Questions about VGA port and two monitors

J

jari

Geek Trainee
Hi,
I am not sure does my motherboard have integrated graphics card or not but it does have a VGA port, can I plug my monitor in that?
I am planning to use two monitors you see and I tested plugin monitor in the VGA port but after starting the PC nothing was displayed in the monitor. I have GF AGP adapter currently in use and here's the info about my motherboard. It reads "Integrated Graphics VIA UniChrome graphics" which seems bit wierd, does it refer to the integrated adapter used via the VGA port?

Thanks in advance, I tried to keep my post short and simple.

Jari.
 
It does have integrated graphics but you'll not be able to use that and your AGP card for a dual monitor setup, you may be able to use 2 monitors through your AGP Video Card but it depends what the card is.
 
Matt555 said:
It does have integrated graphics but you'll not be able to use that and your AGP card for a dual monitor setup, you may be able to use 2 monitors through your AGP Video Card but it depends what the card is.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info! Odd that they dont work at the same time? Because as I have understand I could get dual monitors if I just had additional adapter in PCI slot and then the current one in AGP.

Suppose I would use only the VGA, what do I need to do in order to get it working? Do I need to remove the AGP card?

Thanks!
 
Most integrated graphics use the AGP bus, and the design of doesn't make it very friendly for dual video cards on the bus.

But, yes, you should be able to use the on-board graphics (you may need to re-enable them in BIOS) and a PCI video card.
 
 
I do ^_^

For me it helps with designing / coding at the same time, having a large workspace is, well, just nice really! :P

Using 2 monitors is good if you have the space / Graphics Card and Monitors to do it, I highly reccommend it, I really don't like using single displays now (unless they've got a high resolution)
 
Thank you all for the replies!

But I still don't know why the monitor didnt work when I first plugged it in the VGA port, could be that I have to enable it from BIOS and I quess that it just has to be done before pluggin the monitor...

Yeah I need two monitors because there's just too many programs open at a time and sometimes I even run a linux in a virtual machine.
 
I contacted my PC manufactor's online technician about this and he said that the VGA doesnt work because of the AGP card, so looks like matt is right.

And apparently I need to buy s-video cord, VGA -> s-video cable that is. Why dont they ship all the cables with the equipment? ;)
 
jari said:
Thank you all for the replies!

But I still don't know why the monitor didnt work when I first plugged it in the VGA port, could be that I have to enable it from BIOS and I quess that it just has to be done before pluggin the monitor...

Yeah I need two monitors because there's just too many programs open at a time and sometimes I even run a linux in a virtual machine.
Click to expand...

it's ok then, i just thought you might have just wanted 2 monitors for testing pupposes
 
Wow this is tricky s-video to VGA seems to be very rare cable if it even exists?

I'm thinking that my secondary option is to buy s-video -> s-video cable because the monitor came with optional TV/AV module that has s-video port where the video's s-video cable would go, correct?

I'm just quessing, please help. :)
 
Ok some news :)
I used the S-video from the monitor to PC and my PC was actually able to display image in the monitor but with a horrible quality because it was considered as TV! That's understandable...

I quess I just have to use DVI in a graphics card.
 
The best way is to get a new Vid Card that's got multi-display capabilities, the software for such a thing comes with the card and is easy to set up and manage.
 
Matt555 said:
The best way is to get a new Vid Card that's got multi-display capabilities, the software for such a thing comes with the card and is easy to set up and manage.
Click to expand...

I trust that this is the case but that costs money. :)
Funny thing that nvidia has lot of nice options for multiple monitors/desktops in windows which you can play with even you'd just have one monitor because my geforce 5200 fx has only one VGA and S-Video.

What about VGA splitter?
 
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