pci card to add another monitor

[dexter195]

do any of ye know if any pci cards exist that can extend the 'extended desk top' onto a third monitor?

thanks

p.s. im a programmer with a lot of necessary crud on my screens and a third monitor would be of a great help, just in case your wondering why the hell id need that many monitors

 

[AckNack]

Depends on what OS you have but it should work just fine. Windows 98 allows up to 8 video cards/monitors and XP up to 9 (I think those numbers are right).

One thing to double check...make sure the card(s) you have and the card(s) you buy are compatible with multiple monitors and each other. Check the hardware compatibility list on Microsofts site (presuming you're using some flavor of Windows).

AckNack

http://www.computer-help-guide.com

 

[AckNack]

Another note: there are also dual monitor video cards. Not sure if there are cards that have three VGA connectors (in case that's what you were asking).

AckNack

http://www.computer-help-guide.com

 

[dexter195]

so if i was to buy a pci graphics card, i'd be able to use that on along side the agp duel monitor graphics card i have a the moment? and id be able to extend the desktop across 4 monitors?

 

[AckNack]

Yep. Just make sure the cards are all compatible with multiple monitor setup by checking the hardware compatibility list.

You can extend the desktop across all the monitors you have setup with this configuration.

It's been awhile since I've done this but some things to look out for:

The Taskbar will be on your primary monitor only. I'm a little grey on which card will be your primary or how Windows chooses the primary card. I can't remember if it chooses based on PCI, AGP, which was installed first, etc.

And it should slow down your video transfer rate to the speed of the PCI card rather than the AGP. Shouldn't be too much of a problem unless you have a lot of intensive graphics stuff going on.

AckNack

http://www.computer-help-guide.com

 

[dexter195]

that sounds good. luckely graphics performance wont really be an issiue at all. ive an old 4 meg pci graphics card lying around so ill give that a shot and see what happens.

thanks for the information. much appreciated

 

[tf1]

Take a look at the Matrox P75-MDDA8X64 triple-head AGP graphics card.



Regards: tf1

 

[AckNack]

tf1,

Yep multi-port video cards are definitely easier to deal with than multiple video cards if the budget allows.

AckNack

http://www.computer-help-guide.com

 

[felixc]

This the best choice if you don't want to run into many many compatiblity issues.