There’s no doubt that a multi-monitor setup increases productivity. My desktop PC has three 4K displays and that seems normal to me. If you ever want to go further and, say, have eight screens and create your own mini Las Vegas Sphere, it’s possible, with the right hardware.
Most graphics cards only have four output ports, and most motherboards would struggle to accommodate two long GPUs. The solution, from Synaptics, is a single-slot PCIe x1 card based on the company’s DisplayLink DL-7400 chip.
DisplayLink technology has been around for a while, but the company has just started producing new DL-7400 solutions, including a GPU-agnostic docking system, that goes beyond what was previously possible.
Sufficient connection options
Tom’s hardware visited Synaptics’ booth at Computex 2024 and writing about the products, Avram Piltch said: “The cards will be very compact – the one I saw had a single-slot PCIe x1 form factor – but it’s unclear whether other solutions would provide a physical solution can offer. x2, x4 or even x16 connector. They’ll be cheap, though, and a DisplayLink spokesperson said certainly less than $100 and possibly much less.
Several versions of the card will be available from Synaptics and OEMS partners, and in a choice of configurations. Synaptics says the cards can power four 4K monitors at 120 Hz or two 8K monitors at 60 Hz with HDR10, with minimal impact on system performance. The products are definitely designed for productivity rather than gaming.
Piltch notes: “If you have a small PC with an integrated GPU that only supports one or two outputs, you can easily add another two to four. If, like me, you have a discrete GPU that outputs to four monitors and you want to jump to six or eight monitors, this PCIe card will get you there much cheaper than buying a second graphics card. And if you have enough slots, you can even buy multiple DisplayLink PCIe cards and keep adding more monitors – 16-way wall displays, anyone?
One thought is that the new DisplayLink card could be an intriguing addition to bitcoin mining motherboards, which typically have numerous PCIe slots. The DisplayLink does require a GPU, however, and it’s difficult to know if the card would be compatible with the different connector types on these motherboards, so we’ll have to wait and see.