![]() Note that once the changed pixels are sent over USB, the CPU isn’t involved anymore to refresh the display. In the USB graphics case, memory and the memory controller is getting a lot of use, as pixels change on the screen (at least 4 times – when an application renders new pixels, when those pixels are composited on the desktop, when they’re copied to a shadow framebuffer, and when those changed pixels are compressed into USB packets). Even though Windows 7 is much improved over Vista, multiple monitors and many open applications still consume a lot of memory.īut just as important as the amount of RAM is the amount of cache. although going to 4 or more will produce noticeable overall system gains (mostly because of all the additional apps you’ll be running to display on all those monitors). But no need to go overboard – there’s usually a sweet spot.įor memory with Windows 7 and something like 6 USB displays, 2GB is enough. Take the money saved on a high-end 3D processor, and funnel it back into the main CPU and memory that’ll make everything on your PC faster. Second, for the system itself, more memory and a faster CPU make a difference. But as it happens the simplest and lowest cost solution is also the best choice for this particular application. NVidia and ATI/AMD are great companies that produce high-performance products, and DisplayLink’s software rarely have problems with them. For business applications (like stock trading) with many displays, it makes sense to favor simplicity and compatibility over 3D gaming performance. Intel is in closer collaboration with DisplayLink than nVidia or ATI has been.With Intel chipset graphics, the pixels remain in system memory the whole time – which ends up being faster overall. When the GPU has its own memory on the other side of the PCI bus (as is the usually case with ATI and nVidia), those transfers back can be slow. Even though nVidia and ATI provide higher 3D performance, they don’t have higher performance everywhere: in particular with USB displays, the rendered pixels must be transferred from the GPU back to the CPU to be sent over USB.DisplayLink has made some progress with compatibility with these types of systems, but it’s still the #1 hardware compatibility issue we see for USB graphics. They attempt to do this switching without Windows noticing (just Like DisplayLink tries to add USB display outputs to the primary graphics controller without Windows noticing), but in combination this can cause conflicts. These add a discrete nVidia or ATI GPU on top of the Intel GPU already in the chipset, for the purpose of providing switchable “high power” and “low power” graphics by enabling or disabling one or the other GPU. In particular, look out for “switching” or “hybrid” graphics on laptops.Sometimes those things can conflict with other complex software, like DisplayLink’s USB graphics drivers. ATI and nVidia, because they’re shooting for the higher end, do more out-of-the-box things to try to differentiate their technology and software drivers.It really comes down to two main things to think about.įirst, for maximum compatibility with USB graphics products, pick a system with Intel-only graphics if possible. They asked: “What is the best Windows laptop and/or desktop to run six Plugable USB graphics adapters to get six monitors simultaneously on a single PC?” It’s a great question, because there are definitely ways to head off potential problems when you pick a PC. Let me know if anything is not as expected.One of our customers is building a six monitor setup on their PC for stock trading and ESignal Qcharts. These should be between 0% and 5% if nothing is updating on the screens. Then, sort by Process Name and look for DisplayLinkUserAgent and DisplayLinkManager. Bring Activity Monitor to the Mac's internal screen, not on DisplayLink screens.įirst of all, sort by % CPU to see if there is anything unexpected (like anything >50% CPU). Open Activity Monitor and go to the CPU tab. To double check can you please see if the CPU usage is OK when nothing is updating?Ĭonnect both screens but without video on them. I'd say performance undocked is 2x what I get when docked.įor just moving windows around at 1080p it may be a bit slow, but not to the point of being annoying. Honestly though it's pretty much all things. I have used a lower resolution and it helps slightly but very slightly.Ī couple example cases would be: dragging windows, animations for closing/opening apps, mouse lag, choppy watching video, and choppy streaming content (crystal clear on same wifi undocked). The screen resolution I am using on my externals is 1920 x 1080 for both.
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