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Dual Monitors or one big monitor?

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I suppose that now-a-days it would be a good idea to get one with dual DVI. I did a search for cards with 2 DVI ports at NewEgg and the only cards I found were the XFX brand, which has a rather questionable reputation for quality around here. Still, you can get a dual-DVI XFX 6600gt for $199 + shipping. I don't think any of the the other video card makers offered dual DVI; they were offering DVI + VGA. (I assume you can get an adapter to go DVI-to-VGA but not the other way around, so dual DVI would be best). Right?

 
Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

I suppose that now-a-days it would be a good idea to get one with dual DVI. I did a search for cards with 2 DVI ports at NewEgg and the only cards I found were the XFX brand, which has a rather questionable reputation for quality around here. Still, you can get a dual-DVI XFX 6600gt for $199 + shipping. I don't think any of the the other video card makers offered dual DVI; they were offering DVI + VGA. (I assume you can get an adapter to go DVI-to-VGA but not the other way around, so dual DVI would be best). Right?
Click to expand...

If you're using digital panels, dVI is the way to go. I think ATI also had a dual dvi card, though i haven't seen it for sale as of yet.
 
I am building a three or four monitor workstation and have been recently researching this subject. I am currently running two Dell 2001FPs and am torn between one or two more or a 2405FPW.

At any rate, I found another 6600 GT card besides the XFX that has dual DVI out.

It's the PNY 6600 GT.

http://www.pny.com/products/verto/performance/6600gtpcie.asp

The nice thing about this card is it has Dual DVI + HDTV outputs. Also, and this is a big plus for anyone getting the 2405FPW, it explicitly states that it supports 1920X1200 over DVI. I emailed XFX about this and they had this to say:

Dear customer:

The maximum resolution on DVI is 1600X1200.

Sincerely,

XFX VGA Technical Support
(800)880-3225

------------------

So, the PNY seems like the best bet from my perspective. Dual DVI, HDTV, support for 1920X1200 over DVI, reasonable price, and SLI ability which is a nice ?free? addition if you are going to have two of these cards to run a quad monitor setup.

Please let me know if you find something better, as I won?t be building my system until next month and could always get a different card if a better one in this price range comes along. Also, any reviews on this card would be nice as I can't seem to find any in depth ones. However, I heard that PNY makes the NVIDIA reference cards, so they are probably pretty good.

EDIT: zipzoomfly has the PNY for $204.90 with free 2nd day shipping.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=322988
 
Well this is going a bit over board but it's nice to dream 😛

What would you need (besides $$$$) to run: 1 x 23" LCD Display paired with 2 x 17" display?

Not that I have the funds for that right now but after reading up and considering I'll be using it to watch movies as well as play games, I'll probably get one 23" or 24" lcd then adding on to that if needs be.

Thanks for the input!
 
Originally posted by: pahecko
Well this is going a bit over board but it's nice to dream 😛

What would you need (besides $$$$) to run: 1 x 23" LCD Display paired with 2 x 17" display?

Not that I have the funds for that right now but after reading up and considering I'll be using it to watch movies as well as play games, I'll probably get one 23" or 24" lcd then adding on to that if needs be.

Thanks for the input!
Click to expand...

My choice will be a PCI-E board with 2x16 slots. The DFI NForce4 Ultra D is a good example Then you can run 2 PCI-E boards and have a total of 4 outputs.

Or you can go cheap and just add a PCI card to your AGP system.
 
I love dual monitors.

Moving up from a 14" CRT to a 19" CRT was amazing, and moving from a 19" to 19"+17" was just as nice. It's great to have one application on one screen and then its output on the other. Right now I'm at 2624x1200 (1024 vertical on the 17"). On Saturday I'm adding one of those sweet $200 21" Trinitrons that a lot of us jumped on. 4904 horizontal pixels on 42.5 horizontal inches of room? You bet.

Total cost? $800 over the last two years (It would be more like $600 these days.) If you can find an $800 42" monitor that does 4904x1440, then go for that. Otherwise, I'm a multi-monitor person.
 
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