Hardware required to power 2 Dell UltraSharp 2408WFP's?

[jdomaha]

Right after Christmas, I'm intending on putting together two systems, one for me and one for my dad.

Right now, I have a Dell2408WFP, which I like a lot. The problem is that I need more screenspace. I develop websites and do a lot of multi-tasking, and 1 24 inch monitor isn't enough - but having 2 would work.

Right now I'm powering the monitor I have now with a SLI system with two 7900GTX cards. What would be the optimal hardware for a 2 24 inch monitor setup?

 

[Wuzup101]

For general desktop work, I wouldn't see why you would have a problem if you just disabled SLI and used the same cards (one per monitor). Hell, you should be able to drive both of them on a single semi modern card. My 4850 will drive my 2407 and my 1080p HDTV at the same time with no problems (though I think my 6800GT was limited to like 16x12 on the second monitor... can't remember).

I will say that I have had problems with multiple monitors in Vista due to flaky ATI drivers. However, I'm not sure if this is just an ATI thing or a Vista thing. If you google search multi monitor problems, you'll find a ton of stuff (at least in relation to the 4850/4870 in vista). I somehow remember reading that some newer nVidia cards also had similar issues; however, I'm not sure. You will want to research this before you buy (I didn't... and now I only run a single monitor... because random blue screens are not cool). My system isn't that old (like 2 months). I was having these problems with the 8.9 cats... and I haven't tried the 8.10 ones yet with multi monitor (though I am using the 8.10s).

 

[jdomaha]

Would it be impossible to switch from the cards working independently on each monitor to a SLI setup when needed?

Like with a top of the line NVIDIA card like the 280?

 

[Chapbass]

im confused...why cant you run them in SLI with dual monitor? should be able to do that just fine. just cant do more than 2 without disabling SLI.

 

[Wuzup101]

Originally posted by: Chapbass
im confused...why cant you run them in SLI with dual monitor? should be able to do that just fine. just cant do more than 2 without disabling SLI.

I didn't think that they put in support for dual monitors with SLI yet. They have been talking about it; however, I am not aware of the current status of that venture.

As a side note, you could get something like a basic PCI video card and use that to drive the second monitor. I think that is what a lot of people do to solve the whole SLI+dual monitor setup (assuming they still haven't allowed that... I'm not up on my SLI facts).

 

[Keysplayr]

180 Forceware drivers allow SLI across multiple monitors.

http://techreport.com/discussions.x/15753

7800GTX in SLI IMHO would not be enough to game across 2 24" monitors. Perhaps 2x9800GTX or GTX260's would be a better option. I'd say the latter.

As far as desktop applications, you can get away with the cheapest modern dual head video card to run 2 monitors at 1680x1050. (2x 24" LCD's)

 

[MGrant1957]

There's always the option of a DH2G or TH2G. As long as your card can cover the video bandwidth and both monitors combined stay within the limits of the black box, you should be able to run both monitors with just one powerfull card or in SLI as the balck box virtualizes both monitors into a single W-I-D-E monitor. I's recommend the digital version of the TH2G as it has the higher bandwidth of the two.

hope this helps.

 

[BlueAcolyte]

Necro much?

 

[Idontcare]

What I don't get is how on earth do folks find these ages old threads to necro in the first place? When I want to find my own posts from 2 months ago I rarely am successful. To necro a 6 month old thread impresses me.