Video Card question - Dual display or two individual cards

[The Stigenator]

I am designing a system (for future use)... and so far I have got into a slight problem.

The mobo has only 5 PCI slots, and when I have a 2 video card combo it fills all slots.

Here are the cards: (in no particular order)

Sound Card
Nic Card
FireWire Card
SCSI Card
PCI slot open ---> Could be a Video card.

I want to stick with ATI for the good 2D quality (and also that it provides 3D too).
Since ATI doesnt make a 64MB Radeon with Dual Display I am at a loss, so I thought might as well get the Radeon VIVO 64 and a Radeon SDR 32Mb thus getting my dual display needs.

So Should I go with 2 Video cards and risk IRQ conflicts (normally I leave the PCI slow after the AGP empty) or should I go with the Radeon VE.

Thanks..

Maybe after this response I will post my system preferences.. though I am eagerly waiting for the Dual AMD mobo's to come out.

 

[bacillus]

have you considered the Matrox G400 or G450 videocards. excellent 2D performance with lovely dual monitor performance. 3D performance is not the best but virtually all games are playable with either one of these cards! 🙂

 

[The Stigenator]

I did consider the G400Max (the G450 has a memory bottleneck) but I am still thinking of the Radeon side. I like the ATI's 2D display qualities. The matrox is much better but in terms of 3D performance the ATI has a slight edge.

Edit: I dont play much games but 3D is something always nice to have.

 

[The Stigenator]

ttt

 

[eyez]

I'm really happy with the radeon ve. It's kinda picky though. Seem that if you want more than 2 monitors, it has trouble with an additional pci card. I tried the Matrox quad 100 pci card with no luck. maybe if I disable the hydravision....