New Graphics Card and Monitor

Ok here's the deal, for this task I have $70 in gift cards to Best Buy and then some extra money but don't want to spend too much. So I have a Dell Inspiron 530s and it does not have a graphics card that supports dual monitors and I am looking for the cheapest combo of graphics card + good enough monitor. I have an LG "Flatron Wide" monitor that is like 22 inches or 21 I forgot (lame I know). Can someone please help me with the process of finding a graphics card that will do the trick but won't be expensive as well as the monitor. Basically just looking for the bare minimum. I love you FTR!

Idunno about prices over there in the states put I hooked up two dual monitors+ a chead dual DVI gfx card for around £230.

Duals 100 each, 22inch ws acers.
Asus dual DVI 512mb

You could get a second hand monitor and gfx card to do this, save monies! Or just get the gfx with ur voucher.

Just get a second single PCI vid card. I have a single card (Intel 128mb) and a 256mb Nvidia Gforce dual output for my 3 monitors. The intel is in my graphics slot so I got the GForce for like 30bucks because it's PCI and considered out of date for graphics cards. But this is Poker and I don't need lightning fast graphics. Plus i have about 4 free PCI slots and only one graphics slot that is taken.

As for the monitor, it's probably a 22". The good thing is 22"s are common place and a 19" non wide screen is exactly the same height so if cost is an issue, the 19" will look fine anyway. I have 3 Acers now and love em for the price. Others will say Dell204b's but if cost is an issue getting anything decent beats no 2nd monitor at all.

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...p-sale-474729/

Great stuff both of you! Thanks!

Jyms - Could you link me to a single card or something? I'm completely computer retarded. I thought I have to get a whole different graphics card that comes with 2 outlets for the monitors?

any of these<-- clicky

Just turn off the computer, open the side, then look for a row of slots that look teh same. The card will pop in and be good to go. It can only go in the slot it's designed to go in. Then plug inthe monitor and windows will do the rest.

After that download Ultramon to run multiple task bars and desktop wallpapers and your good to go.

From Best Buy too...you're the fucking man, Jyms! Thank you!

Muzz - I'm really interesting in buying that monitor! You're help is greatly appreciated too!

Thanks guys!

Hit me up if you have any questions in the area of computer basics. I can talk you through the simple stuff like installing a card if you want to do it yourself but the geek squad could do it in 5 mins for a minimal fee.

Ok so got my new monitor but seems as if my computer case is a slimline or something version so it's really slim compared to others thus making it impossible for basically any PCI Express cards to fit in it. I need to find a new alternative.

What about something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Cables-Go-2-Po.../dp/B00008BO8M ?

Also, if at possible it could come from Best Buy again I'd be so greatful.

Thanks guys!

I think that will only project the same image on both monitors/multiple monitors.
Find out what graphics card you have and we can find a duel graphics card then I guess.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/...7634_15_0.html

basically , looking down that thread , you'll have to watch out for which Graphics card you buy as the PSU may not be powerful enough to drive the new card. One alternative would be to buy a new case (maybe new more powerful PSU ) and swap the innards from your dell case to the new case. Not sure whether the mounting holes on the motherboard would line up though as I think Dell have been known to use proprietory hardware so that you have to have replacements through them. It would of course invalidate your warranty .

www.tomshardware.com also regularly puts out articles on the best graphics cards by budget. You have to search... When I go there I get redirected to the german site, so I can't post the link.

All I can say is: nvidia. ATI has historically always had the better chips and benchmarks, but it won't do you any good because their driver support is pretty bad, and most games are optimized for nvidia - so it will look / perform better even though the benchmarks might look worse.

jyms - Ok, at the Dell.com website and looking at the features it has and how I bought it. It says the video card is a "Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 3100" and I could upgrade to a "ATI Radeon X1300 128MB" or "ATI Radeon HD 3450 256MB supporting HDMI". Judging by some of the pics though it seems like these upgrades are standard size?

keith - thanks for doing the work as I am a lazy ass and should have done that myself. I'm not smart enough to know what I am doing with switching the insides to a new case and I honestly know 0 people who could do this.

oskar - thanks for the suggestion but not sure you looked at the whole thread.

P.S. If someone finds me exactly what I need for a decent price (If it's not at BestBuy it'll be hard for me to pay over $100 unless I swapped poker monies for like paypal monies) I'll ship them like $20 via FTP or Stars. Not much I know.

Rereading Keith's link they mention this: http://sewelldirect.com/USB-to-DVI-E...Resolution.asp and said it did the trick. I guess maybe that's the best alternative?

You need to make more friends with computer nerds at college!!

Start searching for some low profile video cards

ben - AMEN! I think that's the one thing I can say I haven't done in college

JR - what's a low profile video card? I'm so dumb

Low profile video cards are half height, made for slim cases.

Essentially any low profile card would work, then?

From what I've read...
Sizewise, most should fit, unless they're bulky, still the underpowered PSU is the biggest concern.

One that has passive cooling (no fan, just a heatsink) is going to require less power and be a bit smaller. A bargain model is going to be less power hungry too, but equally less powerful in regards to speed.

I'm a little behind in the times though, and would like to hear Keith's take on things, since he sounds like he know's what he's talking about.

I think the sewell option is probably the best for you as you have no expertise, and just plug it in without affecting your warranty.if PSU isn't up to it I assume you could add a external powered USB hub and run it from that .

edit: This also assumes that you only want to iuse it for poker playing. I have no idea what the cards capabilities are for demanding games

Yeah for sure only need it for poker playing.

Thanks guys! Looks like I am going to buy a $200 amazon gift card from some dude and buy one off of there.

Just go for NYDIA VGA.
It was really a good graphic card.

Originally Posted by adam.poker

Just go for NYDIA VGA.
It was really a good graphic card.

did you actually bother to read the details of this thread or just trying to qualify for a freeroll?.

This is a very good site to start a search for computer hardware related questions. Just put "dual monitors cards" into the search box and you will get reviews and more.

http://www.tomshardware.com/us/

Originally Posted by tpb221

This is a very good site to start a search for computer hardware related questions. Just put "dual monitors cards" into the search box and you will get reviews and more.

http://www.tomshardware.com/us/

Already been linked to 2 weeks ago , including problems associated with the computer in question and adding graphics cards regarding power supply problems.
.

Appreciate the help again guys, and thanks for the recent responss, Keith.

I purchased the Sewell external card and it's actually perfect for what I needed. All I need to use it for is for poker which is great but anyways just a review in case anyone is interested:

Videos seem to work fine (youtube) but there is a tad big of color loss and also my cursor seems to run a tad more choppy. Just a heads up. Again, for what I need, it's absolutely great!

regarding the colour loss , are there any configuration settings you could alter? I'm suspecting that its running 16 bit colours rather than 24/32 bit colours.
As regards the cursor becoming a bit more choppy , interesting to know whether theres any CPU overhead associated with sending the data via the USB or whether its just some data bus overload.If its CPU overhead you could normally get round it with a spot of overclocking, buit with a DELL that option is probably out as they usually use custom BIOSes which have the overclocking features removed.
Looks from reviews as though you have Vista , do a control alt delete to get into task manager, then I think one of the tabs is performance , click on that and see what the CPU usage is like whilst you are getting the choppy mouse symptoms. Is the choppy mouse only on the sewell screen or does it do the same on the main graphics card screen as well.? Theres a button on the performance screen in Vista as well which shows some more graphs and analysis stuff but I have to check when i get home .

I FTR.

I just got given a new monitor and was wondering how to get the double monitor thing going. And I find this thread on the front page. Yay!

Originally Posted by WillburForce

I FTR.

I just got given a new monitor and was wondering how to get the double monitor thing going. And I find this thread on the front page. Yay!

whats your computer ? If its a bog standard desktop I can find you some cheap UK based etailer offers graphics card wise. Kmind's problem was a crap Dell PSU coupled with a slimline case. Also If you are into computer gaming , I seriously doubt whether the sewell direct USB thing would be any use to you.

Originally Posted by Keith_MM

regarding the colour loss , are there any configuration settings you could alter? I'm suspecting that its running 16 bit colours rather than 24/32 bit colours.
As regards the cursor becoming a bit more choppy , interesting to know whether theres any CPU overhead associated with sending the data via the USB or whether its just some data bus overload.If its CPU overhead you could normally get round it with a spot of overclocking, buit with a DELL that option is probably out as they usually use custom BIOSes which have the overclocking features removed.
Looks from reviews as though you have Vista , do a control alt delete to get into task manager, then I think one of the tabs is performance , click on that and see what the CPU usage is like whilst you are getting the choppy mouse symptoms. Is the choppy mouse only on the sewell screen or does it do the same on the main graphics card screen as well.? Theres a button on the performance screen in Vista as well which shows some more graphs and analysis stuff but I have to check when i get home .

I'm not near my main computer right now but might be later today or tomorrow. Will definitely let you know as soon as I get to it! And yes, I use Vista.

Ok got to the computer. The choppy mouse is just on the Sewell screen and after running a control alt delete thing on it it says its usage was like 50-70% when moving it at a rapid pace.

looks like its a limitation of the sewell direct device then as its not cpu limited (cpu would reach 100%).did you get any documentation allowing you to alter screen refresh rates or number of colours etc.

Hey Keith - haven't been around that computer lately because...

it now runs extremely extremely slow. It was extremely fast and I am a little scared now. Only changes recently I have done is adding the Sewell device as well as adding a screen savor (from a random website) that my girlfriend wanted. I was hoping it was malware and I could delete it but after scanning my computer there isn't any. I have also had my Sewell unplugged for awhile and am still running in the same problems. Basically, my internet runs a tad bit slower in general BUT flash videos are completely messed up due to hiccups and lag as well as using iTunes. Play poker, which I use as my main machine, creates a shitload of lag like maybe every 20 seconds or so 9 tabling.

I have made a post in the Dell.com forum but no one is responding so I guess it's come to here as well as speak directly to Dell ASAP.

Blahhhhhhh I hope it's fixable and I can still run 2 monitors. It was exactly what I needed

If anyone can fix this before Dell can and it doesn't cost me more than like $75 I'll ship you $25 on FTP.

Can you list what is going on? I know its all over the thread but when I scrolled threw it I could not identify an exact issue.

edit: when you hit ctl+alt+delete and you view the resorces tab. What is the program that is taking up the most of your CPU?

Hey iris - won't be able to get to the computer for a day or two . I appreciate your attempt to help and hope you can once I finally get to the computer. Thank you!

Please stop downloading random programs from the internet and installing them

It was literally the only thing I have ever done. Website looks legit as they have a bunch of other savors too and it obv looked legit even after I dled it. But STILL!

couple of things you could look at. in the ctrl alt del performance.......
check out the network graph .....even when you don't do anything...large traffic when you are idle could be causing lag and may indicate that the download was carrying an extra payload that may have its own agenda.
then check the memory faults graph....are you getting a lot of hard faults, if so a memory stick may be loose, not fitting too well.
As Iris said check out what is hogging the processor while you are experiencing lag. Have you got ANtivirus set up to run a scan when its happening
check out the download file on google and add a problems to the search field. .......see if others are experiencing the same or whether its been found to have malware added.
roll back to a previous windows checkpoint......remember to backup your files, HEM database etc first, hand histories as well. Don't save them to hard disk , cdrw and verify the files before you roll them back.

Hows your hard disk running ? have you got plenty of free space? have you defragged it lately?

if you want .....could try a skype /mikogo/teamviewer session where i could have a look see whats happening and see if i can suggest anything

What website was it, and which one did you download? I'd like to check it out and run some scans.

JR - can't find it anymore sigh

Keith - will you be around in a couple of hours? Not sure your time zone but I'm EST.

Try uninstalling it.

Uninstalling what?

Honestly, I think you should probably reformat.

Have you ever reformatted that computer? I also don't know if I would have gone with a USB card....it just sounds like you would have pure FPS problems which is what your scenario sounds like now...lol.

Sorry I wasn't here earlier to help but Keith seems like he knows whats going on. Let me know what you think of reformatting.

Can you give me the specs of that computer?

Processor:
RAM:
HD:
(Right-click on My Computer and go to Properties)

and you said Vista right?

Also, please stop using iTunes as your main music player....iTunes is notorious for eating up RAM.

uk time here .....and just off to bed ...
his puter is at the start of the thread and I googled the specs .....seem to remember its a e5200 cpu.

trying a roll back to a previous checkpoint initially is better than a reformat. As its a Dell ( never bought one) I'm guessing that vista is stored in a hidden folder and you have to write restore cds to reformat or do you get the restore discs with the comuter.?

bjs uninstall would be the screen saver...........would help if you could tell us what the screen saver was so we can check it out. Advantages of a reformat .....should get you back to a full speed computer ....unless its a hardware fault causing the slow down.


disadvantages is having to reinstall all your software.

Will anyone be on AIM/MSN/Skype or anything within the next 2 hours? My computer is 20 minutes away and I'll get to it if someone's on.

I will be here...im running a little session right now so I won't be going anywhere for a little bit.

AIM is the best way to reach me, gerbs 011.

Ok quick update. keepitstrict was kind enough to basically blow his whole night helping me instead of hanging out with family which is awesome. I approve of him tremendously. I reformatted my computer and so far so good. Crossing fingers. I'll chime in here with more updates.

Thank you all so much!

We didn't actually do a legitimate reformat as his Dell CD would only let him get so far. We managed to wipe his current Vista OS and load a fresh copy, which got rid of a lot of trash on his PC (including that terrible McAfee Scanner) and iTunes, etc. Seems as though everything is good for now, dual monitors are back up and running...I have him doing some Windows Updates as I believe it is only SP1 installed right now. Hopefully everything is fixed and he has no problems, although he is currently experiencing CPU Usage at 100% but the system is running fine. From what I understand that is sometimes a bug with a fresh install of Vista.

I guess we'll keep everyone updated? Keith might be of some help later on, but imo worst come to worst we will have to download an ISO of a full version of Vista and do a legitimate reformat, unless we can attribute it to a hardware problem (his case temperature was running a little hot, the processors were fine though).

Also, thanks for the adulation kmind...I have no problems helping this community, seems to be a good group of guys for the most part...all of us grinding away at this rust we call poker.

PS. I am NOT co-signing for piracy in anyway, but sometimes its the best option

Originally Posted by keepitstrict

PS. I am NOT co-signing for piracy in anyway, but sometimes its the best option

1 advantage of building my own puters is that (once you've done your first one the next one is easy) you have an OEM vesion of windows so you don't have to worry about finding the manufacturers restore disks and any problems with changed hardware since machine was bought. Just stick the windows disk in and reinstall.

Trueee....but don't get me wrong I have OEM versions of Windows. Just in this scenario that doesn't really help lol, unless I am going to mail the CDs/DVDs to kmind (not happening).

Therefore, we are basically stuck with one option...Can anyone guess what that is? LOL

I will give you a hint, it starts with a T and ends in rents.

There is a program that can help you say all the features of your computer

Alright so I'm planning on buying this (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...017&CatId=3508) computer pretty soon, and was wondering what I would have to do besides obtaining 2 or three monitors to set up and downloading ultramon?

I'll be using windows XP most likely- what kind of graphics card will I need? I need to buy some kind of splitter, correct?

Any help would be much appreciated- I don't really know anything about computers. My friends reccomended this one to me just wanna make sure it'll work good in terms of my poker needs and multiple monitors before I buy it.

I talked to some guys in the IRC and they seem to think that the NVIDIA GeForce 8300 graphics card that comes w my computer will work fine, but I've read things otherwise...

the 8300 has a VGA, DVI, and HDMI port, and the guys in IRC were saying that all I have to do is buy a VGA > DVI adapter because most monitors are VGA (otherway around?) and then hook up my two monitors by plugging them into the ports- but I feel like I've read in this topic or somewhere else that that will end up just cloning the display or something...

"A video card that supports two discrete outputs is referred to as Dual Head. Two separate video cards are just as acceptable, and so is using an integrated motherboard video socket plus a second video card"

Does anyone know if the NVIDIA GeForce 8300 is a dual head? If not, what other card would you reccomend I buy?

From wikipedia-

Span mode
Alternatively, some video cards are able to "span" the existing desktop area across two monitors rather than create additional desktop space. This is accomplished by using a resolution such as 2048x768, with each monitor at a resolution of 1024x768. Both monitors need to have the same color depth settings, and often the same refresh rate. Differing resolutions may result in some screen space not being assigned to either monitor.

This is what I want, but my monitors will be different... do you think I have to worry or will Ultramon have some option to fix that? They will most likely be different sizes.

Please respond asap Id really like to make all my purchase and get it up and running.