Best way to hook up 2 LCDs and 1 CRT?

I have 2x 20" LCD @ 1600x1200 and 1x 19" CRT @ 1600x1200, and my current video card is a nVidia 6800gt (AGP) with one DVI port and one VGA port. I want all three monitors connected, but then I'd need another DVI port. The best (and cheapest) solution seems to be buying a PCI video card with a DVI port and hook up one of the LCDs to it.

The question is which PCI card I should buy. I posted about this on another board, and according to one poster I could run into issues if I had two cards of the same brand, for example two nVidia cards, so he recommended me to buy an ATI PCI card. Others have said that it will work as longs as both cards use the same version of the drivers, and some have said that it shouldn't matter at all. Now I turn to the almighty Snarkpit for the truth!

I'll use the monitor mostly for desktop applications, text, Internet browsing, etc, so I think a decent PCI card will suffice. There are no other PCI cards connected to the motherboard, so the video card won't have to share any of the bandwidth.

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What the Snarkpitters listen to!

So, there's a good chance that your video card can output to three sources. (You know this, right?). VGA, DVI, and TV.

I doubt you'll be using all three monitors all the time. Changes are, you'll have the CRT off to the side for specific things (like stuff a TV would do), in which case you'd have the two LCD monitors around each other.

Also, in your description you make it sound like what's stopping you is a DVI connector ... ?

The best solution is using a multi-GPU solution. SLI or Crossfire, no doubts about that. (That would allow for other advantages as well, but this requires upgrading).

I would strongly suggest looking up nview manager properties online or whatever ATI's alternative is, because it might not even support three independent views!

Also, to note, if people give you advice about drivers on the internet, a rule of thumb is to ignore what they say.

I would imagine having nvidia video drivers as well as ati drivers installed at the same time would cause a lot of problems. Drivers are, generally, universal, especially when it comes to something like the video card. Having two of the same kind (which would use the same driver) wouldn't mess that up. If someone tells you something along the lines that the cards would get confused in the OS or some silly thing like that, ignore them.

You should be aware that multi-view drivers are generally not the best software to hit the block. They do some very funky things.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

Crono said:
So, there's a good chance that your video card can output to three sources. (You know this, right?). VGA, DVI, and TV.

Yep, there's a S-Video output as well on my card. Never crossed my mind that I might able to use it for my third monitor. How's the quality, is it better or worse compared to if I use a DVI connector?

Crono said:
I doubt you'll be using all three monitors all the time. Changes are, you'll have the CRT off to the side for specific things (like stuff a TV would do), in which case you'd have the two LCD monitors around each other.

Sorry, I don't quite get what you mean.

Crono said:
Also, in your description you make it sound like what's stopping you is a DVI connector ... ?

Yeah, I meant DVI connector, not port, sorry.

Crono said:
The best solution is using a multi-GPU solution. SLI or Crossfire, no doubts about that. (That would allow for other advantages as well, but this requires upgrading).

I could upgrade my computer now, but it's still working fine, so I think I'd rather go with a cheap PCI card for now and then upgrade the whole rig a bit later, with SLI and everything.

Crono said:
I would strongly suggest looking up nview manager properties online or whatever ATI's alternative is, because it might not even support three independent views!

I googled around a bit, and it seems nView supports three monitors. I've posted in the nVidia forums just to make sure.

Crono said:
Also, to note, if people give you advice about drivers on the internet, a rule of thumb is to ignore what they say.

I would imagine having nvidia video drivers as well as ati drivers installed at the same time would cause a lot of problems. Drivers are, generally, universal, especially when it comes to something like the video card. Having two of the same kind (which would use the same driver) wouldn't mess that up. If someone tells you something along the lines that the cards would get confused in the OS or some silly thing like that, ignore them.

You should be aware that multi-view drivers are generally not the best software to hit the block. They do some very funky things.

Yeah, this guy said something along that line. Two video cards of the same brand seems to make the most sense, especially if they're using the same drivers.

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Ha ha. Sorry. S-Video is no where near the quality of DVI ... just look at the number of pins. It's like 6 or 8 vs 30 something. Way higher quality. DVI has higher quality than Component video. I would imagine it also beats HDMI, since it is dedicated to video rather than a multi-purpose connection type.
Check out Wikipedia and looks up all the types of connectors (Co-axe, RCA, Component, S-Video, VGA, DVI, HDMI, etc) you'll get a very good feel of which has higher quality.

What I was saying about having the three connectors and the three monitors was I doubt you'll be using all three monitors at the same time any given minute. More likely, especially since they don't physics fit next to each other, you'd have the CRT monitor by it self, so to speak. The two LCD monitors would most likely be touching to simulate a very large screen space. So, if you dedicate the monitors, like the LCDs are work stuff and the CRT is videos or something like that (even games) ... as long as you're not reading text on that screen ... it will look fabulous.

The down side, yet the thing that simultaneously makes it look fabulous, is the fact that the CRT would be treated as a TV, thus it could not go above 640x480. But, if you set it up properly, it wouldn't even be on unless you start playing videos or something.

Unless that isn't what you want, but I think you'd be overestimating the usefulness of the three monitors if you were thinking something else.

Anyway, have fun, if nview supports more than 2, and Windows doesn't blowup in your face then you shouldn't have any problems besides choosing where to put each monitor.

Just a little touch of semantics. If you talk about "brand" of video card wouldn't that imply the vendor or manufacturer rather than the developer of the chipset which resides on those cards? Of course, both nVidia and ATI sell their own cards as vendors themselves (do they still do that?), but that's very specific.

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Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

I probably won't be using all three all the time, but sometimes it would be useful, and then 640x480 will be a bit too low resolution, unfortunately. I have a large desk, so they'll all fit next to each other.

And you're probably right, I meant chipset developer.

I think I'll go with a nVidia PCI card and just pray that it'll work.

Thanks for your help. :smile:

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What the Snarkpitters listen to!