PC Recommendation for Church Media Presentation

[rsjrny]

I am in the process of upgrading the PC at my church which is currently running windows vista and PowerPoint to display slideshows.

I am upgrading to use MediaShout 5.0 which has the ability to display 3 separate output shows on 3 monitors and the PC will also be running a slideshow of images that will display on a fourth monitor.

I am looking for a PC that has I5 processor, 8GB Ram, 500GB storage, onboard graphics for 2 monitors and able to install a graphics card like a GT 630 fanless. I want it set this way so I am not driving all the monitors from 1 graphics card. If one fails I can switch my main show to the remaining 2 monitors. The bios would need to support multiple displays so I can use onboard and graphics card at the same time.

I am also open to other solutions but would like to stay reasonably priced. Under 1,000.00 if possible.


thanks for your help,

rsjrny

[usually_quiet]

What you want to do won't work.

As far as I know, it isn't possible to use an Intel CPU's graphics and a discrete graphics card at the same time. The CPU's graphics must be disabled to use a discrete graphics card, and a discrete graphics card must be disabled to use the CPU's graphics. You need to install two low-power graphics cards to run 4 monitors, or you need to install a more powerful graphics card that can run 4 monitors on its own.

Some laptops have "GPU switching" so that it is possible to easily switch between the discrete graphics and CPU graphics (to conserve battery power) without going into the BIOS, but I have not heard of any desktops with that feature.

[newpball]

What you want to do won't work.

Incorrect, I suppose it depends on the motherboard/bios but it certainly is possible to have them run concurrently.

[usually_quiet]

What you want to do won't work.

Incorrect, I suppose it depends on the motherboard/bios but it certainly is possible to have them run concurrently.

Never mind. Intel says it is possible with recent i5s: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/intelligent-systems/intel-embedded-media-and-gr...ort-paper.html

However, the CPU and BIOS have to support it. Unfortunately, pre-built PCs are unfortunately not known for having lots of advanced BIOS features available.

[rsjrny]

Thanks for the replies.

rsjrny

[usually_quiet]

Finding pre-built PC with the BIOS feature you want entails downloading user manuals for the models that interest you and digging through the pages that explain the BIOS settings. The setting that must be enabled to allow using the Intel CPU's integrated graphics and a discrete graphics card at the same time is called "IGD Multi Monitor". You should be able to do the leg work yourself.

If you can build a PC yourself, or know someone who can do that, it is likely that most of the motherboards that hobby builders use include the "IGD Multi Monitor" setting. I know the BIOS for the motherboard in my main PC, a MSI B85M-G43, does.