Dual Monitor question

flicktease wrote on 4/14/2003, 9:10 PM
I love the idea of having dual monitors but unfortunately I know almost nothing about computer hardware. Maybe someone can either answer my question or at least point me in the correct direction. I have an Intel motherboard D845PESV which I understand had lots of free slots of various types unused since I understand that the graphics facilities are already inbuilt onto this card.

I have heard that you don't always need a dualhead card if you have the correct slots available along with an additional graphic card. I already have a 2 year old Nvidia TNT card available should that prove usable. How do I find out just what I need.

Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 4/14/2003, 10:09 PM
You can simply add a video card. Windows XP supports this, but you'll need to set it up. Windows help says how. Its similar to the master slave relationship with hard drives. One graphic card/monitor will be the primary, the other secondary. Older versions of Windows may support dual monitors. Be caureful which variety of graphic card you buy. Since your montherboard has video build in, does it have a AGP slot? If so, then get a AGP graphic card. If not, a non AGP variety. Check your manual to be sure what is or isn't supported.

All of the above assumes you want dual monitors to spread out the contents of your desktop. For example you can drag some of windows to the 2nd monitor. If that's not what you want and you really want an external monitor to make adjustments off of, then all you need is a regular TV with video in plus a firewire card and digial camera or a analog to digital convertor like the Conperous mentioned here often.
Chienworks wrote on 4/14/2003, 10:29 PM
Windows 98SE is the oldest version of windows that supports multiple monitors natively. I wouldn't want to try to set this up in anything older than that. But then, Most of SonicFoundry's software requires 98SE or above anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem.

You can only have one AGP video adapter active in your computer (although an AGP card with dual monitor ports will work). If the onboard video is AGP then the card you add will have to be PCI. If your current video card is PCI then you can add either another PCI card or an AGP card. If you have mixed AGP and PCI cards then the PCI card will be the primary display. If using two PCI cards then usually the card higher up in the case will be the primary display.

With older versions of Windows you'll have to install the multi display support drivers from the card manufacturers. With 98SE i've never gotten cards from two different manufacturers to work together, though i've heard it's possible. XP is theoretically much easier to configure and may automatically recognize the two card setup. In advanced display settings will be an option to "extend my desktop across multiple monitors". With this checked, you now have a desktop that covers both monitors. You can expand windows across both screens, or drag some windows over to the second screen. Windows will let you arrange the two displays to function either side by side or one above the other, so you can stack the monitors vertically if you choose instead of side by side.
bakerja wrote on 4/15/2003, 8:37 AM
Chienworks:

I am using one AGP and one PCI with the AGP as the primary display. There is a toggle in my BIOS to choose which one is primary.
Jsnkc wrote on 4/15/2003, 9:59 AM
I actually just did this on my computer at home, I have a ATI all in wonder card in my AGP slot, then I just bought a cheap PCI monitor card and put that in too. I plug in 2 monitors, then go to the display settings and adjust the 2 monitors for the setup I wanted, very easy to do.