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Drew345
Joined: 24 May 2005
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 Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 5:35 pm Post subject: Dual monitor Video Card |
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I want to buy a video card (for an older PC) to support dual monitors.
The PC is
Gateway GT5220, AMD Athlon 64 dual-core 3800+ 2GHz Processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive, 16X DVD+/-RW Drive, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Description
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core Processor
* 1GB PC2-4200 DDR2 Memory (I upgraded to 3 GB)
* 250GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
* 16x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner (I added another SATA)
* Integrated GeForce 6150 Graphics with 128MB Shared Memory
* Integrated 7.1 Audio with Stereo Amplified Speakers
It Uses NVidia drivers now.
I have a free PCI-Express X16 slot on the motherboard (near bottom back of PC).
For the new Video card, I am looking at:
NVidia GeForce G210 256MB LP [PCI-Express x16 ]
http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=170756095&pos_shop_cd=EN&pos_class_cd=90000003&pos_class_kind=T
PCI-E 2,0 x16
PCI Express 2.0 Supported
Memory GDDR2 256 MB, 64 Bt, 333 (666) MHz
Does it look like the right card for my machine? I choose another NVidia GeForce card, even though that may not be necessary. It is cheap enough at 40,000 won.
I don�t play games on the PC. Sometimes watch a video or video chat on Skype. I really don't need high-end video, just two monitor support.
Are video cards usually plug and play? Do you usually have to download new drivers with new video cards? Do I need to disable my integrated card to use the new one?
Thanks, |
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SeoulNate
Joined: 04 Jun 2010
Location: Hyehwa
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| Posted: Fri May 20, 2011 10:20 pm Post subject: |
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1. it will work fine if all you are looking to have is two monitor support
2. http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index.aspx?lang=en-us is the driver page, download the latest drivers, but dont install them yet
3. Yes, you need to disable your onboard gfx.
to do this, 1. Boot up in safe mode (F8 during bootup) 2. Get into your device manager and DISABLE the onboard gfx (dont uninstall) 3. Power down 4. Install new gfx card. 5. Power up the machine 6. install new driver 7. restart |
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Drew345
Joined: 24 May 2005
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| Posted: Sat May 21, 2011 2:47 am Post subject: |
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| Thanks, I really appreciate it! |
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akcrono
Joined: 11 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 3:19 am Post subject: Re: Dual monitor Video Card |
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| Drew345 wrote: |
I want to buy a video card (for an older PC) to support dual monitors.
The PC is
Gateway GT5220, AMD Athlon 64 dual-core 3800+ 2GHz Processor, 1GB RAM, 250GB Hard Drive, 16X DVD+/-RW Drive, Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
Description
* AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core Processor
* 1GB PC2-4200 DDR2 Memory (I upgraded to 3 GB)
* 250GB 7200rpm SATA Hard Drive
* 16x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner (I added another SATA)
* Integrated GeForce 6150 Graphics with 128MB Shared Memory
* Integrated 7.1 Audio with Stereo Amplified Speakers
It Uses NVidia drivers now.
I have a free PCI-Express X16 slot on the motherboard (near bottom back of PC).
For the new Video card, I am looking at:
NVidia GeForce G210 256MB LP [PCI-Express x16 ]
http://english.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=170756095&pos_shop_cd=EN&pos_class_cd=90000003&pos_class_kind=T
PCI-E 2,0 x16
PCI Express 2.0 Supported
Memory GDDR2 256 MB, 64 Bt, 333 (666) MHz
Does it look like the right card for my machine? I choose another NVidia GeForce card, even though that may not be necessary. It is cheap enough at 40,000 won.
I don�t play games on the PC. Sometimes watch a video or video chat on Skype. I really don't need high-end video, just two monitor support.
Are video cards usually plug and play? Do you usually have to download new drivers with new video cards? Do I need to disable my integrated card to use the new one?
Thanks, |
You don't even need anything that powerful. System I built maybe 5 years ago had a geforce 6800 and it powered 2 monitors no problem even with some gaming on one and video on the other at the same time. It's surprising how much one card can handle as long as you're not doing something graphics intensive on one (and watching video is not really graphics intensive).
I'll have to defer to SeoulNate on whether or not to disable the onboard graphics, as I have no experience w/ it. Common sense would say that you should be able to run integrated and the extra card at the same time (card for games, integrated for videos), but design has proven many times that common sense isn't always the operating idea. Glad multi-monitors is catching on; means more companies are designing for it.
If you have 2nd expansion slot, consider a cheap graphics card from the same manufacturer for video. Thats what I used for my main computer for awhile and helps to prevent more GPU intense games from lagging when watching video. |
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Drew345
Joined: 24 May 2005
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| Posted: Mon May 23, 2011 4:26 am Post subject: |
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Thanks for the advice,
I thought the card is cheap enough at 40000 won, for a card with VGA/DVI/HDMI outputs. I don't have much experience pricing these cards but price seemed about right.
I read advice similar to SeoulNate's above. Basically, if you run two monitors on two video cards, you are asking for trouble (not that it can't be done). Running two monitors on a single card (built for two monitors) is a piece of cake. Anyway, that's the way I understand it.
After getting the new card, I will try running the two monitors on two cards (new card and build in card) to check it out. I am very interested in the result, because sometimes I run an exercise "game" that really wants to take over the whole video. I already tried running that game on one monitor and watching a video on the other monitor (on another computer with two monitors on the same card) and it all crashed.
Anywho, thanks for the advice again and I'll put in the order for that two monitor card soon.
Oh, only one PCI Express X16 expansion slot for me. |
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