 Free Scan: Update Your PC's Outdated Drivers to Optimize Performance 
January 21st, 2007, 01:23 PM
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#1 (permalink)
| | Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Denmark
Posts: 12
|  3 monitors - 1 PC?
I have just bought a 26" Philips 26PF3321 television with HDMI.
I already have to monitors connected to my PC - one DVI, one VGA, and is very satisfied with the setup.
Now i want to connect my television to my computer, but i am out of inputs. I have already used my DVI and VGA.
How can i connect my television, and at the same time have a nice picture quality on it?
Can i buy a PCI graphic card, install it in my computer and then connect my television to it?
My gfx card now: Club3D Radeon 9600 128DDR
mobo: Asus A8V Deluxe
OS: Win XP (Vista soon, if any difference??)
(im very sorry for my bad english)
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January 21st, 2007, 03:02 PM
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#2 (permalink)
| | that aint a lightsaber
Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: CJ,MO:REBEL Base
Posts: 5,721
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two options right off the top:
1. get a PCI vid card. actually, its a horrible solution for all but extremely low resolutions.
2. Buy a new motherboard that has two PCI-E slots, buy two video cards and then you can have up to four monitors.
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January 21st, 2007, 04:05 PM
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#3 (permalink)
| | Ultimate Member
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 1,824
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I think ATI might have a limitation on just 2 displays at once. On my laptop (X200 mobile) I can use the panel display and another monitor at the same time, or the panel and the TV at the same time (s-video), but it will not let me use the panel, another monitor, and the TV all at the same time. Not sure about Nvidia cards, I've never tried more than 2 displays at a time.
If you get a PCI video card, I would think getting a Nvidia would be a good idea. That way the drivers won't try to group all 3 displays together in some whacky mess that is impossible to configure (ATI in particular is bad for this). The ATI would be both monitors set as a span, and the Nvidia would be "extend desktop to this display" under windows display options.
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Last edited by ShawnD1 : January 21st, 2007 at 04:08 PM.
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January 21st, 2007, 04:19 PM
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#4 (permalink)
| | Junior Member
Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Denmark
Posts: 12
| Quote:
Originally Posted by ShawnD1  I think ATI might have a limitation on just 2 displays at once. On my laptop (X200 mobile) I can use the panel display and another monitor at the same time, or the panel and the TV at the same time (s-video), but it will not let me use the panel, another monitor, and the TV all at the same time. Not sure about Nvidia cards, I've never tried more than 2 displays at a time.
If you get a PCI video card, I would think getting a Nvidia would be a good idea. That way the drivers won't try to group all 3 displays together in some whacky mess that is impossible to configure (ATI in particular is bad for this). The ATI would be both monitors set as a span, and the Nvidia would be "extend desktop to this display" under windows display options. | tony -> I have seen PCI cards with a fine resolution. Up to 2048x1536, if that is what you mean?
Do you think, that i can use an ATI and a nVidia card and then it will work? Or should both card be nVidia? | |
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January 21st, 2007, 04:41 PM
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#5 (permalink)
| | that aint a lightsaber
Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: CJ,MO:REBEL Base
Posts: 5,721
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well, if you can find a pci video card that has an HDMI output and the power to project the HD signal, go for it.
When the cards are different, you may run into an occasional driver conflict but its definitely something that can be done. | |
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January 21st, 2007, 05:56 PM
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#6 (permalink)
| | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2003 Location: Aus, Gold Coast :)
Posts: 793
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PCI is a fine way to do it... as i have 4 monitors, 1 24", 1 19" and 2 17".... if u want the simpliest solution look at the matrox products like triple head2go or dual head2go... they are basically VGA splitters...
PCI cheapest
Matrox easiest
PCI-E most expensive... | |
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January 21st, 2007, 06:26 PM
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#7 (permalink)
| | Ultimate Member
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 1,824
| Quote:
Originally Posted by zyberwizard Do you think, that i can use an ATI and a nVidia card and then it will work? Or should both card be nVidia? | ATI and Nvidia work fine together. I've had a Nvidia AGP and ATI PCI cards together and it worked without any issues.
I'll stress again that I've never had 3 monitors work at once. I'd hate to see you blow money on a PCI video card then find out this simply doesn't work. I'm really not sure if you can have 3 displays at once, without using a Matrox card.
Last edited by ShawnD1 : January 21st, 2007 at 06:29 PM.
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January 21st, 2007, 06:52 PM
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#8 (permalink)
| | Senior Member
Join Date: May 2003 Location: Aus, Gold Coast :)
Posts: 793
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it does work shawnd1...well i have two ati and it works fine, in a DELL no less :P | |
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January 21st, 2007, 08:17 PM
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#9 (permalink)
| | Ultimate Member
Join Date: May 2003
Posts: 1,824
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Originally Posted by exally it does work shawnd1...well i have two ati and it works fine, in a DELL no less :P | Cool. How is it setup? Is it a giant "span" across 3 screens or are the screens treated separately? By separately I mean one can drag a window to another screen, hit maximize, and it only maximizes on that screen. With a span, it will maximize across all screens. | |
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January 21st, 2007, 08:24 PM
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#10 (permalink)
| | Real gangstas sip on Yacc
Join Date: Oct 2001 Location: Suckas-ville
Posts: 4,541
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If you want to drop serious cash NVidia offers a PCI-E that will push all four DVI at HD.
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