Dual Monitor issue...

BradleyHU

ok, i got a Dell Inspiron 530(its a desktop), and i bought a xfx geforce 8500gt 512mb graphics card. I have one monitor in the integrated vga port, and the other in the graphic card vga port. When I go to change my display settings to extend the desktop, the second monitor is not recognized, nor is the graphics card. So then i had a stroke of genius, or so i thought...I unhooked the monitor thats connected to the integrated vga port, restarted my pc, and then tried to change the display settings, it showed that there was a second port for another monitor, so when i hooked up the monitor, it still didnt recognize it. so my question is, is it possible to use both the integrated & graphics card to set up a dual monitor, or does it have to be from the graphics card?

nel

yes it is possible to use integrated and an additional vga/pci card for dual screen - but only if your mobo supports it. i tried to do this with my dell at work and couldnt as the machine did not support it.

Check if the machine supports it otherwise you will need a card with dual output.

I assume drivers etc are installed ok and the PC recognises all the cards? have you checked to see if each one is working individually too? did you also click the option to extend your desktop onto the additional monitor?

jibbajabba

Don't think it will work .. the Dell PC is an Intel integrated chip .. Don't think (know) you can extend a desktop across two complete different makes of graphics cards.

I'd just connect both screens to the XFS card ...

nel

Gomjaba wrote:

Don't think it will work .. the Dell PC is an Intel integrated chip .. Don't think (know) you can extend a desktop across two complete different makes of graphics cards.

I'd just connect both screens to the XFS card ...

We do at work. Works fine on our optiplex's. And these are gx270 / 280's. Pretty oldish machines. However on my optiplex at work (only 1 1/2 yr old) the mobo did not support it.

Kasor

1. Integrated motherboard is not the main issue, the problem is the way how they design and code the motherboard only can take one monitor, even it can read two monitor.

2. Bad design on shared video input from the manufacturer (Dell have a lot of issue on their machine that only take either integrated video or add-on board)

3. I recommend you to get a graphic card that can dual boot and complete of the integrated video card.

I never a big fan of those type of video function. Dell GX270/280 are suck and the worst model ever built and made.

JDMurray

It's almost impossible to get a better graphics card that isn't dual-head. I bought an ATI HD 3850 AGP for a legacy system at a bargain price partly because of its dual-monitor capability. You don't want an integrated video subsystem sucking the performance out of your CPU and RAM. Best to have that world on a separate card.

BradleyHU

the graphics card can handle dual monitors...i figured out what i needed to do, i'ma use the graphics card, but i need to get a VGA to DVI adapter for the second port...i should have that by wednesday, and i'll be good money afterwards...