2 Monitors 2 Cards?

[bobland]

My wife needs to run 2 identical monitors using dvi as the vga is not sharp enough for her. She has an nvidia 8400 gs. If we add another 8400 gs will the computer recognize the second card? It's all pci, not pcie.

Thanks,
Burt

 

[mickey megabyte]

how many outputs do you have on your card?

you can easily find vga-dvi adapters cheaply if you have a spare output.

 

[bobland]

There are 2 outputs. DVI and VGA. The VGA output is not sharp enough.

 

[Petey7]

I've never done that particular set up myself but I know a couple guys that did it with ATI cards before. The usual recommendation is to buy a card with two vga (or hdmi since you say vga isn't good enough) ports. They produce less heat and use less power than two separate cards. I don't know of any cards off the top of my head with two dvi ports, but there are hdmi to dvi cables. Beyond that, you should be fine. If you do it and there is an issue, we will be glad to help you sort it out.

 

[bobland]

I couldn't find any 2 DVI Port cards that were for PCI. They're all made for PCIe.

 

[Petey7]

Didn't think about that. The main thing to keep in mind is the extra power usage. One of the people I mentioned before started having their computer randomly cut off after upgrading to two cards. Turns out his PSU was only 500watt, the minimum for that card. It seems like the minimum will not be good enough for both at the same time. After an upgrade he was fine. So just keep the minimum power requirements for the card you get in mind. If your computer doesn't get hot already, then the extra heat probably wouldn't be too much to worry about.

EDIT: I see you already have a 750 watt PSU and a cooling system. You should be fine. Go for the extra card and let us know how it turns out.

 

[bobland]

We decided to get a splitter booster. This also allows the DVI cable length to be longer then the recommended 5 meters.