dual monitors

[shakey0818]

i was thinking of getting a video card for my hp pavilion.i would like to run 2 monitors with the option of having a third.this would be for my home computer and would like to spend @$100-$150. any sugestions would be greatly appreciated ty.

 

[petesign]

I run dual monitors, and love it. I have an SLI motherboard though... Check on newegg or something like that and look for a video card that will go in one of your free pci slots

 

[shakey0818]

tyvm i think i found one there.

 

[artbot]

i've always had duals. i'm about to switch to three but with a slight modification. i'm up to my eyeballs in layers and channels with photoshop (about 18"-24" if all opened going down). i'm getting two inexpensive 22" monitors to go on each side of my 25" but mounted vertically. so that i can take advantage of the photoshop layout. even web pages max out and leave empty space on the outsides on giant monitors. long horizontal space just isn't useful for most applications.

so from my experience, go big and pricey in the middle, and smaller/low end mounted vertically on the outsides. will cost as much a two pricey monitors and be much more useful.

 

[Jim Doggett]

+1 on dual monitors. Once you have them you'll never go back! Great for Photoshop; work on main monitor and have tools on the other monitor. Or work in Illy/Corel on one and have email or whatever on the other. You'll save a couple of lifetimes not having to move windows around.

 

[shakey0818]

good advice artbot i will think about a 3 port as well.i just hooked up my comp to a new 42'flatscreen tv and it os great but alittle big,i am wondering if hooking it up to the tv would be ok or if it would be bad for the tv.it it will work i will be looking for 2-30" tvs to use as monitors.

 

[artbot]

i don't think the tvs will have the resolution for graphics. of course with tvs today maybe i'm not much of a techy. the middle monitor at 30" would be the sweetest set up if affordable. anything bigger is outside of your peripheral vision at a close seating position.


off topic... check out this photoshoppers dream laptop w700ds built in raid, tablet, and dual monitors... insanely expensive. me want.

 

[shakey0818]

wow thats cool i bet james bond could get you 1 for a discountif you knew him.

 

[choucove]

Doing two monitors is pretty simple to do and most any video card today supports this feature. Doing more than two, however, requires a little extra planning.

I don't really know of a single Pavilion system out there that supports dual PCI-Express X16 graphics slots and supports either crossfire or SLI. This means you are forced to getting a single graphics card with more than two external connectors which can all run simultaneously. This means you need to look at the newer ATI 5XXX series video cards which support Eyefinity for multiple monitor setups. You can usually find these cards with a single DVI and two display ports, or two DVI and single HDMI, etc. to give you three total monitors. A base model card to support this feature is the XFX ATI Radeon 5670 which can run Eyefinity for less than $100. If you can spend a little more and your Pavilion has a spare PCI-Express 6-pin power connector you can step up to the HIS Radeon 5750 for a little more performance at about $130.

nVidia unfortunately does not have as many options yet to support multiple monitors. I believe some of the newer Quadro FX series cards do support more than two monitors, but those cards are going to easily be more than $150.

 

[omgsideburns]

love my dual 24s.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

i don't think the tvs will have the resolution for graphics. of course with tvs today maybe i'm not much of a techy.

My secondary monitor is an insignia TV and it does wonders with resolution. I have actually been pleasantly surprised with the quality that I've gotten through Insignia products.

Your going to have a hard time finding truly dedicated monitors for computers like you used to. I would have been one of those that would have agreed with you about the lack of resolution with TVs being used as monitors, but I don't think that's the case anymore.

I run a Hannspree 26" and a 24" Insignia and both do a damn good job. I will agree that once you go atleast dual you won't go back. My dad can run a quad setup on his computer.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

I don't really know of a single Pavilion system out there that supports dual PCI-Express X16 graphics slots and supports either crossfire or SLI.

If you order direct from HP you can get computers setup for dual monitors. My dad had one(although he didn't realize it did dual monitors while he had it) and he ordered it direct from HP. Now he runs multiple monitors off his custom built computer.

 

[choucove]

If you order direct from HP you can get computers setup for dual monitors. My dad had one(although he didn't realize it did dual monitors while he had it) and he ordered it direct from HP. Now he runs multiple monitors off his custom built computer.

Yes, you are right that HP offers dual-monitor supported computers. Nearly all of their systems do, at least any that have two video display output (most now have at least DVI and VGA or DVI and HDMI). What they do not come with is an additional video card slot for running two cards together. This is a feature found only on the higher performance line of computers from HP and Dell and the like, I don't believe any of their standard Pavilion lines come with two full size PCI-Express X16 slots for running two independent video cards and thus more than two monitors.

 

[royster13]

My new Win 7.0 computer came fitted up with enough ports for 4 monitors.....I have 2 hooked up right now and could not imagine going back to 1.....

 

[shakey0818]

ty all for the posts i will take all into consideration.

 

[Mosh]

I could watch porn and work in Corel all at the same time.

 

[tintguy31794]

Two 28" monitors, I use a geforce 9800 gtx+ at home

two 28" monitors at work one for me and one for the customer. (crappy computer at work because the boss doesnt feel the need to spend money on a computer like I do)... computers are my hobby my home machine I have over 3k into and its a couple of years old now.

This is a link that I happened across the other day when thinking about upgrading video cards


I think it will help you in choosing which is a better video card, but you also have the dilemma of choosing the one that is best for you. That I can't answer.


http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card-geforce-radeon,2761.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card-geforce-radeon,2761-7.html

Go big!