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How would I go about having 2 monitors hooked up the same computer? I know I need some special video card for it. Is there a special name for this feature or something? I need some help.

I don't know what the feature is called, but make sure the card has a tv out as well as the regular monitor connection.

Then I guess you have to find a cable that will hook up your monitor cable with the tv out. Never done it before even though my card has it so I'm just guessing here.

Try going to a Nvidia or ATI.com and checking their support pages. Maybe they explain it there.

On most cards, they have a DVI input and a normal output. Get a dvi to the normal output convertor..

So all I need is a DVI to a Normal Output device thingy? Where can I get one of those?

Go here:

http://www.ati.com/support/manualpdf...amp;submit.y=3

Download the pdf for the 9700 pro and it has a page with pics on what you need and how to do it.

Of course not all cards are the same.

I have such card where it has two monitor outs. Ones for flastscreens (DVI, I believe) the other is for regular ol' CRT monitors. When I ordered the computer I ordered a DVI->CRT adaptor. Super easy to set up. Just hook it up, and set the layout and resolution of the monitors in the display settings.

Well, whenever I get around to buying a new computer, I double check with you guys to make sure. This is the adapter itself, right?



Oh, and whats the TV Out on video cards used for?

Originally Posted by SS4Brolly Well, whenever I get around to buying a new computer, I double check with you guys to make sure. This is the adapter itself, right?

That's the appropriate dongle.

Originally Posted by 'Brolly Oh, and whats the TV Out on video cards used for?

Now let's see, if Grant's buried in Grant's Tomb

Actually it's used so you can connect it to a video source that uses composite/S-Video. It's not going to offer you that great of a picture, since NTSC TV resolution is 640 x 480, with a refresh rate of 60hz (Fields per second).

And there are actually multiple ways that you can tackle the beast, a dual head video card (But also make sure it supports both outputs, because some cards only send to the CRT OR the DVI. You also could get yourself a PCI card, which depending on what you'd be using it for may be the better solution, but make sure the cards are compatible in a dual monitor format.

I have video card that supports two monitors..
The feature is called nView for NVIDIA cards and Hydravision for ATI cards.
I heard nView was better.
Matrox is supposed to make the best multi-monitor solution, but their 3D performance sucks so I don't think you want to have one of theirs.

When you are doing this, make sure you have monitors that are similar. I have one LCD and one CRT.. and they don't look good side to side... it's because LCD needs to be in its native resolution that is too much for CRT to handle.. 1280x1024 is usually too high for many CRTs.

I know this topic's a little old, but anyway..

The 2 Nvidia cards 'we' have with DVI (ti4200 and fx5200) came packaged with the DVI adapter.

and

When you are doing this, make sure you have monitors that are similar. I have one LCD and one CRT.. and they don't look good side to side... it's because LCD needs to be in its native resolution that is too much for CRT to handle.. 1280x1024 is usually too high for many CRTs.

With Nview, you can set different resolutions for each monitor, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

A feature I like is full-screen video mirroring, so you can play a video and it will play full-screen on one monitor (or TV), and you can do other stuff on the other monitor.

Originally Posted by SS4Brolly Oh, and whats the TV Out on video cards used for?

Hehe... outputting to a TV maybe? :P

I can't think of too many possible use cases, but here are a few: playing a video from your PC on the TV, using your PC as a DVD player if you have a DVD-ROM and a card with TV Out, playing games in crappy resolution on a TV.

I'm currently using my computer as a 'Tivo-Like' video recorder with the ATI-9600 video card. It supports dual monitor output, or a double wide desktop split between 2 monitors. You can also hook it up to your TV via composite, or DVI and component with an adapter similar to the one you already pictured.

The newer ATI 9800 doesn't support dual display. But it does come packaged with the DVI adapter I believe.