Add Second Monitor to an Old Dell

B

BobbyMurcerFan

I have a Dell PII 333. It works fine becuase it has 384 MB of RAM. I'd like to add a second monitor. Can I just buy another video card and stick it in and attach another monitor. What in the world would happen?

BTW, it has a Dell OEM Intel 440LX motherboard with IBM latest P14 BIOS. (I slammed the BIOS in there by modifying it's header using a hex editor :cool: .)
 
Quote from BobbyMurcerFan:

I have a Dell PII 333. It works fine becuase it has 384 MB of RAM. I'd like to add a second monitor. Can I just buy another video card and stick it in and attach another monitor. What in the world would happen?

BTW, it has a Dell OEM Intel 440LX motherboard with IBM latest P14 BIOS. (I slammed the BIOS in there by modifying it's header using a hex editor :cool: .)
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Probably would work... presuming you have W98 OS? Just make sure your cards are compatible with each other and the drivers are compatible with extended desktop application. They weren't all at that time. Or just get one of the new dual-head cards. Some are available for <$50. :D
 
I think it depends on what OS you're running.....

I have a Dell w/ Windows 98 .....I went to Comp USA and bought a ATI expert98 video card for around $25. Opened the computer, put it in the slot, downloaded the driver. And presto! Added another monitor. It was surprisingly simple to do.

Good Luck.
 
Quote from BobbyMurcerFan:

Now did this card have two outputs, or did you add another sigle output card and keep you old one in there as well?
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You buy some PCI video card, and plug it in (and keep your other one in as well).
 
Here's what I did. I bought an MSI MX440 8X video card for $109 + tax. I haven't received the second monitor yet, but the display on the first one looks amazing. Yes it actually looks better.

I asked about just installing a second video card and I was told that that does not always work well esp. with the old Diamond Fire GL card that I have from 1993.

So far I really love this MSI card. WOW!
 
Quote from BobbyMurcerFan:

Here's what I did. I bought an MSI MX440 8X video card for $109 + tax. I haven't received the second monitor yet, but the display on the first one looks amazing. Yes it actually looks better.

I asked about just installing a second video card and I was told that that does not always work well esp. with the old Diamond Fire GL card that I have from 1993.

So far I really love this MSI card. WOW!
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Since you already have both cards, why not try it and see if it works? If it does, then you won't have to buy anything else.
 
The card I bought yesterday is a dual monitor card, so there's no need to try both at the same time. Also my computer looks like it only has one AGP PCI slot, so I don't think I could use two cards at the same time if I wanted to. Thanks for help though. :)

BTW, I'm having a little technical glitch with the MSI card when trying to change some the settings. I've emailed MSI. So my endorsement of the card is ratched down a few notches.
 
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