Crap pc ok to put a new pci gfx card and run 3 monitors?

[Fais]

Hi all

Started a little project. Want to run three monitors in a shop display window. Decided that i want all three running different pictures. This is now what i am planning to:

Objective: Run 3 x 19" tft panels with different images.

Hardware:

1. HP Vectra - 500mhz celeron with 128MB Ram with 4mb onboard gfx
2. 64MB Geforce FX5200 PCI 128MB Dual VGA Output and TV-Out
3. 3 x Dell 19" TFT Flat panel screens. - VGA and DVI

I've chosen to use the HP Vectra since i have it lying aroung and most importantly it is DEAD quiet. If i use i higher spec machine, it will be noisy.

Monitors will display different slideshow power-point presentations - all 2D graphics.

Ok... Questions... Will the PC be ok to run hardware items 2 & 3? Will i be able to use the onboard gfx for the third monitor or will i need another pci gfx card?

Want to be prepared for any potential problems

Thanks!!

Fais

[Stompy]

Some onboard graphics won't run with another gfx card installed.
I would say just try it, if it doesn't work just use an old card in it's place.

[Ben Rogers]

If you put an agp card in a motherboard that has onboard vga then this usually automatically disables the onboard gfx, however if it doesn't have an agp slot or you use solely pci cards then it shouid work fine and also the onboard should work too.

[Fais]

Thanks for the replies!!

Do you think the old pc will be ok running all this?

Another thing... i've never seen how multiple monitors work... how would i control what appears on each screen? Can i control what appears on each screen using a single fourth screen?

[unrealrocks]

I run a tri monitor system - the system will run basic pictures etc. although two graphics cards is a real system hog (3 cards is even worse - hence why I dont anymore). Try to keep all the cards the same make, ideally Nvidia.

Controling what you want, depends - what do you want to display?

[Fais]

Controling what you want, depends - what do you want to display?

I want to run 3 different powe****** presentations simultaneiously. they won't be too detailed. It would be a nightmare if i had to look at each screen to change/load the presentations. They are likley to change on a weekly basis.

[englishpremier]

It should be ok, depends what OS you are using too, as something like XP on that machine will be quite slow. I don't think you'd be able to fit an AGP card as with it being an old system, won't the AGP port by 3V (or whatever) instead of the 1.5v that modern cards use?

[unrealrocks]

You may be able to open 3 presentations then just drag them onto the respective screen ... I've never tryed it though. If you can as long as the transitions arent to insaine it should run fine.

[speedy_s]

If your system dosen't work, get a via epia machine (only 2 monitors though ) which is dead quite as well.


EDIT: u can use ur hp machine for the third monitor. This solution will take quite a lot of power,space and effort to maintain

[Fais]

Really appreciative of the replies... Thanks!

@ english premier - yes no AGP slot. machine is at least 3-4 yrs old. Having said that it seems to be solid.

@ speedy s: yes power and incovenience is the problem if i have more than one machine. Machine is going to be running 24/7 as well.


I'll buy a couple of: PNY Verto Geforce FX5200 PCI 128MB 128-bit DDR With TV-Out Dual VGA Output from Ebuyer and install them and see how i go. that way i may be able to run a kvm switch to allow me to change what is displayed -without disturbing any of the screens as unrealrocks mentioned.

The HP has XP installed... i don't think changing the processor is going to be worth it, but would increasing the RAM make a big difference to the performance? Or is this all about the processor?

[Lu-tze]

i would add more RAM. 128mb is the recommended minimum by MS for XP. i just loaded a PP presentation to check, and it used 40mb. it depends on the presentation though, particularly whether there are lots of images or not. you should be able to get a 256mb SDRAM DIMM for about £20 i would of thought.

[Steve]

Three powe****** presentations? I am unsure as to whether this is possible, controlling which screen they run on may be the difficult part. My multi monitor system is down right now so I can't check!

As for spec, stick 256MB RAM in there MINIMUM. This is Kez's min req for any system - follow it and you will be happy

You could run 2 PCI graphics cards if the onboard vid was a pain to get working with the PCI card.

[Fais]

Will follow your advice guys and stick in 256MB.

Three powe****** presentations? I am unsure as to whether this is possible, controlling which screen they run on may be the difficult part. My multi monitor system is down right now so I can't check!

As for spec, stick 256MB RAM in there MINIMUM. This is Kez's min req for any system - follow it and you will be happy

You could run 2 PCI graphics cards if the onboard vid was a pain to get working with the PCI card.

If you think three PP presentation are difficult, will i most likley be able to control 2 different internet explorer screens to run a 'web slideshow' and a single monitor on PP slideshow?

I think you're right... i'll order 2 PCI cards so and to reduce the potential pitfalls