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Forums -> Multiple monitors -> Problem with MSI Radeon X1600 - or: what card to buy (2 DVI, passive cooling)
Olaf Rabbachin   2006-10-26 22:58
Hi everybody,

I have a brand new PC here that runs with a MSI card (X1600XT-T2D256EZ). Problem: the second (right) monitor will not show the complete picture. When starting (BIOD/DOS), only the upper half of picture will be visible. Under Windows (XP Pro SP2), an area of just about the height of the taskbar will remain black. That area will not show any information (i.e. desktop, a window, etc.), but the mouse-pointer will be visible there. Also, you can click anywhere and the context menu (if present) of the object underneath will be displayed.

The MSI-support tells me to install the latest drivers. How helpful! Of course I have tried various drivers, up to the latest one available.
Is it possible that reason is as simple as the card being defective?

Also: what cards do you folks use? I only need two DVI-monitors (running 1680*1050), but I dislike fans, so I'd be looking for a passive cooled card with a PCIe-connector. Matrox does not have any passively cooled PCIe-card that would support my resolution and I have a bad experience with NVidia ...

Any >input< greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Olaf
Christian Studer   2006-10-27 09:22
Did you look at the ATI FireMV cards? They also don't have fans.

I use the Nvidia Quadro NVS 280 myself, no fan and dual DVI support.

Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
Olaf Rabbachin   2006-10-27 21:30
Hi Christian,

thanks - sounds good, although I'd have to buy the "Quadro NVS 285" which comes with a PCIe-connector.
The NVS 440 (with 4 DVI-connectors) also looks interesting since there's 2 additional 18" TFTs that are left over from the last PC here.
Its price is a bit much (EUR ~440) compared to the 2-connector cards (EUR 140 for a NVS 285).

Colleagues told me that they wouldn't consider running more than 2 monitors with Windows. When I browse through the pages here, there's people with lots more than that, and an UltraMon-Screenshot showing 18 monitors. So, does it work just fine with 4 monitors?

Cheers,
Olaf
ECarlson   2006-10-28 01:25
Sure, Windows works fine with 4 monitors.

- Eric, www.InvisibleRobot.com
Forums -> Multiple monitors -> Problem with MSI Radeon X1600 - or: what card to buy (2 DVI, passive cooling)

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