vista or newer, becuase on MAC OS MST is not supported.

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1 on 31-01-2018

well – it might be that the guys in the hotline are not so well educated too….

on 01-02-2018

of course always possible, and no problem, but that is different than stating things that are simply not true

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