Kiznik Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 I'm thinking about starting to use two or if possible three monitors. I like to watch movies, play Settlers, and read forums at the same time, and I'm tired of doing it all on my one little screen. Does anyone have any suggestions for an extra video card that would allow me to add an one or preferably two additional monitors? I have no preference as to brand and not really for price either. Here's what my new video card needs to work with: 3 x 19 inch flat panel monitor 1 x Integrated UniChrome Pro 3D Graphics, 64 MB shared memory (integrated) 1 x VGA port 1 x AGP8X/4X slot 6 x USB Ports 2 x 256 MB dual channel DDR 400 MHz ram 1 x 2400 MHz Intel Celeron (4.5 x 533 MHz FSB) 1 x Windows XP Professional SP2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TetsuoShima Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 OOO, I'm thinking you might be out of luck with this one.... unless you want to buy one of these nifty video splitters from matrox... Once you place a vid-card in your agp slot, most likely your onboard will become automatically disabled. If not, it's real easy, nearly all video cards out there support 2 monitors, so combined with the onboard, that would make 3, but I have some serious doubts if that will work. -If not, you could install a matrox Parhelia, most (if not all, not sure) models have triple head support (ie. 3 monitors supported). -Or you could buy an agp vid card (doesn't really matter which, nearly all support 2 monitors) and an extra PCI vid card for the 3rd monitor. - Another option is to buy an agp card and a matrox dualhead2go, it 'creates' 2 signals out of 1, so no extra PCI card needed then... Have to warn you though, Matrox is not the cheapest brand out there, they mostly specialise in professional high quality 2d equipment. Also take into account whether you plan on buying LCD monitors that support VGA or DVI or maybe both. It would be rather inefficient to buy stuff and then find out later that the connections don't fit... :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mateya Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Have to warn you though' date=' Matrox is not the cheapest brand out there, they mostly specialise in professional high quality 2d equipment. Oh, yeah, I have Matrox and it was not cheap - but it works like a charm and it is the best for 2d graphics, if you need that (and I do). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jhug666 Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 if you want to use two monitors then u'll definatly need a splitter as even putting an extra pci card in will not give u an extra moniter. + its cheaper than buying an extra vid card. first check if ur current card supports two moniters then buy a splitter and plug that in to the vid card and the moniters to the splitter. hope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magestorm Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Actually, I can do a monitor, lcd screen, and a television screen, all 3 at once with my laptop. It has the video card that allows it all to work at once. It is the Toshiba Sattelite M45 series computer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bones2097 Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 yes but are the screens independent i can do the same with my laptop it got a radeon 9700... but it can only have 2 independent screens?? i think :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TFMF Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 Well - i run 2 monitors as well - I'm watching Stargate on the other monitor while i type this - it works fine - although i haven't tried a game and a video at the same time... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x5315 Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 i use two monitors, i have 1 on board and then my primary is a pci graphics card. Works like a treat. I used to do it with my laptop as well. I read somewhere that splitters weren't as good as an extra slot. Oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NiteShdw Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 All new video cards come with 2 monitor ports on them. My nVidia 5700 (old card) has 1 VGA and 1 DVI, and I run with with two LCD monitors. And yes, onboard video is always disabled when using another video card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magestorm Posted February 19, 2006 Share Posted February 19, 2006 yes but are the screens independent i can do the same with my laptop it got a radeon 9700... but it can only have 2 independent screens?? i think :) Actually, if I remember right, the Radeon 9700 can run three with minor tweaking. I know mine took some work to get it going good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiznik Posted February 20, 2006 Author Share Posted February 20, 2006 i use two monitors' date=' i have 1 on board and then my primary is a pci graphics card. Works like a treat. I used to do it with my laptop as well. I read somewhere that splitters weren't as good as an extra slot. Oh well.[/quote'] Hm, I wonder if my video card can do that. I could buy 2 PCI video cards and use them in addition to my onboard one, unless my onboard video would automatically be disabled. I could also potentially buy one PCI card and 1 splitter: that would give me three video outputs as well. I could also try using one regular AGP card and hope my onboard doesn't automatically disable. Does anyone know of an AGP or PCI card that has 3 video outputs, if my onboard video must be disabled? Magestorm mentioned the Radeon 9700 with tweaking: what kind of tweaking? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
USWhoFan Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 And yes' date=' onboard video is always disabled when using another video card.[/quote']Not necessarily, it really depends on the systems BIOS. I've got a couple systems here with onboard video, one disabled itself when I installed a card into the APG slot, but the other system didn't, I had to disable it manually in the BIOS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amnot Borg Posted March 2, 2006 Share Posted March 2, 2006 Seems, I remember that Windows XP can support 10 monitors on a single PC. You can get 3 monitors hooked up depending on motherboard slots: PCI, PCIe, AGP, and type of video card. 1)Install one single or dual VGA video card with appropriate connectors. Install one dual VGA video card with appropriate connectors. 2)Install two dual VGA video cards with appropriate connectors. Then you connect all three monitors wherever you'd like them placed around your desk. Then you go to display settings and enable all 3 monitors. If you want to keep them separate then DO NOT enable Extend Desktop. I think that will work. * *I am not responsible for other people not using their brains to do proper research. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyran Posted March 4, 2006 Share Posted March 4, 2006 I just use a nx7800gt card it has two of the new type conectors on it so i have two moniters one on top of the other mostly i use the second moniter for when i bring home work but when it's not in use i connect it up Great for ordinary things like mirc on one and forum on the other but movies and games won't both play at the same time although it seems i still get the movie soundtrack Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vystral Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 You want to use all three? Sorry, dude, but you're going to need this: http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/02/matrox-triplehead2go-gives-your-laptop-3-more-screens/ If you just want to run two, buy anything from nvidia. The drivers support dual monitors right out of the box. That's how I roll anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
remedyu Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 I'll be running 3 30" monitors soon. I'll have to get 2 vid cards. Actually, make that 4 vid cards because I'll be running two systems. Probably have to use a kvmp switch as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vystral Posted March 6, 2006 Share Posted March 6, 2006 I'll be running 3 30" monitors soon. I'll have to get 2 vid cards. Actually' date=' make that 4 vid cards because I'll be running two systems. Probably have to use a kvmp switch as well.[/quote'] SLI baby. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiznik Posted March 9, 2006 Author Share Posted March 9, 2006 You want to use all three? Sorry, dude, but you're going to need this: http://www.engadget.com/2006/03/02/matrox-triplehead2go-gives-your-laptop-3-more-screens/ If you just want to run two, buy anything from nvidia. The drivers support dual monitors right out of the box. That's how I roll anyway. That device looks like rad. Especially because I could buy one, and then I'd never have to keep upgrading video cards as time went on, I could keep using that same hookup. I'm gonna go back and check again to see if there's a verson that's DVI. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Megalith Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 the latest nVidia g-force cards are pci, definately go for pci these GForce are hot with 256MB DDR. when it comes to it AGP is kinda pointless, all the processing is achieved onboard the card in the time between processor requests. you also have the option of attaching a tv as an extra monitoring device i do this with mine by running a cable downstairs so i no longer need to burn disks in any particular format just backup as i get em ;) of course you have this ability without the need for a secondary card :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrDad Posted March 23, 2006 Share Posted March 23, 2006 The guy in this article is using a dual head ATI AGP gfx card with a single head ATI PCI gfx card to get a triple monitor set-up. Windows XP natively supports up to 10 monitors and using Ultramon supports 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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