Good value priced Dual Monitor Card

[bkrasner]

Got a question, guys. I'm looking to start using two monitors/two desktops on my PC at work, but have zero experience in dual monitor stuff.

What's a good value priced card that I can use to upgrade my office system (Dell dimension 4400, with 4x AGP slot) so that I can use either two CRTs or two LCD Panels? I'm looking to spend around $80 - $100.

From the looks of things, the NVIDIA cards look to be the best bet, here. But what should I be looking for, here?

Help?

Thanks guys...

Ben

 

[cleeve]

Actually, Ati cards are your best bet for dual monitor applications. They have better display quality because of better RAMDACs.

If you won't be using this system for gaming, a Radeon 7000, 7200, or 7500 with dual outputs will be fine.

Just make sure it comes with a DVI-To-VGA dongle for the second display.

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Radeon 9500 w/256 bit memory bus @ 367/310
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
3dMark03: 3439

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Ditto to what cleeve said. I'd mention Matrox (cause I have to damn it!) cause they do mutli-head monitor setups best (even allow for two different desktops), but I think the ATIs will do you just fine.


- You need a licence to buy a gun, but they'll sell anyone a stamp <i>(or internet account)</i> ! <A HREF="http://www.redgreen.com" target="_new"><font color=green>RED</font color=green> <font color=red>GREEN</font color=red></A> GA to SK

 

[cleeve]

Ape's got it right, I usually neglect to mention Matrox usually because I think their cards are overpriced and I have friends who use them and get irritated with their drivers when they try to run games.

But if you're not running games, they're great cards.

------------------
Radeon 9500 w/256 bit memory bus @ 367/310
AMD AthlonXP 2000+
3dMark03: 3439

 

[Guest]

I own a Asus Fx5600 non ultra(video suite), maybe thats over your price range but the card offers Twin view with 2 400mhz ramdacs. The nice thing is thats its DUal DVI, you need to use the adapters to have analog. I think the card offers descent game performance and and good price/perormance-quality ratio.
Tought some more input could help.

 

[Crashman]

You can get a Radeon VE with dual CRT outputs at Compgeeks for $40. Very good 2d, and you don't need to be gaming at work, so it's probably your best deal.

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[JAGedlion]

you can always just have two vid cards you know. One AGP and one PCI. I just took an old pci card from my P90, after all, how much gaming do you do on the second monitor?

 

[Crashman]

Imagine you're in a P51 mustang duking it out with the Axis powers. You you look to your right and see your wingman. You look to your left and see a zero. You have 2 choices, go up or down. You look up and see one of the bombers you're protecting, so you decide to dive.

Now, that's 4 monitors for 1 game. Unless you're super 1337 with a top hat.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[confoundicator]

So just fill up all the open PCI slots with graphics cards?

 

[Crashman]

And watch the performance of each card drop as another one is added to the same anemic PCI bus...

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

 

[flamethrower205]

I agree, the VE is nice and cheap for those purposes.

All the things I really like to do are either illegal, immoral, or fattening.

 

[JAGedlion]

oh deffinetly. MAny games are improved with only 3 monitors, but few are better on two. I mean, maybe you'd put you radar there or something, but its nothing really big when you only have two. Neverwinter nights can even play nicely on three monitors.

 

[aweicc]

how would neverwinters night play on 3 monitors?

like what u need the extra 2 there for?

 

[JAGedlion]

you see more, actually, you can see so far, often ranged weapons cant shoot far enough. and you can put your inventory , quest, etc window there. IIRC you cant move the windows in NWN and it just puts them there for you because that what most people would want