Setting up Dual Monitors

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Setting up Dual Monitors

how to?

Vastio

4:42 pm on Jul 17, 2006 (gmt 0)

I'm trying to set up dual monitors for my boss's new computer. On his old one, he had 2 VGA monitors that plugged into 1 VGA port in the back of his computer (via what I think is a Y cable splitter).

He now wants to have the exact same setup on a new computer. I purchased what I thought would work (a simple VGA splitter) but it only mirrors the same image on both screens.

I've looked at his setup now, and all it is is what appears to be a splitter. There is no switch or adapter.

Any ideas on what it could be or is there a way I can make it work with the splitter I have already purchased?

jtara

9:44 pm on Jul 17, 2006 (gmt 0)

Just what is it that you are trying to accomplish? Do you want to mirror the same image on both screens, or expand the desktop to two screens?

If the latter, there's no kind of splitter that will work. The current setup must use a video card with two outputs coming out of a proprietary connector. The "splitter" splits the two signals out of this connector to seperate cables.

This is uncommon for a two-monitor setup, so it seems your boss has an old/oddball display card. There are some special 4-display or 8-display cards that do still use a single large connector with a breakout cable, though.

There are a wide variety of video cards on the market currently that support two monitors. First, determine just what you need connector-wise. DVI is preferable if the monitors will accept DVI. Then you will need a card that has two DVI connectors. This is a bit more difficult to find that one with two VGA connectors, or a DVI and a VGA, but still pretty common.

The safe thing in any case is to use a card with two DVI connectors. You can use an adapter to plug a VGA cable into a DVI connector. Note, however, that most of the 2-DVI cards, for whatever reason (I know the reason - the manufacturer is cheap!) ship with only 1 VGA adapter dongle, so you'd have to pick up a second one for a few bucks.

FWIW, I have two systems with XFX cards with Nvidia 6800XT chipsets. One is running Linux, the other Windows. (The Windows sytem is older, and is an AGP card. The Linux system is newer, and uses a PCI-e card. Otherwise, both cards are identical.) Both cards have dual-DVI output. No problems with it, and I am driving long DVI cables (which is sometimes a problem). This replaced a single Windows sytem that was driving 4 monitors with a special 4-port card (ColorGraphic) that was getting aged. The Colorgraphic card didn't use a single connector with a break-out dongle, but did use tiny proprietary connectors, each with it's own dongle. That's because it's simply not possible to mount 4 DVI connectors on the back of a card.