On our PCs here at work we currently have just crappy built in video cards with a single output. My boss offered to equip all the developers with dual LCDs, but we need to get new video cards to support it. My question is: if I was to get a cheap video card with a single output, would it be possible to run one monitor off of the onboard video card, and one off of the PCI/AGP card? (We use Win2k here, by the way)
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It depends. Sometimes when you add a video card to a computer, it will shutoff the onboard. The best way to test is to dig up an old PCI video card, insert it, and see what happens.
Its funny this questions pops up now as I just went through this a couple days ago. I now run a dual 17" LCD system and its worth every and any hassle and penny spent along the way.
Frobozz is correct. But I discovered that it basically makes no difference. Almost every new Gfx Card I check out already has dual-out. One out is usually DVI and the other VGA, but you can get dual VGA outs if your LCDs dont have DVI in. Otherwise most cards come with a DVI to VGA plug directly out of the box so no problems there either.
I picked up a brand new nVidia for really cheap: ~$60 Cdn. Though its low end for gaming, it has more than met my requirements and was simplicity itself to set up.
And relating to the origional question specifically regarding using the onboard and a card, my research lead me to believe that even if the card bypasses your onboard automatically, that it is still possible to do... I just never learned how. Though the need has passed, if anyone knows how (as my onboard is definatly bypassed by the card), I would also be interested in learning how to do this. Its never too late for knowledge.
"There's always another way"
-lightatdawn (lightatdawn.cprogramming.com)
If you wish to use your onboard video and an extra card, it hss to be either a PCI (not express or X) video card, or your motherboard must support AGP 8x. The ability to run two AGP adapters was not official until 8X standard. Even then, not all motherboard will support it or work properly with it, so it is still up for questioning if it would work then.
However, as someone said pretty much any modern video card (even dirt cheap ones) will support dual monitor out.
