Stupid Question - Two monitors

Shicky

Shicky

Shicky

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Hi all,

very dumb question but I'm not clear on the correct approach with this. I have two VGA monitors I wish to hook up for my dad's computer, both are VGA.

The mobo supports VGA and HDMI and the graphics card supports VGA / DVI / HDMI.

So my question is, am I supposed to used the graphics card ports for both monitors (in which case I need an adapter) or is it meant to be one on the graphics card, one on the mobo ports, in which case, I assume there's no problem with hooking up two things which are VGA?

Stupid old XFX DVI adapter doesn't seem to fit the new graphics card port :(
 
You can get vga to hdmi converter and run one monitor vga other hdmi. Although is it worth it? What resolution are the monitors?

Yes one port usually per monitor although I seen a device that linustechtip recommended that allows to plug 2 or more hmdi to one and works but with slight delay. If you have 2 gpu in sli or cf you can use any ports I supposed so x2 vga if each each gpu has one.
 
What graphics card and motherboard is the PC running?

Any GPU made in the last 10 years will support running 2 screens, so I would expect a cheap DVI-I to VGA to be the key to attaching the second screen to the GPU but some latest top-end GPUs now sport DVI-D connectors which can't support VGA outputs, so asking just to check he's not running an R9 290 or similar.

Most newer motherboards allow you to run a screen (or more) from the onboard output while using a graphics card but older ones tend to disable the onboard as soon as a card is installed. May be worth checking the BIOS for an option to enable the onboard graphics then run the second screen off that - or post the motherboard model on here and I'm sure someone can advise if this would work.

Just to correct something SamyBoy said (I'm pedantic!), if you have 2 cards you can use the outputs on both cards OR enable Crossfire, but not both at the same time. Not sure about SLI for this though.
 
Hey all,

sorry I completely forgot about this until I went to Maplin yesterday to get a VGA to DVI adapter.....£15...lol no thank you!

The graphics card is: 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GT 720 - DVI, HDMI, VGA
The mobo is: Gigabyte Z97P-D3: ATX, LG1150, USB 3.0, SATA 6GBs

As mentioned I had an old XFX adapter from an old graphics card, it does seem to 'fit' but doesn't get a solid connection, it just 'hangs' there. Still this seems the best option, going to try and get something off the bay and hope for the best.

There's no reason why the DVI adapter connection to the mobo would be so crap is there? Bear in mind the adapter is from an old GeForce Ti 4200 GT which is like a decade old lol
 
Worst case you can use 1x VGA on the Graphics card and 1x VGA on the motherboad (via the Intel graphics), should be no issue with this.
 
According to Nvidia's GT720 standard spec:
http://www.geforce.co.uk/hardware/desktop-gpus/geforce-gt-720/specifications
The DVI port on the card is a DVI-D so only supports digital outputs (DVI/HDMI). You'd need it to have a DVI-I to also support output to VGA via an adapter, so that explains why your DVI-I to VGA adapter won't work.

Are you sure your motherboard supports VGA output? Gigabyte's website only lists an HDMI output on the Z97P-D3:
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4958#ov

Currently, your options for getting 2 VGA monitors running on this setup are:
- Active DVI-D to VGA converter, such as StarTech's DVI2VGAE.
- Second GT 720 in the second PCI-E slot on the motherboard running the second screen.

The first option looks to be about a tenner cheaper, but you're still looking at £25ish. Would it maybe be more cost-effective to sell the VGA monitor and buy a cheap monitor with DVI or HDMI instead and use the current single GT720?
 
Thank you Confused Stu, definitely not worth the money! I really appreciate the input
 
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