Intel GMA4500 Dual Screen

[gmail2]

Hi All

We're considering buying some HP DC7900 SFF E5300 machines for our staff and running Win 7 on them. The machines come with Intel GMA 4500 integrated graphics cards on them. The machines will mainly be used by Helpdesk staff, server admins etc, so really high end graphics isn't an absolute must (much as I'm sure the'd love it !!), however we'd like to setup dual screens for everybody.

I beleive that the GMA 4500 supports dual screen natively direct from either the VGA or DVI port. However, from looking at the HP website, there doesn't seem to be any Intel specific drivers on there. Does anybody know if there are any Win 7 compatible drivers out there which can support dual screens?

Irish Poetry - Karen O'Connor
Irish Poetry and Short Stories - Doghouse Books
Garten und Landschaftsbau

 

[BadBigBen]

in cases like that, I go directly to the manufacturers website, in your case Intel, and DL the driver from there (side benefit it will most likely be an updated version to the one offered by HP)...



Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[paparazi]

Looks like only one D-Sub VGA out on that setup? at least the spec I read.
You may need to add a suitable graphics card.
Martin

On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep

 

[gmail2]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the replies. In answer to paparazi's question, I'm no expert on the finer details of hardware, particularly graphics cards, but from reading the table on the link below, it should support dual screens natively I beleive:

http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/quick-reference-guide-to-intel-integrated-graphics/

Am I wrong ?

BadBigBen

I forgot to mention in my original post that I also looked on the Intel website but coudln't find any there either. However I've just searched again, this time selecting "Desktop Graphics Cards" instead of "Integrated Graphics" and it's brought something up for Win 7 Enterprise. So seems I'm in luck after all

My only remaining concern (assuming I've interpreted the above link correctly) is the aero support. But from reading the link below on Wikipedia, it seems I'm OK on that front too as the card supports directX 10 and has premium support for Vista:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_Aero

Sorry, I probably sound like I'm answering all my own questions here. But if anybody is able/willing to confirm that I'm right, it'd be greatly appreciated ... or equally appreciated if you told me I'm completely wrong so that at least I'd know

Irish Poetry - Karen O'Connor
Irish Poetry and Short Stories - Doghouse Books
Garten und Landschaftsbau

 

[BadBigBen]

What I see, is this, the chipset is capable of dual monitor but the mainboard only has one VGA output, thus limiting you to one monitor...

interestingly though, it does have a DisplayPort, but I am not sure if you can hook a second monitor to that...

easiest solution, would be to add a cheap nVidia or ATI card, with two DVI or VGA, or a combo of those, and then hook up two monitors...


Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
How to ask a question, when posting them to a professional forum.
Only ask questions with yes/no answers if you want "yes" or "no"

 

[paparazi]

You need to phone the supplier and find out if this system has two video ports or just the one as I reported.
I was simply looking at a spec sheet which said that this system just had the one standard VGA 15 pin D-Sub....ask yourself the question..two monitors will require two physical connections to the PC, if it only has one connection only one monitor can be hooked up.
The point is...this chipset and drivers support dual monitor output but.....not all manufacturers implement the full feature set of the chip and fit two video outputs.
As for Aero....you might not be gaming but running full aero pack over dual monitors on current integrated chipsets takes a lot of system resources and can slow things down as they cope under the strain.
Fitting these machines with fairly entry level addon cards that have dual monitor capability would free up resources and run aero much more smoothly.
Something like:
$24.99 after rebate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121310

Martin


On wings like angels whispers sweet
my heart it feels a broken beat
Touched soul and hurt lay wounded deep
Brown eyes are lost afar and sleep