Dual screen setup

GP

I'm looking at getting a new PC and setting it up for dual screen (have these already).

Any suggestions on a spec?

StopNotWorking

The dual screens really wont make a difference to performance. Whats your price range? I've heard great things about a phenomII 720 ATI 4870/90. Only thing worth mentioning about the dual-screens would be to make sure the graphics card has enough VRAM. 1GB should be enough.

Solitaire

What will you be using it for? Gaming? Pretty much anything else can get along fine with two screens with little more than a €25 graphics card nowadays

Blazer

Are your screens dvi or vga? (small blue connector)

If VGA you might get to get an dvi-vga adapter..easy enough.

Unregistered.

What about 2 X 26" set up? not so much for gaming, but watching blue ray on one and browsing the net on the other. HD 4770 be a good contender?

Solitaire

What resolution are the screens? That matters the most, not physical size. And HD4770 isn't much good for anything seeing as they are pretty much non-existant

Unregistered.

Solitaire wrote: »

What resolution are the screens? That matters the most, not physical size. And HD4770 isn't much good for anything seeing as they are pretty much non-existant

1080p minimum

Solitaire

Ick! Lost the thread a bit there (literally!)

Single-link DVI only goes up to 1920*1200 (it can go up to infinity in theory but quality suffers horribly as output drops below 60Hz). VGA can support a monitor up to 2048*1536 IIRC. If those monitors are 1920*1200 you can get any cheap modern card (eg. HD4350). Things only start to get thorny if they're 2560*1600 and you want to run them both at native resolution simultaneously at which point you suddenly need a card with two Dual-Link DVI outputs. Even then there are some budget models designed for just that purpose.

Only other thing: if you want to view secure HD content over HDMI make sure the card has HDCP! Decent-brand HD4350s are pretty handy for these occasions as they typically have HDCP, Audio-Over-HDMI via onboard Realtek chipset and either DL-DVI-D+HDMI or twin DL-DVI-D outputs. nVidia is a lot more patchy: single-link DVI here, HDCP might be missing there, oh and you need Teh Secret Passthrough Cable to get sound on HDMI devices anyway :P

GP

2 screens for developing. No gaming / video etc.

I have 2x 19" VGA monitors so I'm just looking to see if there's an option to just add another VGA card into my preferred PC.

Actually I saw the Lidl Medion (don;t laugh :-) ) which looks pretty good but I don't know if there's an extra slot for a 2nd card.

Fuzzy Clam

GP wrote: »

2 screens for developing. No gaming / video etc.

I have 2x 19" VGA monitors so I'm just looking to see if there's an option to just add another VGA card into my preferred PC.

Actually I saw the Lidl Medion (don;t laugh :-) ) which looks pretty good but I don't know if there's an extra slot for a 2nd card.

Most (all?) mobos have on board graphics. Some pc makers also fit a separate card.
If you can check the back of the pc you're thinking of buying for 2 vga connectors, then its only a matter of enabling the on board graphics in bios.

GP

Thanks...I was leaning over the LIDL counter trying to see if it would do but was getting strange looks :D.

I think I'll be going for a local companies desktop and buy a card if necessary.

Thanks again to all.

GP

Ok PC only has one VGA connection. Now I'm looking for a decent PCI Express video card. This is not for gaming so just a good quality card will do.

Any suggestions ?

Is this overkill?

http://www.misco.ie/productinformation/~Q151955~WW~/PNY%20GeForce%209800GT%20XLR8%20overclocked%20PCI-Express%20graphics%20card.htm

Solitaire

Complete and utter overkill. Dual-screen capability is a budget feature nowadays (its when you need 4+ monitors that things get interesting... ). Look for any old HD4350. We're talking €27-30, although you might need an extra DVI-VGA adapter if both monitors are VGA-only and one isn't included. The advantage of the Sapphire HD4350s is that even the cheapie OEM boxes have a low-profile bracket included if you're sticking it into a weenie PC

GP

Solitaire wrote: »

Complete and utter overkill. Dual-screen capability is a budget feature nowadays (its when you need 4+ monitors that things get interesting... ). Look for any old HD4350. We're talking €27-30, although you might need an extra DVI-VGA adapter if both monitors are VGA-only and one isn't included. The advantage of the Sapphire HD4350s is that even the cheapie OEM boxes have a low-profile bracket included if you're sticking it into a weenie PC

darn ok I will look for the cheaper option...

I need to install into a Lenovo A58 case which is quite tight. I have 3 monitors in all so if I can fit the third that would be even better......

Any suggestions for that ?

PogMoThoin

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

Most (all?) mobos have on board graphics. Some pc makers also fit a separate card.
If you can check the back of the pc you're thinking of buying for 2 vga connectors, then its only a matter of enabling the on board graphics in bios.

Desktop mobos haven't come with onboard graphics for about 4-5 yrs

GP

this looks good + it has VGA or DVI so no need to buy an adapter

Will this allow me to add 2 monitors ? (so 3 in total)


http://www.misco.co.uk/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=362979&Sku=153714

Solitaire

Only two - if you add a discrete graphics card the onboard video is disabled.

Only exception is if you use a similar GPU to the one on the mobo and they both support Hybrid CrossFire (or Hybrid SLI with nVidia). That's usually the cheapest way to get 3-4 monitors especially if you've got a suitable mobo, are changing mobo/CPU anyway or are doing a whole new build you can build around that concept.

Otherwise you'll need to find a more specialised card, put two mid-range cards in Crossfire or get one of the few oddball gaming-grade cards that has 4-monitor capability straight off the bat. But none of those options are cheap

And if you only need two monitors anyway then I'll note that that Gigabyte has active cooling (++noise) and will end up more expensive than the €30 Sapphire equivalent you can get from Komplett once you figure in currency conversion and shipping :rolleyes:

GP

Solitaire wrote: »

Only two - if you add a discrete graphics card the onboard video is disabled.

Only exception is if you use a similar GPU to the one on the mobo and they both support Hybrid CrossFire (or Hybrid SLI with nVidia). That's usually the cheapest way to get 3-4 monitors especially if you've got a suitable mobo, are changing mobo/CPU anyway or are doing a whole new build you can build around that concept.

Otherwise you'll need to find a more specialised card, put two mid-range cards in Crossfire or get one of the few oddball gaming-grade cards that has 4-monitor capability straight off the bat. But none of those options are cheap

And if you only need two monitors anyway then I'll note that that Gigabyte has active cooling (++noise) and will end up more expensive than the €30 Sapphire equivalent you can get from Komplett once you figure in currency conversion and shipping :rolleyes:

Ok....I THINK I understood all that :-)

I would really like 3 monitors. What do you mean by not cheap ?

Fuzzy Clam

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Desktop mobos haven't come with onboard graphics for about 4-5 yrs

Thats odd. The one i bought in a local pc shop 2 weeks ago has on board (in fact he had 2 makes, both with on board) . Also several i looked at in online shops had graphics on board!

PogMoThoin

Fuzzy Clam wrote: »

Thats odd. The one i bought in a local pc shop 2 weeks ago has on board (in fact he had 2 makes, both with on board) . Also several i looked at in online shops had graphics on board!

Are they old mobos? I'm not saying You can't still get onboard, You can, but its less and less common these days, very few come with onboard.

Fuzzy Clam

PogMoThoin wrote: »

Are they old mobos? I'm not saying You can't still get onboard, You can, but its less and less common these days, very few come with onboard.

No, not old mobos. Plenty of them still come with on board.

The section of your post I've underlined contradicts what you stated earlier.

"Desktop mobos haven't come with onboard graphics for about 4-5 yrs"

A definitive statement.:eek:

Solitaire

Sorry, was going to post earlier but I'm having a weird issue my end... :rolleyes:

Sorry Pog, but that's just plain wrong. Performance-grade full ATX and EATX boards often lack them but almost all non-X58 mATX (and smaller) boards have onboard video still.

And the "old" trick to enable 4 monitors on a very cheap budget rig was to go Hybrid CrossFire with a HD3450 strapped into any AMD AM2/AM3 mobo with integrated graphics (HD3200/3300). Cheap and cheerful, and no slouch CPU-wise either if you need the horsepower (just strap in a P2 with number of cores to taste ).

Otherwise you're stuck getting a (usually far pricier) mobo that can physically take two graphics cards, which defeats the purpose if you only want/need a couple of dead-cheap graphics cards to use the extra monitors. Also bear in mind that most programs have issues trying to display stuff on multiple screens that can't work together. For that you need a CrossFire or SLi setup, and that pushes prices even further as you don't get SLi connectors on most cheaper nVidia cards, or indeed CF connectors on any cheap ATi cards (below HD4670 at least).

If GP doesn't stick up a build tomorrow I'll list one and see how far off the mark I am (don't know all GP's requirements yet - well, other than "lots of monitors!" ) At least it'll save money over getting ripped for a retail build that will probably need upgrading straight off the bat to meet GP's needs! :P

GP

Ok..well firstly it's not a self built (please don't kill me !! )

It's a new Lenovo A48 with the following specs if it helps:

Intel G41, E5200 Pentium Dual-core (2.5Ghz),
Intel GMA X4500 (on board )


so maybe I've been ripped already :-)

PogMoThoin

Solitaire wrote: »

Sorry, was going to post earlier but I'm having a weird issue my end... :rolleyes:

Sorry Pog, but that's just plain wrong. Performance-grade full ATX and EATX boards often lack them but almost all non-X58 mATX (and smaller) boards have onboard video still.

I stand corrected

Smaller than mATX, that a pocket calculator or what?

Solitaire

PogMo Thoin wrote:

Smaller than mATX, that a pocket calculator or what?

mITX... oh and pITX, which is smaller than a bulky pocket calculator :P

GP wrote:

It's a new Lenovo A48 with the following specs if it helps:

Intel G41, E5200 Pentium Dual-core (2.5Ghz),
Intel GMA X4500 (on board )


so maybe I've been ripped already :-)

Oh... dear...

I'm afraid "ripped" doesn't cover it. Try "utterly fooked" :eek:

Lenovo doesn't have an A48 (or so they claim). But I'm guessing its that swanky-looking slim-tower that is practically un-upgradeable. Dodgy Intel chipset... check. Low-profile slots... check.

IF you managed to get a normal-width tower (even if its only an mATX mini-tower) there is still some hope, so long as you're ready to completely dismantle and reassemble the entire bleedin' thing, as the mobo is likely a non-starter. But if you want to keep the (fairly nice) CPU you'll be stuck with an nVidia SLi mobo.

If its the slim tower (with the DVD drive going vertically up the side)then you're comprehensively screwed Your only option is a low-profile Quattro with the quad-output dongle, and that's gonna cost you a bundle - say €150-300, minimum :eek:

Well, I say only option but there is another - flog it/bin it/burn it. Then start over

GP

Solitaire wrote: »

mITX... oh and pITX, which is smaller than a bulky pocket calculator :P



Oh... dear...

I'm afraid "ripped" doesn't cover it. Try "utterly fooked" :eek:

Lenovo doesn't have an A48 (or so they claim). But I'm guessing its that swanky-looking slim-tower that is practically un-upgradeable. Dodgy Intel chipset... check. Low-profile slots... check.

IF you managed to get a normal-width tower (even if its only an mATX mini-tower) there is still some hope, so long as you're ready to completely dismantle and reassemble the entire bleedin' thing, as the mobo is likely a non-starter. But if you want to keep the (fairly nice) CPU you'll be stuck with an nVidia SLi mobo.

If its the slim tower (with the DVD drive going vertically up the side)then you're comprehensively screwed Your only option is a low-profile Quattro with the quad-output dongle, and that's gonna cost you a bundle - say €150-300, minimum :eek:

Well, I say only option but there is another - flog it/bin it/burn it. Then start over

I'm not sure about swanky. It's black and quite ugly actually.

When it first arrived, I opened it with the swanky buttons on the side and while it looks cramped, the slots are very easy to get at.

I'm also adding memory and while that is quite hidden away, it's still easy enough to squeeze an extra bank in.

Also re the A58, Lenovo have a thread in their support forums for the A series and I got this response the other day so I don't think I'm too screwed and I definitely won't be burning a new PC

The suggestions are pretty much what was suggested here.

Thanks to everyone for their help.

---

Yes you need a PCI or PCI Express card for multiple monitors (your system has one PCI and one PCI Express slot).

GP

So the PCI Express card arrived. Changed the brackets to the 2 supplied LP brackets and card fits. What's the BUT ?

The VGA connection cable is too short so I can't fix it to the back of the case.

Can one get an extension or a longer cable ?

I have attached a pic if it helps.

Kenmare

Just get 2x dell 2408wfp, plug in any graphics card and you are set. Best to get a nvidia graphics card due to their superior dual screen setup.


Go to nvidia control panel, select dual view and you have 2 seperate screens.

Runs great.


Dont try and game on it though, especially FPS. It splits the crosshair etc.

GP

Thanks Kenmare

I actually have a new PC Express card so just trying to see if I can get a longer connector, rather than have to buy another new card.

Any ideas?