ATI Radeon Express 200 graphics carrd question

[Lord Turkey Cough]

I have a computer with the above chip set
here is a lovely picture on the motherboard :-
http://mb.zol.com.cn/38/380970.html

It's in Chinese but the pictures are Engliah :O)

Anyway, apparently the chip set supports two monitors, however
as you can see from the last picture, which shows the ports, there is
only one monitor port, a SVGA? one with 14 or 15 pins, it's the blue
'blob', underneath the purple 'blob' (printer port?).

It looks like there is is a space next to it where the other monitor port
would have gone, it the manufactures had been 'arsed' to put one on,
very nice of them not to :O|

Anyway I am just wondering if it would be possible too add another
monitor port? I assume the answer is no because it was designed for just one
port for some reason.

I know I am clutching at straws here. But it justs seems a shame they only
put
one port on when the chipset can apprently support two.

I guess I should take my computer apart and have a good look at it......
and then put it back togeather and find it never works again :O$

Mind you if it was possible I guess I would not risk trying to connect
another
port anyway for fear of damaging my motherboard permantly. - Oh well.

I am just annoyed they only put one port on, I just want to use two
monitors,
nothing fancy, I am not a gamer just enough for surfing etc...

 

[Augustus]

I have a computer with the above chip set
here is a lovely picture on the motherboard :-
http://mb.zol.com.cn/38/380970.html

It's in Chinese but the pictures are Engliah :O)

Anyway, apparently the chip set supports two monitors, however
as you can see from the last picture, which shows the ports, there is
only one monitor port, a SVGA? one with 14 or 15 pins, it's the blue
'blob', underneath the purple 'blob' (printer port?).

Motherboard: MSI MS-7184 (AmethystM) incorporates, as you note, the Xpress
200 IGP, which in conjuntion with an additional PCI-e compatible ATI card
is supposed to do SurroundView with 4 monitors. Whether or not this
proprietary E-machines and Gateway specific m/b actually implements it is
another thing.

 

[First of One]

Even if the traces are there on the board, at the very least you would still
need to pay someone to solder in a HD15 (aka "Dsub") connector. Probably not
worth the trouble when bottom-feeder X1300 cards are going for $20:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102721

 

[kony]

I have a computer with the above chip set
here is a lovely picture on the motherboard :-
http://mb.zol.com.cn/38/380970.html

It's in Chinese but the pictures are Engliah :O)

Anyway, apparently the chip set supports two monitors, however
as you can see from the last picture, which shows the ports, there is
only one monitor port, a SVGA? one with 14 or 15 pins, it's the blue
'blob', underneath the purple 'blob' (printer port?).

It looks like there is is a space next to it where the other monitor port
would have gone, it the manufactures had been 'arsed' to put one on,
very nice of them not to :O|

Anyway I am just wondering if it would be possible too add another
monitor port? I assume the answer is no because it was designed for just one
port for some reason.

In theory, if they had designed it to put the 2nd monitor
output there, you could solder on the 2nd VGA jack and any
surface mounted components missing. In practice, they may
not have routed these traces and even if there are some
those might be for a serial port instead of VGA.

I know I am clutching at straws here. But it justs seems a shame they only
put
one port on when the chipset can apprently support two.

That's what happens when a board is built to a low price
point.

I guess I should take my computer apart and have a good look at it......
and then put it back togeather and find it never works again :O$

Mind you if it was possible I guess I would not risk trying to connect
another
port anyway for fear of damaging my motherboard permantly. - Oh well.

I am just annoyed they only put one port on, I just want to use two
monitors,
nothing fancy, I am not a gamer just enough for surfing etc...

Buy a video card with dual monitor support, or a PCI card
with single monitor support will also, usually work (if
Windows(?) supports it through the driver).

 

[Robert Baer]

I have a computer with the above chip set
here is a lovely picture on the motherboard :-
http://mb.zol.com.cn/38/380970.html

It's in Chinese but the pictures are Engliah :O)

Anyway, apparently the chip set supports two monitors, however
as you can see from the last picture, which shows the ports, there is
only one monitor port, a SVGA? one with 14 or 15 pins, it's the blue
'blob', underneath the purple 'blob' (printer port?).

It looks like there is is a space next to it where the other monitor port
would have gone, it the manufactures had been 'arsed' to put one on,
very nice of them not to :O|

Anyway I am just wondering if it would be possible too add another
monitor port? I assume the answer is no because it was designed for just one
port for some reason.

I know I am clutching at straws here. But it justs seems a shame they only
put
one port on when the chipset can apprently support two.

I guess I should take my computer apart and have a good look at it......
and then put it back togeather and find it never works again :O$

Mind you if it was possible I guess I would not risk trying to connect
another
port anyway for fear of damaging my motherboard permantly. - Oh well.

I am just annoyed they only put one port on, I just want to use two
monitors,
nothing fancy, I am not a gamer just enough for surfing etc...

The purple connector is a standard 15-pin SVGA connector.
You might try a video card for a second monitor, but usually MBs with
on-board video do not tolerate that.

 

[Lord Turkey Cough]

Even if the traces are there on the board, at the very least you would
still need to pay someone to solder in a HD15 (aka "Dsub") connector.
Probably not worth the trouble when bottom-feeder X1300 cards are going
for $20: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102721

I was just wondering if the purple thing (mount) in which it is mounted has
the traces
connected to it and a path through to where the dbus would be or whether
the
Dsub is connected directly to the motherboard. I thought maybe you could try
connecting it by just pushing it into any holes or whatever.
I tried to have a look at it but it's hard to get at and I would have to
take the whole
thing apart and take the motherboard out. I started doing that but then
thought the better
of it.If I did soldered it I would probably try and do it my self, rather
spend the money
on a soldering iron!
Having said that I don't think I would risk it.
Not sure what I will do yet, I might even get something more powerful, I
just benchmarked
my graphics and it didn't look too impresive. I guess I will just keep
investigating
and seeing what becomes available on ebay and the like.

 

[Lord Turkey Cough]

Motherboard: MSI MS-7184 (AmethystM) incorporates, as you note, the Xpress
200 IGP, which in conjuntion with an additional PCI-e compatible ATI card
is supposed to do SurroundView with 4 monitors. Whether or not this
proprietary E-machines and Gateway specific m/b actually implements it is
another thing.

Well there is only one connector on the motherboard, I guess this might
cause some
confusion if the chipset expects two.
It's actually a HP PC, here is the specification
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00378480&lc=en&cc=uk&dlc=en&product=1839474#

I'd certainly like to know why they only put one conector on it.

 

[First of One]

I was just wondering if the purple thing (mount) in which it is mounted
has the traces connected to it and a path through to where the dbus
would be or whether the Dsub is connected directly to the motherboard.

What purple mount? You mean the large parallel port block? It has no
connection with the Dsub connector. The Dsub connector is soldered directly
to the board. Often there are two additional screws to secure the connector
to the board (solder alone would be too weak).

I thought maybe you could try connecting it by just pushing it into any
holes or whatever.

Ha! It isn't that easy.

Not sure what I will do yet, I might even get something more powerful, I
just benchmarked my graphics and it didn't look too impresive.

This is true. The Xpress 200 graphics is a stripped down version of the
Radeon X300 card, which in itself is a bottom-feeder. If you intend to do
any gaming, an add-in card would be mandatory.

 

[Baron]

Well there is only one connector on the motherboard, I guess this
might cause some
confusion if the chipset expects two.
It's actually a HP PC, here is the specification
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00378480&lc=en&cc=uk&dlc=en&product=1839474#

I'd certainly like to know why they only put one conector on it.

Quite simply because the Xp200 chip on that board only supports one
monitor. In addition it robs its memory from the main ram.

If you want better video output or two monitors, get a PCIExpress card
for it. Don't forget to turn down the video memory size in the BIOS if
you do, and set the frame buffer size to twice the memory on the new
video card.

 

[kony]

Because the point was to make a cheap motherboard for a low
cost PC. People buying low cost PCs don't tend to run
multiple monitors and using shared system memory it doubles
the bandwidth necessary to run two monitors.

Quite simply because the Xp200 chip on that board only supports one
monitor. In addition it robs its memory from the main ram.

True, but "robs" is a good thing because it means it's
cheaper, in an era when non-gaming requires 32MB at most on
systems typically having 1GB or more. A trivial % memory
lost but doing without video card and more limited feature
sets on the motherboard cuts maybe $40 from the cost, with
the (typical, like that one) board itself not costing much
more than that when found on sale or with a rebate.

If you want better video output or two monitors, get a PCIExpress card
for it. Don't forget to turn down the video memory size in the BIOS if
you do, and set the frame buffer size to twice the memory on the new
video card.

There is no need to set the frame buffer to twice the memory
on the new card.