Results 1 to 7 of 7

Thread: second card to run 3rd monitor

  1. #1
    Jay
    Jay is offline
    Gentlemen.. we're history Jay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Jita
    Posts
    8,365
    Thanks
    304
    Thanked
    568 times in 409 posts

    second card to run 3rd monitor

    I have a Crossfire mother board so it has two PCI-E slots

    What I want to do is buy a cheap second graphics card to add a 3rd monitor to my setup.

    If I add a cheap ATI graphics card into my system that already has an X1900XT will this cause any problems and will it do what I want (just display as an extension of my current desktop)

    also will this effect my ability to play games? Currently i only play CS:S on the main monitor and the second one just has TeamSpeak, Xfire and speedfan on it while I play. This causes no problems.
    □ΞVΞ□

  2. #2
    Editable... jimbouk's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Bristol
    Posts
    2,811
    Thanks
    244
    Thanked
    238 times in 191 posts
    • jimbouk's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asrock B450M-HDV R4.0
      • CPU:
      • AMD Ryzen 5 3600
      • Memory:
      • Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz C16
      • Storage:
      • Sabrent Rocket Q 1TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic Core Gold GC-650
      • Case:
      • Lian-Li PC-V1100 ATX
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • AOC CU34G2/BK 34" Widescreen
      • Internet:
      • EE FTC

    Re: second card to run 3rd monitor

    Going to do exactly the same thing only just driving two monitors from 2 cards. Hopefully everything will arrive tomorrow. Best advice I think is to stick with ATI to simplify drivers. Shouldn't case any problems but I'll let you know tomorrow how I get on!

  3. #3
    lazy student nvening's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    London
    Posts
    4,656
    Thanks
    196
    Thanked
    31 times in 30 posts

    Re: second card to run 3rd monitor

    Im thinking about doing the same as i may get a new 22", keep my 19" and also have my LCD tv pluged in XD

    Out of interest, what would happen if i used an nvidia card with an ati?? Also my primary card will be better that my secondary, so how would that pan out gaming wise, i wouldnt have the TV on for gaming so would it jsut be the sake of setting up seperate profiles for gaming, tv and normal use???

    Thanks.
    (\__/)
    (='.'=)
    (")_(")

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Location
    Bath, Somerset, UK
    Posts
    209
    Thanks
    1
    Thanked
    1 time in 1 post

    Re: second card to run 3rd monitor

    Quote Originally Posted by nvening View Post
    Im thinking about doing the same as i may get a new 22", keep my 19" and also have my LCD tv pluged in XD

    Out of interest, what would happen if i used an nvidia card with an ati?? Also my primary card will be better that my secondary, so how would that pan out gaming wise, i wouldnt have the TV on for gaming so would it jsut be the sake of setting up seperate profiles for gaming, tv and normal use???

    Thanks.
    A few important things to be aware of…

    XP:

    With XP's display driver model you can mix and match cards just fine. I ran a main rig with several different cards driving 4 screens for years. It just loads an instance of the driver for each chip found. Up to a limit of 4 cards IIRC without specialised kit.

    Vista:

    With Vista the display driver model was changed to ONLY allow initialisation of cards that share a driver core.

    In reality that means you must have two (or more, up to 4 again I think) cards from the same manufacturer and ideally the same subtype (i.e. X1300 secondary, X1900 main).

    You can get away with using older cards (I have an X600 and an X1950) but should support be dropped for the older cards from future drivers this could cause you a glass ceiling. Exactly the same applies to nVidia's cards.

    In both cases the 'bus' that is used to connect the card is not relevant provided your PC can support it. I have used PCI+AGP, PCIe+PCI and in my current box PCIe+PCIe+PCI.

    It is totally separate from any SLI or CrossFire sort of technology but don’t forget that if your board and cards support it 2+ identical cards could drive 3/4 screens then be called on to do CF/SLI duties when needed.
    "John Willis is a toaster that talks! - It knows your name.".

  5. #5
    Jay
    Jay is offline
    Gentlemen.. we're history Jay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Jita
    Posts
    8,365
    Thanks
    304
    Thanked
    568 times in 409 posts

    Re: second card to run 3rd monitor

    so this can be done?

    If I have 1 X1900XT PCI-e card and then install a second low power graphics card in the second PCI-e slot just to run a 3rd screen?

    What I would like is a card that is powered by the PCI-e slot and is really cool. It will not be doing any intesive graphics just displaying a desktop, webpages etc so what card would be best?
    □ΞVΞ□

  6. #6
    Editable... jimbouk's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Bristol
    Posts
    2,811
    Thanks
    244
    Thanked
    238 times in 191 posts
    • jimbouk's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asrock B450M-HDV R4.0
      • CPU:
      • AMD Ryzen 5 3600
      • Memory:
      • Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4 3200 MHz C16
      • Storage:
      • Sabrent Rocket Q 1TB NVMe PCIe M.2 2280
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Sapphire Pulse RX 580 8GB
      • PSU:
      • Seasonic Core Gold GC-650
      • Case:
      • Lian-Li PC-V1100 ATX
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10 Pro
      • Monitor(s):
      • AOC CU34G2/BK 34" Widescreen
      • Internet:
      • EE FTC

    Re: second card to run 3rd monitor

    Well my setup runs just fine:

    17" 4:3 tft @ 1280x1024 running off a HD 2400 Pro on the primary PCI-E slot

    22" 16:10 @ 1680x1050 running off a X1950 XT on the secondary PCI-E slot

    XP-Pro, CCC 7.8. Games run fine on the main screen with other programs up on the second one. With CS:S a alt-tab minimises the game so responding to msn/irc will minimise it but no disruption whilst just viewing them. Primary monitor is set in windows to be the 22" screen and games default to that. All groovey!

  7. #7
    Jay
    Jay is offline
    Gentlemen.. we're history Jay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Jita
    Posts
    8,365
    Thanks
    304
    Thanked
    568 times in 409 posts

    Re: second card to run 3rd monitor

    if you play in windowed mode (set it to the same rez as your screen anyway) you get a full screen game but you can interect with your desktop on the other monitor without the need to minimise
    □ΞVΞ□

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Best card for monitor
    By will101 in forum Graphics Cards
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 15-05-2007, 11:51 AM
  2. Intel e6300 overheating?
    By Xet in forum SCAN.care@HEXUS
    Replies: 17
    Last Post: 26-01-2007, 09:56 PM
  3. monitor resolutions and gfx card limits...
    By shiato storm in forum Graphics Cards
    Replies: 2
    Last Post: 08-12-2006, 01:08 PM
  4. Crap pc ok to put a new pci gfx card and run 3 monitors?
    By Fais in forum PC Hardware and Components
    Replies: 12
    Last Post: 11-04-2005, 01:01 AM
  5. Dual Monitor Graphics Card
    By hibby in forum Graphics Cards
    Replies: 4
    Last Post: 20-12-2004, 01:09 AM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •