AIW 9600 XT and dual monitor set-up

[MrShadeDONT@SEND_I_WONT_SEE_IT]

Have 2 beautiful Samsung 21" monitors on 9600 XT AIW. It only has ONE
VGA port with the dongle gizmo for 2 monitor set-up.

Does ATI or ? have an AIW type card with 2 DVI ports and the TV out
feature?

Or is my only option to purchase vid card with a DVI and a VGA port,
then get an add-in card for TV-PVR???


Thanks

MrShade aka Roscoe
"Do you walk to school or carry a lunch,
is it farther to St.Paul or by bus?"

 

[J. Clarke]

Have 2 beautiful Samsung 21" monitors on 9600 XT AIW. It only has ONE
VGA port with the dongle gizmo for 2 monitor set-up.

Does ATI or ? have an AIW type card with 2 DVI ports and the TV out
feature?

Or is my only option to purchase vid card with a DVI and a VGA port,
then get an add-in card for TV-PVR???

There are no AIWs with dual DVI. Using a separate board is a better option
anyway unless you are just plain out of slots. ATI's Rage Theater 200 chip
is old and poorly supported, a third party tuner board if you select
carefully will have a newer generation of chip and good third-party
support.

 

[mrshade]

There are no AIWs with dual DVI. Using a separate board is a better option
anyway unless you are just plain out of slots. ATI's Rage Theater 200 chip
is old and poorly supported, a third party tuner board if you select
carefully will have a newer generation of chip and good third-party
support.

Thanks for info.

Which of the other varieities would you suggest?

Considering quality of picture, ease of set-up and stability.......

I always liked ATI before. I have had about 10-12 of their cards with
3 AIW's in that number.Still have an AIW PCI rattling around here
someplace (ancient though).

Used 5-6 nVIDIAS in various flavors usually 1 step under the top card
getting as much bang as possible for my buck. PNY mostly and had fans
fail repeatedly. Replaced them myself after crummy support options on
the phone with constant going in circles............

Anyway, it boils down to my 2nd sentence. What would you
knowledgeable folks do (purchase)?

I do have it up & running with both monitors and the TV operating.
Analog only though, and one monitor reports because of the TV
operating on one, the refresh is at a much lower rate although I
cannot discern it readily.


Thanks so much for help in any amount.

Regards,

MrShade aka Roscoe aka Rick




Knowledge is like money, the less you talk about it
the more people assume you have.

 

[J. Clarke]

Thanks for info.

Which of the other varieities would you suggest?

Considering quality of picture, ease of set-up and stability.......

I always liked ATI before. I have had about 10-12 of their cards with
3 AIW's in that number.Still have an AIW PCI rattling around here
someplace (ancient though).

Used 5-6 nVIDIAS in various flavors usually 1 step under the top card
getting as much bang as possible for my buck. PNY mostly and had fans
fail repeatedly. Replaced them myself after crummy support options on
the phone with constant going in circles............

Anyway, it boils down to my 2nd sentence. What would you
knowledgeable folks do (purchase)?

I do have it up & running with both monitors and the TV operating.
Analog only though, and one monitor reports because of the TV
operating on one, the refresh is at a much lower rate although I
cannot discern it readily.

With two monitors and TV going at the same time, one is going to be
mirroring the TV--that's just the way it is--if you need all three
independent you need either a second video board or a triple-head board
such as a Matrox Parhelia.

If you want dual-DVI and high video performance right now you're looking at
a few ATI x1800 or nvidia 7800 boards, all PCI Express. For a tuner board
it depends on your needs--for analog one of the Hauppauge PVR series would
be a good bet, for HD the Dvicos are good and are developing some
third-party support. If you're outside the US or are planning on running
Media Center Edition there might be other considerations.

 

[Glenn]

MrShadeDONT@SEND_I_WONT_SEE_IT wrote:

Using a separate board is a better option
anyway unless you are just plain out of slots.

I've heard this stated before but I've yet to see it explained, so could you
please elaborate?

Do dual monitor cards share resources that will impact performance? Shared
memory? Shared GPU? Or do these dual monitor cards have two of everything?

If two separate cards are better, then surely there must be some drawback(s)
besides taking up an extra slot?

Thanks for any enlightenment you can give,
Glenn

 

[John Doe]

I've heard this stated before but I've yet to see it explained, so
could you please elaborate?

Do dual monitor cards share resources that will impact
performance? Shared memory? Shared GPU? Or do these dual
monitor cards have two of everything?

If two separate cards are better, then surely there must be some
drawback(s) besides taking up an extra slot?

I'm not sure two cards are better, probably not if you have an
AGP/PCI system. You probably can't get as much performance from the
PCI card as you can from a very fast AGP card driving to monitors.

That's some guessing. Yours is a good question IMO, I might be
finding out based on some experience soon.

 

[J. Clarke]

I'm not sure two cards are better, probably not if you have an
AGP/PCI system. You probably can't get as much performance from the
PCI card as you can from a very fast AGP card driving to monitors.

That's some guessing. Yours is a good question IMO, I might be
finding out based on some experience soon.

Sorry for the confusion, I meant a separate tuner board instead of using an
AIW, not that one should use two video boards.

 

[mrshade]

Sorry for the confusion, I meant a separate tuner board instead of using an
AIW, not that one should use two video boards.

I have AGP/PCI with P4 2.53 GHZ 533mhz board and unlikely I will
update soon as it is plenty for what I do.

I would like to get Digital board though. The monitors are nice in
analog. Digital is better.

I do not think 2 monitors consumes any more resources than one in my
opinion.

Thanks for help.




Knowledge is like money, the less you talk about it
the more people assume you have.