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USB display adapters for multiple monitors and USB hub?
From what I've read, these USB adapters do the "heavy lifting" on the computer CPU, that's where the "virtual screen" is processed. Then, the data is transferred to the adapter itself (via the USB bus) where it will convert into monitor signals. Seems like the little boxes only do the translation from raw pixel data to actual monitor signals. But it's pretty data intensive on the bus, nonetheless.
As it's written on the manufacturer page, it's not good for gaming, due to this limitation. Would place too much stress on the computer CPU and lag as a result. But for normal everyday "office" stuff, seems to be just fine. As you said, you can't notice a difference from a GTX980 and the HD3000 on Microsoft Office. Since I don't plan to use this setup for gaming, just charting, these adapters should work.
Take a look at this video, although he's using USB 3.0 adapters all around, it's pretty impressive:
I'm looking for a "proper" USB hub, with external power adapter and more sophisticated internal circuitry (not just a lane sharing design). Once I get it, I'll let you know how it did turn out. But now I'm pretty sure my bottleneck is the "el cheapo" hub. ;-)
Just watched the video and am extremely impressed. I did not think that either the notebook nor the USB port would be handling that load. Just goes to show how much this technology has advanced since I last looked at it.
Yes, good aren't they. I use the exact same one as @AMGT, absolute bargain. The key if I recall is that it has on-chip display buffer and works with difference protocols, a bit like the remote viewers, so bandwidth use is not that great.
I use mine together with an Nvidia and an ATI FireMV (now that is an ugly unsupported trio combination!) but it works a treat with Ninja.
The other products they have also makes for a pretty decent docking station setup. Makes it very easy to switch between different notebooks and PCs. Have to say, I am very impressed and can already see several possibilities for setups I thought impossible before. Using the docking station and my OneDrive, I can literally plug in almost any PC / notebook and with minimal software installation be up-and-running in minimum time. Hardware failure on the desktop - no problem, just plug in the notebook and you're good to go with your standard setup.
I have just ordered a new USB hub. It's a 4 port, USB 3.0, with a 2A external power adapter (which should translate into full 500mA for each port) and it is supposed to have a much more sophisticated internal circuitry. At least it cost more than 10 times the price of the "el cheapo" one. ;-)
It should arrive next week. As soon as I get to test it, I'll post here the results.
Just to be sure, I decided to do the little test that @grausch mentioned, trying to copy a file to a flash drive plugged directly into the port versus the same device plugged via the el cheapo hub (internal circuitry pictures attached a few posts above).
Began the test by copying some dataset files I have backed up on an external hard-drive (which supports both USB 3.0 and 2.0 connections). Plugging it directly to the USB 2.0 port on the notebook, average speed was about 30.7 Mb/s.
Tried plugging through the hub, it would not even provide enough current to power up the external drive! If I had any doubts about the hub, now they were gone. However, still to have the "complete" data, I got a first gen, USB 1.0, pen-drive I have had for years (which has a super capacity of 128Mb!!). Plugging directly into the USB 2.0 port and copying the same files, average speed of 9.3Mb/s (clearly limited by the drive media itself).
Plugging this pen-drive through the el cheapo hub, copying the exact same file, average speed of... Surprise!! About 1Mb/s. After that, I´m really impressed that the display adapter worked at all through this same connection!
Below are some screenshots from the windows copy dialog. They are in portuguese but hopefully it´s possible to make out the transfer speed from right the middle of the graph, labelled "Velocidade" (portuguese word for speed).
From left to right, external hard-drive direct USB 2.0 connection, old pen-drive direct connection, old pen-drive through the cheap hub.
First image is an external hard-drive, USB 3.0 compatible, connected directly to the USB port on the laptop. Second image is the same external HD, but plugged via the hub. As can be seen from the images, the transfer speed ("velocidade" in the images, as my OS is in portuguese) is about the same.
Connecting the USB display adapter through it showed no noticeable lag as well.
Two display adapters plugged via the hub. The monitors are 23" Full HD (one using DVI connection and the other HDMI), plus the 15" laptop screen which is also Full HD.