Could a GTX 1060 6 GB handle 3 monitors?

[Varpin]

Hello!

 

I'm thinking about buying a third monitor and I want to ask that could a MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X 6GB handle it?

My main monitor is a 24" 60hz 2 ms 1920 x 1080 monitor

and

My second is a  23" 60 hz 5 ms 1920 x 1080 monitor

 

If I get one, it will have similar specs. I'm not thinking about gaming with all 3 monitors, I only play games with my main monitor. (for example there would be discord on one monitor, web browser on second and a game playing on third)

 

Thank you!  

[Oshino Shinobu]

Yes, it makes no difference to performance just running an extra monitor. What you run on it can make a difference, but that's down to what is actually running, not having an extra monitor. 

 

I've tested with a combination of 3x 1080 + 1x 4K and in no configuration did performance drop from having extra monitors running. 

 

EDIT: My testing also involved running the extra monitors off a second card, which also made no difference. Performance drops come from running applications. From what I tested, playing 1080p Youtube videos had the most impact on performance (running a 1080p video in VLC had a much smaller impact). I felt like that was something people would be likely to use an extra monitor for. The performance impact was the same with a single card or running the monitor off another card. Video playback generally takes up CPU power, so having another card doesn't alleviate that. 

 

I'd also note that the same performance drops come if you only have a single monitor and run the applications all on the same monitor. 

[Ganz]

Yep no problem.  I used to run 3 on a GTX 970 with zero issues.

[xDylanio]

My 980 ti had trouble with a 27" 60hz and a 24", even though i was only gaming on one. I felt a drastic change between two and one. Honestly I would say 1 monitor is all you need. Trust me I went from a triple monitor setup to two, back to one, back to two and finally one. 

[Oshino Shinobu]

5 minutes ago, xDylanio said:

Honestly I would say 1 monitor is all you need. Trust me I went from a triple monitor setup to two, back to one, back to two and finally one. 

That's entirely subjective though. I'm up to 4 monitors on my main system and it still doesn't feel like enough. 

[Ryujin2003]

My brother is running x3 27 inch on a 480, so you should be good as well. Again, it's the applications you're running.

[orbaxter]

13 minutes ago, xDylanio said:

My 980 ti had trouble with a 27" 60hz and a 24", even though i was only gaming on one. I felt a drastic change between two and one. Honestly I would say 1 monitor is all you need. Trust me I went from a triple monitor setup to two, back to one, back to two and finally one. 

honestly size doesn't matter - it's resolution. It might have been the monitor itself that had a slower response time, probably not the card.

[xDylanio]

9 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

That's entirely subjective though. I'm up to 4 monitors on my main system and it still doesn't feel like enough. 

What, 4monitors, what are you trying to do with all of that. 

 

2 minutes ago, orbaxter said:

honestly size doesn't matter - it's resolution. It might have been the monitor itself that had a slower response time, probably not the card.

I dont know, all i know is that whenever I played a game with both of the monitors on, it felt choppy, it felt horrible. As soon as i turned the secondary monitor off it was normal

[Oshino Shinobu]

11 minutes ago, xDylanio said:

What, 4monitors, what are you trying to do with all of that. 

Main monitor for games, top left for media consumption/news feeds, bottom left for web browsing, I normally have the forum open there and right for system monitoring and task manager. 

 

I want to add a portrait monitor on the left for reading and working on text documents and get a new 1440p 144Hz monitor as the main and gaming monitor and move my 4K monitor up above it for watching 4K content and productivity based applications. 

[orbaxter]

20 minutes ago, xDylanio said:

I dont know, all i know is that whenever I played a game with both of the monitors on, it felt choppy, it felt horrible. As soon as i turned the secondary monitor off it was normal

That genuinely is wierd... Were they connected through different connections (eg HDMI and DVI)?

[Catsrules]

24 minutes ago, xDylanio said:

My 980 ti had trouble with a 27" 60hz and a 24", even though i was only gaming on one. I felt a drastic change between two and one.

Running another monitors does use up some resources from the card, however it is very small amount of resources. Personally I only have notice this when I was playing around with Mining Ethereum. My minding would drop by 2-3% when another monitor was running.
I would expect something similar to happen with gaming so expect to loose 1 - 3 FPS.  I would guess this would be the same for each monitor your add. If I get around to it (probably not) I can run some benchmarks with and with out a secondary monitor.

 

38 minutes ago, xDylanio said:

 Honestly I would say 1 monitor is all you need. Trust me I went from a triple monitor setup to two, back to one, back to two and finally one. 

That depends on what your doing. As someone who has 4 monitors on my desktop and carries a portable secondary monitor for my laptop. I definitely recommend a secondary monitor. You may not use it at first but over time your will find things here and there and eventually you will become like me who is the weirdo that carries a secondary monitor around.
 

[Catsrules]

16 minutes ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

I want to add a portrait monitor on the left for reading and working on text documents and get a new 1440p 144Hz monitor as the main and gaming monitor and move my 4K monitor up above it for watching 4K content and productivity based applications. 

I turned one of mine 4 monitors to portrait, I was surprised at how much stuff fits so much better in portrait. PDFs fit better, most web pages fit better. However I do feel it needs to be a bit wider. as alot of toolbars and things are a bit squished. Like I can't have the side bar in Adobe reader open. I would like to try portrait with a 1440p screen. I think that would give a little bit more room.    

[Oshino Shinobu]

1 hour ago, Catsrules said:

I turned one of mine 4 monitors to portrait, I was surprised at how much stuff fits so much better in portrait. PDFs fit better, most web pages fit better. However I do feel it needs to be a bit wider. as alot of toolbars and things are a bit squished. Like I can't have the side bar in Adobe reader open. I would like to try portrait with a 1440p screen. I think that would give a little bit more room.    

I'm planning on going for a Dell U2415, which is 16:10 for a little extra width. 

[Catsrules]

7 hours ago, Oshino Shinobu said:

I'm planning on going for a Dell U2415, which is 16:10 for a little extra width. 

Oh that is a good idea