Thread: Twin Monitors

I use a Matrox G550 but that is old technology nowadays. Whatever you get make sure you can run both displays independently to get more desktop space.

most cards in the $50-$100 range that have two video outputs will do this for you.

If you monitor has a DVI connector (more pins) then that is better than VGA.

If you want to do game stuff then spend > $250

" If you want to do game stuff then spend > $250"
For gaming Id say start at $400+ and then you want 2 of them in SLI or Xfire!

Hi,
This card is about in the middle of the price range at about 180.
MSI GF8800GT 512M OC DDR3 2 X Dual Link DVI HDCP HDTV-Out PCI-E
It would do all you need plus more I suspect.

What is it you would actually need dual monitor's for? Brags?

If you set out what it is you currently have, and what you want to achieve then maybe I can help out selecting some stuff.

Hatchy

Yep they were a good low~mid card in their day(about 1 year ago!), $180 is not a bad price but you should be able to get one cheaper if you haggle them down. Just dont expect to run high res using DX10, 1400x900 will slow it down enough to cause very stuttery performance.
Spend a little more say $240 and you have something like a ATI 4850, this will future proof you for another couple years as its fully DX10 compatible and absolutely screams compared to the GF8800gt.

Smidsy what do you use your computer for?

Hei Guys,
I suppose that the second monitor is more for pose value and the fact that I'm getting too lazy to actually switch between windows.
The pc is mainly used for uni stuff including CAD and BT downloading, no high end gaming.

The new card is going to be part of an upgrade, I've got around $600 to spend on RAM, CPU and mainboard which I shall add to the existing case and drives.
Cheers
Paul

The right choice of mainboard will neglect the need for a video card.

The fact that you just want more room to put stuff means that you will not be putting a huge load on the graphics processor so the el-cheapo solution would be to buy a mainboard with dual video output and buy lots of ram. ram is cheap so get 2 or 4 gig.

This solution will offend a lot of people..... but it may be the solution for you and should save $100.

The Asus V2A or V3A series of boards do this well.

CAD is the original reason for dual monitors, no wank/pose factor at all smidsy!

BH is correct a good quality MB with a inbuilt GPU will do the job but... even a low end separate GPU card will substantially decrease the load on the CPU and the MB for much better performance when rendering and moving the view of a 3D item in a CAD program.(something you do a lot of in CAD)

just to throw one other option out there - why not just get a bigger monitor, not sure what you have now but i have dabbled with 2 before and just ended up frustrated. i now have a 24" LCD and love it. even used it as a TV with reasonable and highly watchable results, sure its not the same as my 50" HD plasma, but it works.

its just another option - there are 27" and 28" monitors for less than a grand. my 24" was $1200 not that long ago - but thats computers for you.

Depends on what you want to use computer for and how much you want to spend most of the modern pci express cards allow for 2 monitors. I usually use either http://staticice.com.au or http://www.shopbot.com.au to get best online price then see if local bloke will match or get close

What is your current PC? you might find that Just upgrading the RAM and Video card might be OK. Autocad Likes 1gb or ram for XP and 2gb for vista

you may also need to upgrade the power supply if you get one of the current cards
Cheers

Originally Posted by smidsy

Hei Guys,
About to rebuild the pc and twin monitors is something I'd like to be able to do on the new machine - planning on upgrading the current box with RAM, CPU, Board & Video Card.
Can anyone recommend a basic card that will allow this?
Cheers
Paul

Hei Guys,
My current PC is a P4 3gig running 2gig of cheap & nasty ram (wifey had a say in the last build) and Win2k - does everything I need to do and uses less power than XP. I'll go Linux before I go Fista.
Current monitor is a 22inch LCD, - bigger would be nice but not on a student's budget.
Cheers

"bigger would be nice but not on a student's budget."

But two 30" Ultra sharp DELL screens would be a hoot
and two ATI 4870X2's in crossfire driving them... Hmmmm a $8K+ computer!

can dual monitors be run off a laptop.

when i am in the office i run my laptop off a docking station with a LCD mointor, is there an external controler rather than a card that can be used to have duals going.

Originally Posted by Gaza

can dual monitors be run off a laptop.

when i am in the office i run my laptop off a docking station with a LCD mointor, is there an external controler rather than a card that can be used to have duals going.

Yes, there is such a device. http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/

We recently bought a triple head unit for a client - making a pc for running flight sim. Don't know what the dual head costs but the triple head was around $600.

Other than that, you can just use the laptop screen as one monitor and add another screen to the output.