I have a project to display to a number of people at the same time. Can I connect 2 or more monitors to one computer without adding a video card and if so how?

Thanks in advance!

If you have a video card that has dual output, then you can do that easily. The Matrox Parahelia has 3 outputs. Most retail video card nowaday has a digital out and analog out, and you can usually use both of them at the same time. Other than that, I think you can get a converter box that can hook up to multiple monitors. They do exist, somewhere out there lol.

If you are showing the same thing on all the monitors then you can get a splitter. I have seen this before. It's a cable that plugs into the computer on one end and splits into two on the other end and you plug the monitors into those. You just need two of those for three monitors.

You need a monitor splitter, I think they come in 2, 4 or 8 outputs.

search - monitor splitter

if you get a splitter that splits into more than 2 displays you'll also need a signal booster. vga output is analog and as it splits it weakens and causes screen flicker. You may need to increase the refresh rate of your monitor adapter to offset the weaker signal even with two monitors.

might check into borrowing a projector

To johnoh:
These splitters usually come with built in amplifiers. Some models can drive 50 ft or more of cable. They can get quite expensive.

To Brenda:
Is there a lot of motion or rapid change of the screen in the presentation? If not, a program like VNC can display the screen of one computer on another computer. The computers would be networked together by ethernet. Software is free.

As usual, I've gotten a lot of good ideas to think about! Thanks!

It will be one presentation onto multiple screens. It's a slide show w/ audio and I wanted to avoid having the audio from multiple systems, probably starting at not quite the same time, going at the same time. With a splitter I can use one system, one set of speakers and multiple monitors! Great!

Thanks again!