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Hi Guys
Looking to add a third monitor to my computer setup. Is it easy enough to set up two graphics cards to work on one system these days? I currently have a PCI-e 16x slot occupied by a card and I have a PCI-e 1x spare and also several PCI slots, my question is: what is the best way to go? PCI-e 1x or normal PCI. Also does anyone have any ideas what the cheapest PCI-e 1x card is because I have had a hard time tracking down more than 1 or 2.
Many Thanks
Matt
Sponsored LinkResponse Number 1 Reply:
You might want to check to see if dualhead output works when using SLI/Crossfire.
What will the 3 display setup be used for? I ask because for business use Matrox has cards that have three and I think even four heads on one card. They are primarily 2D cards though.
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Response Number 2 Reply:
Thanks for the reply. Just had a thought, I currently also have onboard graphics by way of a X3100 chip, could I enable both the PCI-e card and the onboard graphics at the same time, thereby gaining the extra VGA output I need?
The computer will be mainly used for business but with some very light gaming, such as frets on fire.
Is it possible to use a pci express and a pci graphics card at the same time?
Response Number 3 Reply:
"....I currently also have onboard graphics by way of a X3100 chip, could I enable both the PCI-e card and the onboard graphics at the same time..."
NO.
Installing the PCI-E X16 graphics card automatically disables the onboard video and there's no way you can use both at the same time.
That's a same because from what I've read, the X3100's onboard video is probably the best onboard video ever made so far.
"Is it possible to use a pci express and a pci graphics card at the same time?"Yes.
It works best if the chipsets are made by the same maker.
E.g. If the X16 is an ATI chipset one, a PCI ATI chipset one is probably the most compatible with the Catalyst Control Center software.I've never encountered a PCI-E 1X video card - if there is such a thing it's performance would be poor in comparison to the X16 card, and may be no better or inferior to a decent PCI video card.
You could go for that, or get a card with more that two monitor ports as OtheHill has said, but there aren't many of those out there.
But in any case....
Through having installed two monitors on one video card on a friend's computer, I have learned...There are often glitches when you use two or more monitor outputs on a video card. There are some programs that won't display on both monitors even if you clone the displays in the cards settings. E.g. Power DVD, and some other DVD playback programs.
If you want all the displays to display the same thing, or two of the three monitors to display the same thing, a good alternative is a video splitter box, the same thing as stores use to display the same thing on two or more monitors. The ones that use standard VGA ports are quite inexpensive, and the only other thing you need is a video extension cable between the video card port and the box. They have an amplifier, so longer video cables to the monitors, if necessary, is no problem.
E.g.
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicati...Since the X3100's onboard video is probably the best onboard video ever made so far, far superior to any PCI video card, you would probably get perfectly acceptable results for your situation if you connected just that to a splitter box with 3 or more outputs, and use the X16 card on another computer.
Response Number 4 Reply:
Thanks for the advice guys, I'm going to try an old PCI card that my friend has got laying about doing nowt but if that doesn't work I'll probably try one of the Matrox cards and see how that goes.
Response Number 5 Reply:
I urge you to try all the programs you have, particularly ones that display DVDs or streaming video, to see if they all display on both monitors.
If any don't, the situation probably won't change if you add a PCI card or get a card with more than two monitor port outputs, and the best choice in that case is a video splitter box.
Response Number 6 Reply:
Thanks tubesandwires I'll try it as soon as possible before i shell out for the third monitor.
Response Number 7 Reply:
You didn't say what the need is. If gaming is one of the reasons I think you may be disapointed with the Matrox offerings. They aren't cheap either. Excellent quality cards though.
Response Number 8 Reply:
Sorry OtheHill I thought I mentioned very light gaming, it's by no means a requirement though I'd rather get the best bang for buck for work, which is mostly editing large images and web development work.
Response Number 9 Response Number 10 Reply:
Well I think for your questions, you can read this similar post here:
http://www.computing.net/hardware/w...
And I think if you want to use the pc for gaming, you can have a look this XFX 8800GT 512MB PCI Express card, my friend has just found a nice deal for it with $170, personally I think that's a good choice:
http://www.dealstudio.com/searchdea...
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