Which graphics card can I get

[molinari]

I've got an HP dc5700 PC and I'm trying to work out what graphics card I can get which will enable me to use two monitors from the one graphics card.

This is a photo of the motherboard and the available slots...


The bottom two are PCI slots, then there is a PCIe x1 slot, and the top one is (according to the HP website) an SDVO/ ADD2 connector .

Now I'm assuming that I can only use the PCIe slot for the graphics card, so are there any cards that will fit in the PCIe 1x slot that will provide dual screen-ability?! The PC is used only for work so it doesn't have to be a great graphics card, but at least 64Mb memory is needed (running Vista).

 

[semi-pro waster]

I don't know of any graphics cards that use a PCI-E 1x slot only (they might exist but I suspect they'll be pretty rubbish as well) so you might have to go for a PCI graphics card, maybe something like a Radeon 9250 or a Radeon 9600 but you will be lucky to find the second card since there weren't many of them and they will only exist secondhand.

 

[molinari]

Thanks for the reply.
The only option I have for the PCIe 1x so far is a Matrox Millenium G550 32Mb card which is pants!
I see OcUK have an HIS ATI Radeon 9250SE 128MB. Can I just use a splitter cable (which I already have) connected to the DVI out or would it have to be one monitor to the VGA connection, one monitor to the DVI connection?

 

[semi-pro waster]

The 9250se isn't a great card by any stretch but I had one which was ok for GTA Vice City and a few other games at lowish detail levels so it should cope with Vista. I can't see any problems with the splitter cable as it is just a standard DVI port on the card, of course that does mean you will have the same picture on both screens which I'm sure you know but sometimes it doesn't hurt to state the obvious.

 

[molinari]

I can't see any problems with the splitter cable as it is just a standard DVI port on the card, of course that does mean you will have the same picture on both screens which I'm sure you know but sometimes it doesn't hurt to state the obvious.

I've used the splitter cables with an Nvidia Quadro NVS280 PCI card, and the drivers for that allowed the Windows desktop to be spread across the two screens whilst keeping the monitor seperate - different resolutions on each monitor if necessary. I don't suppose you know whether this would be the case with the Radeon, but if you don't, spending £35 to find out is much of a problem.

Thanks again .

 

[LoadsaMoney]

Isnt that just a PCI-Express 16x slot, but you can get those those ADD2 cards as well to fit in it, see here

Quoted from that Article :-

The Intel 965 series chipsets implement the GMA X3000 graphics controller, the consumer engine of the Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3000 family. From the Intel Desktop board DG965RY Technical Product Specification, section 1.5.1.4 "Advanced Digital Display (ADD2/ADD2+) Card Support":

The GMCH routes two multiplexed SDVO ports that are each capable of driving up to a 200 MHz pixel clock to the PCI Express x16 connector. The SDVO ports can be paired for a dual channel configuration to support up to a 400 MHz pixel clock. When an ADD2/ADD2+ card is detected, the Intel GMA X3000 graphics controller is enabled and the PCI Express x16 connector is configured for SDVO mode. SDVO mode enables the SDVO ports to be accessed by the ADD2/ADD2+ card. An ADD2/ADD2+ card can either be configured to support simultaneous display with the primary VGA display or can be configured to support dual independent display as an extended desktop configuration with different color depths and resolutions.

This chipset allows the ADD2/MEC design to support TV-out (composite video), TMDS for DVI 1.0, LVDS, single device operating in dual-channel mode, VGA output, HDTV output, HDMI/UDI support (when used with the HD Audio Link).

 

[molinari]

Isnt that just a PCI-Express 16x slot, but you can get those those ADD2 cards as well to fit in it, see here

I was hoping so, but the fact that it says "ADD2 Support Only" underneath it suggests otherwise .

 

[Energize]

A Geforce 6200 with dual dvi is the best performer, but it's still crap.