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Upgrade for £150, running two old monitors...

Pookie Bear

Pookie Bear

Pookie Bear

Soldato
Joined
28 Jun 2006
Posts
5,248
Location
Newcastle upon Tyne
I've got £150 to spend on a new graphics card. It must be able to run two DVIs outputs for my two old monitors (which are actually VGA inputs, but I've got loads of VGA->DVI adapters).

This seems to be a bit of a funny budget - especially since I need two outputs. Is it possible to run two monitors off of one DVI output? What kind of adapter do I need?

It's been a long time since I upgraded monitors (or even my graphics card) so I'd appreciate any advice.
 
I think with additional hardware it's possible to run 2 screens from 1 DVI port, but you would only be able to run them mirrored - you wouldn't be able to have a desktop two screens wide.

Pretty much all graphics cards produced in the last 10 years support 2 monitors, with some supporting 3, 4, 5 or even (special editions) 6. Are you planning on gaming on your PC? If not, either of these will work perfectly for 2 screens:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-271-AS&groupid=701&catid=56
£19.99 with DVI, VGA and HDMI

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-175-EA&groupid=701&catid=1914
£22.99 with DVI, VGA and HDMI

If you are gaming, then we'll need to know what kind of games (Crysis 3 or Angry Birds), what resolutions you're running and if you want to run a game across both or just game on 1 with the other showing email/system monitoring/whatever.
 
Last edited:
Confused Stu,

Yes, this is on my gaming machine - running modern games (at the moment, Metro Last Light and Fallout New Vegas).

I currently run two 1680x1050 monitors, but my card has two DVI outputs. I only game on one monitor - the other is for email/internet/Skype, etc.

Thanks for the response.
 
Pookie Bear said:
Unfortunately, that one doesn't have two DVI outputs - and m monitors are VGA only (which I have DVI adapters for). No HDMI or display port options.
Click to expand...

You can get Display Port to VGA adapters fairly cheaply.

Considering you get 8 games with that graphics card, it is a pretty good deal!
 
spoffle said:
You can get Display Port to VGA adapters fairly cheaply.

Considering you get 8 games with that graphics card, it is a pretty good deal!
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more with Spoffle on that one! If you're only running 2 screens, a passive mini Displayport to VGA adapter is less than a tenner and should work perfectly. I'd go for that card definitely.
 
Or if you have/hate most of those games and don't want to sell them, the 7870 is only a couple of pounds more with a smaller bundle.
 
I do have most of those games already - so I won't rush to get anything.
I also have to factor in the cost of the adapter into my budget, which is quite tight.

I might wait until I get paid and do the deed via the MM - there seems to be some decent options on there.
 
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