Can I hook up a second monitor

to an older dell computer? I think it's 5 years old.

If so what do I need a pci card or something?

THanks in advance.

 

What OS are you running?

To answer your question you can either get a completely new video card to replace what you have now that has 2 (or more) video out ports or get a second card to supplement what you have now and run both of them. What kind of card you get (AGP or PCI) depends on the computer and whether you are replacing the existing card. To add a new card it will very likely be a PCI card (since even if you have an AGP slot its probably got a video card in it now).

There are lots of other threads where dual or quad monitors are discussed, you may want to search for those.

 

http://www.elitetrader.com/ha/guide/index.cfm?s=12&t=63


could help!


dell usuallyintegrate the video card onto the motherboard so your probably best going for a new dual headed video card as adding a new single head to the original dell setup could be hard.

$50

 

I am running windows 2k. I would have read the older posts but since my computer is old I thought the situation was a little different.

I don't think i have a video card.

 

perfect thank you all very much.

 

If you have integrated video on the motherboard then you can probably use that with a new video card but the safest/easiest thing to do is buy a dual output video card and disable the onboard video from the BIOS.

XP is much more multiple monitor friendly I think so going with a single card solution will probably be easier for you (e.g. the card you buy will come with software to support dual monitors so you dont need to rely on OS support for it)

Dell's support site makes it very easy to find out what you have, you just plug in your dell tag and it shows you the original hardware configuration and will give you access to the all the documentation for your specific model. Finding out what you have (and whether you have a free AGP slot) is your first step.

Hope that helps.

 

WEll,

I just bought the video card and the open slots i have are not positioned correctly to accept the new card. The inserts on the card don't line up.

Thanks everyone for all the help, it's appreciated, I guess I need a new computer.

 

sounds like you got an agp/pci when you needed a pci/agp.

im sure the shop will do a swap

 

Sounds like you bought an AGP card when what you needed was a PCI card. Take your card back and get the correct type.

 

Yes, it is an AGP card, I will go exchange it for a PCI card.

Thanks again everyone for all your help.