Dual monitors for dummies?

[Red96TA]

Ok....I figured out how to attach a second monitor to my laptop through the blue vga connector, but I'd like to figure out how to do this with my desktop to help out with video editing.

My desktop only have a single vga connector and I've read some articles saying that all I need to do is to put in another graphics card...but wouldn't that cause a conflict with the first care? If I need a new single card with two vga outs, does anyone have one that is pci-x ? I don't do a TON of 3d stuff, but once in a blue moon, I have to do some 3d titling and occasionally play Rome:Total War.

TIA...

[rallynavvie]

Better off getting a new AGP card with dual VGA outs, almost all of them have this now. Or if it has one or two DVI outs you can still use converters to plug in regular VGA monitors. Don't mess with adding an additional PCI video card, it can make life difficult with your PC.

As far as a PCI-X video card goes I think there was one of the older workstation cards that utilized PCI-X bandwidth. Or did you mean PCI-E? If the latter then you have lots of cards to choose from that will suit your needs.

[Red96TA]

yeah...I was meaning pci-express. Can I just any card that has a vga and dvi port and just get a converter for the second monitor and hook up two that way? I've noticed that more of the video cards have the vga/dvi combo on it than the one with either dual dvi or dual vga.

[rallynavvie]

Actually I think a lot of the PCI-E video cards have dual DVI. My 6600GT has dual DVI that I use two converters for two big CRTs. I can't speak for ATi cards as I haven't used a recent one with dual displays but I have used dual displays with all three of my nVidia cards, representing the last three generations of GeForce cards (Ti4400, 5600 Ultra, and now a 6600GT). I've also run a Quadro FX1100 for dual displays but I think that card was made with that sort of use in mind (and quite the price to match). All my nVidia cards use the driver to run dual displays and it has always worked well with my Adobe apps. Games don't often work with both monitors but you can keep an eye on an encoding project or something with the other screen while gaming if you like. I liked it most with apps like Premiere where there are a lot of tool panels to use that I could spread out between monitors. Depending on the 3D apps you use you'll probably be able to utilize both monitors. I know Maya, Max, and Lightwave will use two monitors.