There are various ways to set up a multi-monitor display for your workstation, but plugging every monitor directly into your device can sometimes get a bit messy or complicated.
One of the ways to avoid this is to daisy-chain monitors, but if you have older monitors, you may only have VGA input and output ports for connecting to video feeds.
In this case, you may be wondering: can you daisy-chain monitors with VGA cables?
We have found that you can daisy-chain monitors with VGA cables, but since most monitors only have input ports, you’ll need to use VGA video extenders as well.
Simply connect your device and monitors to the VGA video extender. You can use another video extender to connect more monitors.
Quick Navigation
What Does Daisy-Chaining Monitors Mean?
If you’ve been looking into multi-monitor setups, you may have heard the phrase “daisy-chaining monitors”, but what does it mean?
When you daisy-chain monitors, you connect several monitors to each other using video cables.
Rather than connecting each monitor to your device, one monitor is connected to your device, and that monitor is connected to another monitor, which is connected to another monitor, and so on.
What Are the Benefits of Daisy-Chaining Monitors?
There are three main benefits when it comes to daisy-chaining monitors: bypassing a limited number of video output ports, maintaining a neater workstation, and doing more in-depth tasks.
Bypassing a Limited Number of Video Output Ports
Most PCs and laptops have a limited number of video output ports — usually just one, or perhaps two or three if you’re lucky.
This can be a hassle when you need to use more monitors than you have video output ports for.
An easy way to solve this is to daisy-chain monitors, which lets you get by with only one video output port on your computer.
Maintaining a Neater Workstation
Another benefit of daisy-chaining monitors is that you have fewer cables attached to your device.
And by attaching monitors to each other, you can also use shorter video cables, which are easier to tuck away out of sight.
Fewer video cables also means fewer things on your desk, which gives you more space at your workstation and makes it easier to keep clean.
Doing More In-depth Tasks
And, of course, the main benefit of daisy-chaining monitors is creating a setup with several displays, all of which you can use.
By using two or more monitors, you can divide your tasks between each monitor.
This allows you to do a variety of tasks, like read reference material, write a document, and join a video call all at once.
Can You Daisy-Chain Monitors With VGA Cables?
Yes, you can daisy-chain monitors with VGA cables!
However, because most monitors only have a VGA input port, using VGA cables and nothing else can limit you to the number of VGA output ports you have on your device.
Click the image for more info
The best way to efficiently daisy-chain monitors with VGA cables is to use VGA video extenders that have both VGA input and output ports .
These will allow you to daisy-chain, and they’ll help boost the video signal so that you can maintain the video quality.
Are There Other Ways to Daisy-Chain Monitors?
If you have relatively new monitors, they should be equipped with Thunderbolt or DisplayPort version 1.2 input and output ports.
If your GPU supports multi-stream transport, these are the most convenient ways to daisy-chain monitors, since all you have to do is use the respective cables to connect your monitors and device.
However, unless you use video extenders, you will have to decrease the resolution with each succeeding monitor.
How to Daisy-Chain Monitors With VGA Cables
If you have monitors that have VGA input ports, you can easily daisy-chain them using at least two VGA video extenders.
To daisy-chain monitors using VGA cables and two VGA video extenders, you can follow these easy steps:
- Connect the VGA video extender to a power source with its accompanying power cable.
- Plug one end of the VGA cable into your device.
- Plug the other end of the VGA cable into the input port of the first VGA video extender.
- Connect your first monitor to the VGA video extender using VGA cables.
- Connect your second monitor to the VGA video extender using VGA cables.
- If you have more monitors, you can use a second VGA video extender.
-
- Connect the second VGA video extender to a power source.
- Plug one end of a CAT5 video cable or a UTP video cable into the output port on the first VGA video extender.
- Plug the other end of the video cable into the CAT5 or UTP input port on the second VGA video extender.
- You can then connect up to two more monitors to the second VGA video extender using VGA cables.
-
- Once you have all your monitors connected, connect them to their power sources and turn them on.
- Finally, turn on your device.
You should now be able to set up your displays as you like!
Conclusion
The phrase “daisy-chaining” monitors means to connect multiple monitors to each other, and connect one of them to the device whose display you want to use.
Daisy-chaining monitors has three main benefits, including bypassing a limited number of video output ports, maintaining a neater workstation, and allowing you to do more in-depth tasks all at the same time.
You can daisy-chain monitors with VGA cables, but since most monitors only have a VGA input port, you’ll also need VGA video extenders to daisy-chain them.
If your monitors have Thunderbolt or DisplayPort input and output ports, you may find it easier to use these for daisy-chaining, since these don’t require video extenders.
To daisy-chain monitors, connect your VGA video extender to your device, then connect your monitors to the VGA video extender.
If you have more than two monitors, connect a second VGA video extender to the first using a CAT5 or UTP video cable, and plug the monitors into the second video extender.
Vance is a dad, former software engineer, and tech lover. Knowing how a computer works becomes handy when he builds Pointer Clicker. His quest is to make tech more accessible for non-techie users. When not working with his team, you can find him caring for his son and gaming.