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Forums -> Multiple monitors -> Primary and Secondary Video Card
Clayton   2008-02-10 19:13
i have looked everywhere and i just cannot find how to force windows to see the pcie card as primary and NOT the pci card...

am running 2 ati cards (pcie 128mb and pci 64mb) on a dell system where i am pretty sure this change is not possible via bios.

any ideas?

Clayton
Christian Studer   2008-02-11 10:31
On my Dell Precision 470 the option is under Video > Primary Video in the BIOS, you can select PEG (for PCIe) or PCI as the primary card.

Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
Clayton   2008-02-11 20:09
hi Christian,

thanks for the reply... my bios is slightly different and only has options for on board card (which is obviously disabled) or dedicated card. i spoke to dell support and they told me it was impossible to run 3 monitors... so i have installed a pci card (removed fax/modem card) but now the system sees the pci card as primary, not the pcie card.

am guessing this is a tricky one to change as it must be done "outside" the bios.

there must be a way somehow... the main reason for this is that the pci card resolution is rubbish and there is no reason it should be as it's a 64mb card running 1 monitor!?!?! it's driving me crazy...

Clayton
Christian Studer   2008-02-12 10:36
If both cards work fine, you could always change the primary monitor in Windows via Display Properties, Windows can use any monitor as primary.

Usually you only need to change the BIOS primary card if one of the cards needs to be primary in the BIOS in order to work correctly.

Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
Clayton   2008-02-15 18:29
ok, have now bought a powercolor radeon 9250 128mb pci card to see if this will improve things, but for some reason windows will NOT recognise the card, or the system will simply not start and beeps to confirm system failure or something similar.

not sure why this is the case... only guess is mobo system limitations on 2 video cards with this system.

have gone back to 64mb pci but not happy with this, but will do until i can figure this out!

Clayton
Forums -> Multiple monitors -> Primary and Secondary Video Card

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