Dell 30" LCD and 24" LCD: how to choose Vid Card on Dell's site? Unclear and errors during choosing...

[DualMonitors]

I have a 4 1/2 yr old Dell with a 24" Dell wide screen LCD and a 21.3" regular squarish Samsung 213T LCD, i use both all the time together via Win XT's extended desktop, all standard stuff, using the native resolutions of the 2 aforementioned LCD's.

I'd like to keep the 24" widescreen Dell LCD and buy a new Dell tower/desktop (which line i don't know, XPS or Dimension) and the new 30" Dell LCD. So, i'll end up with the new Dell tower, a new Dell 30" LCD, and my current Dell 24" LCD, and i'll sell my 21.3" Samsung LCD.

my problem is that i don't know if the video cards that Dell is recommending for use with the 30" LCD (they only give 2 models and when you try to choose them, there are errors and you can't "get out" of the error loop thing) would work with BOTH the 30" Dell LCD AND the 24" Dell LCD?? I don't really know if the "Dual link" mentioned that is needed means that you have to use BOTH the dvi outputs from the video card, therefore you have no DVI outputs left for my 24" Dell LCD.

The Dell site is very unclear about this. I suppose that it is not that common for someone to use BOTH the 30" LCD and the 24" LCD AT THE SAME TIME for a really extended desktop but, why not? there are people who use 3 LCD's if not more together, but of course, they have unusual video cards. I think i'm being sort of reasonable by using only 2 LCD's, albeit 2 pretty big ones.

Any advice/assistance would be most appreciated.

Thank you very much in advance.

Oh, btw, have you good folks out there heard good or bad things about the new 30" Dell LCD? my 24" Dell LCD has been fine for the past 2 years, but there's sort of a tiny hint of right edge darkness around the last 1" of the right edge (but it is very very slight and sort of now you sort of see it now you don't).

I fell in love with how great the 30" Apple looked a year ago and now, the 30" Dell is a bit more affordable.

 

[potato28]

You need 2 cards, one of them must have 2 DVI ports. The Dell 30" will not run on 1 DVI port.

 

[postmortemIA]

Originally posted by: potato28
You need 2 cards, one of them must have 2 DVI ports. The Dell 30" will not run on 1 DVI port.

It will on dual link DVI port.

 

[DualMonitors]

sorry to be so "basic" in my questions and understanding...

but when i look at the back of most video cards, i only see 2 DVI outputs. Are BOTH of them COMBINED the equivalent of what people mean by "dual link DVI port"? so, essentially, 1 video card would only be able to "drive" one 30" Dell monitor, right?

what do i need to do to buy AND install a second video card? in the Dell configuration thing, there's no option for 2 video cards!! what would people like me do? i'm confused.

thx for helping out and answering.

 

[postmortemIA]

Dual-link DVI-D is advanced DVI interface present on GeForce 7,8 and Radeon X1xxx series. Dual link DVI is required for resolutions over 1920x1200. GeForce 6 and older have single link DVI. Which means newer cards have two dual link DVI-D interfaces.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Two single-link DVI connections can not be combined to give you a dual-link output.

Like postmortemIA said, the newer card will tend to have dual-link outputs.

If the card has two DVI outputs and is dual-link, you should be able to hook up the 30" and 24" to just that one card afaik.

 

[DualMonitors]

oh...me dumb.

i see pics of 2 "outputs" on some of these rather expensive video cards offered by Dell (around $800 each card) and they "LOOK LIKE" they have 2 outputs, each one looks like (to me), a regular dvi output. Maybe i don't know what a regular DVI output look like versus a DUAL link DVI output looks like?

that might be it?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Originally posted by: DualMonitors
oh...me dumb.

i see pics of 2 "outputs" on some of these rather expensive video cards offered by Dell (around $800 each card) and they "LOOK LIKE" they have 2 outputs, each one looks like (to me), a regular dvi output. Maybe i don't know what a regular DVI output look like versus a DUAL link DVI output looks like?

that might be it?

Single-link and Dual-link might look exactly the same on the cards. Visually inspecting pictures of the cards isn't going to give you the info you need.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVI

Videocards tend to be able to accept dual-link cables even if they do not have dual-link output capability.

 

[DualMonitors]

thank you so much for the various advice.

so weird that on the Dell site, you know how you have to "configure" your system and make every choice? Well, they specifically say you need either the nVidia Dual 256mb 7900 or the ATI 1900 video cards, BUT, when you choose what they show as possible options, they only have the nVidia 7900 and the ATI Dual 1950 XTX Crossfire, AND when you choose EITHER of these options, they show an INCOMPATIBILITY at the end, NOT letting you go further, and forcing you to fix it!! Well, there's nothing i can do to "fix" it because those are the TOP OPTIONS already in the list of choices!!

i have no idea what to do.

i'm worried that i might make wrong choices since this is such an expensive system...i'd like it to be the "right" choices in the various parts, including a large number of uber fast usb ports, and many of them, etc.

ugh.

any help would be most appreciated. thx in advance!

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Replied to your e-mail

 

[JackBurton]

Originally posted by: potato28
You need 2 cards, one of them must have 2 DVI ports. The Dell 30" will not run on 1 DVI port.

Pay no attention to this guy. Everything he said is incorrect.

 

[DualMonitors]

May i ask if anyone has looked into the differences between Dell's current 3007 30" LCD, versus the upcoming "HC" version (Dell 3007WFP-HC 30")? i've only read one "review" and it said that it's better. It is also very unclear as to when it will start selling and nothing on Dell's site. Is it worth waiting for? How will Dell price the 2 versions when the HC version comes out? i think they said that it is supposed to be out in February.

would Dell likely hold prices for computers rather firm now with the Vista's extra demand? and then, say a month later, when the initial Vista rush is over, discount more heavily to keep the demand high by discounting a bit more heavily to stimulate the demand?

i've tried to configure new computer on Dell's Home/home office, as well as dell's Small Business. And then, on EACH of those 2 sub sites, I had to configure a high end Dimension and also mid line XPS in order to compare prices.

i'm trying to buy a very good/excellent non-gamer's computer (i use photoshop cs2 but otherwise, have only basic needs in web surfing and emails, but do enjoy a great machine that works very smoothly) that is more like a solid and super bmw rather than a temperamental ferrari. i'm struggling between Dell, versus Tiger Direct barebones, versus doing it myself via newegg.

thx so much in advance.

 

[JackBurton]

Yes, I'd either wait for the Dell 3007WFP-HC OR you can get the HP LP3065 now. The HP is using the same panel the Dell HC will be using and it looks GREAT. I'd say the only reason to wait for the Dell model to come out is to see if they will have a good deal on them. BUT, $1699 isn't too bad for a next gen 30" LCD.