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Forums -> Multiple monitors -> 3 monitors = slow computer?
Jay   2005-03-09 15:30
Hi,

I just recently added a third monitor by adding an ATI 7000 PCI card to my existing ATI 7500 AGP, P4 1.7 GHZ system. The card works great except that now my computer is much slower in running just about every program. I didn't have any problems when it was just two monitors.

How can I fix this? Do I need to upgrade my computer? Please Help!

Thanks!

- Jay
Tantalus   2005-03-10 00:55
take a look at your PCI BIOS settings. you may have to experiment w/fine-tuning those settings to get the best pci performance.

what programs/apps are you running when you see the slowdown?
Jay   2005-03-10 01:22
Where can I find my PCI BIOS settings?

I am running some financial software. It seems programs take longer to open and are generally slower.

Thanks for your help.

- Jay
Tantalus   2005-03-10 02:56
generally, those settings are under the Advanced Settings option in the BIOS setup. if you are running branded-systems such as dell, compaq, etc with stripped-down (ie. locked down)BIOS'es...those settings may be not be available to you.

fyi...financial apps (not counting number crunching programs) should not burden the cpu enough to cause a significant slowdown unless you are running real-time programs that are constantly updating screen tables on screen such as data feeds (bloomberg, reuters, etc).
Jay   2005-03-10 05:21
Hey Tantalus

Thanks for all your help. It appears the problem was not the hardware but with the software, which was recently upgraded to a newer version.

I have another problem now... I've noticed that my computer has become quite hot with an additional video card. Is this okay? Will I cause any damage to my computer?

Thanks.

- Jay
Tantalus   2005-03-10 06:14
heat is never good for electronics but i doubt the mere addition of a single radeon 7000 will lead to some soft of hardware crash.

that being said however, i always try to make sure that my hard drives get as much cooling as possible...all my cases have an intake fan directly in front of the drive bays since the single most important thing to me, is the data on the hard drives.

in the office, i have a dell small-form factor which runs very hot but the data is backed up each night and any hardware breakage, is either under warranty or replaced by the company.
Jay   2005-03-10 08:14
Its really only the PCI card that really heats up. Is this ok? Will the card get damaged from the heat?

- Jay
Tantalus   2005-03-10 13:13
what are your case temps? i don't think it should be a big deal...passively cooled cards generally don't put out that much heat and shouldn't be an issue unless you have a small form factor case.
Jay   2005-03-10 15:21
I don't know what my case temperature is but its not too bad. Its only the PCI card that is burning up... everything else is fine.

- Jay
Forums -> Multiple monitors -> 3 monitors = slow computer?

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