P
Patrick Flaherty
Hi,
My first home-built was 2 yrs ago. Athlon XP 2000+ (1.5 GHz), Asus A7N8X-E
mobo, gig of memory, etc. Big improvement on the 1GHz Pentium (Pentium Pro
even?) machine that my company had given me for a home machine. (plus this one
I owned).
Getting a little long in the tooth, and much as occurred between.
Thinking about an Athlon 64 X2 of some kind. This means PCI Express and I have
to get a new video card.
Problem is, I use dual monitors. Currently 2 17" NECs I believe (I'm at work
now). They have DVI (in addition to analog) connectors on the back.
Dual monitor PCI (x16) Express cards?
The least expensive thing (I'm not a gamer [but I am a big multi-tasker, hence
the dual core]) I find on NewEgg is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102664
An ATI. But I'm confused. The problem with less expensive dual DVI PCI Ex
cards is that they all have a max resolution of 2048 X 1536. 2 times 1024 X 768
that is. But my second (and last) requirement. 1280 X 1024 (or better)
resolution.
The confusing part (with the ATI card) it says its 'normal' max resolution is
the same (insufficient) 2048 X 1536. BUT, if you use something called 'dual
line2' then the resolution can go up to 3840 x 2400.
What's dual link2? Look around. It's DVI but will all the pins populated and
two, parallel 'links'. I guess doubling the amount of pixels you can get to the
screen.
Looked at what I'm working on here at work (dual mon; AGP; DVI). The female DVI
inside the monitor is fully populated with pins. However the male connector
coming from the (AGP) video card is 'half-populated' (single link).
And yet the monitor is doing 1280 X 1024.
But this is AGP. And maybe this is a difference between ABG and the PCI Express
16 card that I would need to buy for my proposed machine.
So if 'dual link2' just a matter of making sure that the DVI on the back of your
monitor (monitors in my case) is fully populated (with pins) AND the cable of
course.
And a general explanation (if someone feels so inclined) of dual monitor
considerations in PCI Express vs. AGP would be very helpful.
Hope someone can explain this to me (and yes of course, I'm looking around for
Web pages that would do the same).
pat
My first home-built was 2 yrs ago. Athlon XP 2000+ (1.5 GHz), Asus A7N8X-E
mobo, gig of memory, etc. Big improvement on the 1GHz Pentium (Pentium Pro
even?) machine that my company had given me for a home machine. (plus this one
I owned).
Getting a little long in the tooth, and much as occurred between.
Thinking about an Athlon 64 X2 of some kind. This means PCI Express and I have
to get a new video card.
Problem is, I use dual monitors. Currently 2 17" NECs I believe (I'm at work
now). They have DVI (in addition to analog) connectors on the back.
Dual monitor PCI (x16) Express cards?
The least expensive thing (I'm not a gamer [but I am a big multi-tasker, hence
the dual core]) I find on NewEgg is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102664
An ATI. But I'm confused. The problem with less expensive dual DVI PCI Ex
cards is that they all have a max resolution of 2048 X 1536. 2 times 1024 X 768
that is. But my second (and last) requirement. 1280 X 1024 (or better)
resolution.
The confusing part (with the ATI card) it says its 'normal' max resolution is
the same (insufficient) 2048 X 1536. BUT, if you use something called 'dual
line2' then the resolution can go up to 3840 x 2400.
What's dual link2? Look around. It's DVI but will all the pins populated and
two, parallel 'links'. I guess doubling the amount of pixels you can get to the
screen.
Looked at what I'm working on here at work (dual mon; AGP; DVI). The female DVI
inside the monitor is fully populated with pins. However the male connector
coming from the (AGP) video card is 'half-populated' (single link).
And yet the monitor is doing 1280 X 1024.
But this is AGP. And maybe this is a difference between ABG and the PCI Express
16 card that I would need to buy for my proposed machine.
So if 'dual link2' just a matter of making sure that the DVI on the back of your
monitor (monitors in my case) is fully populated (with pins) AND the cable of
course.
And a general explanation (if someone feels so inclined) of dual monitor
considerations in PCI Express vs. AGP would be very helpful.
Hope someone can explain this to me (and yes of course, I'm looking around for
Web pages that would do the same).
pat