wadda ya think about this dual monitor card?

  • Thread starter Thread starter mixmkr
  • Start date Start date
sorry i cant help you much with your question... something id want to know however is the supported resolutions and color bit depth that the card allows. it looks kinda like an older card so i might be somewhat wary. then again, its only $15 so thats kinda nice.


ps: i thought id chime in that i was also looking into some inexpensive dual monitor video card options.... i would like something that would be as good (well, its not really good but... lol) as my ati 9100 graphically, does not have a fan, and has dual monitor setup.

any suggestions?

thanks.
 
I think that's my same card. If you're trying to set up a dual monitor DAW, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. Go to the Matrox site and you should find information about compatibility. All I had to do was download drivers online and my setup worked without a hitch, first in a Dell PIII and then in a custom unit I built with an ASUS motherboard.

Remember that this is an AGP card and not a PCI card. It would fit into the large separate connerctor on your motherboard.

The general thing I've heard about multiple head cards is that you save yourself a boatload of hassle if you limit your purchase to a Matrox, because they tend to work. YMMV.
 
My personal opinion is that the 16 megs on that card would be limmiting if you want two high resolution screens. Also, it doesn't say what kind of milennium it is. It could be a G200, in which case I'd say no...don't get it. The G200 is a 1997-1998 era card which was pretty good (fantastic 2d for 1997), but didn't have the super-fast RAMDAC (what creates the analog VGA signal) that later Matrox cards and todays plain old ATIs, nVidias, and even other cards have.

Of course, it might also be a G400...which was a fantastic 2D card for the 1999-2001 era. Still, the 16 MBs worries me. From my personal experience, lots of memory is great for working really large mixes in Sonar and big canvases in Sibelius. Going from my old Matrox Marvel G400 to a Radeon 8500 with 64 megs made everything much zippier. Faster redraw, faster scrolling, etc.

If you really can only spend 15 bucks on a video card, I guess it's okay...or...

Yeah, I thought so. http://www.pcsurplusonline.com/viewprod.cfm?ID=3521 There's one that's definitely a g400 for 10 bucks. Now it's starting to look like a good price for me. If I was spending more, even if I wasn't able to play games, I'd want at least a DVI output for an optimal connection to my LCD and much more memory.
 
G400s work in both AGP 1x/2x and 4x/8x motherboards. At least mine does. :)
A clue is the two notches in the contacts row. See the picture in the auction. That makes it fit in both old and new motherboards.

(I'm a very satisfied 32mb dualhead G400 user)
 
christiaan said:
G400s work in both AGP 1x/2x and 4x/8x motherboards. At least mine does. :)
A clue is the two notches in the contacts row. See the picture in the auction. That makes it fit in both old and new motherboards.

(I'm a very satisfied 32mb dualhead G400 user)
Click to expand...
Those two slots tell you that this card will work in 3.3v and 5v systems. It has nothing to do with the AGP port speed that it will support.

You are buying a pig in a poke without clue one who made that thing. Go to NewEgg and get something that (a) you know who makes it and (b) has support.
 
I used to have 1 NVidia AGP 32MB + 1 S3 PCI 4 MB in my main DAW to run dual monitor. Then I got Matrox 32MB G400 dual head... Happy champer! It works great on 16bit 1152x864 two 17" monitors.

;)
Jaymz
 
wheelema said:
Those two slots tell you that this card will work in 3.3v and 5v systems. It has nothing to do with the AGP port speed that it will support.
Click to expand...
True. It happens to be that the older 1x/2x AGP motherboards usually runs at 5V and the newer that support 4x and up at 3.3V so there is a correlation but in the end you are right sir. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top