Video Cards..help wanted

C

CoralReef

Basically, I want to hook up a second moniter. I have a CRT, just bought an LCD and want to use both. So what should I look for in buying a video card? I'm not a gamer but would like to get good quality without spending a bunch. I've read a bunch but am still pretty lost. Any suggestions? Thx
 
If your only looking to have two monitors, I would suggest a gforce 5200 fx. That was my first video card when I only had two monitors, I recently replaced it with a matrox to support four monitors now, but I had no commplaints with the gforce 5200.....you can pick one up for like 50 bucks.
 
Quote from CoralReef:

Basically, I want to hook up a second moniter. I have a CRT, just bought an LCD and want to use both. So what should I look for in buying a video card? I'm not a gamer but would like to get good quality without spending a bunch. I've read a bunch but am still pretty lost. Any suggestions? Thx
More...

i use a Matrox 200mms G2 on one machine and an Nvidia Quadro NVS 400 on another. both are PCI and both work great with my existing AGP cards. you can pick up dual monitor PCI cards for about $20:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=40160&item=5178414673&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

the matrox quad cards go for between $80-200. the NVS cards range from $100-250.

fwiw, gnome has offered some very helpful info on cards / monitors / etc. FuturesTrader71 has also contributed a lot towards comparing video cards.

hth

take care -

omni
 
Quote from CoralReef:

Thanks for the info. Does it matter if its AGP or PCI? What about the RAM, should it be at least 128MB?
More...

i have tested different ram for video cards for trading. i could see no difference. i ended up right back with a g200 matrox as the best all around card out there. agp or pci showed no difference either.
 
First, look in your computer's manual and find out what kind of video slot you have on the motherboard. It should be something like...AGP 4X, AGP 8X, PCIexpress. Then you can proceed from there. Also, do you envision having more than 3 monitors?


Quote from CoralReef:

Basically, I want to hook up a second moniter. I have a CRT, just bought an LCD and want to use both. So what should I look for in buying a video card? I'm not a gamer but would like to get good quality without spending a bunch. I've read a bunch but am still pretty lost. Any suggestions? Thx
More...
 
Quote from risktaker:

First, look in your computer's manual and find out what kind of video slot you have on the motherboard. It should be something like...AGP 4X, AGP 8X, PCIexpress. Then you can proceed from there. Also, do you envision having more than 3 monitors?
More...

Its AGP 2X, I do not see having more than 3 anytime soon. So what now?
 
Considering the hardware you've got, your best bet would probably be a 2 monitor pci video card. This way you can keep your current card installed where it is now with the 1 monitor attached and have the capability of adding a 3rd monitor later. Also, if there should be some compatibility issues between the cards, you can always get rid of the old card and only use the new one in the PCI slot (assuming you have an empty PCI slot).

I like the G450PCI from Matrox...sells for about $100 new at places like newegg.com and other online sources.

Once you begin with this setup, you'll gain more confidence in playing with video cards.

Don't buy AGP for your system otherwise you might not be able to use it in your next computer.

Quote from CoralReef:

Its AGP 2X, I do not see having more than 3 anytime soon. So what now?
More...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top