Dual monitors and a half assed graphics card

harleyquinn

Distinguished
Oct 14, 2009
3
0
18,510
Hi all,

My lovely partner has had enough of my complaining about wanting dual monitors (im spoiled at work with 2) and bought me 2 very nice 22inch Samsung monitors. My Graphics card was pretty awesome when i bought it, however does not seem to handle the dual monitors very well at all. I can set one to 1920X1080 crystal clear, however the second monitor is fuzzy no matter the resolution. Im thinking my card simply isnt up to par.

My current cars is an 8800gt 320mb. I know crap specs now, but back then...... It ran Oblivion at full steam and that was the important thing. Strangely my mobo is a p5b deluxe that is crossfire ready...

So now it is time to upgrade and my question is what card, there are way too many to choose from. Do I just go for a very nice solo high-ish end card (sub 300$AUD) or would 2 mid range cards x-fired be a better option??

I have been looking at the XFX PCIe HD4890 1GB Extreme card for a solo rig, this way my PSU doesnt need to be upgraded. Will this run both monitors at 1920X1080 and sharp??

Would love some opinions or suggestions.

Thanks :)
 

PaCanc

Distinguished
Jun 7, 2006
171
0
18,690
You're probably getting a worse picture on the second display because it is connected by the analog input (D-SUB/VGA) while the first display is connected by the DVI cable.
If that's the case, you need a video card with 2 DVI outputs.
The 4890 is a very good card for 1920x1080, but for 2x1920x1080 it might not do that well in games. Buy a 5870 or 2x5850 or 2x5770 if you need more performance than a single 4890. The 5xxx should be easier on your PSU than the 4xxx.
 

uh_no

Distinguished
Jul 8, 2009
315
0
18,810
fuzzy output would not be a problem caused by the graphics card.....

if the graphics card is taxed, the FPS goes down to preserve quality.....

also, the analog output should provide display that is nearly as good as the digital output.....likely there is some other issue....like settings somewhere dealing refresh rate or something like that
 

harleyquinn

Distinguished
Oct 14, 2009
3
0
18,510
Hi again, I have both monitors running through the DVI's, my card has dual DVI so this what i used :)

I have narrowed my choices down to the 6 cards below. They are all in stock at my fave PC shop, and are all priced within $10 of each other. I can only afford one at the moment, so which one is the better option to run both of my new monitors???

What do you guys think??

1 Sapphire HD4890 Vapor-X
2 Gigabyte HD5770
3 Powercolor HD5770
4 Sapphire HD5770
5 XFX HD4890 Extreme
6 XFX HD5770
 
G

Guest

Guest
You have probably tried this but what happens if you swap the monitors over / unplug the 'un-fuzzy' monitor? It's definitely the card and not one of the monitors?
 

harleyquinn

Distinguished
Oct 14, 2009
3
0
18,510
That was the first thing i tried.

It seems to be whatever is plugged into the second DVI goes that little bit fuzzy. I tried both monitors in the second DVI with the same result.....