A 3rd monitor

[JTrader]

High my new PC HAS ONBOARD GRAPHICS whiuch i've currently disabled.

I'm running a dual head matrox millenium 32mb PCI graphics card from 1 of the 5 PCI slots.

Theres also a PCI express slot.

I have a 3rd monitor i want to use, as my desktop is feeling a bit cramped, and want to know the best route to take.

Should it be possible for me to run the 3rd monitor through the onboard (256mb) graphics/motherboard?

Or, do i need to use a seperate graphics card?

If so, what type of card? If another PCI graphics card, should i buy a different make (non matrox) to avoid conflict, or do i need thesame make? (i cant remember which way round it is)

I am using XP pro.
Thanks a lot.

 

[Lightning McQueen]

Use the onboard gfx for the 3rd monitor, try that 1st, can't see why that wouldn't work ok.

 

[PualoP]

I recently tried to add an additional monitor using the onboard graphics and it wouldn't work. Apparently you cannot use onboards graphics and a AGP/PCIE graphics card at the same time because they cause some kind of conflict.

I opted for another graphics card and bought a relatively cheap one, however, it turns out that (in my case anyway) the processor can't handle graphics cards of different quality so 'averages out' the performance of all the cards. The performance of my Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT was drastically reduced.

 

[Lightning McQueen]

I recently tried to add an additional monitor using the onboard graphics and it wouldn't work. Apparently you cannot use onboards graphics and a AGP/PCIE graphics card at the same time because they cause some kind of conflict.

I opted for another graphics card and bought a relatively cheap one, however, it turns out that (in my case anyway) the processor can't handle graphics cards of different quality so 'averages out' the performance of all the cards. The performance of my Nvidia GeForce 8500 GT was drastically reduced.

That I believe is correct, that you cannot use the onboard gfx as well as a card in the pcie slot, but jt has a pci card, so it should work as it wouldn't be using the same "channel"

 

[JTrader]

That I believe is correct, that you cannot use the onboard gfx as well as a card in the pcie slot, but jt has a pci card, so it should work as it wouldn't be using the same "channel"

I did have to disable the onboard display adapter because it would only let me run the 2 from the PCI card using Low (4-bit ) colour quality.
Upon disabling the onboard display adapter, i can run the dispalys through the pci card using 32-bit colour quality (highest).
Not sure if this would still be the case with 3 monitors. But it doesn't fill me with hope.

 

[Lightning McQueen]

I did have to disable the onboard display adapter because it would only let me run the 2 from the PCI card using Low (4-bit ) colour quality.
Upon disabling the onboard display adapter, i can run the dispalys through the pci card using 32-bit colour quality (highest).
Not sure if this would still be the case with 3 monitors. But it doesn't fill me with hope.

sounds like you haven't set the cards up properly, uninstall the pci card, I would then get the onboard gfx up to the spec you want on monitor 1. Then reinstall the pci card for monitors 2 & 3 and download the latest drivers for xp from matrox and not let xp install its own driver for the card.

I've had 3 gfx cards working together ok in xp. ati 8500 dual head agp, matrox millenium pci and an ati "crapper" pci for 4 monitors all running at top quality,

 

[JTrader]

sounds like you haven't set the cards up properly, uninstall the pci card, I would then get the onboard gfx up to the spec you want on monitor 1. Then reinstall the pci card for monitors 2 & 3 and download the latest drivers for xp from matrox and not let xp install its own driver for the card.

I've had 3 gfx cards working together ok in xp. ati 8500 dual head agp, matrox millenium pci and an ati "crapper" pci for 4 monitors all running at top quality,

i'VE JUST DONE A COMPLETE WINDOWS UPDATE FROM xp pro sp3, and it has given me a 64mb update for the motherboard graphics, saying the other was disabled (i disabled it). I've installed this (have the latest drivers installed for the matrox also) and maybe this will enable the 3rd monitor on the onboard gfx card.


Though its still handy to know how to set the monitors up, in any case, i've just decided i dont need a 3rd monitor. If i did it means i'm over complicated things, trying to keep track of too many instruments rather than being focused on 1 (which is adequate).....jack of all trades = master of none!

 

[anley]

My opinion is you're better off getting another computer and then using the excellent Multiplicity program (costs around $50 I think) to control 3 or even 4 monitors (2 monitors on each computer).

The other PC doesn't have to be that fast, assuming you need a fast one for trading. Use the slower PC for internet, email Word etc.

I always buy these days and you should be able to buy a good machine for around £350 inc Vat and delivery. 2GB ram etc, good chip but not super duper. Anyway, whenever I've bought a super-duper computer in the past I've never ever been impressed with its speed.

 

[shadowninja]

What about replacing the 2 monitors with 2 bigger widescreen jobbies?

 

[KillPhil08]

Good Tip:
Never get a PC with only onboard graphics. Onboard graphics is only meant for low graphical computing such as word, excel etc.

I think the problem would be the same with ram. When installing ram, of two different types(frequencies), it always speeds it down to the lowest one - it would make sense if this was the same with gpu's - who would want 2 gpu's the equilivent to onboard graphics! Also in pualo's case AGP = 8x PCIE = 16x, I don't see why that would make any sense.

How many output sockets do you have? I use one in my VGA slot and one in my DVI for 2 monitors on one graphics card (it's all plug'n play so windows recognises it immediately).

 

[KillPhil08]

Just searched your graphics card. I was going to suggest buying a new one of the same type to get a potential of 4 monitors (not sure if this works like that - i'm more familiar with xfire). But it's £60 for 32mb in your gpu? That's pretty pricey compared to other makes out there.

 

[stir-trader]

If you really want 4 or 8 screens or even 12 screens, you should look at the Matrox QID series. I have been using these for years now and have never had a problem. You can pick up a fairly decently priced card on ebay. In my PC i have 2 * Matrox QID 128mb cards. The key to having multiple monitors is to ensure that they have onboard memory and at least 32mb per screen.

 

[JTrader]

A dual head pci graphics card with support for 2 x dual VGA monitor cables to support up to 4 monitors seems a good option.

quad graphics card, Desktop PC Components, Desktop PCs items at low prices on eBay.co.uk

 

[chilltrader]

will having 10 screens mean my win ratio will increase