Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

dual monitor PCI card vs. small HP case

Tags:
  • Graphics Cards
  • Cases
  • PCI
  • Dual Monitors
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
Share
December 16, 2004 2:42:32 PM

We are getting new computers at work, so now have some extra montors. I planned to add a PCI video card (with dual monitor capability) to my new computer, but discovered the new computer is "small form factor" and doesn't have full size PCI case slots in the back. The PCI slots on the motherboard seem to be standard. The PCI card is small and will physically fit in the case, but not its metal part that slides into the PCI slot in the back wall of the case. Does someone make smaller dual-monitor PCI video cards? What would you think of me either cutting the metal part of the PCI card to shorten it so it will fit, or cutting a hole in the case to allow the metal part to stick out of the case? We really hope to enjoy the advantages of dual monitors here in the office. Too bad these new computers are in undersized cases and don't have an AGP slot. (HP dc5000 with 3.0 MHz P4, integrated graphics and 3 PCI expansion slots; Win2000Pro OS.) I predict dual monitor setups will become common for typical email/WORD/EXCELL users, as monitors are now cheap and there seem to be a lot of extra ones around many offices, and the video card solution is cheap. Thanks for your suggestions!

More about : dual monitor pci card small case

December 16, 2004 3:17:58 PM

I'm sure you can get shorter slot covers and jsut unscrew the existing one and screw the short one on. However, it may be easier to just bend, cut off & drill a screw hole in the existing one to fit the case than it is to cut holes in a new one for the ports, or find them cut properly anyways, except maybe from the video card mfg.

Mike.
December 17, 2004 12:28:46 AM

Thanks, Mike. You got me thinking, so I did some serious searching. I found a dual monitor PCI card that comes with a regular PCI slot bracket and a second smaller bracket! The box states "Support low profile system". It is a Jaton nVIDIA GeForce MX4000, 128MB DDR, Dual VGA, PCI, Model "Video-208PCI-128Twin" -RETAIL from NewEgg for $72.50 plus .50 shipping. What a suprise! I ordered it, and with a little luck, am looking forward to running 2 monitors at work. I spend half my life there, I might as well try something new and interesting. I might even be more "productive" for the company!
--Allan
Related resources
a b U Graphics card
December 17, 2004 1:30:23 AM

Many cases with 1/2 height slots include a generic cover with a knockout for a VGA connector which might be located properly, depending on the card. Of course if that slot cover isn't there or doesn't fit, you can simply cut the slot cover on the card you have and bend it over yourself. I've done that, it works fine.

Some cards also included an extra slot cover, but apparently yours didn't.

<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>
a b U Graphics card
December 17, 2004 1:32:38 AM

BTW, a lot of systems with 1/2 height cards are Micro ATX. Some of them DO have an AGP slot. Certainly many Micro ATX boards do. But I've actually seen systems with AGP and half-height cards for sale at Compgeeks.

Other systems use Flex ATX boards. These are the same form factor SFF systems use, and many of those boards also have an AGP slot.

So whether your system has an AGP slot depends on how it was specified by the system maker.

<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>
December 20, 2004 3:46:01 PM

Thanks, Crash. You're always very helpful. Another question; the bios options on this new HP business computer don't allow me to turn off the onboard Extreme Graphics. My new PCI card will be here in a day or two; can I install it and the drivers without disabling the onboard graphics first? The OS is Win2000Pro. Thanks so much.
--Allan
a b U Graphics card
December 20, 2004 4:49:25 PM

You'll probably have some problems: Windows might clone the monitors automatically, but the PCI video probably won't display anything until Windows loads. This is just an annoyance for most users.

<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>
January 4, 2005 4:39:58 PM

It works. The HP automatically detected the PCI video card. Due to our corporate login process, I had to keep one monitor on the onboard graphics VGA-out so I could sign in before Windows loads, but once I set the video properties to stretch the screen across both monitors, I am able to have any window open in either screen. Move Outlook or WORD or any screen to the other monitor and it opens there next time, no problem. The mouse moves across the divide between the two screens seamlessly. Two monitors at work is GREAT! (I also reassigned IRQs and disabled half of the USB ports to remove any chance of an IRQ conflict, but I don't know it this was really necessary.)
So, in summary, I didn't need a dual VGA card, since I'm only using one of the VGA connections from my new PCI card. I could have bought a PCI video card for this HP low profile case with a single VGA port for $51 at NewEgg, which is 21 less than I paid for the dual VGA card. To confirm it is for low profile cases, look for the extra small slot bracket in the picture of the product contents. Thanks again for your help, Crash.
a b U Graphics card
January 5, 2005 1:20:33 AM

The extra bracket does cost the manufacturer money though, so many half-height cards don't include the half-height bracket. I just look at the picture to determine the height of the card.

If I needed a half-height card and had only the choice between a lesser card with the extra bracket, or a better card without the extra bracket, I'd buy the better card and modify the full-height bracket to fit a half-height slot.

<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>
!