I'm Confused - Looking for "Business", Dual Display, Video Card

[theknight571]

We are looking to add Dual Display capabilities to our PC's here in the office.

We don't do heavy graphics, just general business.

I spoke with our Dell rep and he said we would need this card: Radeon HD4350 PCIe 512MB DMS59 Dual Monitor

However, at $120 a piece, it's a little steep for our budget.

Is there a less expensive alternative that would give us the dual display support we need?

I'm looking at lots of cards and all seem to have an analog and a digital port... does that mean that I'd be able to use a monitor on each port?

Ideally I'd like two digital ports, but that won't make or break the deal.

I haven't bought a video card in probably 10 years, so any help is appreciated.

 

[Creig]

The first things we'd need to know are the manufacturer name and model numbers of the PCs you intend to upgrade. That will tell us if they have an AGP or PCI-E slot for video. It wouldn't hurt to tell us the same info about the monitors so we can look up and see if they're VGA or DVI.

If you have a PCI-E slot available for video, you can easily get a dual DVI card for around $55 + free shipping:

EVGA 512-P3-N954-TR GeForce 9500 GT 512MB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130378

 

[Creig]

Or better yet, this one is cheaper at $35 and is passively cooled. No fan to go bad or clog up with dust and is totally silent:

Visiontek 900082 Radeon X1600 512MB

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...507&CatId=3670

 

[Martimus]

Funny, that same card is $35 at Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-143-_-Product

Dell just has a massive markup on that extremely cheap video card.

 

[theknight571]

The first things we'd need to know are the manufacturer name and model numbers of the PCs you intend to upgrade. That will tell us if they have an AGP or PCI-E slot for video. It wouldn't hurt to tell us the same info about the monitors so we can look up and see if they're VGA or DVI.

If you have a PCI-E slot available for video, you can easily get a dual DVI card for around $55 + free shipping:

EVGA 512-P3-N954-TR GeForce 9500 GT 512MB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130378

PC's being upgraded are all Dell Optiplex 330s... they have a PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot.

Currently our main monitors are a mix of VGA and DVI. The monitors support both.

Short term our 2nd monitors are all VGA 15" flat panels, but we are looking to update to newer/larger ones soon.

Our goal is to have one 19" widescreen as our main monitor and a 17" or 19" (decision has yet to be made) in portrait mode as a 2nd monitor.

I'm looking into the cards suggested so far.

Thanks for the help.

 

[v8envy]

A more general answer: the cheapest add-in boards you can stuff into your case will suit your needs so long as they have more than one output port. The 4350 is a good recommendation for $35, for $120 you should shop elsewhere.

If you look around you can find entry level video cards etail for $15-$30.

 

[Lonyo]

Or better yet, this one is cheaper at $35 and is passively cooled. No fan to go bad or clog up with dust and is totally silent:

Visiontek 900082 Radeon X1600 512MB

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...507&CatId=3670

Except the X1 series is already unsupported in the latest drivers.
Best bet would be some low end card of the HD3 series or above if going ATI, or 6 series or higher from NV, to be reasponably sure of ongoing driver support.

Like others have said, the cards Dell are trying to flog you can be had for much cheaper if you buy yourself.

 

[Creig]

Except the X1 series is already unsupported in the latest drivers.
Best bet would be some low end card of the HD3 series or above if going ATI, or 6 series or higher from NV, to be reasponably sure of ongoing driver support.

You don't really need to always be installing the latest drivers just for general business usage. Even our dual monitor Dell Precision 390 design computers running MicroStation are using older Quadro drivers. No issues due to older drivers have been reported.

Up until a little while ago, I had some ancient Matrox Millennium G200 dual head cards installed in our video conferencing computers. They worked flawlessly despite being something like 10 years old. And who knows when the last time their drivers were updated by Matrox.

From a business standpoint, I wouldn't have any qualms at all about purchasing/installing that passive X1600 I linked to. No fan to worry about cleaning and it's totally silent.

 

[theknight571]

A more general answer: the cheapest add-in boards you can stuff into your case will suit your needs so long as they have more than one output port. The 4350 is a good recommendation for $35, for $120 you should shop elsewhere.

If you look around you can find entry level video cards etail for $15-$30.

I thought of this... I had a few old cards laying around, however when I put another video card in the PC it disables the on-board video... so I was back to square one and a single display.

Hence my look for cheaper dual display card and my question about if there's two ports... are they both active or is it one or the other.

 

[NoQuarter]

This Radeon 3450 seems like the best deal to me:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814131119

When you're buying 4+ they're only $25 each and they have a $10 mail in rebate but dunno if you can rebate more than 1.

It's passive cooled, DVI + VGA + HDMI so right now you can use DVI + VGA and when you upgrade the monitors you can use DVI + HDMI->DVI if you choose.