Joe 2010-11-11 13:43
I want to use three monitors on a dell xps9100 running win 7 x64. 525W power supply and a HD5670 Video card. The specs indicate I have an extra PCIe slot so can I just add any video card or do I need two have two of the same cards? The primary use for the 3rd monitor is spreadsheets and web pages.
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Joe 2010-11-12 03:14
I opened up the case today and the HD5670 occupies the pcie16 slot. The only open slots are: pci card slot, pcie8 card slot, and a pcie3 card slot. Can I use another graphics card in one of these slots?
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Christian Studer 2010-11-12 06:46
Only if it's the same length as the x16 slot, otherwise you would need to install an x1 PCIe video card, or a USB video card. See Installing an additional video card for more on this.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Christian Studer 2010-11-12 06:48
Regarding your other question: video cards don't need to be the same, Windows 7 supports mixing different cards/brands.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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ecarlson 2010-11-14 03:09
If one of your shorter PCIe slots (not PCI slots) has a notch in the back to allow longer cards, then you could use a cheap PCIe X16 card in it. You can also notch the slot yourself, as many people have done.
You can also do what I did, and modify a cheap PCIe X16 card to fit in a shorter PCIe slot. See my web site for details of the PCIe X1 mod I did.
You won't need a high performance card for what you plan to do. You should be able to get a new card for under $30, like I did.
- Eric, www.InvisibleRobot.com
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Joe 2010-11-14 04:46
I appreciate your responses but have decided to simply return this PC and opt for a new one that has the features this one claimed it had. I was dissapointed that dell listed this PC as having expansion slots vs stating "Available slots" If I am having this many issues upgrading at this point I am going to opt for a system wiith room to grow. Thank you again.
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ecarlson 2010-11-14 14:34
Sounds like you want to look for a PC that has at least 2 PCIe X16 slots, and enough space between them to fit 2 cards, since some video cards are wider than 1 slot.
If a system is listed as having 1 PCIe X16 slot (probably like the one you bought), and it comes with a video card (as opposed to just on-board video), then the video card will obviously be in that 1 slot.
The motherboard I have has 2 PCIe X16 slots. I bought it that way so I could add a second video card later if I wanted, without making any modifications.
The PCIe X1 video card modification I did was for another computer, where I didn't have the option to change the motherboard, and I wanted more than 2 monitors. It was a very inexpensive and very easy solution for my particular situation.
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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Voiper 2010-11-14 16:09
Hi Christian, just to confirm what you have written above (because it sounds too good to be true!):
"Regarding your other question: video cards don't need to be the same, Windows 7 supports mixing different cards/brands."
I am running Windows 7 and currently have a PCI-E card running two screens. Now I'm thinking of getting a PCI card that will support an additional two screens. Going on from what you have said above, does that mean I can get any PCI card, regardless of the manufacturer, and it will work in conjunction with my other two screens?
If this is the case (which I really hope it is!) what is the "Database" page for? ( http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/db.asp )
Cheers
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Christian Studer 2010-11-15 10:28
In general yes, but unfortunately there are no guarantees.
For example on the same Windows 7 system I had PCIe ATI + PCIe Nvidia and PCIe Nvidia + PCI Nvidia working fine, but PCIe ATI and PCI ATI didn't work, even though the PCIe and PCI cards were both ATI FireMV cards.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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George 2010-11-16 05:59
Forgive me if I missed a detail here, but an HD5670 supports three displays on its own. Why would you need to add another card?
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