What do I need to make this work?

What type of video card or whatever would anyone recommend for this setting. I have a guy that wants to hook up his computer to his standard monitor but also at times wants it to be able to be able to watch it on his big tv. The tv has a vga in plus hdmi, and component. He also has a smaller tv that is already wired with hdmi to come from the computer.
So in a nut shell he wants the regular monitor which will be DVI, the small tv that has hdmi and the large tv I am not sure what to run, whether it be vga, hdmi, or component. I like the idea of another hdmi because it runs audio too where vga only runs video and would need another audio cable. Component would be the same issue. I would also like to use cat 5e to run any of this. Is that possible?
So, if this makes sense to anyone, what equipment would I need to make this possible? What do I need for a video card or cards? What would I need to make the cat 5 work? Thanks.

[saxmaster49]

To run 3 screens you need either a high end graphics card that has that option or you need to have 2 cards (not sli or crossfire).

You wont be able to do this with cat5 or any other cat cable.

Depending on what your friend wants to do with the computer ie. play games or just watch movies will greatly impact the card(s) he gets. you can get away with lower end cards if he doesnt do anything really graphically intensive. Post what he wants to do and I will be able to help you more.

Watch video. No games.

[MikeTackett]

Firstly I would recommend running the higher quality interfaces to the higher quality displays. HDMI to the Large TV, HDMI or DVI to the smaller, and DVI or VGA to the monitor. Really it's your choice that's just a suggestion.

You can use Cat5 to run some of this. A popular device is video over Cat5, however understand you still need the outputs on your computer. You can use a VGA(or DVI or HDMI or whatever) to cat5 video extender and get yourself three outputs going on. These are generally all hardware based, no software, and I use them often at work with on board VGA.

Basically, decide what outputs you want, checkout the cat5 over video options available and maybe revise your plan, then run the install. This could get pricey however, I pay about $300usd for 1 VGA over cat5 device from StarTek or something.

If I would like 2 hdmi ports would it be best to get 2 cards? Why I am asking that is that converting dvi to hdmi will only get video and won't get sound. That way 2 cards, 2 hdmi both with sound.

[MikeTackett]

Honestly it's a bit of a tough call. Having more than one card is really only going to boost performance. Sure, boosting performance is great, but if you could save cash on just getting one card/two ports and still be satisfied with the results...

I would recommend two cards, but don't forget to consider a few points first:
How many video cards can you put into the computer and how do you plan to do it. If you only have one AGP slot and you want two AGP cards you'll have to get a splitter (or whatever those dual socket cards are called). You will also be having three outputs for the three devices. Some mobos will not let you use the onboard VGA if you are using a video card of any kind. In that case you would be better off getting a card with one or two HDMI ports and another with HDMI/DVI.

Something else you might want to consider that you are really only extending the desktop (assuming windows here), and this could either present a whole new set of problems or not be a factor at all.

A suggested setup: quality card with HDMI dedicated to the big TV, HDMI/DVI split for the smaller TV and monitor, respectively.

I am building the computer so I can get as many ports as needed along with what a recommended mobod and cpu would be.

Would this 6870 be a good card for what I need?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150507

[Rik_]

If some of the outputs are only going to be used for showing video then what about a usb graphics card?!? It's a cheaper option than having 2 cards!

Okay, I have the computer finished. I have an XFX 5830 plus an ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 AM3 AMD 890GX motherboard with HDMI onboard. I have several problems with what I want to do. I can get the HDMI on the 5830 to be recognized and the DVI but when I go into duplicate it drops the resolution on the dvi monitor to lower than the recommended 1920 x 1200 to 1360 x 768 or something like that on both. I don't want to have my main monitor that low if I don't have to. What do I have to do to fix that?
The other problem is that I can't get my CCC to recognize my onboard HDMI, what am I doing wrong?

Okay, I think I found out about the dual mode and both having to be the same and if one is lower res than the other that is what they both will be. Sucks, but it is what it is. I still have not been able to get my onboard hdmi to be recognized. Anyone???