Dell Vostro's for Trading

jeffizcool · May 1, 2008

Quote from limithrough:

so basically telling me that if I get a Quadro NVS 285, I'll be able to run 3 monitors correct?

Does everyone agree? if so, i guess i'll get it.

(their website states that the 285 supports dual monitors...a max of 2, nothing more.)

Well it depends on your set up.
do you have a card already in the PCI express slot?
if you do and you have then you should try to hook up two monitors from that card and then try to first use the onboard video for the third monitor. i have not tried this yet.
if that does not work then you should either get a nvs 285 or 290 with a pci expressx1 interface for the thrid monitor.
or what i was planning to do was add a pny geforece 5200 pci card as i have read that a few have got that to work.
any pci 2.0 graphics card SHOULD work but at least one person here has had problems with some cards. I think he was trying a geforce 6200.
also i was planning on buying the cards at somthing like best buy so it would be easy to take back if it didn't work. im sure somthing will.
hope that helps.

BigFunky · May 1, 2008

Quote from gnome:

Can you explain how it's different? If a game is being displayed at 30fps is the motion not smooth and continuous?

And while the mechanism of achieving their fps is different, I doubt the eye perceives a difference...

Normal cinematic motion does have a certain subtle 'jerkiness' - which is why in video editing packages when they offer the function to convert interlaced footage at 50/60 fields per second to progressive 24 or 25 frame per second they often describe it as giving a 'cinematic feel'.

But for games I agree that at anything above 30 or 40 fps it doesn't seem likely a viewer would really notice the difference.

The only situation I can think of that may be noticeable would perhaps be for very fast moving objects, such as in a game, wherein a object would flash across the screen, say in a tenth of a second. At 30 fps, that object would appear in 2 or 3 frames, so the eye would see it a at 2 or 3 positions on the screen. AT 60 fps, the eye may see it at up to 6 positions on the screen as it moved across, which I imagine would give an better impression of smooth motion (and make it more likely the viewer would see the object). I'm just speculating here.

What the marketing hype fails to mention is that the screen refresh rate is 60hz (typically), so a frame rate faster than that won't be displayed anyway.

limithrough · May 2, 2008

Quote from jeffizcool:

Well it depends on your set up.
do you have a card already in the PCI express slot?
if you do and you have then you should try to hook up two monitors from that card and then try to first use the onboard video for the third monitor. i have not tried this yet.
if that does not work then you should either get a nvs 285 or 290 with a pci expressx1 interface for the thrid monitor.
or what i was planning to do was add a pny geforece 5200 pci card as i have read that a few have got that to work.
any pci 2.0 graphics card SHOULD work but at least one person here has had problems with some cards. I think he was trying a geforce 6200.
also i was planning on buying the cards at somthing like best buy so it would be easy to take back if it didn't work. im sure somthing will.
hope that helps.

i'll try it out this weekend. I'm gonna pick up this card from a local store

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...card&lp=11&type=product&cp=1&id=1140392154117

see how that goes. what about a quad card?

i'll also try putting a card into the pci-e1 slot, which i haven't heard of anyone trying that yet, just pci.

Tums · May 2, 2008

Quote from BigFunky:

What the marketing hype fails to mention is that the screen refresh rate is 60hz (typically), so a frame rate faster than that won't be displayed anyway.

You and gnome write well, but you need to work on your comprehension skill. Go read my post again.

jeffizcool · May 2, 2008

Quote from limithrough:

i'll try it out this weekend. I'm gonna pick up this card from a local store

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...card&lp=11&type=product&cp=1&id=1140392154117

see how that goes. what about a quad card?

i'll also try putting a card into the pci-e1 slot, which i haven't heard of anyone trying that yet, just pci.

ok that is good but but just make sure you have a pcie graphics card already installed before you go with this option.

here are the possible combos i was talking about. see where you would fit in.

1 pcie X16 card(dual monitor output) with 1 pcieX1 nvs 290/285(you have to buy the card with pcie X1 interface)

1 pcie x16 card(dual monitor output) with 1 pci(2.0) graphics card(like what you have from best buy). I think this is the prefered way since you can avoid any fx to quadro driver conflicts that may occur

or if you already have a pcie graphics card installed then you can try to also enable onboard video to get the third monitor(though i highly doubt this will work but worth a try to save 50 bucks).

I hope that helps.

gnome · May 2, 2008

Quote from Gravestone Doji:

In what instances? I do not know of any system that can be configured to use on-board video in conjunction with an add-in graphics card.

I've heard a few ETers say they have onboard working with an additional video card.... up to 5 monitors even. And specifically, the Dimension 2300/2350 was one. I helped a few ETers install ATI Xpert128 PCI cards along with the onboard.

It all depends upon what the BIOS will allow. With the Vostro, it appears it will allow user to disable the onboard video chip and run a dualhead in the PCIEx16 slot... but apparently no additional video cards. And surprisingly... the Nvidia Quadro NVS 440 quadhead is apprently not compatible either!

Of course if you know in advance that you want to run 3 or more monitors, it's best to avoid mobos with onboard video.

listedguru · Jun 12, 2008

Quote from limithrough:

i'll try it out this weekend. I'm gonna pick up this card from a local store

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...card&lp=11&type=product&cp=1&id=1140392154117

see how that goes. what about a quad card?

i'll also try putting a card into the pci-e1 slot, which i haven't heard of anyone trying that yet, just pci.

Did you ever get your Vostro to run (3) monitors? I am looking at a Vostro (just bought a Vostro laptop and love it). I would only need it to run (2) monitors though so I should be okay. Just wondering how you like your new rig?

-Guru

Landis82 · Jun 14, 2008

Quote from limithrough:

i'll try it out this weekend. I'm gonna pick up this card from a local store

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage...card&lp=11&type=product&cp=1&id=1140392154117

see how that goes. what about a quad card?

i'll also try putting a card into the pci-e1 slot, which i haven't heard of anyone trying that yet, just pci.

None of the above will work.

You cannot use another graphics card in one of the PCI-slots, in addition to the dual-output card in your PCI-Express slot. Doesn't matter if it is also a GeForce card. Been there, done that on the Vostro-400.

As to also using the PCI-E1 slot.
I've been told by Dell that that will not be compatible with a card that is already in the PCI-Express 16x slot. Either way, a no go.

We've been over this subject numerous times in this Forum. People need to stop being so "cheap" and purchase a computer that has the flexibility and capability of running what they really want. Trust me, I've tried the "cheap" route and it doesn't work. After going through an entire week screwing with various set-ups on a Vostro-400, and calling one tech support line after another at Dell, nVGA, nVidia, etc. it just isn't worth the time and effort.

If you need to support and run MORE than 2 monitors, do yourself a favor and just get a T3400 Precision.

jeffizcool · Jun 14, 2008

Quote from Landis82:

None of the above will work.

You cannot use another graphics card in one of the PCI-slots, in addition to the dual-output card in your PCI-Express slot. Doesn't matter if it is also a GeForce card. Been there, done that on the Vostro-400.

As to also using the PCI-E1 slot.
I've been told by Dell that that will not be compatible with a card that is already in the PCI-Express 16x slot. Either way, a no go.

We've been over this subject numerous times in this Forum. People need to stop being so "cheap" and purchase a computer that has the flexibility and capability of running what they really want. Trust me, I've tried the "cheap" route and it doesn't work. After going through an entire week screwing with various set-ups on a Vostro-400, and calling one tech support line after another at Dell, nVGA, nVidia, etc. it just isn't worth the time and effort.

If you need to support and run MORE than 2 monitors, do yourself a favor and just get a T3400 Precision.

what are you talkiing about? people have done it before. it is not final just because you had problems look here. post 4 by jficquette

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1811023&highlight=vostro+5200

that is why i recomended that same card in a previous post here.
see saying no pci graphics card will work with the vostro is like saying the pci bus is not functioning at all because that is what it will take for no cards to ever work.
I got a vostro considering this and considering i might have problems with certain pci cards but I know I will get one that is compatible.
I am sure there are some things with a T3400 that might be iffy. that is the way computers work. hardware design follows a guideline but not everything can be certain to be compatible because hardware and software manufactureres have to design independant but compatible products(os, motherboard, sound chips, memory, graphics cards, etc). that is what is so great about open architecture with pc(it drives innovation) but that is also a problem. even a mac has to interface with different outside products and can have problems but they are considered stable and a main reason is they control the hardware the os uses.
so i say go try what someone has previously did and i will too when the time comes. anyway off my rant.

Landis82 · Jun 14, 2008

Quote from jeffizcool:what are you talkiing about? people have done it before. it is not final just because you had problems look here. post 4 by jficquette

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=1811023&highlight=vostro+5200

With all due respect to the above poster, he has no clue what was actually done to his Dell Vostro in order to achieve compatibility with the two graphics cards. He even admitted as much in several of his posts.

Quote from jeffizcool:
I got a vostro considering this and considering i might have problems with certain pci cards but I know I will get one that is compatible.

You just KNOW you will get one that will be compatible?
Really now??? And how long will that take you?

I don't know about you, but my time is very VALUABLE to me and the last thing that I would want to do is spend a half dozen or so hours trying to "save" a couple hundred bucks ( the difference between a Vostro-400 and a T3400 Precision ) swapping in and out various graphics cards, returning them to the store, making sure it wasn't a defective card to begin with by testing it out in another computer, etc.

nVidia techs told me that the GeForce cards all share the same driver and that there shouldn't be any compatibility issues. I went ahead and ordered a Vostro-400, and then proceeded to spend many hours trying to get the computer to boot-up with two graphics cards.

In the end, I sent back the Vostro-400 to Dell and returned the GeForce 6200 PCI card that I had purchased ( the second one, just to make sure that the first one wasn't defective ).

This took a TON of hours out of my week.

If you want to be DISTRACTED FROM TRADING playing computer "techie" be my guest. My time is much more valuable than the few hundred dollar price differential between a computer that ( by and large ) was not designed by Dell to support more than 2 monitors, and one that DOES.

Good Luck.
Let us all know how it turns out for you and how many hours you spent on this compatibility "issue".