ATI AIW 9600xt does dual monitors?

[randym431]

I'm new to dual monitors but after seeing it in action, its a must have.
I've been looking for a card that does dual monitors via two vga outs, and is also a tv tuner card and agp8, not pci.
The ati AIW 9600xt looks like the card. Says it does dual monitors, but is that an expanded desktop across both monitors? Or does this card just duplicate the same video output onto monitors?
I want to understand and make sure it is like having a double wide desktop, where you can open an app and drag it over to the other desktop and back.
Rather than get two video cards, this one looks like it will meet these needs???

Anyone know for sure or have a dual monitor setup using the 9600xt???

 

[phaxmohdem]

You may want to double check that... My 9800Pro AIW card only had 1 DVI output, and the other ouput was S-Video to a TV for the second monitor. I believe the x800 series AIW cards have DVI and VGA outs. I have Dual monitors hooked up to my X800XL right now and ATI's drivers are a little less robust than nVidias in this department, but it simply "stretches" your desktop across the two monitors, I"m not sure if there is a clone option or not. DO you have alink to the card you're looking at? This is the only one I could find on newegg... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102352 and it WILL support dual mons, and allow you to drag windows across the screens like you want.

 

[IeraseU]

the first AIW card with true 'dual head' is the X800 series.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: randym431
I'm new to dual monitors but after seeing it in action, its a must have.
I've been looking for a card that does dual monitors via two vga outs, and is also a tv tuner card and agp8, not pci.
The ati AIW 9600xt looks like the card. Says it does dual monitors, but is that an expanded desktop across both monitors? Or does this card just duplicate the same video output onto monitors?
I want to understand and make sure it is like having a double wide desktop, where you can open an app and drag it over to the other desktop and back.
Rather than get two video cards, this one looks like it will meet these needs???

Anyone know for sure or have a dual monitor setup using the 9600xt???

The AIW 9600 cards have dual VGA outputs, and have all the same dual-monitor capabilities as any other ATI dual-head card. You can clone the first desktop onto the second, run them as two independent desktops, or (with more recent drivers) run a "span" mode that gives you one large virtual desktop across both displays.

Note that all other AIW cards before the X800 series do not have dual-output capabilities (they have one DVI-I out). The AIW 9600 has dual VGA outputs but no DVI.

You may also want to consider buying a separate dual-head video card and hardware tuner. This way the tuner is not tied to your AGP videocard.

 

[eelw]

Yeah, I was originally under the impression all the 9x00 AIW series did not support dual monitors. But to my surprise when my brother picked up the 9600XT AIW, it comes with a dongle that has 2 separate DB15 connectors for dual monitors. And you can still use the TV out.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Extending your windows screen over dual monitors is a Windows function. As long as your video card has dual video outputs, you'll be all set.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

My GeForce 4 MX 420 4x and 440 8x AGP edition do Dual video by utilizing one VGA and one S-video output.

 

[Sonikku]

I can expand and stretch my desktop however I wish with my 9600XT through ATI Catalyst Control Center.

 

[randym431]

thanks all. yep it looks like the 9600xt AIW card is what i expect. A bit pricy at $160+, but rather that than 2 vid cards and a sep tuner card. I'd look at other brand cards but none probable have a tv tuner built in the video card.