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How do I get my monitor to support my video card?

cheapest way to add dual monitor support

  • What is the cheapest way to add dual monitor support to my Dell Optiplex 330? I have two monitors, a 22" and a 19". I would like to hook both of them up the PC, and was wondering what's the cheapest way way to go about that. Do i get a simple video card for the PCI-E slot, or do I get one that support two screens? No gaming will be done on that computer, so the card doesn't need to be that powerful.

  • Answer:

    What card is currently in there? I think some of the default dell cards can take a dual dvi - > 2x dvi splitter like http://www.pacificgeek.com/product.asp?c=199&s=951&ID=22120&P=F, which would clearly be the cheapest bet.

PlayWithFire at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

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Surely PlayWithFire doesn't want a splitter but two independent monitors? Any cheap video card with 2 outputs will do.

turkeyphant

The basic Optiplex 330 has an integrated Intel GMA 3100 graphics chip with one external VGA port. As mentioned, the easiest thing would be to get a cheap dual head PCIe card. Make sure sure you get a low profile card if you have one of the thin desktop models (vs mid-tower).

sockpup

You didn't mention if your monitors support dvi or only vga.

bravowhiskey

Both monitors have DVI in, i think. If not, i have a few converters lying around. I would much rather get DVI only. Is there anything specific I need to look for in the card?

PlayWithFire

Since you don't plan on gaming, I think something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130378 would probably be fine. And it's only $55.

Grither

Surely PlayWithFire doesn't want a splitter but two independent monitors? To clarify, the splitter recommended by CharlesV42 is designed to take a single http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/dvi_info.html#Page03 DVI connector and split it into two independent single-link connectors for display on separate monitors. You would need to confirm that your existing video card does in fact support dual-link DVI in order for that solution to work.

contraption

@contraption, CharlesV42: Dual link DVI does not mean you can hook up two monitors to a single port. The dongle linked by CharlesV42 is for cards with a http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DMS-59 port which supports (2) DVI connections.

wongcorgi

Oh crap, you're right! I stand corrected, very sorry for the bad information.

contraption

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