Help with 2 monitor setup - pls

[biyonic]

Hi guys - I have an NF7-S, XP and a AGP Geforce 2ti and want to know what you recommend would be the cheapest way to get a 2nd monitor working with my setup - any help is appreciated for this noob!

[biyonic]

Oh yeah, I should mention that I have the second monitor.

[Absolute Zero]

i think that card has outputs for both a vga and digital monitor. if it doesn't, the cheapest way would be to get a new video card. my 9600 easily supports two monitors, a good way to check on your temps while gaming.

the best think to do would be to hook both of them up (you may need an adapter to connect your vga monitor to the digital connection or vice versa).

then you should download nvidia's equivalent to ati's hydravision, its a program that lets you run dual monitors.

[biyonic]

So your saying it is cheaper to get a new dual head vidcard then trying to get an old PCI card to work together with my Geforce? I thought you can do dual vid cards with XP - yes?

[Absolute Zero]

i don't think you can, but i'm not an expert.

if you did, it would probably create a lot of problems with conflicting drivers and whatnot. i can think of a strange way to wire up to pci cards, but an agp card is a whole different beast.

it would definitely be less of a hassle two get a new card that supports dual display.

btw, you'll be wanting a new card soon anyway, one that supports direct x 9.0b so you can play half-life 2 and doom III, right?

btw again, my experience with dual displaying was that it serious cut into my card's ability to do any complex graphical rendering (it cut my resources in half).

[Yuriman]

If you dont game, then pick up a cheap mx440, 95% of them have both a vga and a dvi output, and come with an adapter for dvi to vga. If you DO game, a 9600 series would be a good mid level budget choice(EXCEPT THE SE), or a 9800 for a high end budget(EXCEPT THE SE).

[ajrettke]

The cheapest way would be to find an ekl cheapo PCI video card...there like 5 bucks!

Everyone here always thinks people have unlimited money, and play video games all the time...I mean why else would you have a computer?!?!?

Hehe, there are a couple of options if you want dual monitors, but the cheapest is by far getting a 5 dollor PCI video card. Assuming you have more money you want to spend, and you don't game and want a simple solution listen to yuriman, and if you do game and have money you want to spend go with some higher end radeon.

[Sentential]

There are several brands of (Nvidia 5200FX) that have both PCI/AGP and dual monitor support. Bestbuy, Newegg & Compusa often has them in stock.

Since they arent for enthusiasts and they want to move inventory, I would imagine that you can get one for well under $100. A 5200FX is a considerable upgrade from a Geforce2. You might want to consider this option

[biyonic]

Thanks for all the help! I took an old PCI sti 128 and put it into the XP machine. Put the 17" monitor next to my other one and booted into XP fine. Went into display properties and the setup was a piece of cake!

I'm hooked - I recommend dual monitors to anyone. Question though - is the old pci video card's presence going to slow down my machine at all?

[druidelder]

It won't slow your system just by having it there. However, anything that is fairly graphic intensive that you display through that card will be slowed. You may also have issues trying to run certain programs on the second monitor (like DVD players, etc...). Some programs do not like to be run on secondary monitors.