Dual Video Out

[BoboKatt]

I hope this is the correct area for this question...

I have an ATI 9800 pro and I noticed it has both the regular VGA connector in the back (currently on my 19" viewsonic) and a DVI connector as well. I have a second monitor sitting at home... but it's not an LCD. Firstly can I get an adaptor to convert that to a regular VGA connector and secondly can I run both motors at the same time with say a game playing on the main and maybe a webpage open on the other? I am sooo not familiar with this stuff and I bought the 9800 Pro OEM so I to this day have no info on the card.

If I buy an LCD monitor instead can you run both a regular monitor and a LCD at the same time... and would the performance be half that as the video card is trying to do 2 things at the same time?

Anyone ever run two instances of say a game like Eq where you can have 2 characters going at the same time but with 2 monitors?

 

[halfadder]

Yep, you can buy a DVI->VGA adapter. They used to cost $25 easy, but they're getting alot cheaper now. Basiclly, the DVI ports on most modern graphics cards are "DVI-I" meaning they have both DVI digital and plain analog VGA signals. The adapter just routes the analog signals out to our familar HD15 "VGA" connector.

Some graphics cards only let you use one connector at a time, but I'm 99% certain that all Radeon 9800 Pro cards will let you use both for daul monitors.

I don't know about EQ, but X-Plane and MS Flight Sim work GREAT with dual monitors!

 

[BoboKatt]

WICKED!! thank you for taking the time to explain that for me.

 

[halfadder]

I forgot to answer your peformance question. Yes, there will be a noticeable drop in performance, but it usually isn't very large. This was more of an issue in the older dual monitor days (like with the Matrox G450). Some games act weird when you have two monitors connected, but most work OK. Many of my friends have dual monitors... one for a game, and the other for their instant message and email clients.