Thanks BK. I was always under the assumption of: * single head card = 1 monitor + native = 2 monitors total (which I have now) * Dual head card = 2 monitors + native = 3 monitors total * Two separate (2) dual head cards = 4 monitors + native = 5 monitors total Now I read somewhere that some dual head cards will only run one of the ports in either DVI or VGA since they have both. Now theoretically, with the cable splitters I would be able to DOUBLE the amount of monitors on all of the above??? I'm throughly confused....
100% CPU SPIKES ARE FROM YOUR CHARTING SOFTWARE. PULL UP YOUR CPU ACTIVITY MONITOR, THEN RUN YOUR MOUSE OVER YOUR CHARTS. this is due to some shitty programming. alternatively, u could have an oem motherboard, if not make sure your bi0s settings for grafik card is set right.
Processors Learn More Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 640 (3.20GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache) with HT Technology Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 (3GHz, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache) with HT Technology Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 521 (2.80GHz, 800MHz FSB, 1MB L2 cache) with HT Technology Operating Systems Learn More Genuine Windows® XP Professional Edition Genuine Windows® XP Home Edition Office Suites & Productivity Learn More Standard: WordPerfect® Quickbooks limited use trial Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 6.0 Optional: Microsoft® Works Suite WordPerfect Office 12 Microsoft® Office 2003 Basic Edition Microsoft® Office 2003 Small Business Edition Microsoft® Office 2003 Professional Edition Microsoft® Office Small Business Mgmt-Office Pro, Small Business Accounting Adobe® Acrobat® Elements 6.0 - Publish to PDF Memory Learn More 256MB (single channel) shared1 DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz 512MB - 2GB (dual channel) shared1 DDR2 SDRAM at 400MHz 2 DIMM slots Drive Bays External: One 3.5-inch drive bay (FlexBay) and Two 5.25-inch drive bays Internal: Two bays for 1-inch-high IDE hard drives I/O Ports External Connectors: 6 USB 2.0 ports (2 front - 4 back) Slots 2 PCI slots 1 PCIe x1 slot Chassis Microtower with easy internal accessibility Dimensions: 14.5" x 7.25" x 16.75" (HxWxD) - 36.8 x 18.4 x 42.6 (cm) Weight: 25 lbs. (11.34 kg) Power Input voltage: 100 to 120V at 47 to 63 Hz; or 200 to 240 V at 47 to 63 Hz Output wattage: 250 Watts maximum continuous Output voltage: 3.3V, 5V, and 12V Heat dissipation: 853 BTU/hour (fully loaded computer without monitor) Power management: APM Backup battery: 3.0 V CR2032 coin cell It says you have "integrated", onboard video. You have 2 PCI slots and 1 PCIE slot. The monitor you got is analog. I'm assumming your existing mons. are also. The2 cards have to be PCI cards. If the cards have both dvi and analog all you have to do is get the converter plug to change the dvi plug to analog plug. This makes 2 analog hookups per card. You must already be doing this. If you need more mons. you will need aPCIE card for the PCIE slot What Lundy's saying is that some mother boards with "integrated / onboard " video must have that turned off in the bios and set to the PCI/PCIE slots so the system knows which video to read. If you have to do this then in order to get the 5th mon you will need to put a card in the PCIE slot as the integrated / onboard video will be disabled. I have never used an integrated mother board. Gnome or Winter or somebody will certainly know the scene. To access the bios simply start and at first screen activity hit delete, the bios will come up , navigate with arroww and + - keys. There will be some insrtuction about about adding video cards in your book. You're ok with all the stuff you have , just take a minute to get it configured.
Opps, here's the integrated vid description Speakers Learn More Optional: Dell A215 Speakers Optional: Dell A425 Speakers with Subwoofer Video Cards Learn More Integrated Intel® Extreme Graphics 2 Monitor Options Learn More Standard: 17" (16.0" viewable, .27dp) E773c Monitor
You need a special cable to operate ANY screens on these cards, so if you buy off eBay try to get a card with right Y cable, or you will have to get one elsewhere. It is called a DMS-59 cable.
Bronks ,I use ATI cards so what these guys are saying about nvidia needing special cables is foriegn to me. They have experience I don't.
Muchas gracious everyone. When I get everything on-line and running, I'll post an update here. Maybe after it's all said and done, I'll be able to help someone as you guys have helped me. Happy trading.
OK, it seems I've got a problem. I puchased 2 Prowler ATI Radeon 7000 (dual head) 64mb PCI cards. Installed both of them in their respective PCI slots. But only one card is working. Even though Win Device Manager is reading both cards and says they are working properly. I then go to Display and it shows all 4 monitors, but only 2 of which are active. So I check the Extend...box, hit Apply, but still doesn't activate. ??? I find it strange that Windows recognizes both cards and all 4 monitors, but will only activate 2 of them???? This is frustrating. Any ideas? Yes, I did install the drivers off of the CD.
Shut down the machine, pull out the working card, reboot. Does the other card come up? If it works you have your answer. Short solution, go over to eBay and get yourself a quad card at a great price.
Well, after about 11 total hours of numerous boots and reboots, installs/uninstalls, driver downloads after driver downloads, tweaking this and tweaking that in the "Display" options, pulling out, and putting back in the cards, half a bottle of excedrin and a few kicks to the dog...I got it to work. 4 freeking monitors off of 2 cards...WHEW! What a pain in the ass. Customer support for Dell, ATI, and Maddog (I didn't even bother with Softee) will have nothing to do with anything more than 2 monitors...screw'em all. From what I gather, ATI software couldn't distinguish between both cards, so I ended up doing a step by step install hardware>software>drivers for each card individually. S.O.P. right? Well what nobody tells you is that you have to open up the Device Manager and actually separate (click/highlight) the two cards and download (update) drivers for each one at the same time then re-boot. Even though both cards are identical, they will both have different assignment numbers beside them. So what have I learned? * I'll stick with nVidia, never had a single problem with them * I wouldn't buy identical cards again, I think with 2 different cards (from the same family), your system would have an easier time distinguishing the two...maybe. * When I began, I installed both cards at the same time. I don't think that was a good idea...one step at a time. ------------------------------- And by the way, the colors suck, everything's a little dingy no matter how much I messed with the controls on both the monitors and the card's software. What a nightmare.