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General discussion

Dual Monitor Setup?

Jul 6, 2006 4:57PM PDT

I need help setting up a dual monitor configuration. I know how to setup up the displays, but i have a hardware question. If my computer has both a DVI and VGA outputs can i plug a monitor into each of the connectors to get two displays or do i have to buy another video card to make the dual display to work? Help Please, Thanks! Anything would help.

Discussion is locked

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Video Card?
Jul 13, 2006 7:39PM PDT

Video cards that have two outputs should allow connections to both. Try this: right click on your desktop, then select "Properties." A dialog box labeled "Display Properties" should appear. There are several tabs in the dialog, and (probably) the last tab is labeled "Settings." Click that tab, and see if there are two monitors showing, one greyed out. If there are two, you should be able to connect another monitor to the card, then activate it thorugh this dialog. If your second monitor is also VGA (analog) the use a DVI-to-VGA adapter to make the connection.

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pretty much agree, but some extra superflous info.....
Jul 14, 2006 3:05AM PDT

I've done a dual monitor setup for a few days, but my desk is barely big enough to handle the 2, so I went back to a single monitor out of personal preference.

The link provided says many winXP machines supports dual monitor setups. I always thought it was purely dependant if the vid card supported it. I guess their statement implied that even lower end, integrated vid cards on today's PC support this.

At any rate, check that dialog poster by the other guy to be sure. Just b/c you have both analog and DVI connections doesn't necessarily mean you've got dual monitor support. That may just be the vid card manufacturer giving its consumers the option to hook up their LCD monitors via DVI _OR_ analog interface. If you still can't get dual monitor support through the settings dialog but you're sure you have dual mon support, try tweaking the vid card settings or contacting the PC/vid card manufacturer.

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Both VGA and DVI connectors mean two monitors supported
Jul 15, 2006 4:36AM PDT

''ust b/c you have both analog and DVI connections doesn't necessarily mean you've got dual monitor support. That may just be the vid card manufacturer giving its consumers the option to hook up their LCD monitors via DVI _OR_ analog interface.''

Which cards have you seen that with? All of the cards I have seen with both analog and DVI connectors support two monitors.

A video connector labled DVI is not just digital. If you look closely at the specs the proper name for the connector is DVI-I. DVI-I has both digital and analog avaiable on the connector pins. Plugging in a regular DVI cable to the DVI-I connector by design only allows access to the digital signals. That is why an adapter is necessary. The adapter simply accesses the already present analog pins on the DVI-I connector on the video card.

If a video card has a VGA and DVI-I connector then the user normally has these options:
a) 1 analog monitor (VGA)
b) 1 LCD monitor (VGA or DVI)
c) 1 analog monitor (VGA) plus
1 analog monitor (DVI->VGA adapter)
d) 1 analog monitor (VGA) plus
1 LCD monitor (DVI or DVI->VGA adapter)

On the other hand the DVI connector on the back of a LCD monitor is really a DVI-D connector. DVI-D connectors are digital only. That is why some LCD monitors also have a seperate VGA connector. Still only one of these connectors may be use at one time.

If you hold up a video card with a DVI-I conector and compare it to the DVD-D connector on a LCD monitor it is easy to see that some pins on the DVI-I connector are missing from the DVD-D one. These missing pins are the ones that supply the analog VGA data.

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(NT) (NT) Thanks for the Support ...
Jul 16, 2006 2:17AM PDT
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I haven't seen any
Jul 17, 2006 3:59PM PDT

It was comment from someone. You seemed to be well versed in this area so I'll defer to your expertise here.

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Dual Monitor Setup
Jul 13, 2006 10:54PM PDT
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Thanks
Jul 14, 2006 5:38PM PDT

Thanks for the great link really helps out

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(NT) (NT) Great Link!
Jul 16, 2006 2:17AM PDT