I need some advice

[lerodemmy]

I built a PC for my mom’s office and made an oversight that has her quite displeased with me.

 

There’s only one port (HDMI) to connect a monitor on the motherboard, and she needs two monitors.  Her monitors have 1x HDMI and 1x VGA port each.  I bought this USB-c HDMI splitter thing that didn’t work.

 

I feel like the most reliable way to resolve this issue - without unbuilding and rebuilding everything with a new mobo - is to just throw a low-end graphics card in there.  I’m looking at 3050s in the $200 range.

 

Here’s my question: Should I get the Asus 3050 with 1x HDMI port and connect one monitor to the motherboard’s HDMI and the other monitor the graphics card’s HDMI?

 

Or, should I get the Gigabyte 3050 with 2x HDMI ports and connect both monitors to the graphics card?

[Dedayog]

4 minutes ago, lerodemmy said:

I built a PC for my mom’s office and made an oversight that has her quite displeased with me.

 

There’s only one port (HDMI) to connect a monitor on the motherboard, and she needs two monitors.  Her monitors have 1x HDMI and 1x VGA port each.  I bought this USB-c HDMI splitter thing that didn’t work.

 

I feel like the most reliable way to resolve this issue - without unbuilding and rebuilding everything with a new mobo - is to just throw a low-end graphics card in there.  I’m looking at 3050s in the $200 range.

 

Here’s my question: Should I get the Asus 3050 with 1x HDMI port and connect one monitor to the motherboard’s HDMI and the other monitor the graphics card’s HDMI?

 

Or, should I get the Gigabyte 3050 with 2x HDMI ports and connect both monitors to the graphics card?

Something like this should work for you...

 

https://www.amazon.com/OREI-SplitExtend-Splitter-Extended-Display/dp/B0C3PFQZ4G/ref=sr_1_4?adgrpid=1331509145052401&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ZllWh0iKRiKKyxmmwGWAEBILL1L8DrqYuPSek5WoLYyZaftquBzepM5soqCFkgzjYakcIpjnyqDd5VNfy8x0WDkxN31GMD9xksL-s_xC_2zzs_pw5SJ1sm69TCawkpCdCn8veT64BG6353fj3xcf1_91aFz5qdIXip_eVisIc-SDYHnX-_kAfBAl9BgTAGMixEh_GyYSXbvE9nAnh1oNia-1jkl9BOfxkvqwOo1Jgv0.PjIeTvbdfQQEhVfzYdBeFRmeoJwHNGyPVmhwkb78E1g&dib_tag=se&hvadid=83219392574278&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=99653&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83219666510039%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=18919_10549211&keywords=hdmi%2Bsplitter%2Bfor%2B2%2Bmonitors&mcid=4edf4fbc421a3d40894214258dc149b2&qid=1749003412&sr=8-4&th=1

 

[Needfuldoer]

What motherboard does it have?

 

If all she needs is a display adapter, you could get just about anything with multiple display ports. If you're willing to shop for used workstation cards, you can find those for a song these days.

[lerodemmy]

2 minutes ago, Dedayog said:

Something like this should work for you...

 

https://www.amazon.com/OREI-SplitExtend-Splitter-Extended-Display/dp/B0C3PFQZ4G/ref=sr_1_4?adgrpid=1331509145052401&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ZllWh0iKRiKKyxmmwGWAEBILL1L8DrqYuPSek5WoLYyZaftquBzepM5soqCFkgzjYakcIpjnyqDd5VNfy8x0WDkxN31GMD9xksL-s_xC_2zzs_pw5SJ1sm69TCawkpCdCn8veT64BG6353fj3xcf1_91aFz5qdIXip_eVisIc-SDYHnX-_kAfBAl9BgTAGMixEh_GyYSXbvE9nAnh1oNia-1jkl9BOfxkvqwOo1Jgv0.PjIeTvbdfQQEhVfzYdBeFRmeoJwHNGyPVmhwkb78E1g&dib_tag=se&hvadid=83219392574278&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=99653&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83219666510039%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=18919_10549211&keywords=hdmi%2Bsplitter%2Bfor%2B2%2Bmonitors&mcid=4edf4fbc421a3d40894214258dc149b2&qid=1749003412&sr=8-4&th=1

I looked at that but ended up buying the one below, which didn’t work.  The PC didn’t recognize the USB device.

 

https://a.co/d/0ZPFNLz

 

If the one you suggested does the same things (I’m not sure if it does), then I’d have concerns that it also won’t work.

 

[lerodemmy]

6 minutes ago, Needfuldoer said:

What motherboard does it have?

 

If all she needs is a display adapter, you could get just about anything with multiple display ports. If you're willing to shop for used workstation cards, you can find those for a song these days.

ASRock Phantom Gaming Z790 Lightning WiFi

[strange13930]

12 minutes ago, lerodemmy said:

I built a PC for my mom’s office and made an oversight that has her quite displeased with me.

 

There’s only one port (HDMI) to connect a monitor on the motherboard, and she needs two monitors.  Her monitors have 1x HDMI and 1x VGA port each.  I bought this USB-c HDMI splitter thing that didn’t work.

 

I feel like the most reliable way to resolve this issue - without unbuilding and rebuilding everything with a new mobo - is to just throw a low-end graphics card in there.  I’m looking at 3050s in the $200 range.

 

Here’s my question: Should I get the Asus 3050 with 1x HDMI port and connect one monitor to the motherboard’s HDMI and the other monitor the graphics card’s HDMI?

 

Or, should I get the Gigabyte 3050 with 2x HDMI ports and connect both monitors to the graphics card?

the 3050 is a horrible value card, if its just for office work a 10 series gpu or a little older should work fine. I'm using a 1060 for Elden ring and I have a friend that's gaming on a 570 ti.

[lerodemmy]

7 minutes ago, strange13930 said:

the 3050 is a horrible value card, if its just for office work a 10 series gpu or a little older should work fine. I'm using a 1060 for Elden ring and I have a friend that's gaming on a 570 ti.

Do you think this GT 1030 would be a good idea for what I described?
 

https://a.co/d/aZmWobC

[GuiltySpark_]

19 minutes ago, lerodemmy said:

I looked at that but ended up buying the one below, which didn’t work.  The PC didn’t recognize the USB device.

 

https://a.co/d/0ZPFNLz

 

If the one you suggested does the same things (I’m not sure if it does), then I’d have concerns that it also won’t work.

 

It did, but not for video out. The Type C port on most desktop boards isn't connected to anything for video out and that adapter requires it. It would work fine with most laptops these days.

 

Instead of buying a whole GPU you could also just get a DisplayLink based USB3 device. Simple USB powered 2D "GPU". I ran one from Pluggable for years that did 1440p60, fine for a basic office monitor.

 

Example:

 

https://a.co/d/1oKvy5j

 

If you only need up to 1080p60, StarTech makes an even cheaper one. 

 

https://a.co/d/gAQxa5P

 

What you bought was a passive adapter, but what you needed was something link this with a DisplayLink chip to actually render a display out over the USB port.

[strange13930]

9 hours ago, lerodemmy said:

Do you think this GT 1030 would be a good idea for what I described?
 

https://a.co/d/aZmWobC

yes the 1030 would be fine for office work.