Vista Compatible Splitter Cards?

[fumanchu]

Hi,

I recntly upgraded my laptop for a mid range Dell desktop with an 22" E228WFP Dell Monitor. Pretty bog standard stuff.

However, last week, my young lady friend bought me a second monitor ( another E228WFP) to go with my desk top. very nice, I thought. So, at this stage i'm needing a basic splitter card. have a little nose around the bay, and find some dirt cheap splitter cards nice.

I bought a nVIDIA 280 PCI express Dual VGA output 64mb graphics card. It was about 14 quid. it didnt come with a driver disc. I thought I could get one online, however, there seems to be a big issue with the Visa compatbility. I cant seem to get the correct driver for it ( tried about 10 last night). Thinking of scrapping this card and getting onto something else that is Visa reliable. But from what I read on the web, there's big issues with most cards?

Has anybody got any recomendations?

If it helps, I'm a proper cheap Bar.... I only use this machine for spreadbetting so look at a limited amount of charts etc etc.

Cheers,

Fumanchu

 

[dcraig1]

Post a question on the Nvidia support forum. You should be able to get a definitive answer about the NVS280.

 

[rossored]

i'm surprised your mid-range Dell didn't haev dual monitor capability anyway. I take it there was no DVI output (white plug) and VGA output (blue plug) on the video card - or was it on-board graphics? (if so then I can understand). Most graphics cards these days will support DVI and VGA - you just need a cheap (£5) DVI to VGA adapter from somewhere like ebay, plug both monitors into both ports and - voila! - dual screen (after changing display settings).

edit: as for the vista stuff - Vista comes with about 20gig of drivers with the OS - have you tried just slinging the card in and seeing if Vista can handle it? certainly the driver for my new-ish Asus PCIe 128mb dual port worked without needing a disc (still hate Vista though...)

 

[fumanchu]

i'm surprised your mid-range Dell didn't haev dual monitor capability anyway. I take it there was no DVI output (white plug) and VGA output (blue plug) on the video card - or was it on-board graphics? (if so then I can understand). Most graphics cards these days will support DVI and VGA - you just need a cheap (£5) DVI to VGA adapter from somewhere like ebay, plug both monitors into both ports and - voila! - dual screen (after changing display settings).

edit: as for the vista stuff - Vista comes with about 20gig of drivers with the OS - have you tried just slinging the card in and seeing if Vista can handle it? certainly the driver for my new-ish Asus PCIe 128mb dual port worked without needing a disc (still hate Vista though...)

If I didnt feel stupid before, I feel stupid now.

yes, as described.....and the card that i took out looked a lot better than the card i put in.

Lets hope I didnt do any damage by putting that Nvidia job in!


If the dell card works well, how will I manage the screens - I didnt notice a toolbar like you see with nvidia products.


cheers for that though...

I'll check the nvidia forums too - if the Dell kit doesnt come up trumps.


Cheers,

Fumanchu

 

[fumanchu]

...and...

when I installed the grpahics card it did fire up on both screens, with two copies of the same desktop, but then it asked to reboot after installing something. rebooted the two screens fired up again, then the second screen went black and the orginal screen had a desktop with a reduced quality picture ( I cant remember if it was as poor the first time)?

Every Vista driver since seems to have failed at the first installation compnent.


I'll have another go tonight...report my findings.

Cheers again,

Fumanchu

 

[lurkerlurker]

...and...

when I installed the grpahics card it did fire up on both screens, with two copies of the same desktop, but then it asked to reboot after installing something. rebooted the two screens fired up again, then the second screen went black and the orginal screen had a desktop with a reduced quality picture ( I cant remember if it was as poor the first time)?

Every Vista driver since seems to have failed at the first installation compnent.


I'll have another go tonight...report my findings.

Cheers again,

Fumanchu

Did you install the latest nVidia drivers? Have you followed the instructions on their readme? Have you tried Windows Display Settings (I don't know where they keep that under Vista as I gave up Windows after XP, but I think you should be able to get to it by right clicking the desktop and selecting properties)?

Also, congratulations on your young lady friend - she's a keeper!

 

[fumanchu]

Did you install the latest nVidia drivers? Have you followed the instructions on their readme? Have you tried Windows Display Settings (I don't know where they keep that under Vista as I gave up Windows after XP, but I think you should be able to get to it by right clicking the desktop and selecting properties)?

Also, congratulations on your young lady friend - she's a keeper!

Ahh, I did exactly that, no joy. I did a few google searches and found that there's a few problems with a lot of the drivers/patches. Thankfully, my pc came with a duel monitor capability, All I needed was a 99p adapter and I was away. The card is pretty good, but sometimes gets chocked by the amount that i put on my screens, but ti will do for now, and I dont fancy shelling out for the higher end graphics cards on the market.

I'll punt the old card back on ebay.

hahah, yes, she's a good girl, not sure if she was too happy with the amount of time I spent trying to sort it out, or the amount of time i seem to sit in front of them haha - thing is though, it'll be back on me when its her birthday!


Cheers!