Would like to get a dual CRT monitor setup going...how to do it?

[TJN23]

I currently have a 17in Sony Trinitron monitor on a GeForce3 Ti200 going and I'd like to add some more screen real estate.

What should I do? Add another cheapo video card and hook it up to the 2nd CRT? Does the 2nd video card need to be of a certain type?

TIA

Tim

 

[b0rk]

I've had good luck adding another nvidia based PCI video card to gain additional monitors. It works well because you don't have to juggle additional drivers (both will use the nvidia one) Also, the recent nvidia drivers do a pretty good job of managing multiple monitors.
Then again, you may also want to look at just new dual-monitor card all together..

 

[TJN23]

ok, to go with my current GeForce3 Ti 200, are there any good places to pick up a cheap 2nd card? I didnt want to pay more than 15 bucks or so, since 4-8MB would do right?

Newegg doesn't really sell any cards under 32megs....

 

[b0rk]

I did it with a gf2mx PCI card.
Actually, any PCI card may work but your millage may vary.
At work I've got some old crappy trident to drive a second monitor. The nvidia media center/desktop control/whatever actually sees the second card and lets me manage it alongside the AGP gf2mx.

..Try fleabay?

 

[TJN23]

i may have to resort to fleabay

 

[TJN23]

update, i bought this 4mb video card off ebay

i know enough to put this PCI video card in my machine....then what?

i assume boot up the machine off my 1st card and 1st monitor, get my machine to detect the 2nd card, install the drivers, then boot up with both monitors?

tia

Tim

 

[MercenaryForHire]

Originally posted by: TJN23
update, i bought this 4mb video card off ebay

i know enough to put this PCI video card in my machine....then what?

i assume boot up the machine off my 1st card and 1st monitor, get my machine to detect the 2nd card, install the drivers, then boot up with both monitors?

tia

Tim

Just attach and plug in everything, then power up. You'll need to reboot likely after the installation of Card #2's drivers in order to get everything to play nice, but after that you should (theoretically) be good to go.

- M4H

 

[TJN23]

thanks MercenaryForHire, i'll let u guys know how it goes

 

[Slickone]

Seems like another nvidia card would have been best, as someone said. A TNT card would have been cheap.

To play games on both monitors, wouldn't the second card need to be fairly current/fast also? Or does it depend on what you plan to display on it? ie. for flight simulator, just a map or gauges, or another view (split view between monitors, or an external view).

 

[TJN23]

hmm, I definitely wouldn't want to be running games that span across both monitors...

i sometimes play MOH:AA on my GeForce3Ti200 - what's gonna happen to the 2nd screen when I run it? I guess I will soon find out when this thing ships

Tim

 

[beatle]

Your 2nd screen will just continue to show Windows desktop.

 

[crapito]

Originally posted by: beatle
Your 2nd screen will just continue to show Windows desktop.

exactly, which is why the reality of multiple monitors ain't as cool as the hype. sure, being about to see Winamp, Outlook, etc in a second monitor while playing a game is nice, but since you mouse won't go to the second screen while you are in 3D game mode... it's kinda pointless (for me, at least).

 

[caddlad]

Mind your OS though, I've wasted most of this PM scrounging for XP drivers for a
Diamond S220. This fleaBay card is new and
supposedly has win xp drivers.
As far as functionality, just TRY to take my lil 15" Princeton from my autocad rig. Run the three or four dialog boxes
on the 2nd monitor and open up some room to draw:beer:

 

[batmanuel]

Originally posted by: caddlad
As far as functionality, just TRY to take my lil 15" Princeton from my autocad rig. Run the tree of four dialog boxes
on the 2nd monitor and open up some room to draw:beer:

I agree totally. For gamers a second monitor really doesn't do squat, but if you are doing any drafting, 3D modeling or Photoshop work, that second monitor really helps out, even if it is only an old 15". It is nice for everyday use as well, since it lets me drag iTunes (which despite being a great audio program takes up a LOT of screen real estate) over to the side while I'm working.

Once you get the drivers installed on the second monitor, all you have to do is go into the display properties, make the monitor the size you want it to be, make sure you have the second monitor selected, check the little box that says "extend desktop to second monitor," and you should be in business. You can muck around with the nView settings to tweak it a bit, but nView annoys me a bit because if I choose to span my screen across two displays using nView, it stretches out my desktop picture across the two screens instead of simply repeating the same picture like it does if you set up your dual displays using Windows.

Also make sure you're NOT using the Forceware 52.16 drivers. They gave me all kinds of issues with my dual displays. The worst problem is that driver ALWAYS wanted to make my smaller monitior the primary because it turned on first - if I fixed it manually the driver would forget every time I rebooted. The newly released Forceware 53.03 drivers seem to have fixed this issue, and all the older drivers never gave me any trouble.

 

[yhelothar]

or if you live on the internet and talk to all your buddies online and have irc..
I use my second 14" monitor primarily for my chat windows and irc...
and my 21" monitor for main stuff....
very useful

 

[TJN23]

what about the issue of talking on AIM? I hate having 5 AIM windows open on top of a browser, winamp, and an email client...sheesh