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Olo 2005-03-06 20:44
Right now I have an ASUS A7n8x deluxe motherboard with a Radeon 9800XT video card in the AGP slot. I don't think the mobo has any more slots (product spec here: http://www.asus.com/products/mb/socketa/a7n8x-d/overview.htm ).
I have a monitor running on the primary VGA and another attached to the DVI via a DVI-VGA converter. I was wondering what I needed to do to get another two monitors up and running. Or more specifically, what motherboard/video card(s) I should look into? The mobo currently houses 2 sticks of 512MB pc2100 RAM and an Athlon XP 2800+, so the new mobo would have to be able to handle at least that.
So I turn to you, UltraMon forums, for your wisdom in such things. What should I do?
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Tantalus 2005-03-07 00:12
you mean to say you don't have a one pci slot available out of the five?
according to specs, that mobo has 2 nics and onboard sound, usb, etc...if you are using all five slots, i doubt buying a different mobo will help much since most configurations are 5 pci/1agp.
if you have a free pci slot, simply buy a dual-output pci card. otherwise, you will need to replace the agp card with something that supports quad displays. they're out there but i don't know how good they are for gaming (if that is in your plans).
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Max 2005-03-07 00:37
I guess you just need a pci card beside the agp you already have. Since you got a Radeon, my personal hint is to buy another radeon to put beside. if you are not interested in powerful
applications like multidisplay gaming or complex
graphics, you may consider those two options :
radeon 7000 : with 32 or 64 mb of ram
radeon 9200/9250 : with 128 or 256.
they both comes in pci format, made from the
two most productive radeon brands, sapphire
and powercolor. you may find those in most
of the online resellers, compusa, newegg, etc
some shops also sell them on ebay, I did
shop more than one there for myself.
I do run 2 systems both with a mix
of 9600 and 9200 one, the other with a
9250 secondary. If you choose the 7000,
you will have of course less performance
and graphics capabilities, but will allow
anyway to have 4 displays extended desktop.
If you choose a pci card from the same
manufacturer of your 9800 and you have
updated drivers, most likely the system
will recognize your new card automatically.
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Olo 2005-03-07 07:41
I just bit it and freed up a slot. Do any of you know of cards with more than 5PCI? As for a video card, do any of you have experience with MATROX QID LP PCIe? (http://www.matrox.com/mga/workstation/3dws/products/qid/qid_lp_pcie.cfm)?
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Olo 2005-03-07 07:49
Err, if I do do somethign like get the Matrox QID, will I be able to span a desktop across all the monitors?
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Olo 2005-03-07 08:43
Sorry for the forum spam, I just keep remembering things I've forgotten to add.
I plan on installing the second card with the Radeon 9800XT. If I get another PCI card, will I be able to expand the desktop accross all the monitors? If I get a PCI card with more than one output (a la the Matrox QID), is it the same? Will I be able to have my expanded desktop?
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Max 2005-03-07 18:51
The matrox you talk about comes with AGP bus so it
would not fit in your system (you got only one AGP
slot).
And to answer your other question, yes, with more monitors and at least another video card you will
be able to span your desktop across, as well as
you should be able to do right now with your
two monitor setup. You just need a pci video card.
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Olo 2005-03-07 19:18
Heh, so that Matrox card requires an AGP slot? How can you tell? It says PCI...
Anyway, just one last question... I can have a really low end card and a really high end card work together safely, correct? So long as I don't attempt to game on the monitors attached the low end card? Would my 9800XT lose any functionality if I brought in a very cheap PCI card?
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Max 2005-03-08 01:21
> Heh, so that Matrox card requires an AGP slot?
> How can you tell? It says PCI...
Sorry - just check the wrong model.
You're right, it comes also in pci.
> Anyway, just one last question... I can have a
> really low end card and a really high end card
> work together safely, correct?
it depends on how much low is the end. as older
is the card, as easier is that it does not work
correctly, to don't talk about the incredible
performance loss you would have..
> So long as I don't attempt to game
> on the monitors attached the low end card?
some games works in multidisplay environment,
some other does not. every games that needs
to run in full screen mode without multiple
display support, has usually strange behaviour
handling the other display and the mouse.
> Would my 9800XT lose any functionality
> if I brought in a very cheap PCI card?
if you put in a 256kbyte pci card
coming out of an old pentium 166mmx,
I guess you can have some problem.
if for cheap you mean a 30$ radeon 7000,
you should not have any, stating the few configurations present in the database that
uses those 2 cards already
in any case, with any working card, the 9800
would not loose any functionality, but expect
slower speeds when handling windows in and
out the slower pci card monitors
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