Dual Screen

[Surge89]

I'm looking to get a dual screen system in place, however, I have a question or two.

1) At the moment I have an ATI 9200, which only has one output, Would I be able to just buy a second PCI GFX Card from e-bay or something, and plug in a second monitor?

2) Would this second card need to be ATI aswell?

Thanks

 

[RHochstenbach]

No, I think that you'll need a VGA splitter cable to connect 2 screens on 1 VGA card, if it only has 1 VGA output.

 

[Surge89]

But, will this allow me to have a different output on each screen?

 

[RHochstenbach]

No, if you want to do that, you'll need to replace your graphics card with one that has 2 VGA outputs. You can only use multiple graphics cards with SLI motherboards.

 

[Surge89]

Would you be able to recommend a good model? I'm running on a AGP port.

 

[Matt555]

No, if you want to do that, you'll need to replace your graphics card with one that has 2 VGA outputs. You can only use multiple graphics cards with SLI motherboards.

Not true at all.

You can add another PCI graphics card for the 2nd monitor. Or you can buy an AGP card with 2 outputs.

SLI uses two graphics cards to run one monitor.

 

[Surge89]

Thanks Matt D:

Does it need to be another ATI model?

 

[Matt555]

I'm not sure, I've never tried.

I'd honestly suggest getting a new card with dual headers, it'll be easier and probably won't cost much more. You can get cheap dual-screen capable cards.

 

[Big B]

For the sake of drivers, it'd be in your best intrests to go with another ATi-based card. From what I've seen, using video cards with different GPU companies in the mix seems to cause some bad mojo.

 

[Surge89]

Instead of buying a new GFX card, I bought a VGI to DVI adapater, which is working sweet :D