How to connect 6 monitors using only one usb 3.0 port on laptop

1

Hello, I need help to understand what I have to buy for my goal.

I have to connect 6 FullHD monitors to my laptop only using one usb 3.0 port on my laptop. Is it possible to do?

2

Our USB video adapters and docking stations depend on your system’s CPU and internal graphics adapter (GPU) to work, and with each additional adapter, more resources are required of the host system. Knowing the specifics of each system helps us to determine if our products are suitable (we only recommend our products for basic office application use) and to what number they can be extended.

That being said, the maximum additional displays allowed by DisplayLink devices is 6. Going beyond this is not recommended, not supported, and in the majority of cases will not work at all.

So that I can get specific details about your system in order to give an informed recommendation, please run the following batch script and respond with the text file that it creates on your desktop, or paste the contents of that text file in your follow-up response.

Note: This URL will expire in 90 days.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/drop.plugable.com/system_info.bat

Also, can you give me a bit more information on how these extra displays will be used? What applications will be used with them, and what other apps do you regularly use on this system?

1 Like
4

Hello, Sam_Morgan
Thank you for so fast response.

My goal is to build half-mobile trading station. In my case I have Samsung MD230x6 monitor (2 workstations = 12 monitors) and Hasee laptop (Intel-9750H, RTX 2060). I travel a lot between two countries and in each of them I want to use each Samsung MD230x6 monitor.

I need help to understand what I`m doing wrong and how I can connect first workstation to my laptop via only USB 3.0.

Usually I use workstation for trading (many charts on all monitors), movies (only on one monitor) and latest games (only on one monitor). All applications usually running at the same time. Laptop display itself (7-th “monitor”) I usually switched off due I like only 2 rows of 3 monitors in each in front of me.

What i have:

  1. laptop (Hasee G8-CT7NK) with 1920x1080 & two standard USB 3.0 ports, 1 HDMI, 1 DP, 1 USB-C 3.0
  2. 6 samsung monitors (Samsung MD230x6) in one workstation (1 DP, 1 DVI, 1 VGA)
  3. 10 ports USB 3.0 hub (with power adapter)
    https://aliexpress.ru/item/32906390022.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.26d72486mcq0cH&s=p&algo_pvid=7f727e9f-6894-41bd-aca0-b098ba5d0f74&algo_expid=7f727e9f-6894-41bd-aca0-b098ba5d0f74-3&btsid=556e5807-b402-4929-9fc6-b863f10a739e&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_10,searchweb201603_53
  4. 6 active adapters “DP to mini-DP”
  5. 6 active adapters “mini-DP to USB-C”
    https://aliexpress.ru/item/33024353209.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.5d9378b1JqrvQ9&algo_pvid=1212a4e3-ea9f-4755-b135-09af7a298f86&algo_expid=1212a4e3-ea9f-4755-b135-09af7a298f86-0&btsid=94cb75d1-f72f-43d7-861f-058e8bd5053a&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_10,searchweb201603_53
  6. 6 small simple adapters (not active) “USB-C 3.0 to USB 3.0”

My actions for each monitor (by steps):

  1. I use 1 DP cable for monitor to connect with active adapter “DP to mini-DP”
  2. Then I connect “DP to mini-DP” adapter (from 1 step) with another active adapter with “mini-DP to USB-C” function
  3. Then I connect “mini-DP to USB-C” adapter (from step 2) with small simple adapter “USB-C 3.0 to USB 3.0” function
  4. Then I connect all cables above to 10 ports USB 3.0 hub
  5. Then I connect 10 ports USB 3.0 hub with laptop via laptop USB 3.0 port.

Result: laptop dont see anything. But if I connect each monitor via HDMI, USB-C and DP on the laptop - its working but its only 3 additional monitors instead 6. That is why I decided to connect all six monitors using USB connection and USB hub.

Unfortunately only 2 links in post I can share due newbie status.

COMPUTER SYSTEM PRODUCT

IdentifyingNumber Name Vendor
Not Applicable NH5x_7xRCx,RDx HASEE Computer

OPERATING SYSTEM

Caption Architecture Version
Microsoft Windows 10 Pro 64-bit 10.0.18363

PROCESSOR

Name
Intel® Core™ i7-9750H CPU @ 2.60GHz

PHYSICAL MEMORY

Capacity
8589934592
8589934592

VIDEO CONTROLLER

Caption
Intel® UHD Graphics 630
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060

USB CONTROLLER

Caption DeviceID

NVIDIA USB Type-C Port Policy Controller PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1ADB&SUBSYS_000010DE&REV_A1\4&76587D0&0&0308

Intel® USB 3.1 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.10 (Microsoft) PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_A36D&SUBSYS_85501558&REV_10\3&11583659&0&A0

NVIDIA USB 3.10 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.10 (Microsoft) PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_1ADA&SUBSYS_000010DE&REV_A1\4&76587D0&0&0208

5

Thanks for providing that info!

There’s quite a lot of complexity here and I’ll say right off that I think you’d be disappointed if you were to use USB graphics adapters to accomplish this.

Again, keep in mind that as you add more USB graphics adapters, your available system resources are depleted. This is fairly static if the display content isn’t actively changing, but as the display updates, more system resources are used. If you’re watching a full-screen video, every pixel on the display is being updated 60 times per second, which is quite a lot of data to push over USB. Multiply that by 6 displays and you can see where performance might take quite a hit.

The primary concern I have is your usage. You noted that you’ll have a movie going on one display, a game going on another, and trading charts (I assume that are actively updating) on the remaining four. The first red flag is the game. DisplayLink displays do not support 3D games, these are for 2D rendering only, and you will absolutely have a bad time trying to run any game on a DisplayLink display. The second is the movie; if you’re actively watching a full-screen video and the other 5 displays are updating content, you may (or likely will) see slow framerates on the movie.

The setup you’ve already tried will not work. What you’ve done here is connected a display in this fashion:

  1. DisplayPort port from display to DisplayPort cable
  2. DisplayPort to Mini DisplayPort adapter
  3. Mini DisplayPort to USB-C adapter
  4. USB-C to USB 3.0 Type-A adapter
  5. USB 3.0 to USB hub
  6. USB hub to computer

The video signal dies at step 4 in that process. The USB-C standard can carry DisplayPort signals, but USB 3.0 cannot. In order to carry a video signal over USB 3.0, you must have a specific USB graphics adapter. This is very different from just carrying a standard video signal over a USB-C cable (native GPU path vs USB graphics hook).

The final straw is your location. It appears you’re ordering from Russia, and we don’t sell in your region. Even if I were to come up with a workable solution (which is unlikely given your requirements), I couldn’t get product to your location.

6

Hi again , Sam!

I can make 64Gb of laptop ram instead 16Gb of ram now, if necessary. Can it solve the problem?

On your company YouTube channel I saw that your CEO in 2014-2015 made 14 monitors via USB 2 & USB 3.0 ports. Some monitors had video played on the screens without lag. Maybe I missed something? I can add link if you need it.

7

Unfortunately not. Even if you were to extend your resources, USB 3.0 cannot handle that much data. You will still see lag because we’d be running up against BUS speed limitations. Plus the information about gaming I mentioned makes this unworkable.

This video definitely causes a bit of confusion, and we get questions about this all the time, so I’m sorry if you watched that and understood it to be a workable scenario. Here’s a quote from the description of that video that should hopefully explain the situation:

14 Monitors on a Single Windows 8 PC with USB Graphics Adapters

IMPORTANT - the video shown above was a demonstration of what was technically possible at the time it was produced, however it is not a recommended or supported configuration by Plugable. To expand further, most modern Windows systems with built-in USB 3.0 host controllers have internal limitations in regard to how many USB devices can be properly recognized, even with the addition of USB hubs. Often adding a large number of USB devices to a modern USB 3.0 system will not work (this demonstration was done with a USB 2.0 only system). As a result, the maximum number of displays Plugable officially supports adding to a Windows system with our DisplayLink-based products is six.

8

Ok.
What you can advice how properly connect all 6 monitors. What exactly I have to buy to make 6 monitors work via USB (without games & video)? Thank you in advance.

9

Unfortunately, we cannot help you as you’re in a country that we do not sell in. Please see my quote from above:

With all of this put together, I’m not comfortable recommending a solution for you. Were you to have issues, which is very likely given the complexity and desires, we wouldn’t be able to help you resolve them.

10

Thank you, I understand but I can use my sisters address to get your products due she live in USA. In this case I only need to know what I have to buy from your company.

Thank you in advance Sam.

11

I’m sorry I can’t be of more help. I simply cannot recommend a solution for you given all of the factors I’ve mentioned. I do not recommend you purchase any products from us for your intended setup.