topic Second graphic card for pcv-rx406 in PCs & Accessories

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

crap — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 12:31:39 GMT

I would like to add a sec graphic card to enable me to use dual monitor.
The current one is agp so the next would be pci.
What should i buy? I have seen some for £40 about my price but will pay more.
I do not use 3d but do work on large pictures (600mb+)
The second mon will mainly be used for static pics and a screen full of printing.
Thanks for any help.

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

paddy_uk — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 12:38:45 GMT

Why not change your AGP card to one that offers dual connections? ATI have cards that offer that solution. A lot of the Radeon cards have DUAL VGA connectors. Worth considering.

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

kee-lo_ — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 13:34:41 GMT

Yeah Tom's right, get a card with dual view and you can have two monitors running at once.

Re: Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

paddy_uk — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 13:57:22 GMT

 I have seen some for £40 about my price but will pay more.
I do not use 3d but do work on large pictures (600mb+)
The second mon will mainly be used for static pics and a screen full of printing.
Thanks for any help.

Going on the price part & the tasks that you use your rig for, yo should just go for one of the lower end Radeons with dual VGA. Something like the 7000, 7500 or the likes as they are pretty well priced & have enough onboard RAM to perform the tasks that you ask of it.

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

kee-lo_ — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 14:18:11 GMT

7500 is still a very decent card, just not for massive games.

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

chuckalicious — Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:10:42 GMT

Yup, I would go with the suggestions above. Using 2 graphics cards will cause an awful lot of problems, if it even worked at all.
Buying an nVidia card or ATI Radeon card is by far the best solution. For example a £35-£40 card will play most games reasonably well and also support dual monitors allowing you to run different applications on each screen
Only thing to watch out for is the connections. Most of these cards come with one VGA and DVI connection. I think there are one or two cards out there that have 2 VGA sockets on them.
Either way, steer well clear of having 2 cards in the one machine.

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

crap — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 02:01:56 GMT

Thank you for all the posts.
My graphic card is an ag with an extra outlet for dvi .Would a converter (dvi to vga) be ok? I already have spare 19 inch crt mons which i would prefer to use and not buy new dvi.

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

chuckalicious — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 06:46:06 GMT

It's worth looking in somewhere like www.maplin.co.uk
I have seen a VGA to DVI, so I can't see any reason why yo ucan't get DVI to VGA
Just need to look around

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

paddy_uk — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 06:54:38 GMT

Problem sorted & at very little expense to you. The VGA/DVI adapter will do the job nicely for you.

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

Oxigun — Wed, 07 Jan 2004 10:17:23 GMT

If you are using the PC for desktopwork and NOT for games, a Matrox Millenium would be a real good choice, good picture quality. Make sure to pick a card with dual (or triple) head support. It is really worth it.. Some models are also available as PCI model so you can use both cards simultaniously to make a dual/triple head.

I myself have a Matrox Millenium G550 (dual head) in my rig.

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

crap — Fri, 09 Jan 2004 09:28:38 GMT

I now find i can not use a simple converter as the outlet is digital and the monitor is analogue.A converter costs $400 i am told.
Back to the drawing board.

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

paddy_uk — Fri, 09 Jan 2004 10:47:21 GMT

Back to the dual outputVGA cards then.

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

Oxigun — Fri, 09 Jan 2004 13:03:49 GMT

I now find i can not use a simple converter as the outlet is digital and the monitor is analogue.A converter costs $400 i am told.
Back to the drawing board.

most cards with a digital ouput come with a convertor (simple cheap thing) but that one is different that the one you are mentioning. If the card supports both its cheap, if not... then you need the expensive convertor (Or buy a kickass TFT)

Second graphic card for pcv-rx406

chuckalicious — Fri, 09 Jan 2004 13:05:40 GMT

Unless you buy a DVI monitor, like Oxi suggested, then you will need to go for something like the Matrox, again suggested earlier as they have 2 VGA heads on them.