Dual Screens / Graphics Card On Winxp

[george]

I would like to buy an extra graphics card and install on my WinXP Pro system. My goal is to have a few windows applications running on screen #2.

My current screen is conntected to the built in graphics adpater on the main board.

Is it just to plug in a second graphics card / plug and pray?

How do I launch the applications I want on the second screen? How do I move the mouse pointer between screen 1 and 2?

Any help much appreciated!

[iChubbyGirl]

umm, I know program for use in Mac in not sure does it work on PC also.

I will go to check

[Ian_B]

Just buy a new videocard with 2 outputs. Generally one will be straight VGA and the other output will be a new type called DVI. However most graphic cards come bundled with an adapter so you can convert the DVI to VGA.

I have the Asus Radeon 9600XT and this came with one of those adapters. The ATI drivers have built in dual display setting so you can either treat the screens as one big one or 2 separate screens. Cost me about 8000THB a few months ago

Also most Nvidea cards can do this too

Ian

[MadFrankie]

nu George.. not sure how it works if yer using 2 cards, I think you would be better off disabling the built in one and installing a card with 2 outputs.

You can drag windows from one screen to the other, and set either screen as the primary

[paulfr]

I defintely recommend getting the card with

two outputs unless you know someone who

has successfully used two separate cards.

I have used this setup in the past and it is

quite nice ...... gets addictive as you will not

want to go back if you need to have many windows

open simultaneously.

[britmaveric]

George...

We have a few systems here with dual monitor cards, specifically matrox g550

http://www.matrox.com/

[phazey]

Google for a piece of software called "maxvista"

If you have two PC's (or a desktop and a laptop) you can do the multi monitor thing over the network - works the same as extended desktop in XP. It works well also, I had my laptop at work on a 3 monitor setup, two PC's driving the second and third screens.

saves buying a multihead/2nd gfx card.....

[george]

Google for a piece of software called "maxvista"

If you have two PC's (or a desktop and a laptop) you can do the multi monitor thing over the network - works the same as extended desktop in XP. It works well also, I had my laptop at work on a 3 monitor setup, two PC's driving the second and third screens.

saves buying a multihead/2nd gfx card.....

Maxivista.com was it!

Great solution, I only need to find a short networdk cable. Wow! Will test it later tonight.

Thanks all for great answers, I will try phazey's solution first.

[JJDinsay]

It's pretty simple even with the built in card. I believe I had a bult in card in on eof my PC's. I just purchased an extra card. Launched WinXP. Go to Start - Setting - Control Panel - System - Display - Settings. You should see 2 monitor screens. Click on the greyed out one and then click the option underneath it that says something like "Extend my desktop to this monitor" or something like it and viola, Win XP uses both monitors as if it was one. Had this setup with 2 used 21 inch monitors from Panthip and it was great. Had 2 give one up though as I am at a smaller apt. now. I actually found a PCI card as well (bottom floor Panthip, 300) as my Radeon 9000 card was giving me problems.

Good Luck.

[Firefoxx]

Both options (buying another card to use with your onboard graphics, or buying another card with two outputs and disabling your onboard graphics) will work. If your mainboard has only PCI slots, you should do the first option. If it has an AGP slot, you should do the second. Configuration is fairly simple and built-in to XP for both setups.

What most people usually configure their dual screen monitors to do is to have the second monitor sitting to the right of the first. It will be an empty desktop at first. You can move your mouse cursor to the edge of the first screen and it will continue onto the second. You can drag any windows you want between the two, or leave them in the middle. In essence, the second screen will be an extension of the first, and as long as you ignore the physical separation of the monitors, they are virtually connected.

With computers able to multitask and do several things at once (I mean practically, and not in theory) it's much more common now to have dozens of windows open at once. The very low price of large monitors and the wide availability of "dual head" video adapters makes adding more screen real estate an affordable and attractive option. When I get enough cash for another 17" monitor, I think I'll go the same route.

[jeffrap]

MY EXPERIENCES ---> THIS IS MY SETUP

2 SyncMaster 213T 21 inch LCD Monitors

1 PNY Quadro4 128MB DDR 980 XGL 8X AGP

Monitors set me back about 1700 bucks each, and the graphics card 500 bucks or so, so we talking about 4 grand for the monitors and graphic card alone, but it is really nice...

One thing i did learn. You better be careful that if you get a dual head graphic card that the card can act as 2 independant cards. What I mean is this: Some dual head cards allow you to span, meaning that it stretches your desktop inside the card, and the resolution is not as good. You want to have windows think you have 2 cards each with its own resolution. I currently am running 1600x1200 on both monitors, and am very happy with it.

Oh yeah, I have ultramon also.

One last thing, I got a PNY card because if you do landscape on a monitor, many cards dont allow video to occur (so I heard). Anyway I heard PNY was the only one who had cards that didnt offer this problem, also their dual head does act like 2 seperate video cards, or the stretched shared desktop. I would do your homework on graphics cards. I would have just gotten 2 cards, but since I wanted to use my AGP slot, well PNY was the best bet. But, hay, It was expensive.

[bdenner]

Google for a piece of software called "maxvista"

If you have two PC's (or a desktop and a laptop) you can do the multi monitor thing over the network - works the same as extended desktop in XP. It works well also, I had my laptop at work on a 3 monitor setup, two PC's driving the second and third screens.

saves buying a multihead/2nd gfx card.....

Maxivista.com was it!

Great solution, I only need to find a short networdk cable. Wow! Will test it later tonight.

Thanks all for great answers, I will try phazey's solution first.

George, a quick rehash of this thread. How did you get along with this software? Any comments by youself or others would be appreciated. Any other recommendations?