Rob 2003-11-23 13:47
I have a couple questions that I hope can be answered by some of you experienced multi-monitor people:)
I am currently using a Leadtek Ti4400 AGP video card. I am using both outputs for a dual monitor setup right now. It has worked perfect and I love it! Well, I recently acquired another 19" monitor and so I was thinking that if dual 19" monitors was cool, triple would be even better! Anyways...sorry for the long story.
I'm looking for a good PCI video card to run the third monitor. I found a Gainward PCI 5200 FX video card that looked nice because it as passive cooling (silent system). Anyways, I have a couple questions.
1. Will this PCI video card (nvidia 5200 FX) work WITHOUT being initialized first in the BIOS? If not, is there another PCI video card that can be initialized AFTER my AGP card?
2. Is it bad to mix ATI/NVIDIA? For instance, if I upgrade to an ATI 9800pro sometime...can I still use the PCI 5200FX? Or will the ATI/NVIDIA mix cause issues?
3. Any other suggestions for a "cheaper" PCI video card?
P.S. I'm not necessarily looking to game on all 3 monitors. Just normal desktop work (video editing/engineering work/etc). Thanks in Advance!
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ecarlson 2003-11-24 10:18
That PCI card will probably initialize fine when AGP initializes first (I haven't tried that combo though). But there's no real reason to need the AGP card to initialize first. The AGP card can still be set primary in Windows, even if your PCI card is primary in BIOS.
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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Rob 2003-11-24 10:21
Thanks...I actually found a clearance gf2 mx400 at walmart today for 29 bucks. So I might try that cuz its a bit cheaper and I don't need any good 3d acceleration...
Hope this card will be ok...
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ecarlson 2003-11-24 10:27
It should be fine for 2D apps. You might need to set PCI as primary in BIOS, but as I said earlier, you can still set either card as primary in Windows.
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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