Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

[EGuevarae]

I have an eVGA 8500GT on an Abit AB9Pro motherboard (single PCIx 16x). Currently I have two Westinghouse L2046NV attached to it.
As my computer was close to a TV with VGA input, I used my rig as a "DVD Plaver" attaching the TV when I only had one Westinghouse. Now that I have two, the setup is not possible anymore. As my wife got used to see video, slideshows & what not that way, now she wants me to revert to a single monitor for her to be able to do that. On the old days when no dual display cards were available to the general public, the solution was to install a 2nd adapter and that was it. I was thinking on installing this card from NewEgg

Someone has done this before?
That way I will be able to use my dual LCDs, the darn TV and I will have an extra "head" for a third monitor to test the repaired units.

Any Idea would be greatly appreciated.
Eduardo

[ratdude747]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

what os?

[EGuevarae]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

what os?

XP Pro with SP3. Sorry for the missing info.

[Scenic]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

not really "cheap" but it'll work.
got a PCI graphics card in my C2D (GF2 MX400) for an extra monitor

[bgavin]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

Matrox offers a whole line of multiple monitor cards.

[EGuevarae]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

Matrox offers a whole line of multiple monitor cards.

I know, but I want to do it that way. It is most an experiment than any other thing.
I guess Pentium does not have the monopoly of trying weird or unusual things. I just found an old PCI card and I'll give it a try.

[NxB]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

I don't see why it wouldn't work. I've done it with sound cards. Come to think of it, I've never put in 2 graphics cards and tried to get output from both of them.

[EGuevarae]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

Tried with an S3 Trio64+ and a Trident 9660 and no video was obtained. Windows recognizes the card, installs the driver and all but then it says the device can not start (code 10). Moved to another slot and nothing. Even set BIOS to initialize the PCI VCard first and nothing happened. I guess I'll have to try with a newer model. Just I don't want to spend on a card that won't be used if it does not work, and that was the reason for my question.

[kikkoman]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

a while ago i tried a known good s3 trio in a current machine too and it didn't work either. an ATI mach64 did work as well as a very old matrox millennium (with 4mb RAM).
i got the same error with the s3... i think they just don't work in new machines anymore.

[ratdude747]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

my only concern is clock skew between the 2 cards, since on is pcie and one is pci

with sound cards, it works because they are on buses of the same speed

but when you have pcie 16 vs pci, then one will get ahead of the other and have to back up

this is the reason why sata is faster than pata (ide)

[EGuevarae]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

a while ago i tried a known good s3 trio in a current machine too and it didn't work either. an ATI mach64 did work as well as a very old matrox millennium (with 4mb RAM).
i got the same error with the s3... i think they just don't work in new machines anymore.

I don't have my cards anymore. When in Mexico I used to have a box full of all kind of stuff. Even a card of every video manufacturer commonly used, as S3, Trident, nVidia, ATI, 3Dfx - ohh, I loved the glide enhanced games back then - ane even some ET400/W32i that were quite good back then. NICs, Modems and all kind of stuff. I guess Pentium would have been very happy to get his hands on that box. Sadly, it was stolen the weekend I was moving here, and all that was left were the S3 and the 9660. They work. Even on my "old" i915, but they work alone, not with a PCIe.

[NxB]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

Old cards probably have problems with IRQ and address settings. Set them manually and they might just work.

[Scenic]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

a while ago i tried a known good s3 trio in a current machine too and it didn't work either. an ATI mach64 did work as well as a very old matrox millennium (with 4mb RAM).
i got the same error with the s3... i think they just don't work in new machines anymore.

old cards (like the S3) won't work because all drivers you can find on the net don't support multi-display-setups.

i've never had problems with "newer" cars..

combined a GF6800GT AGP with a Riva TNT2 PCI -> worked fine in Win2k (my old sys..)
combined a 8800GTS PCIe with a GF2 MX400 PCI -> works fine in XP

i never got old cards like S3 Trio/Virge or other cards below 8MB to work in multi display setups.. the problem was always the driver (no multi-dislpay support)..

[EGuevarae]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

old cards (like the S3) won't work because all drivers you can find on the net don't support multi-display-setups.

i've never had problems with "newer" cars..

combined a GF6800GT AGP with a Riva TNT2 PCI -> worked fine in Win2k (my old sys..)
combined a 8800GTS PCIe with a GF2 MX400 PCI -> works fine in XP

i never got old cards like S3 Trio/Virge or other cards below 8MB to work in multi display setups.. the problem was always the driver (no multi-dislpay support)..

Now that you mention it, it is true (with Trios, now I remember).
So, if you combined an 8800 with a MX400, I guess I will be able to do a 8500PCIe (my card) and the 8400PCI (NewEggs's candidate to be bought).
That's why I aimed to a PCI version of my card. As I didn't find an 8500 in PCI, I selected the 8400.

[Scenic]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

pretty much any new-ish nvidia PCI card should do the job (as long as it's supported by the nvidia drivers you're using)

a FX5200 PCI would be fine too (ebay?)
quick search on ebay.com.. (only PCI cards with 2 outputs)

#1
#2
#3

FX5200 sounds good.. (#1)

or other PCI cards on newegg (dunno about the rebate stuff though)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=nvidia&Page=1

[Nama]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

Maybe build a thin client that will run vnc?.
I have 4 monitors running off this machine right now.
1.VGA
2.DVI
3.PSP Display. This program turns a psp into a monitor through USB.
4.VNC to Thin Client to VGA.

May not be what your looking to do, But when you go to display properties it shows 3 monitors.

[pentium]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

Maybe build a thin client that will run vnc?.
I have 4 monitors running off this machine right now.
1.VGA
2.DVI
3.PSP Display. This program turns a psp into a monitor through USB.
4.VNC to Thin Client to VGA.

May not be what your looking to do, But when you go to display properties it shows 3 monitors.

Could you please explain how on earth you did that and where you got the program?

Relavent to this thread, I had a Radeon 7000 PCI which while it had a single DVI port, allowed me (or at least I think it did before I went and reflashed it for use in a mac) to use up to four monitors so I'm assuming that with a splitter cable I could in fact run multiple monitors with what I assume, the VRAM divided among each screen.

[Nama]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

http://www.jjs.at/software/pspdisp.html

[EGuevarae]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

I ordered a 5200fx from NewEgg from the list Scenic suggested, and on the 23rd that it arrives, I'll install it and post back. Crazy idea maybe, but I could not resist doing it.
Now that the thread attracted Pentium attention's, .... Pentium, if you can see this, can you please (or Nama, as I see that for that Win->PSP screen you need it too) tell me how I can install custom FW on my slim? Or I have to start a new thread?
I know that Google is my friend, but I want to talk to someone that actually did it already....

[370forlife]

Re: Three/Four monitors setup - Anyone had done it?

I would have sent you a 256mb pci fx5200 with dual d-sub output for $5 + shipping.