Dual monitors - want simple way to do it

[jpk2000]

I am trying to use 2 monitors with an HP a1640n. They will be used so that email is on one
and web surfing on the other. Nothing fancy, no high powered applications.

Actually, I am trying to help out my sister.

The current monitor is hooked up via VGA to the onboard video adapter. The second available monitor has VGA and DVI-D capability.

I see the following is available on the HP

PCI Three (Two available)
PCI Express x16 One (One available)

total specs on the HP are at http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/documen...8103&dlc=en

A geforce 5200FX was suggested. Will this work? Are there other inexpensive cards I can use.

We will appreciate your help

Thanks

 

[vjcsmoke]

5200FX doesn't have a VGA out though. Might want to get a video card that has the outputs that you need.

Here's a fairly cheap card that has a VGA out and a DVI out. But you get what you pay for. don't expect to be able to play any super demanding games on it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150355

Apparently someone has also successfully used it for dual monitor setup. So there you go.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/255855-33-dual-monitors-geforce-8400

 

[jpk2000]

Thank you so much. Will not do any gaming with this, so it looks good

5200FX doesn't have a VGA out though. Might want to get a video card that has the outputs that you need.

Here's a fairly cheap card that has a VGA out and a DVI out. But you get what you pay for. don't expect to be able to play any super demanding games on it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150355

Apparently someone has also successfully used it for dual monitor setup. So there you go.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/255855-33-dual-monitors-geforce-8400

 

[jpk2000]

OK - Here is how I solved my problem. Hope others can use it.

My computer had a PCI-E slot available.

I bought a PCI-E(xpress) video graphics card. In my case it was a EVGA GF 8400GS PCIE card. It was on sale at microcenter for 30.00 after rebate.

What threw me off was that the card had a vga and dvi-d connector. I wanted VGA/VGA.
A dvi-d to vga converter was in the box - so that solved my problem.

I installed it on a Vista machine. I did NOT have to disable the onlboard graphics card. I did install the NVIDIA support that came on a CD with the Card. I suggest you then immediately go to their website and get then newest version. It has a nice interface that
allows you to pick the primary and secondary.

Pretty simple - mad at my self for waiting this long to fo this. I works great.