okay i just got my new morther broad aftyer finding out my other is out of warretny and the gig lan port is burned out i orderd dfi lanparty ut NF4 Sli-dr expert morther broad well it supports dual video apg cards i was looking at them on line and they run between 500-700 buxs is there any cheaper out ther on the market? i going to run just one for the time being but i'd like to build thisone to the max

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?Sku=D452-2039

run two cards, xp support its

That mobo has pci express, not AGP so you can pick up a dual monitor video card for a lot less than 500. You can even run two of them in SLI mode and run four monitors--that's what I'm building right now.

yeah mine is pci express i just firgure out it pci express not agp

ok, so wait - let me better understand things here. you have two options:

1) you can a single video card with two monitor outputs. Price range is from $50-$600. This will let you use two monitors with one card.

2) you can get two PCI express cards that support "SLi mode". This will let you install both cards into the system and use a "bridge" to bond the two cards together so they act as one card. a lot of times you can only use one monitor when the cards are bridged for SLi mode. (i know this - i have two outputs on each of my two cards for a total of four outputs - and only one works :D) Average price is $500-1200 for both of the cards together.

which are you looking to do?

#1 just gives you more visible space. #2 gives you such serious freaking balls that you can play almost every cutting-edge game on the market without so much as a skip...with uber hot graphics.

i'd like the dual cards becasue i heard of the amazing graphics but i not want to pay 500 buxs for them right now so i'm guess i going to settle for a single card for now

2) you can get two PCI express cards that support "SLi mode". This will let you install both cards into the system and use a "bridge" to bond the two cards together so they act as one card. a lot of times you can only use one monitor when the cards are bridged for SLi mode. (i know this - i have two outputs on each of my two cards for a total of four outputs - and only one works :D) Average price is $500-1200 for both of the cards together.




Not meaing to threadjack this but can you clarify this? I am not going to be able to use 4 monitors if I have it set up to run in SLI mode?

I have two EVGA GeForce 7900 GT KO Superclocked / 256MB GDDR3 / SLI / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV

SLi is a way or process of splitting the Graphics processor load between 2 or more GPU's. You need compatible hardware and software for it to work properly. If you just want two monitors you don't need SLI. Just get 2 PCIe cards and 2 monitors XP does the rest. you can also use a card like this. http://www.buy.com/prod/PNY_Verto_GeForce_FX5500_128MB_DDR_PCI_Video_Card_S_Video_Dual_VGA/q/loc/101/202434107.html

we do this on all our programming Pc's. its called a dual head card

If you just want two monitors you don't need SLI. Just get 2 PCIe cards and 2 monitors XP does the rest. you can also use a card like this. http://www.buy.com/prod/PNY_Verto_GeForce_FX5500_128MB_DDR_PCI_Video_Card_S_Video_Dual_VGA/q/loc/101/202434107.html

we do this on all our programming Pc's. its called a dual head card


I don't just want dual monitors. I currently have a dual head matrox dvi card (AGP) and a single PCI card (can't remember the brand) and 3 Viewsonic 19" lcd displays. I want to run SLI with the new system I am building for increased performance but I was unaware that multiple monitor setups were not supported. I may just ebay these two cards and get one EVGA GeForce 7950 GX2 Dual GPU / 1GB GDDR3 / SLI / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV. I could run it non SLI and run 2 monitors. I think I can get my hands on a couple of 23 inch Viewsonic widescreens for a decent price and ebay my 19 inchers. . .

Not meaing to threadjack this but can you clarify this? I am not going to be able to use 4 monitors if I have it set up to run in SLI mode?

I have two EVGA GeForce 7900 GT KO Superclocked / 256MB GDDR3 / SLI / PCI Express / Dual DVI / HDTV

That is correct. You CANNOT use dual monitors with these two cards while in SLi mode. The driver does not support it. My roommate found this out the hard way recently. Basically, you need to turn off the SLi to use both monitors, then turn it back on when you want to do something graphics intensive.

So I could get ONE of these (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2244222&CatId=0), enabling me to use 2 monitors and still have decent performance (compared tp the SLI setup I was about to go with)?

yes. i can give you a link to a thread which gives the 3DMark scores between 1 card versus 2 card SLi setup. you'll see approximately 33% increase in performance with the second card in SLi mode.

there was a thread on here a looooong time ago (weren't you involved?) that basically was some $100 device you could use to turn a single video output into a dual monitor setup - someone wanted to use it for their laptop. so, you could still run in SLi mode, but stretch across two desktops.

there was a thread on here a looooong time ago (weren't you involved?) that basically was some $100 device you could use to turn a single video output into a dual monitor setup - someone wanted to use it for their laptop. so, you could still run in SLi mode, but stretch across two desktops.


Yeah, that was my thread but that particular device has built in limitations and I was not happy with it.

ok so run with this:
get something like 2 cards, both 7600GT-7900GT, don't run in SLI and you will be able to run up to 4 monitors like this... just hook the two main ones up tot he primary card and you shouldn't have any problems.
Otherwise with SLI on, you will need one monitor for these two cars and then find a PCI dual monitor card for the other two but they will not be the greatest refresh rate and such...