dual monitor setups
 

I used to have a pair of flatscreens to work from many moons ago, but these simply plugged into a single card with dual dvi outputs.

My question is, in a DIFFERENT system with only a single integrated Nvidia 7100 graphics chip, is it possible to add a PCI / PCI-X video card with single output, that will give dual monitor functionality ?

eg. Will any modern Nvidia video card detect and work with the integrated Nvidia 7100 , to offer dual monitor ?

When I say dual monitor I mean doubling the effective width of the windows desktop.

Do you mean your motherboard has in built graphics capabilities? If so, a medium - low price range graphics card will, A) be better, and B) will handle both your monitor outputs.

Scott.

If the graphics card has 2 connectors on, even if 1 is digital and the other analogue, you can usually power 2 monitors.

Have a look in Control Panel - if there are 2 and 1 is disabled then it will power twin screens.

ok, so it's best to buy a new graphics card with a couple of outputs on it.

Yep, basic cards are dirt cheap ;) or you could get one of those Matrox Dualview things (can't remember what it is called) if your onboard can support the resolution it emulates?

On all the systems I have seen with onboard graphics, as soon as you drop in a graphics card in one of the slots, the onboard is disabled...

its best to buy a card with two output but not neccassary as the integrated and a second PCI card will do the job as well.

Its the Operating system which does the work of detecting and displaying.

To answer the question: It may work it may not.

Reason being is my old computer ran dual monitors using the on board gfx built into the motherboard and a seperate gfx card to run the second screen.

Worked fine for general desktop stuff.

The only thing I can think that will stop you from doing it is if the motherboard throws a wobbly, as I tried it on another system and it wouldn't even POST. So its a bit hit and miss.

the matrox thing is call dualhead2go. works a treat on laptop/desktop to dual external screen.

I tried the two cards thing and it didnt work .. some people report it working some dont ..

There are a few USB to VGA adapters out there for less graphical setups, IE word and Internet not Doom3 :)

there is actually a dongle you can buy for about £30 notes that pops in to your exisiting Graphics card that will do the job you want it to do, I will get the info when I get in to work tomorrow !

All our pc's at work run a duel monitor setup, they have just the one output from the graphics card, but the cable is a split cable ;)
You need one of these type of cables
Datasheet (this may not be exactly the right one but it will be on there
This is probably better for you though ;)

dv-188 - Newlink DVI Monitor splitter cable (Splits the DVI-D signal to 2x DVI Monitors) DV-188 - Scan.co.uk

Tony:)

Are you sure ?

We have some that run a split cable, but the end that plugs into the graphics card is bespoke - it's not a regular VGA or DVI plug.

I thought those splitters would only deliver the same output to both monitors.....