video card for dual monitors?

[mOrphine]

hi there, can someone recommend a video card for said purpose?

im not looking for a top of the range card, budget is a bit of a constrain. i will be doing some 3D modelling on my computer so nvidia seems like a good choice (those new ati's would probably be way too expensive).

i have the impression that the gf4 series support dual monitors, is that a standard feature and would an "mx" model be good value?

would appreciate it if some brands/models can be suggested.

thanx!

 

[tenoc]

A lot of the Radeon 8500 and 9000 cards do this for U$ 100 or less.

 

[mOrphine]

sorry im not very familiar with the ati range of cards having used my current nvdia geforce 1 for a few years now... the models u suggested, can they handle 3D modelling?

thanx for the suggestion though, i'll check up prices on them

 

[CubicZirconia]

If you are going to go nvidia, check out a dual head geforce 4 ti4200. I would avoid the entire mx line of cards though. They are overpriced for the performance they offer.

 

[AnAndAustin]

Depends what you mean by 3D modelling. Anyway the cards break down like this:

3D perf:
GF2 - Getting on now and not worth it considering the cards you can get for $10-30 more. GF2TI is a good 50%+ faster than GF2MX.
GF4MX - Enhanced GF2 cards. GF4MX420 is a fair bit faster than GF2MX, GF4MX440 is faster than GF2TI and GF4MX460 is faster again.
GF3 - Bring much better perf, AA, AF and DX8 hw over the GF2 and GF4MX cards. TI200 is a fair bit slower than TI500 but can o/c to VERY near TI500 speeds.
GF4TI - Enhanced GF3 (so DX8 hw) with much better perf and really take advanatge of the faster CPUs. TI4200 is faster than GF3TI500, TI4400 is a good 10% faster than 4200 and 4600 is 10% faster again.
Rad7500 - Near enough GF2TI level perf and much like it is not DX8. Like all Radeons actual speeds can vary (10%ish) by manu and also oem/bulk vs retail.
Rad9000 - GF4MX440 perf but has DX8 hw. Rad9000PRO is faster giving GF3TI200 stock perf but lacking the AA.
Rad8500 - Near enough GF3TI500 level perf again only lacking in the AA dept. Rad8500LE is about 10% slower than the Rad8500.
Rad9700 - By far the fastest and most capable card out there and the first to offer DX9 hw. Usgae of DX9 is likely to be at least a year away but in terms of sheer 3D perf, AA and AF there is no card which comes close.

Other abilities:
GF2 - Nothing to note. Very poor image quality (IQ), poor TVout and no dual display.
GF4MX - Hugely improved IQ, better TVout/VIVO, dual display and hw DVD playback.
GF3 - Slightly better IQ, esp with some manus. Like the GF2 poor TVout and no dual display.
GF4TI - Great IQ, like GF4MX improved TVout/VIVO, dual display but no hw DVD playback.
Rad7500 - Like all of these Radeons, great IQ, great TVout, hw DVD playback and dual display is very common but some manus ommit it.
Rad9000 - Same as 7500 but slightly better IQ than the 8500 and less variance with manu. All should have dual display. Also improves DVD (and some MPEG?) playback.
Rad8500 - Same as the 7500 but with enhanced IQ.
Rad9700 - Once again same as 9000 but even better IQ and improved DVD/MPEG playback.

Tweaking by o/c'ing:
GF2, GF4MX, GF3TI500, Rad8500, Rad900PRO, GF4TI4400 and GF4TI4600 are all likely to gain no more than 10%.
GF3TI200, GF4TI4200, Rad9000 and Rad8500LE all gain a good 15%+ from o/c'ing.

This was meant to help and make things clearer when I started, now I've finished maybe it doesn't. HTH though!

 

[zsouthboy]

Depends on what you mean by 3d modeling.. if you mean 3DSMAX or its ilk, don't bother with an expensive card, your CPU will do most of the work anyways...... pick up a dual monitor Geforce4 MX 420(since you said you want to stay with nVidia)... and be happy...its cheap.