Building a Dual Monitor system...suggestions?

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 3:14 pm

I have taken on the goal of building a Dual Monitor system for a friend.
His primary reason for wanting one is because he is a day trader and would like to have several windows open accross two monitors so he can have tickers, chats, and whatever other windows open at the same time. Basically connected to the internet, therefore sound is not important, 3D is not important, and HDD is not important.

Anyone have some suggestions on how to do this?
Is there still a dual head AGP card out there ... I would assume 2k or XP would be the OS of choice.

FYI: is it possible to run 4 monitors on one computer? ie two daulhead monitors, or would that be to much of a pain in the ass.

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 3:31 pm

radeon 7500. it has better dual monitor suport via a faster ramdack to both monitors then the 8500 and its a hell of a lot cheaper. yes you can have 4 monitors. just get 2 pci cards in conjunction with the 7500 and it really isnt all that hard 2 set up...just a little excesive.

Greg

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 3:43 pm

I know 4 monitors is a bit excessive but that is his final goal.
I am just suggesting doing that with 2 dual monitor computers and a KVM.

I went and looked at the 7500...how is dual monitor acheived with only one 15pin on the card?
I havent worked with dual monitor except for a laptop and external CRT.

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 3:44 pm

a 7500 as one normal monitor port and then a dvi port and comes with a DVI to VGA adaptor. there for you have 2 monitor ports.

Greg

FuNPoLiCe001 · Post by **FuNPoLiCe001** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 5:29 pm

or get a matrix g400/g450

they made those in pci too, so 2 of those (1 agp, 1 pci) and ur set

or one 7500 and one g400 pci

but if its just for day trading, i'd do the 2 g400/g450 thing, cheaper than going 1 7500 and 1 matrox

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 5:41 pm

the 7500's dual monitor support is better then the matrox one though. so for the $20 I would opt for the 7500. but Ididnt know they made the 450 in pci as well. very intreasting.

Greg

FuNPoLiCe001 · Post by **FuNPoLiCe001** » Thu Feb 14, 2002 8:13 pm

yeah, they also made a 16 meg version, so u can probably grab that for like...50 bucks?

and that would be great for 2 monitors

i dunno about the price difference between a G450 and a 7500. I was thinking a 16 meg AGP G450 and a 16meg PCI G450

dunno if u can still find them new though

RubberDuckie · Post by **RubberDuckie** » Fri Feb 15, 2002 12:59 am

found the 23meg G450 AGP for $90
that sounds like it will do just fine for 2 - 17" (maybe 19") monitors.

VidmanII · Post by **VidmanII** » Fri Feb 15, 2002 9:23 am

23MB?? :lol

bluewhale · Post by **bluewhale** » Fri Feb 15, 2002 9:57 am

All of our estimators are running Matrox G450's with two monitors and W2K Pro. Haven't had a problem yet, have had the systems for about 1.5 years : I take it back. There was a problem when they first came out... they didn't get along with one of the AMD chipsets. But that hasn't cropped up for over a year.

nexus_7 · Post by **nexus_7** » Fri Feb 15, 2002 10:18 am

Newegg sells the 7500 oem for $96 shipped. It doesnt have a dvi adaptor but I have atleast one here im not using you can have. Just anotherr option. and there are probably lots ore on pricewatch.

Greg