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2 LCD's: One video card only, or add a 2nd PCI card?

V

virkelie

Junior Member
I have a P4 3.4GHz EE, 2GB memory, winXP (SP-2), with the ATI x800xt PCIe video card.

The video card has 1 DVI and 1 VGA output.

My current LCD is connected via DVI.

I intend on buying a second LCD for a dual monitor set-up - which means I could only use a VGA connection.

Which is better - to use the VGA connection from my current video card for the second LCD, or to purchase a 2nd video card with a DVI connector ?

This 2nd video card would have to be a regular PCI slot card (my computer has 1 PCI express, and the rest are plain PCI slots) - so this second card would be an inferior card.

In other words, will the picture quality in the second LCD be better with a VGA connection from a superior card (x800xt), or would the picture quality be better using a DVI connection from a second but inferior PCI card (eg ATI 9200 128mb)?

Thanks.
 
Y guess is that your existing ATI x800xt PCIe would give the second monitor the best video quality of the two options you mentionned.

Marc
 
If you use the VGA on your primary card, it may not calibrate the TFT as well (whereas they will be both the same with DVI, you may have a slight, but annoying difference in colour, etc, using VGA).

That's what I find anyway, but it doesn't really bother me, PLUS, don't forget you will be able to use full speed 3D acceleration on that extra monitor if you use VGA out.

Basically, if you need 3D acceleration on that extra monitor, use the VGA, but if you just want pure quality 2D, that PCI DVI radeon may well be your best option.
 
If you just want your second display for multitasking office type stuff, it shouldn't matter too much if you use a D-Sub versus DVI. I'd look for a monitor with DVI and D-Sub support, then try it on the X800XT and see if it's acceptable. It more than likely will be. I've got mine hooked up analog, because my crappy ass radeon 7500's DVI out is all screwed up, and it looks okay. It looks better with DVI, but if it's just your backup, it won't matter too much. If you disagree, you can always try getting an add-in card.

BTW, I imagine you're a pretty big gamer, due to the $500 video card, so you should definitely look into getting at least 1 monitor with low response time. If your current one is already 12 or 16ms response, then your backup can be whatever you like, but I've got a 19" LCD with 25ms response, and it's not too great for gaming, so if you don't have a low response, you should get one. On newegg, they've got all kinds of LCD's, and I think there is a 12ms response time monitor for a reasonable price. It's worth the extra $50-100 over a 25ms monitor if you're into gaming.
 
Generally, any LCD that is larger than 19" will start to "look so-so" on VGA. This is assuming you are very neat with your cabling, and there is no interference with other cable signals. For a month, I had a friends 19" Samsung 192T on VGA and it looked ok, but with some minor streaking on the screen due to interference with a powercord.

EDIT: and any LCD that is less than 19" will look fine usually.
 
Hey, thanks everyone for the responses.
A lot of good points brought up.
I think for now I am going to stick with my single card; I'll try the VGA output for the second monitor - and I'll see how things go
(I could always purchase a second card later if I don't like what I get with VGA).
 
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