I'm building a new system and I'm thinking about making it a 3 LCD setup.
I have a XFX 7600 GS in my current system and I'm thinking about an ASUS EN8600GT for the new one.
Both have dual DVI outputs... I would like to add a 2nd card to the new system to add a 3rd monitor connected through DVI.
What kind of card could I use to create the 3rd DVI output?
I don't play games right now but I might do some light gaming in the future. Most of my usage is programming and net related stuff.
Thanks in advance for your input!
D2.
Quiet 3x DVI output Video?
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Hi, Dutch2.
OK, I see that your motherboard has two PCI-E graphics slots. Good, that should make things easier. You may have to do some fiddling with the BIOS to get the second card to work. I am not positive, since I do not have this motherboard, but I would try these:
Dual Slot Configuration: Enabled
GFX1 Link Width: x8
GFX0 Link Width: x8
Do you my any chance have Windows Vista? If so, I ***STRONGLY*** recommend getting another NVIDIA card to match your 7600 GS. An NVIDIA card that has specific Vista-style drivers written for it (Geforce FX and newer), to be more specific.
The reason for this is the that new Vista graphics driver model (WDDM) requires that all graphics adapters use the same base driver in order for Vista to make full use of them. That is, the second card does not have to be another 7600 GS, but it should be another NVIDIA card that also uses WDDM drivers. In your case, an 8600 GT should be OK, since it also has Vista-specific WDDM drivers.
If you try to mix and match graphics adapters (say, an NVIDIA and an ATI), then Vista will actually disable one of the cards and give an Error 43 in the Device Manager. It is possible to force Vista to use the different cards at the same time by forcing the Windows XP drivers (XDDM drivers, in Vista terminology), but then you lose a lot of the Vista features.
What about using an old NVIDIA card in Vista, like a Geforce 4 series or older? Well, those cards will work in Vista by themselves, but they use XP-style drivers (XDDM), not Vista-style drivers (WDDM). Try to match it up with your 7600 GS, and you will run into the same type of problems as when mixing NVIDIA and ATI drivers.
Can you tell that Microsoft made using multiple graphics cards a lot more complicated in Vista?
If you are using Windows XP, you have a lot more flexibility when mixing graphics cards. You may choose to get another NVIDIA card just for added driver stability, but it is nowhere near as critical as it is under Vista.
OK, I see that your motherboard has two PCI-E graphics slots. Good, that should make things easier. You may have to do some fiddling with the BIOS to get the second card to work. I am not positive, since I do not have this motherboard, but I would try these:
Dual Slot Configuration: Enabled
GFX1 Link Width: x8
GFX0 Link Width: x8
Do you my any chance have Windows Vista? If so, I ***STRONGLY*** recommend getting another NVIDIA card to match your 7600 GS. An NVIDIA card that has specific Vista-style drivers written for it (Geforce FX and newer), to be more specific.
The reason for this is the that new Vista graphics driver model (WDDM) requires that all graphics adapters use the same base driver in order for Vista to make full use of them. That is, the second card does not have to be another 7600 GS, but it should be another NVIDIA card that also uses WDDM drivers. In your case, an 8600 GT should be OK, since it also has Vista-specific WDDM drivers.
If you try to mix and match graphics adapters (say, an NVIDIA and an ATI), then Vista will actually disable one of the cards and give an Error 43 in the Device Manager. It is possible to force Vista to use the different cards at the same time by forcing the Windows XP drivers (XDDM drivers, in Vista terminology), but then you lose a lot of the Vista features.
What about using an old NVIDIA card in Vista, like a Geforce 4 series or older? Well, those cards will work in Vista by themselves, but they use XP-style drivers (XDDM), not Vista-style drivers (WDDM). Try to match it up with your 7600 GS, and you will run into the same type of problems as when mixing NVIDIA and ATI drivers.
Can you tell that Microsoft made using multiple graphics cards a lot more complicated in Vista?
If you are using Windows XP, you have a lot more flexibility when mixing graphics cards. You may choose to get another NVIDIA card just for added driver stability, but it is nowhere near as critical as it is under Vista.
Another possibility would be to choose a mobo with onboard DVI (or HDMI). Pair it with a graphics card from the same family (ATI card+ATI mobo or NVIDIA card+NVIDIA mobo) and that should give you three DVI ports. It works well enough with my current 2-3 yo mobo in 2D use.
A cheap PCI card would also work.
Gaming on multiple monitors probably would be pretty poor in either of these solutions -- then again, I'm not certain it'd be all that great on 3 nice LCDs regardless of your setup.
A cheap PCI card would also work.
Gaming on multiple monitors probably would be pretty poor in either of these solutions -- then again, I'm not certain it'd be all that great on 3 nice LCDs regardless of your setup.