Adding a secondary video card... to a laptop?

[SunnyD]

I am currently contemplating adding a secondary card to my laptop workstation, as I make good use of my screen real estate. Currently, I'm on a Dell Latitude D820 with a NVIDIA Quadro NVS120M (GF7300/7400Go), and will likely be picking up D/Dock with the internal PCI slot.

I am not expecting horsepower out of the card, so I know I'm limited to begin with. However I am curious as probably the best card I can get at a decent price for PCI will be an X1300 with 256MB Ram. But what ramifications are there running both NVIDIA & ATI on the same system? On the NV side my choice is likely a 6200 with 256MB Ram, but out of my vendor choices it will be harder to obtain. Again, I would prefer NV as I can likely avoid the driver hassel. But my main concern is availability (within my vendor scope) and price.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

I'd be investigating the bandwidth of the link between the laptop and the docking bay first before looking into the purchase.

nVidia and ATI in the same system should be OK ... I ran an nVidia AGP card with an ATI PCI for an extra monitor back in the day, so a PCIe + PCI should work. The only problem could be running when you're undocked, since the PCI card won't be present.

In your case, I'd probably be trying to go nVidia.

- M4H

 

[SunnyD]

I wouldn't consider the bandwidth an issue at all, the only thing this card is going to do it drive one or two monitors for desktop real estate. I'm not concerned with 3D graphics, as that's what the primary onboard video is for, and even then that happens infrequently.

I suppose that I will just try to pick up a 6200 then, and if I can't source one then I will consider an X1300.