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Graphics card noob needs help!

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Joined
29 Jan 2006
Posts
5
Hi guys - as per the title I'm a bit of a graphics card noob and after much web-trawling and forum browsing I'm still in the dark over which card to choose, you guys seem to be the most clued up so I thought I'd ask my question here:

I'm basically looking for a card that will let me run two monitors at the same time (not showing the same thing). I currently have a Samsung SyncMaster 172W at native 1280x768 and I've got a Dell 2405FPW turning up sometime this week and I also want to run it at the native 1900x1200. Ideally I'd like to have these connected by DVI but I don't really mind the 172W being on VGA. I need an AGP card and I have around £200 to spend. I don't intend to game with the monitors - just graphics / video work. Any recommendations would be much appreciated! I was looking at the BFG 6800 Ultra but that would mean upgrading my PSU too. Please help!

Here's my system (Don't laugh!):

AMD Athlon XP 1.24GHz
1.5 GB of RAM
MSI K7N2-Delta Mainboard


Thanks again - :)
 
Leadtek WinFast GeForce 6600 GT 128MB DDR3 TV-Out/DVI (AGP) - Retail (GX-050-LT)
Price: £79.95 (£93.94 Including VAT at 17.5%)

Should do the job nicely
 
Hi

Welcome to the forums :)

If you're not gaming then there's no need to spend anything like £200. If you want a dual output video card that's suitable for your needs a Geforce 6200 would be perfect for £40

If you want dual DVI (which would be nice) I'd get the XFX GeForce 6600 GT 128MB DDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (AGP) - Retail (PVT43A-NDF6) (GX-024-XF) for £105. The 6600GT is actually a pretty good card so you'll be able to game at 1280x1024 with it if you so wished
 
Thanks for the welcome! Looks like I'm already getting a strong indication of what to use (man I'm glad the store is only a click away to read up on these things:) )

(Nice to see a Naruto sig around too)
 
Heh, Click it for some more naruto based stuff :D (namely my deviantart page)

I didnt notice the xfx has dual dvi, looks to be a good choice
 
if your looking to game at the native res of that panel your gonna need more umph under the bonnet fella, a 6800gt i would say.

but if as you say just graphics an such then another vote for the 6600gt. this would allow you to run the odd game now n then but i would say at 1280x1024 which may look a bit pants on that nice big panel
 
Just so I'm absolutely sure, that card will let me run both panels at the same time at their native resolutions? (What's confusing me is that when I add the two resolutions together, they are larger than the max res of the card.) I'm so dense on these things. - Thanks again!
 
Yep

The max res of the card stated is the maximum res that each output can sustain on its own, not combined

Just uninstall your existing drivers and plug the card into your PC. Boot into windows and install the new drivers for your new card

Right click on your desktop and select "Properties":

Properties.jpg


Click on the "Settings" tab:

Step1_SettingsTab.jpg


Click the monitor that you wish to enable and check "Extend my windows desktop onto this monitor"

You can then move the screen to the right position for your monitor setup:

Step2_MovingScreen.jpg


That's it!

Step3_Finished.jpg


The primary monitor is the default monitor for your applications to use. Once you've used an application it saves what monitor you last closed it on. You can change the primary monitor by choosing the monitor you want to be primary and checking "Use this device as the primary monitor"
 
Cheers :)

I don't think it would be worth your while going for the 256MB version. The extra memory is only used in games at rather high resolutions. If you're not gaming then it's not worth the money

Having said that though, if you want to game at a highish resolution (or near the native resolution of your monitor) then the extra memory will come into play. If you're happy to game at a lower resolution, such as 1440x960, then the extra memory doesn't make as big a difference
 
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