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I'm thinking about a new PC, paperless office, four monitors would be my choice (I've already got three). For some reasons I'll buy an Intel CPU, which come all (ok, except for server cpus) with an integrated GPU. Can I enable both, the internal GPU and the discrete graphics card and connect each to two screens?

This question has been asked three and a half year ago (how time goes by...) here: How can I enable onboard graphics AND dedicated card simultaneously?

But three and a half year are a long time and maybe things have changed and it is not necessary to buy two graphic cards.

Edit:

Obviously a difficult question. I don't hunt for performance, it's just my office PC, where I work for a living.

I guess, I could buy two low budget graphics cards, put them on the mainboard and connect the four screens. But why buy two graphics cards if I already have one on the mainboard and don't need three? -- Except if the graphics card on the board always is switched off at the very moment a discrete card gets connected the mainboard.

And this is the question.

One answer by https://superuser.com/users/381441/mike-diglio , thank you very much, maybe there are more answers.

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Keks Dose
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3 Answers3

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With newer model Motherboards, such as the Z77-G45 Gaming board, you can enable a setting called IGD Multi-Monitor. This allows you to use your Motherboards specific display driver as an active display, alongside your Graphics Card.

If you pin through your Motherboard BIOS settings, and search for this option, you should be able to accomplish this task. The setting is usually nested under other video settings inside the BIOS - Integrated Graphics Configuration is usually the "Top" menu where you can find this option under.

If you have yet to purchase the MotherBoard, I would do some research on the specific board you are looking for to make sure this option is available.

Mike Diglio
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Do you already have a graphics card? If not I would suggest simply getting one that supports 4 monitors. It doesn't have to be expensive, you could for example get a GeForce GTX 750 for just about 140 US Dollars and that would support 4 monitors and simplify your problem. I personally have good experience using 4 monitors on an AMD 7770 which you can now pickup for under $100. I wouldn't suggest enabling the integrated graphics and a dedicated card at the same time (although it may be possible) and not only for performance but also compatibility reasons. -Cheers

Martin Benninger
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Eventually I bought a new computer (Win 8.1), some intel chip with integrated GPU, Asus mainboard, Nvidia gtx 950. The bios of the luxury mainboard allows to run both GPU. To the nvidia I connected a 4k screen (displayport 1.2) and a HD-screen, to the integrated GPU two HD screens. Makes one huge desktop. Threw with RAM (32 GB) on issues with performance.

The 4k screen flickered: randomly it shut off for a second (went black), then on again. Yesterday I set the (samsung) screen to displayport 1.1 (lower resolution) and back to 1.2 and since then no more flickering until the next day. Now, I drew the cables out of the GPU, uninstalled the driver, rebooted, installed the driver again, shut down, displayport and dvi in again, boot, and now the flickering seems to be gone...

Superuser reminded me to answer my own question: it got more than 2.500 clicks, which is, for a question with a rating of -1 at the moment, quite funny.

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