patrician 2004-02-25 14:37
HELP!
Anyone care to suggest easiest card to buy and install to upgrade Dell Dimension 2300 512 RAM etc to use multiple (2) CRT monitors (19 and 17 inch KDS flatscreen)??
TIA
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ecarlson 2004-02-25 14:58
Easiest to buy? They're all pretty easy to buy. What types of things do you want to do? If it's just desktop apps, there are lots of choices.
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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patrician 2004-02-29 13:30
Just need an easily installed card to let me run 2 or 3 19 inch KDS CRT monitors to help productivity in working with spreadsheets, viewing but not editing digital photos, IE and Word.......
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ecarlson 2004-02-29 14:46
Just about any card should fill that bill. You don't even need much video processing power because you aren't doing 3D Games. If you already have an AGP card, get an inexpensive NVidia based PCI card to go with it, or replace it with a dual-out NVidia based AGP card. Easily under $100 for either option.
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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Barton 2004-03-02 02:00
Patrician,
Before you jump in and purchase a video card, you might want to contact Dell to verify this.
The Dell 2300 series PC's do not have a AGP slot. The video is intregrated on the motherboard. The system has 4 PCI slots so you will have to either buy a DUAL output PCI card or two separate video cards. My guess is that when you add a video card to this PC, your on-board video will be disabled.
You can read more about the Dell 2300 here:
Dell 2300
Good Luck!
Barton
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ecarlson 2004-03-02 14:27
OOPS, should have caught the Dell 2300 part. The onboard video might work with a PCI card added, but it's questionable. If he has a cheap PCI card sitting around, he could give it a try.
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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patrician 2004-03-04 12:57
whoa.
you guys know it all.
how about a Millennium G450 PCI from Matrox to run 2 KDS 19" flat screens? will that fly?
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patrician 2004-03-04 12:58
and will i truly run into fewer bugs if i use two monitors of identical make and model?
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patrician 2004-03-06 00:13
just came to my senses.
noticed last nite flat panels are rapidly approaching CRT prices.
would you go with flat panels instead of CRT for aesthetics despite extra cost?
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Barton 2004-03-06 02:52
Patrician,
I personally prefer flat panels (I have three of them) over CRT's both for the visual appeal as well as the lower power consumption ( and less heat).
If you do decide on flat panels, the next decision is whether or not you want one that supports both digital and analog signals or one that is just analog. The latter will be less expensive, but, I my humble opinion, a digital monitor provides much better resolution.
Regarding Matrox, I have never used their products, so I can't make a recommendation one way or the other. Personally, I would not sink a lot of money into a PCI card for a Dell 2300. You'll probably find you will outgrow that system very shortly.
If you go with CRT's or analog LCD's, check out the "PNY nVidia based 5200" PCI card from Newegg.com. $99 and you're done.
If you step up to an LCD monitor that supports both didital and analog signals, the above card will work, but to get the digital signals to the monitors, you'll probably have to get two "DVI" PCI cards. I have not been about to locate one (at a reasonable price) that has dual-DVI on a PCI card. The other problean is you have to make sure you have the available slots to use two PCI cards (you only have 4 available in your Dell).
If you have the money, make the investment in the monitors. Get ones that support both DVI (digital) and analog. Spend $100 on an analog card. Then when you upgrade your PC, make sure you get one that has an 8X AGP slot. Then your options become much greater with the available DUAL-Head AGP cards and your monitors will work great with your new system.
Good Luck!
Barton
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patrician 2004-04-01 15:06
OK Guys.
Got the extra KDS 19" Xflat .20 dot pitch, the Matrox Dualhead Video Card with adapter, two new monitor stands, plus La Cie 80 GB external HD to back up data before launching efforts tomorrow AM on venturing into dual monitor territory..........
wish me luck!!!!!
The PC World dweeb's video from 2003 says it should take about one hour!?
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ecarlson 2004-04-02 11:42
Luck.
Let us know how it turns out.
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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patrician 2004-04-03 15:24
Went smooth on installation. Great help from you guys, the Dell forum and good Matrox owner's manual.
Q: Is there display setting i can use to keep emails from opening right into the "middle" of the display, in other words, straddling the two displays with two huge bezels separating the screens?
It's driving me CRAZY with huge CRT bezels on 19" KDS Xflats to have to keep skipping my eyes over so many times per day from one monitor to next.
Word and IE will stay on one monitor; it's my email opening that keeps jumping across and astride the monitors. Surely to goodness there's a workaround?!!?
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ecarlson 2004-04-03 15:37
I've never had that problem. Most of my apps open where they were last open, which is true for both of my e-mail programs. I use Mozilla (1.7-Beta) for e-mail at home, and Outlook (2000) at work.
If Windows thinks you have one large monitor, instead of 2 seperate monitors, that could be part of the problem. Do you see one really wide monitor in Windows display properties, or 2 regular-width monitors? I see 2 regular-width monitors on all the dual-monitor computers I use.
- Eric www.InvisibleRobot.com
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Barton 2004-04-04 02:35
Interesting.....
Eric's right; however, if Word and IE consistantly open correctly, then Outlook should as well.
Try this. Open Outlook and position the window. Then open an email message (I'm assuming you open your message in a separate window as opposed to using the "preview pane" to view you messages) and position that window.
Next, instead of "X'ing" the window(s), click File>Exit. Do the same for Outlook. That should solve the problem and Windows should remember where you last opened the application. I have found that sometimes, if you use File>Exit as opposed to just "X'ing" the window, it seems to work better.
Good Luck!
Barton
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patrician 2004-04-04 15:07
HEY.
Works!
AHHHHHHHHHH! Every email and popup was centered astride the two! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
not anymore.
went to matrox help forums and somehow twiddled away with not matching color palettes and resolutions and it worked.
SHEW!
Was getting ready to throw in towel.
I'll email a pic in..........
I wish i had a GIANT HUGE DELL with four 20" screens aligned in 2 by 2!
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Barton 2004-04-05 07:30
Easily done.
You can either buy a set already put together from companies like Mass Multiples and 9XMedia or you can build it yourself.
The stands are available from Ergotron and then buy yourself 4 monitors that are "VESA" compliant.
Most Viewsonic, Planar and NEC monitors meet this requirement as well as many others. Just get ready to lay out some dough!
Barton
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