I need to connect two monitors to my desktop and the ones I have are VGA only... and my DVI port can't be converted using DVI -> VGA connector...
What is the cheapest Graphics card I should buy that gives me another dvi port or a VGA port.
There's some on the bay that are around £3... is it a bad idea to get one of 'em?
Why can your DVI ports not be converted to VGA? It is very uncommon for graphics card ports to be DVI-D they are almost exclusively DVI-I.
But anyway I guess you have tried orr else you wouldn't be asking...
Yes any graphics card will do probably worth getting something relatively new so that driver support is carried forward into new operating systems like Windows 7.
About the cheapest you will find a brand new card from a reputable E-tailer will be about £25, check the nvidia 8400 seres and the ATI 3450. Scan have an ATI 2350 for ~£10 but it only has a single output.
If you want to go from ebay go for it for a few pounds probably not a huge amount to worry about.
All the above is assuming you wanted to convert from DVI -> VGA if you were attempting to convert VGA -> DVI that never works.
If you need dual DVI output then you may need to spend a little more as most of the cheapest cards come with a single DVI and a VGA output. Check though as you can convert HDMI to DVI so a cheap media oriednted graphics card like the 3450 may come in a HDMI and DVI version.
Last point first... I did think about doing that but that means, attach a hdmi -> dvi and then a dvi -> vga and then the cable... huge load on the port me thinks...
also I've got teh telly attached to the HDMI port
The last one I saw on eBay was: ATI RADEON 7000 around a tenner
My board is a gigabyte ga 73pvm s2h
My primary aim to get this board was to run multi-monitor and TV setup.
1 DVI
1 VGA
1 HDMI
not to be it seems...
I am also assuming once I add the graphics card, the built-in VGA port will still function fine for me to be able to add two monitors.
I will be running linux and probably a Windows version...
Link for the motherboard is:
http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/...ProductID=2691
and the reason for not being able to DVI ->VGA is: the board... Its got HDCP on DVI port too
Ah so you want to use VGA monitors then so what I said first is right.
HDCP will have no effect on the DVI ports ability to output an analogue signal having looked at your motherboards specifications though it is a DVI-D port so does not output an analogue signal.
As to my final bit about HDMI, HDMI is a purely digital signal and so can not be converted to VGA (analogue) without a DAC (Digital to Analogue Converter) which is not what a normal adaptor is capable of.
The reason you can use DVI to VGA converters is that the DVI ports on graphics cards have both digital and analogue output pins, they are refered to as DVI-I (the I is for integrated Digital and Analogue), so you can convert the analogue signal from the DVI-I port to a VGA (DSUB) cable very easily.
I would expect that the onboard graphics can drive 2 of the 3 outputs at a time so 1 analogue and 1 digital or 2 digital. So for you to display out to 2 analogue monitors you are going to need a graphics card. Once you have a graphics card installed I am unsure if the onboard graphics will still be functional so better to work on the assumption that they will not.
So to drive 2 Analogue monitors you need a card with the following,
2x DVI-I ports
2x D-Sub (VGA) ports (unlikely to find this)
1x DVI-I and 1x DSUB
You want to avoid HDMI unless it is in addition to one of the above configurations.
To keep with driver updates you do not want anything from ATI pre-dating the 9500 series, so personally I would not be interested in anything earlier than them, you should be able to find what you need for £25 from the e-tailers or if ebay is your thing then search for the 2400, 2600, 3400, 4350 (from ATI) or 8400 cards (nvidia) you may get lucky and find a bargain.
Thank you, I'm not really sure what to do, either get rid of the monitors or the m/b.
The primary aim to get this m/b was to drive my telly AND the monitors.
I have also been advised that I will need to turn off on-board graphics if I add a card which means there's no way I can drive the telly and the monitors at the same time.
It might be cheaper just to replace the monitors or the m/b than buying an expensive card.
I don't think you're going to find a cheap single card that will run 3 monitors simultaneously whatever you do (as far as I can tell from the specs of the Radeon 4350/4550/46x0 they can only drive two independant monitors), so simply replacing the VGA monitor with a digital one is unlikely to be the way to go! Similarly, I'm not aware of any mobos which support 3 simultaneous monitors, so you oculd potentially be looking at a complete rebuild if you start thinking along those lines!
The most likely cheap solution is to buy a low-cost GeForce 7 series card (ebuyer have a selection), stick it into your computer and play with the settings to see if you can enable the on-board graphics and the card at the same time (I'd be surprised if you couldn't, tbh). That way you can run one VGA monitor off your mobo, one off the discreet card, and still use your HDMI to the TV (although why you'd want to do that is beyond me, frankly). You may be able ot pick up something on ebay - if that's the way you want to go try to avoid paying much over a fiver: that way it's not such a huge loss if it doesn't work!
EDIT: following further research, I found this in the nvidia knowledgebase:
Which strongly suggests that there *is* a way to enable both on-board and discreet graphics...Originally Posted by NVidia Knowledge Base
Last edited by scaryjim; 25-02-2009 at 03:04 PM.
deleted...sorry... wrong thread...
First of all... Thanks
I don't think you're going to find a cheap single card that will run 3 monitors simultaneously whatever you do (as far as I can tell from the specs of the Radeon 4350/4550/46x0 they can only drive two independant monitors), so simply replacing the VGA monitor with a digital one is unlikely to be the way to go! Similarly, I'm not aware of any mobos which support 3 simultaneous monitors, so you oculd potentially be looking at a complete rebuild if you start thinking along those lines!
The most likely cheap solution is to buy a low-cost GeForce 7 series card (ebuyer have a selection), stick it into your computer and play with the settings to see if you can enable the on-board graphics and the card at the same time (I'd be surprised if you couldn't, tbh). That way you can run one VGA monitor off your mobo, one off the discreet card, and still use your HDMI to the TV (although why you'd want to do that is beyond me, frankly
EDIT: following further research, I found this in the nvidia knowledgebase:
Which strongly suggests that there *is* a way to enable both on-board and discreet graphics...Very helpful post...
2nd... whoops! sold the monitors at a loss to buy new ones...
to satisfy curosity about 3 monitors: I have a little girl and big wife... just kidding if SWMBO reads this
1 monitor is for me to work on.
1 for my little girl to enjoy her youtube videos on (kids today!!!)
1telly for my wife to see her movies or whatever she likes...
I currently have 2 laptops a HTPC and this machine but once I achieve this config, only one system will need to be kept on.
and I use ubuntu so hopefully we can work on seperate work spaces to keep her happy...
I have also tested two wireless keyboards working properly on this system.
...
Now for mobo being able to drive 3 monitors... well I have tested that DVI and HDMI can be used at the same time as an extended monitor setup and don't think there would be a problem with 3 monitors at the same time, however, I guess I will know when the next two monitors come in...
Call me old-fashioned, but personally I'd've gone for seperate machines deliberately specced for each requirement (after all, you could watch youtube on 10 year old hardware!)
Just an update...
The two monitors have arrived, with DVI and VGA.
The dual head install is running fine, however... the HDMI plug won't go in with the DVI plugged in
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
SCAN.care@HEXUS
Posting Permissions
LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Reply With Quote
