Quote:
Originally Posted by transit921
i have gigabyte ep45 ud3l single pci 2.0 x 16 slot
a 9800gt running 2 monitors
was wondering if i can put a pci video card in the regukar pci slot and add another monitor, also does it matter what pci slot it is in,cause my wireless internet card only works in the 1st pci slot, was thinking a card something like this,
i know nothing about running 3 monitors, but i would like to do it, not sure if it will work fior video games, any info would be helpfull
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Heya,
To add a 3rd and even 4th monitor to your setup, any extra video card will do it. PCI, PCIe, whatever. It all will work fine. Add another video card, plug in monitors, power up. Install drivers. And set it up in display properties. You can mix makers too. I use nVidia and ATI in the same box.
Here's the card I used for my 2nd video card to allow me to connect two more displays to my previous 2 displays, for a 3 and 4 monitor setup:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102817
It's a fanless low profile PCIe card (bandwidth is important if you plan on streaming HD content and stuff, PCI might not be able to do that fast enough, so I went PCIe). So this one is quiet (fanless), simple, small, has DVI and HDMI so I can connect to anything. Fantastic. I mixed it with my 8800GT which also has two displays on it.
-- If you can only use PCI, then that card you linked earlier would work fine for most affairs. Just mind that PCI has a limited bandwidth so depending what you're doing, displaying 1080p content may not be best displayed by that card due to the PCI bandwidth limitation (this is why I mention using PCIe 1.0 instead).
When I game, I game on 3 monitors typically. Otherwise, I just game on my HDTV while my other 3 displays just show windows, websites, video, etc. My 8800GT renders, and the other video card just displays the results (I use SoftTH software for this). Otherwise, you can stretch games across your displays in a window (I do this often too).
As for a TV tuner, here's the one I used:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815116028
It's cheap for what it does, a digital tuner, with a remote. Works fine in Windows 7 x64. Great quality. I hooked it up to a digital antenna and I just take free HD content over the air. I don't pay for any service. But you could plug into cable if you actually buy it. Works great with Windows Media Center so you can pause live TV, record, etc. Lovely for the price. PCIe (1.0) so it fits into those near useless slots, and takes advantage of the bandwidth of PCIe 1.0 for the high data rates of HD content.
-- If you cannot get PCIe 1.0 or 2.0, I suggest you just wait until you get a new motherboard. PCI is limited in bandwidth. If you're going to take HD content, it may not be able to keep up with it. But if you're just watching some basic stuff, it may be fine, just don't expect the highest of quality.
Very best,
Edited by MalVeauX - 10/10/09 at 3:02pm
