Non-Trade Question: Multiple Monitors & Plugable

Question for any of the more technical minded folks out there. First question is whether or not anyone is familiar with Plugable and their available options?. I am currently running 4 monitors via video cards on a I7 quad w/16GB RAM (a lot of data mining for work). If I decide to expand the number of monitors would I be able to use a Plugable hub solution via USB for the additional monitors? If so would it be a seamless integration with my other monitors without a noticeable performance decline (i.e, would it be the same performance and feel as if I had the additional monitors hooked up via internal video card)? If there is a possibility of a performance decline would it be better to hook up all monitors via the 7 port hub and bypass the video cards all together? Any feedback appreciated.

Thanks!

NCT

I did a quick look at the Plugable web site and what they are selling seems to be a USB video adapter that offloads the graphic processing onto your PC's processor as opposed to a graphics card that has onboard processing power for graphics. A quick check of nVidia Quadro NVS and AMD FirePro products shows that you can get their graphical power designed for financial workstation processing at a cost of about $80-90 per port on their 4 or 6 port cards. If you only need 4 monitors, the two port graphics cards are cheaper. Depending on the configuration of the expansion slots in your PC, you may be able to put in three 2 port cards for a total of 6 monitors. I personally use two 2 port nVidia cards to drive 4 20 inch monitors at 1600x1200 resolution.

I have used nVidia cards for almost 8 years and never have had a problem with them. I do no gaming so I do not need 3d graphics, which runs up the cost of a graphics card. As a caution, the Plugable site mentions not using their USB adapters for gaming. This should tell you something about the CPU processing load that their solution imposes on your PC. Everything is always a trade-off. You are getting a better per port price for the Plugable solution at the cost of using you PC's processor to handle the graphics processing load. I definitely think you might encounter some performance or compatibility problems trying to mix and match multiple monitors with both graphics cards and the Plugable solution, IMHO.

Dan, et al.

I had a couple people respond via PM in addition to Dan's suggestions above. I want to thank each of you for the suggestions and feedback. I think everyone is in agreement that there are alternatives given that I have a somewhat custom built PC that affords me the opportunity to upgrade the video cards. If I were using a laptop then Plugable might be a good solution. Still deciding on how I want to proceed but you guys gave me something to think about.