Dual monitors

[wickerman]

Hi all ,just found your site whilst doing a google search, must say i am impressed and hope to be a regular visitor in the coming months.I am trying to set up my PC {a Dell Dimension } with dual monitors,I have an old monitor from a previous system and thought this might do ,it would be used for displaying a site full time so i could browse on my main monitor it would not be used for games etc..
Problem 1 is the connections ,it looks like I would need a twin adapter to plug the monitor into the PC also the monitor connections and the PC port both seem to be male again i would need an adapter if such a thing is available .
Problem 2 a friend tells me windows xp will pick up the second monitor automatically and i wont need to do anything, but another friend says i will need a bigger memory card .

I would be obliged if someone could tell me if theis is possible with the old monitor and are there adapters available to sort out the connection problems . thanks in advance for your help Stevie

 

[KGB-911]

Can you post some more specs please

 

[RedeyesUK]

hard to tell without more details, does your system have an AGP card, or is it all onboard?

if you have an AGP slot, your best bet is to buy a dual-head card, such as this (if you don't have AGP, i think you can get a PCI version as well)

and you won't need more memory for this.

 

[wickerman]

The pc is a dell dimension 8300 bought june 2004 2.8GHz ,512Mb ,128MB DDR NVidia GeForce FX 5200.

 

[RedeyesUK]

ok, looking at the specs, you have a reasonable card already - you just need another card to go into a PCI slot. Something like this should do the trick, you keep your existing monitor as it is, and then plug your extra monitor into this. XP should pick this up and sort it out no problems.

 

[Raje]

Hmmm, well I have dual display at home, and I don't think you need an adapter or anything like that, but you do need a video card that supports dual display. Now lucky for me my video card has the normal monitor connection and an "S" video, so I ran the s video to my tv. So let us know what kind of video card you have, and what connections are in the back. If you simply put on a spliter like you say than your gonna have the same display on both monitors I believe and unless the specs are pretty close one would be very blurry. But hey I'm no genious I definatley could be wrong.

 

[wickerman]

Thanks for replies ,I am looing for an extra screen to show betfair whilst browsing/playing poker on the other , I have a spare port on the back of my pc but the connection and the port both seem to be male ,is there an adapter available for this , the monitor would have to get its power through the pc so i would need an adapter so both monitors would be in the same connection.thanks again Stevie

 

[RedeyesUK]

hmm i'm not sure if that extra port you have is actually a monitor port at all. how many pins does it have?

a monitor port will have 15 pins spread across 3 rows.
i'm guessing what you are looking at has 9 pins across 2 rows - if so, that's your serial port and will not help you here.

as for the power, i'm not sure what you mean. are you talking about mains power? if so, any monitor will need its own mains supply, if you don't have enough plug points, you will need to get a power board to plug the extra plug into.

 

[Raje]

Hmm, I'm not quite sure you read all of the posts--- No thier probaly is not an adapter for that, and i think Redeys is right , that is probably not a monitor connection. Looking at the VIDEO card, home many ports does it have, thier may be different kinds. If thier is only one ports then you will need one of few things -- A second video card, a dual screen modulator(which may just double your display not create a second work area) or a better video card that has dual outlets. Do you have a digital camera, or can you find specs of your computer online and put a link, I want to know what the back of the system looks like---

 

[wickerman]

Thanks for replies everyone i have e mailed dell to find out if it is possible and what i will need hopefully they can help . Stevie

 

[CSUnited14]

im gonna guess we got no where on this post? lol do monitors have a s-vidoe port that would be nice just hook s video to it

 

[Raje]

im gonna guess we got no where on this post? lol do monitors have a s-vidoe port that would be nice just hook s video to it

Now thats a really good question, I'm sure some of the new LCD monitors may have the S-video input. Older monitors I doubt it. I only kept making reference to it because it was a second outlet on my video card-- just letting him know that a second outlet was needed, whether or not it was a second card or a better one.

 

[CSUnited14]

But if you could hook up s-video to another monitor like a lcd tft would it display same image or combined image??

 

[Raje]

The second out let show whatever I want it to, I can make my tv a second, completly independant desktop, with a different wall paper and- icons and resolution, or I can make it an extended part of my current desktop making it a large work area, or I have them both show the same thing, its just a matter of what your prgram lets you do--- I mean I don't got a top o the line card, but it is decent I think nVidia fx 5500 128MB oced

 

[CSUnited14]

thanks for the info

 

[wickerman]

hi ,i have been busy so no time to pursue my dream of dual monitors,just thought i would let you see the reply from dells technical department.

Thank you for choosing Dell Hardware e-Support & Services.

We appreciate this opportunity to assist you.

We have read your query and understood your concern.

The option that you wanted to have 2 separate websites opened
at the same time will not be possible. Also since the system
is quite old now upgrading the graphics card is also not an option
since the system does not have an AGP slot.

However you can certainly check in the PC World if there are
any graphics cards that will fit in the PCI slots. The option
of dual monitor will give an option for extending the desktop
to the second monitor.

We apologize but there is little that we can do with this issue.

Thanks for your co operation and have a nice day.

Kind Regards,


Ganesh.R.
Dell E-Support and Services


I know computer technology moves quickly but the pc is only 9 months old . Stevie

 

[CSUnited14]

well in there eyes itsss way to old hahahahhaa

 

[RedeyesUK]

d'you think they're trying to suggest you buy a new computer?

don't listen to them! like i said, something like this should do quite nicely.

and i think £26 is a bit more realistic than the price of a new PC (and of course, the new PC still won't have dual monitor support....)

oh, and BTW, don't go to PC World. ever. (unless you actually enjoy being ripped off at the same time as being given bad advice )

 

[Raje]

NO, what they are telling you is that you don't have an AGP slot. THAT IS ******** WEIRD!!! How old is the system??
What they are telling you is what we have been telling you, you need to upgrade your video card, what they have actually said was that your motherboard is too out of date to support a better video card. I suggest a new motherboard and video card, much less than a new pc, and I'm sure you will be pleased with the advantages of a slightly better board.
As far as pricing, you can get a very decent baord for less than $100.00 and a ok vido card with dual support for around $60-$80.

 

[wickerman]

Thanks for replies , system is 9 months old ,I am afraid i know nothing about pcs is it really weird that the pc doesnt have a AGP slot,it looks like i have paid over the odds for this pc . Stevie