2 monitors on one card

[garyhope]

I'm going to buy or build a new desktop for stock trading.

What video card would you reccomend to run 2 different LCD monitors at the same time.
Do any of them have 2 VGA outlets?
I'm not a gamer, all I do is e-mail, word processing, surf the net, keep my digital photos and trade stock etc.

I could go AMD or Pentium for a cpu but would prefer AMD. I'd like respectable speed and good reliability. I don't think I need or want to spend $300 or $400 for a video card.

Are the nVidia cards better for this than the Radon cards?

It seems like it's almost as cheap to buy an already assembled desktop now as to build one now. Is this true if I don't need a really speedy gaming machine?

If I build what speed AMD Athlon is the sweet spot now? Is there enough software that will work on the 64 bit AMD to make the extra cost worth it? What mobos? Asus or MSI?

Sorry for all the questions. Thanks.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: garyhope
Sorry for all the questions. Thanks.

Too many questions, and most are not appropriate for the VIDEO forum. That said:

What video card would you reccomend to run 2 different LCD monitors at the same time.
Do any of them have 2 VGA outlets?
I'm not a gamer, all I do is e-mail, word processing, surf the net, keep my digital photos and trade stock etc.

Any reasonably recent video card with dual monitor outputs will work just fine. DVI outputs (most cards have 1 DVI/VGA and 1 VGA out, and sometimes a TV-out as well) can be adapted to VGA with a DVI->VGA adapter (surprise!) which costs about $5-10. If 3D performance is irrelevant, I would recommend something like a RADEON 9000 or 9200, or a GeforceFX 5200. Older cards like the RADEON 7000/7500 and GeForce2/4 MX work, but driver support is getting iffier, and often the 2D quality on old low-end cards was sorely lacking. Once you install the card, you just hook up both monitors, then go into Control Panels/Display/Settings and turn it on. Then you can drag windows back and forth onto both monitors.

Are the nVidia cards better for this than the Radon cards?

NVidia has (according to many users) better multi-desktop software included with their drviers, and ATI cards do not allow you to use "span" mode (where your computer treats the two monitors as one giant desktop instead of two separate screens). However, few users need span mode, and ATI's software seems quite capable to me (although I have not used NVIDIA recently in a multimonitor setup).

Your other questions would be better addressed by a search in General Hardware. There are PLENTY of people in there asking the same questions every day.

 

[Elcs]

Originally posted by: Matthias99

NVidia has (according to many users) better multi-desktop software included with their drviers, and ATI cards do not allow you to use "span" mode (where your computer treats the two monitors as one giant desktop instead of two separate screens). However, few users need span mode, and ATI's software seems quite capable to me (although I have not used NVIDIA recently in a multimonitor setup).

Your other questions would be better addressed by a search in General Hardware. There are PLENTY of people in there asking the same questions every day.

I have used both. Once with my GeForce4 Ti4400 and currently with my Radeon 9800Pro. I have to agree with Matthias99's statement about the multi-display software.

Nvidia's software was much better than ATI's when I changed over around 6 months ago. Looking at the latest options i have with ATI's driver set, Id say Nvidia are still in front. Not only do they have the span option, I believe their system is easier to set up and maintain.

 

[garyhope]

Thanks Matthias for your help and answers. My apologies for too many questions in the wrong forum. You're right, I'll check the other forums.