need help with video card in Asus A8n sli mobo

[MAEleeen]

I am looking at purchasing the Asus A8n-sli that has a nvidia nForce4 sli video card. I know that the video cards that are built into mobo's are usually not high quality, but i was wondering if anyone knows whether or not the nvidia nForce4 is a decent video card. I dont plan on using it for gaming but i may do some video editing and the main thing is i want to run dual monitors. I looked at numerous sites and i cant find anything about whether or not this video card supports dual monitors. I doubt that it does but i just wanted to check. Any input on either of the questions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Woofmeister]

I believe you are confused. There is no video card called the "nForce 4 sli." The NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI is the media and communications processor ("MCP") or core logic solution of the motherboard. When we speak of motherboards designed with this MCP we refer to them as "nForce 4 SLI motherboards." You can read a general description of such motherboards here.

The Asus A8n-sli is a type of nForce 4 SLI motherboard manufactured by ASUS as an authorized vendor of NVIDIA MCP technology. Unlike some lower-end motherboards, the ASUS A8N-SLI has no integrated graphics solution. In other words, the ASUS A8N-SLI (which I own by the way) does not have a video card "built into the mobo", you will have to purchase and install a seperate video card in order to display an image on your monitor.

With regard to dual monitors, you can do a search for PCI-Express video cards that support 2 of which ever type of video interface your monitors require in order to determine which video card suits your needs.

 

[MAEleeen]

Thanks for the help. I have not done alot of research on video cards so I dont know alot about them (not much of a computer gamer). I figure that most mid-range video cards will do what i need. Once again thanks for the help

 

[Woofmeister]

If you are not much of a computer gamer, permit me to suggest that an nForce 4 SLI motherboard is a waste of money. Good nForce4 Ultra boards (which support only one PCI-Express graphics card) retail for less than $100. While the nForce4 Ultra boards may lack some of the fancy features of the SLI series, they tend to be alot less finicky.

 

[daveybrat]

Ditch the SLI board you picked.

This would be your best option:

Asus A8N-VM

This is Nvidia's newest chipset that has good integrated Geforce 6150 graphics. They should be plenty fast for you and the board is an excellent price.

:thumbsup: