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Forums -> Multiple monitors -> Ok to mix-and-match Gfx cards for 3 monitors?
traycerb   2008-11-29 14:47
I have a dual monitor setup on XPsp2 with an ATI Radeon x1950xt, and want to upgrade to a triple (3) monitor setup.

Dual monitors is easy because the Radeon has 2 outputs, but with three I need a new graphics card, and I'm wondering: can I use any graphics card at all?

My plan was to pick up any cheap PCI card, but is this going to work? Does it have to be by ATI? Also, I only have one PCI-E slot, which is occupied by the Radeon, so will having a PCI (not express) card cause problems?

Someone in this thread (
http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/forum/messages.asp?Topic=8488&tmpl=UltraMon) indicates he was able to do it successfully, but it sounds like a try-it-and-see endeavor. Is there anyway to predict in advance if it's likely to work?

I did see the epic triple monitor thread here (http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/forum/messages.asp?Topic=2812&tmpl=UltraMon) but it's primarly people reporting issues I don't have (yet), so not much use...
Christian Studer   2008-12-01 08:55
In general this should work fine, but there's no way to determine in advance if a given configuration will work for sure on your system.

On XP any recent PCI video card should work fine, but for Vista you would need cards which can use the same driver, for example two cards using the same ATI chipset.

Mixing PCIe and PCI cards will work fine in general, I used a system with a PCIe and a PCI Nvidia Quadro NVS card for some time, but on the same system combining a PCIe and regular PCI ATI FireMV card didn't work.

Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
Forums -> Multiple monitors -> Ok to mix-and-match Gfx cards for 3 monitors?

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