Can someone recommend a good 'dual' card please?

[Beagle]

What would be my best bet for a new graphics card?

I need dual monitor support, but I'm not bothered about TV-out, and I don't play games. Used primarily for Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, and audio software (Cubase etc.).
I'd also like it to cost less than £100 if poss.

I've just had a look in the shop section, and there is too much choice! lol!

 

[rpstewart]

PCI-e or AGP? If it's the latter and definitely no gaming then the Matrox Millenium cards are probably as good as it gets in terms of 2D quality. Otherwise there are plenty of dual head ATI or nVidia cards out there for less than £100, it's only if you want dual DVI that it starts getting pricey.

The other option for dual DVI is what I did - one on the 9800pro and another from a PCI 9250 card.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Do you need AGP or PCI-E for your graphics card? Would you prefer dual DVI or is DVI and VGA ok?

Subjectively people say that ATI offer better image quality so for AGP I'd probably go with an X700pro(about the same speed as a 9800pro) although it is DVI and VGA. For PCI-E I'd probably suggest an X800GTO 256mb, again DVI and VGA but a much more powerful card and cheaper. I think the X800GTO16 and X800XL come with dual DVI but are more expensive and you should check if I am right about that

For Nvidia I'd probably be looking at a 6600series or 6800series graphics card in AGP or PCI-E.

 

[PinkFloyd]

I think the X800GTO16 and X800XL come with dual DVI but are more expensive and you should check if I am right about that

My X800XL has 2 DVI connectors. I don't think the AGP ones do though.

 

[Beagle]

Thanks.

I currently have a AGP card. What is better, AGP or PCI?

The Matrox option sounds interesting...the P650.

 

[Datamonkey]

beagle, you need to be careful, pci-e is not pci, its the newer slot for graphics cards and peripheral devices.

If you have agp already your mother board 99% time will not have a pci-e slot on it.

So what ever you do make sure you have the correct card before you purchase. Stay away from PCI if you want a card which you could if you chose to play games on.

 

[Beagle]

Ah yeah, I don't have PCI-E (I have a Abit nf7-s motherboard).

Mmm...the Matrox P650 looks the best option so far. Fan-less too!

But only 64Mb of RAM. What increase in performance would I expect from 128Mb of RAM? I currently only have a 64Mb card and it does everything I need it to. (apart from being dual head!)

 

[FrankJH]

As above really

Matrox are phenominal Windows cards, they just arent very good at 3d gaming.

Let us know what your motherboard is and what you have currently (include all cards you have installed) and we can make recommendations

 

[Beagle]

That's cool - I'm a console gamer, so 3d gaming isn't a requirement.

My current set-up:

ABIT NF7-S motherboard;
AMD 2500+ CPU;
Sapphire Radeon 9200 64mb;
ST Audio Sound card.

That's pretty much it!

 

[FrankJH]

I believe your 9200 is a PCI card therefore you have an empty AGP slot in your mobo

I would personally go for either a 9550 (i would avoid the slower SE model and go for a proper HIS card further down this page)

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/AGP.html

for £40 inc del you cant go wrong in my opinion

In my view its best to go for a different model/core but from the same manufacturer (ie ATI) as you already have, thats my expereince anyway

The only difference onboard ram will make is that the more you have the higher resolution at higher colour depth is available, depending on what resolutions you will be working at depends on what you need

 

[Beagle]

Mmmm....thanks for the advice; looks interesting. And that is 'dual head'? It doesn't mention dual-monitor support. Also, how loud is the fan on those?
I'd rather not increase the number of fans in my machine if I can help it.

 

[mc_bob]

Mmmm....thanks for the advice; looks interesting. And that is 'dual head'? It doesn't mention dual-monitor support. Also, how loud is the fan on those?
I'd rather not increase the number of fans in my machine if I can help it.

The picture has two heads, most cards do these days.

MC_Bob