Dual Monitor GFX card purchase

[Jas]

Hello all, not posted in a while!

I feel the need for a new gfx card... but this is far from my area of expertise.

I have £200 to spend (right now - I want it delivered tomorrow!), but I need it to run both my monitors at 1600x1200. It also needs to run in my aging AGP 4x board.

Any suggestions?

Cheers
Jas

 

[Jas]

Forgot to mention - I'm going to need some gaming performance out of this thing - HL2 mainly, I'd imagine.

 

[Danya]

If you want HL2 you'll need a motherboard upgrade, AGP 4x just won't cut it for new cards.

 

[Jas]

OK... the Counter-Strike: Source beta runs just about playable on my old GF2 GTS at 800x600.

I had my eye on this - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/productinfo.asp?WebProductID=115964

 

[mookie]

lo jas, where've you been hiding

for around the same price you can get a 9800 pro from aria, but it doesnt have video in or the tv functions like the 9600xt. It has a dvi and a dsub out and i'm sure it'll come with dvi>dsub convertor so you can run both of your monitors with it, and if you're lucky it'll clock to XT speeds

i currently have a 9600xt and i'm looking to upgrade it before hl2, runs doom 3 just fine though

 

[Tom]

IF anybody wants a DVI > Dsub convertor, pm me and I'll pop the one I have in an envelope. Its useless to me.

 

[Danya]

I've got at least one spare too anyone can have it for a song.

 

[Honza]

Dual monitor and 1600x1200? For me this sounds more like CAD like used system. If you want to use your pc for some such profi use, you will need different GFX. Matrox or nVidia Quatro or some profi.

 

[TdC]

matrox is the daddy as far as I'm concerend. see the p series here. they rock at multidisplay stuff. there is a millenium that does 1600x1200 dvi, to two monitors. pwn tbh.

 

[Danya]

A normal end-user card will do 1600x1200 on two screens np. Quattros etc. are a waste of money - half of them are the same hgardware with a different bios flashed.

 

[Jas]

Ok - the deal is done. I got a 9800 with the Dsub & DVI thingies. The DVI>DSub converter idea looks good. It arrives this morning. Bring on the CS:S Beta!

Thanks for everyone's help through the minefield that is gfx card purchases. How your average home user navigates all the acronyms I'll never know - I guess that is what consoles are for

 

[Jas]

Quick update on this - got it all installed. CS:S works a treat, dual monitor with the converter is excellent.

Thanks again everyone!