skychic68 0 #1 November 10, 2004 I'm buying another monitor and said to myself, "Self, why don't you just hook them up together so you have more real estate". So, here I am justa wondering how to set this system up. I have even stumped my computer tech at work. I have a couple of people looking into it for me. My current card is on the board. So my question is, can I add a pci card without hassle or is it a little more involved.Que sera sera Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dragon2 0 #2 November 10, 2004 You need a dual graphics card. If you have an on-board graphics card now, you will have to disable that one (can be quite a challenge ) then add the new card. If you only have pci (no agp), finding a good one may be difficult. ciel bleu, Saskia Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Billy 0 #3 November 10, 2004 That will depend on your video card & system... Not all of them have a dual monitor capacity. If you do any kind of video work it's worth getting a new card. Dual monitors are great for editing. There not tooo spendy and are really pretty easy to install and set up. Sorry, but I'm not up on the latest and greatest video cards. Good Luck! Natural Born FlyerZ.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freeflydrew 0 #4 November 10, 2004 another case of: if you had a mac it would just work! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chachi 0 #5 November 10, 2004 Quoteanother case of: if you had a mac it would just work! lol, and true... ~Chachi Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skychic68 0 #6 November 10, 2004 I do have an agp...which i heard is better. So, the disabling the board card is the difficult project, huh?Que sera sera Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dragon2 0 #7 November 10, 2004 AGP is faster. But you need to know the speed of your AGP slot, and buy a card according to that. Getting rid of on-board stuff can be easy, or a nightmare... On-board is only cool if you're not planning on changing/upgrading anything. And it's cheap... Haven't tried it lately, maybe XP has made things easier, but with 95 and 98, oh boy ciel bleu, Saskia Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AndyMan 7 #8 November 10, 2004 Disabling the on-board video SHOULD be a striaght forward process of going into the pooters BIOS at startup, usually done by hitting F1 during the memory test, and flipping a switch. XP should auto-detect the new card once you disable the old one and add the new one. Hardware detection under XP is light-years ahead of 95 and 98. If you're worried about doing it yourself, any self-respecting geek should be able to do it relatively easily. It's not rocket science or nuclear fusion. _Am__ You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PhreeZone 15 #9 November 10, 2004 Personally I'm running one of the ATI cards with Hyrdavision for dual output. Love it. Running a 17 inch flat screen and a 17 CRT for now and will replace it with a 21 flat screen one day. Like Andy said, turn off the on board in BIOS, install the new card and Windows XP will detect the new card. All most all Motherboards made since 2000 are AGP 2X or higher, 2002 are AGP4X and 2003 are AGP8X capable. Any Dual output AGP card should work. Only catch is most have a DVI and DB15 output so you might need to get adapters to adjust to the outputs you need. CRT's need the DB15, Flat panels are split on what they need.Yesterday is history And tomorrow is a mystery Parachutemanuals.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
klund 0 #10 November 10, 2004 QuoteSo my question is, can I add a pci card without hassle or is it a little more involved. The answer depends on your OS. Both Windows 2000 and XP have support for this. The cards don't even have to be identical. In Display Properties - Settings, you can select different settings for each card, and set up your physical arrangement (side by side, over and under etc). No problem - just do it! Use your fastest/best/newest card for your main monitor. - Kristian Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skychic68 0 #11 November 11, 2004 Well, I don't know the speed of the agp slot. Where can I find it?Que sera sera Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skychic68 0 #12 November 11, 2004 Oh, I'm sure I can figure it out in the long run, particularly if XP makes it easy to do that.Que sera sera Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skychic68 0 #13 November 11, 2004 It sounds pretty straight foward, not necessarily rocket science, but I always wind up mucking something up in the long run. I'm not sure what kind of adapters you're talking about, though.Que sera sera Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Billy 0 #14 November 11, 2004 If your gonna muck something up,, good idea to back up your files!! Natural Born FlyerZ.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skychic68 0 #15 December 2, 2004 For anyone considereing setting up a two monitor system...EASY. I installed a dual input AGP card and wam bam alacazam. No rummaging around in DOS to disable anything. XP makes it very easy. My mouse easily moves from one screen to the next. So, there you have is sports fans. Get r done. Jump while you can. Winter is coming.Que sera sera Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
videointhesky 0 #16 December 2, 2004 What Monitors did you use? LCD or CTR? Size? Brand? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
skychic68 0 #17 December 3, 2004 One is a CRT 17 in, the other is a Samsung LCD, 17 in, but I took the Samsung back and am going to replace it with a Sony. I've read better reviews on the Sony....but 6 of one, half a dozen of the other. When I hit the lottery, maybe I'll replace the CRT. Comparing screens side by side....it really is unbelieveable how much brighter and nicer the LCD looks.Que sera sera Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
