Is my video card maxed out?

[WilliamJones]

Our church has a complicated system which I inherited and have even added a few things to. I have a question for the experts, and I will describe it and put a list of hardware at the end of the post.
We are live streaming using OBS to YouTube, plus capturing video to the computer. CPU load during this process is 15-20%.
The camera sends video via HDMI to a powered HDMI splitter. One output goes to the capture card. The other output goes to the 17” monitor on the desk.
The VGA output from the video card goes to a powered VGA splitter on the desk. The first output goes to the 17” monitor on the desk. The second output goes to an A-B switch. The first output from the A-B switch goes to a powered VGA splitter all the way up to the stage where there are 2 large screen monitors. The second output from the A-B switch goes to the pulpit where a speaker can plug his laptop in to project to the two stage monitors.
The DVI output from the video card goes to the HDMI port on the 34” wide screen monitor on the desk via a cable with DVI on one end and HDMI on the other.
The HDMI output on the video card goes to a powered HDMI splitter. The first output goes to one of the Sharp 55” external monitors. The second output goes to the second 55” external monitor.

So far, this system works just fine, although the resolution on the three VGA monitors needs to be kept below 1080x720, otherwise they will blink and one turns from full color to pink and red. This may be telling me we are maxed out on our video card.

I was told they want to add a third 55” monitor in a room that is about 100 feet away. I told them that we will need to use SDI cable with converters at both ends.

Question:

Will I be able to add a third large screen monitor, and if not, will it be because of the video card or the CPU, or both?

Hardware:

Desktop computer with an i5-4670 with 16GB ram.
Video card: nVidia GT730 with 2GB ram, 40GB memory bandwidth, 3 ports – DVI, VGA, HDMI (simultaneous output)
Avermedia Capture Card
A&H MixWizard 16:2 sound board
34” Wide screen monitor (#1) on the desk, HDMI input
17” Monitor (#2) on the desk, Inputs: HDMI1, HDMI2, VGA (NOT simultaneous) This is used primarily to duplicate what is seen on the 2 stage monitors.
Sony camera with HDMI output
2 each large screen monitors on the stage
1 Sharp 55” HDMI external monitor in an overflow room. 5 years old
1 Sharp 55” HDMI external monitor in an overflow room. 2 days old

 

[Deleted member 89018]

There's probably a couple limiting factors at work - the use of multiple splitters and A/B switches; any limitations of capture cards.

I've also seen the "now everything looks pink / green / blue / red / whatever" problem when you've got bad VGA cables or a failing switch/splitter. Chaining too many of them together leads to uncertainty at best. Remember, as far as your video card is concerned it's just outputting a single VGA signal - all the rest of it is being handled by devices splitting the signal over and over. Having powered ones helps with signal degradation but only so much.

In my experience I've found that the longer an A/V system is in place, the more splitters and switches it's going to have, and eventually you get to a point where you should really re-wire everything from scratch. This sounds like you are at that point but it also sounds like you don't have the luxury of tearing it all out and re-wiring it fresh.

That in mind, a powered HDMI splitter that can send signal to three displays might be enough to drive the new one. But, replacing the video card could make it easier to drive the displays connected via HDMI, as, if you have one with enough outputs, you could probably connect everything directly to the card and use software to handle the mirroring of the displays.

Newer video cards have abandoned native VGA but usually have multiple displayport and HDMI ports; you can use displayport adapters to get VGA or additional HDMI output. Also, if you're not running Windows 10 there may be some compatibility issues putting a brand new card into an older operating system.

I wouldn't be surprised if you continued to have problems with the displays connected through your VGA setup, though, as I don't think that problem is related to the PC but instead to the splitter/switching hardware, or maybe cables.

 

[Spun Ducky]

The GT 730 comes in a few different flavors it seems. One version only has 2 clock signals thus meaning a max of two simultaneous displays while some variations can support 3 displays at the same time. The vga resolution problems are most likely a bandwidth issue using so many adapters. It would be much easier to understand all the connections with a topology map, however to put it simply if you need to use more than 3 simultaneous monitors from that video card the gpu will not support that. There are many solutions but the cheapest would be to grab another GT 730 and throw it in a open pcie slot.

 

[WilliamJones]

Attached is a schematic of the video card/monitors