1 VIDEO CARDS/2 MONITORS ?

[Talal Itani]

Hello,

I am upgrading my AGP video card in order to have a DVI port and dual
monitor support. I found a card I like at Newegg, Gigabyte GV-N52128DS with
a DVI and D-SUB connectors. Do you know if I can connect 2 monitors to
this card? I am running Windows XP. Thank you. Below is the link to the
info on this card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814125191

T.I.

 

[JAD]

DVI port is a digital port only which means you can't use a DVI to VGA
adapter. You can only use a product with a DVI cable.
That means your second monitor must use a digital connection with DVI.


other than that, yeah dual monitors are supported

 

[Clint]

There are DVI -> VGA adapters. In fact, ATI and their partners typically
include them with their cards now, because the current generation cards have
only DVI ports. In any case, they're commonly available and they shouldn't
be more than $10 to buy, if you need one. They allow you to plug a CRT
monitor into a DVI port on the card.

Clint

 

[Paul]

DVI port is a digital port only which means you can't use a DVI to VGA
adapter. You can only use a product with a DVI cable.
That means your second monitor must use a digital connection with DVI.


other than that, yeah dual monitors are supported

http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/VGA/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=1240

Where it says "DVI-D", that means digital only, and no analog
signal is on the connector at the same time.

When the connector specification says "DVI-I", there is both a
digital signal and an analog signal. With DVI-I, you use an
adapter, to convert the analog component into the more familiar
15 pin VGA format.

If you have two analog monitors with VGA connectors, then a
card with one DVI-I and one VGA can be made to work, as long
as an adapter is used to convert the DVI-I to VGA.

But your example card has DVI-D, so only a digital monitor
can be connected to that.

This is an example of DVI-D (digital only). The four pins on
the right hand side of the connector are missing.

http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/14-121-183-06.JPG

This card comes with a DVI-I to VGA adapter, so you can get
two VGA connectors with this one (a 6200 AGP):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130008

According to this database, the 6200 should be a bit better
than the 5200.

http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/

Paul

 

[Clint]

Well, there you go. Learn something new everyday.

Clint

 

[Talal Itani]

This card has two connectors. A DVI Connector, and a D-SUB Connector. Can
I with this card attach a monitor with DVI connector, and another monitor
with a D-SUB Connector? If that is the case, how different is such a card
from cards with dual-monitor support?

 

[MF]

This card has two connectors. A DVI Connector, and a D-SUB Connector.
Can I with this card attach a monitor with DVI connector, and another
monitor with a D-SUB Connector? If that is the case, how different is
such a card from cards with dual-monitor support?

I looked at their website - NO mention of dual monitor support. The two
ports are there to support two different monitor interfaces. I couldn't
find anything to indicate that this supports two monitors. Of course, my
brain is about ready to shut down for the night......

I didn't look for an 800 number, but if you can find one, call it. Or call
new egg.

If you think about the difference between 1 and 2 monitor cards, it's
simple: $$$. A normal two monitor setup in windows takes two cards. So, to
do it, one card will have to imitate two...no?

This looks like a nice card for the price. So buy two :_)

good luck

 

[Paul]

This card has two connectors. A DVI Connector, and a D-SUB Connector. Can
I with this card attach a monitor with DVI connector, and another monitor
with a D-SUB Connector? If that is the case, how different is such a card
from cards with dual-monitor support?

The FX5200 is a dual monitor card. With the Gigabyte card you
were looking at, you could connect one digital monitor to the
DVI-D connector and one analog monitor to the remaining VGA
connector.

There are many FX5200 cards that have DVI-I connectors. And
the specs for the FX5200 that I own, states "dual RAMDACs" which
means the GPU (NV34) on the card does have the ability to drive two
analog monitors. It is just a matter of having the right connectors
on the faceplate of the card, to be able to connect the two
analog monitors. I've only tried simultaneous TV output and
VGA output, and haven't tried dual VGA myself. I like to
buy the video card, with a DVI-I to VGA adapter plug, as
the adapter plug is very expensive to buy later as a standalone
item.

(mentions "dual RAMDACs" which means the chip can drive two monitors
with VGA connectors, if the card is equipped with the right connectors)

http://www.msicomputer.com/product/vga/vga_detail.asp?model=FX5200_TD128

Paul

 

[paulmd]

I looked at their website - NO mention of dual monitor support. The two
ports are there to support two different monitor interfaces. I couldn't
find anything to indicate that this supports two monitors. Of course, my
brain is about ready to shut down for the night......

I didn't look for an 800 number, but if you can find one, call it. Or call
new egg.

If you think about the difference between 1 and 2 monitor cards, it's
simple: $$$. A normal two monitor setup in windows takes two cards. So, to
do it, one card will have to imitate two...no?

This looks like a nice card for the price. So buy two :_)

good luck

Most often, if you have 2 monitors, you will only have 1 card. I've yet
to see a motherboard with multiple AGP.

 

[kony]

No. A normal two monitor setup in windows can be done with
any card that supports two displays. There is not much cost
difference, even some of the low-end cards supported it.

Most often, if you have 2 monitors, you will only have 1 card. I've yet
to see a motherboard with multiple AGP.

A board could not have two logical AGP devices, since AGP is
a port rather than a bus. You could have a card plugged
into an AGP slot that supports two monitors though, or a
motherboard with integrated AGP ported video that supports
two monitors, for example Shuttle MN31 w/nForce2 IGP has two
analog outputs,
http://global.shuttle.com/Product/MotherBoard/mbd_Spec.asp?M_id=62

 

[paulmd]

A board could not have two logical AGP devices, since AGP is
a port rather than a bus.

There's no reason you can't have two ports. You can have two COM or Ps2
ports, after all. Also, there's at least two motherboards that have
implemented this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Accelerated_Graphics_Port#Correction_to_Multiple_AGP_ports

http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/akiba/hotline/20041127/image/np8sa1.html
http://www.anandtech.com/showimage....om/old/cpu/intel/springidf2000/micronddr2.jpg



You could have a card plugged

 

[kony]

There's no reason you can't have two ports. You can have two COM or Ps2
ports, after all. Also, there's at least two motherboards that have
implemented this.

Agreed, but I had not heard of any that made such
accomodations until now.