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Connecting dual external mon

post #1 of 23
3/2/06 at 6:19pm
Thread Starter 
Anyone tried this?

There are DVI + VGA ports, what happens if i conenct 2 external LCDs?

Someone said it wouldnt work, but what will happen if i do connect them? Which LCD will work?
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post #2 of 23
3/3/06 at 1:33am
You can use any combination of two mintors. That is you can use your Laptop monitor and either the VGA or DVi or you can use the external VGA and DVi, but your laptop monitor will become disabled.
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post #3 of 23
3/3/06 at 2:24am
Nvidia's nView only allows Dual View ability. Can't push 3 screens at once.
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post #4 of 23
3/3/06 at 2:36am
Thread Starter 
hmm wonder what would happen if i connect dual 2405s... (and disable laptop screen).. Would the 7800 be good enuff to pump both?
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post #5 of 23
3/3/06 at 3:02am
LOL... yea, the Go 7800 can handle 2 1920x1200 screens without a problem. But gaming at that res on one screen and having the other play a video might cause some unwanted video lag.
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post #6 of 23
3/3/06 at 3:35am
Thread Starter 
hmm... well first i gotta worry abt GETTING the dual 2405s... lolz... and it'd be kinda of a waste to run one on VGA and one on DVI..
maybe i'll consider dual 2005s.
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post #7 of 23
3/3/06 at 5:36am
Well if you look at my thread in Dell General... you can get them for 764$ right now. They lowered the price to 999$ and are currently giving an instant 20% off. Then you can goto eBay and get a 35$ off 300$ E&A coupon for 2$. That brings the price down to 764$ + tax + free shipping.

Also... it appears that Matrox has answered your prayers.

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/03/02/matrox_3screen_tech/

They have a new device that finally is going to hit shelves. It will be a box that allows you to plug into 1 of your VGA/DVI ports, and then you can plug 3 monitors into the box. The box has a driver that makes Windows recognize it as a single monitor. Then thru a software application you can custom change the "virtually supported resolutions".

This allows you to tell Windows that you have a 5040x1050 monitor (3 1680x1050 screens side-by-side). Then the box will split the signal to each monitor. It will also support 150 games at launch, so you're surely to have your favorites covered. It goes on sale in April for 300$. Sure to give a more immersive experience to your games.

I was thinking of doing something similar with some 2005FPW's as it would cost almost half the price (1500$) compared to using 3 2405FPW's and box at a cost of 2700$.

Enjoy.
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post #8 of 23
3/3/06 at 11:48am
Thread Starter 
hmm but signal splitter? wondering abt the quality...
hm triple head is about 299 buckaroos!!

2x 2005 is seriously an option.....


although 2x 2405 is my dream... 764.. wow!!
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post #9 of 23
3/3/06 at 4:48pm
Now, I could be way off base here, but I thought only one monitor at a time could display DirectX content. That's why there's the "Use this device as the primary monitor" checkbox. You can extend the desktop onto the secondary display, but you can't play movies or games on it.

At least, that's how it worked with ATI. I'm not as sure with Nvidia because I don't have as much experience with it.
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post #10 of 23
3/3/06 at 5:49pm
I think the Matrox device works is that the video card thinks it is pushing the video out to one display that is just 3 times as wide. The device then takes that one signal (which can be direct x accelerated0 and splits it up onto the 3 monitors. Nicely getting around the ! screen for Direct X problem.
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post #11 of 23
3/3/06 at 6:07pm
DirectX content is decoded at the video card and then pushed to the monitor. The monitor doesn't do the DirectX decoding. So the box just splits the signal into 1/3's horizontally.

This means you don't have to deal with the problem of the video cards chipset only allowing 2 screens at once. With this method you're only using 1 video output. If you did this on the laptop, you could still have the internal LCD running... but may not be able to run above 1680x1050 after looking at the available pixel count left over after running 3 other screens worth of 1680x1050 resolution.
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post #12 of 23
3/3/06 at 6:53pm
Thread Starter 
sigh.. i need $...
A matrox dual view + dual 2005s would set me back about a grand.... a pretty penny!

But being able to have Laptop Screen + 2x 2005s going will be amazing!!
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post #13 of 23
3/3/06 at 7:05pm
Thread Starter 
crapzilla...
dual / triple head seems to only support 1280x1024 per display...... sucky!

cant use 2005s!!! only 17 or 19 inchers.

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/offhome/th2go/home.cfm
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post #14 of 23
3/3/06 at 7:28pm
Plus, it's only DB-15 only, no DVI. Though honestly, they're pushing the signal integrity pretty much to the edge.

I'm not sure a standard VGA cable can handle 3,840 x 1,024 (which is something like 2,560 x 1,536 in terms of pixel pushing) signal without some degradation above and beyond the normal DAC/ADC conversion.

The 3007WFP is 2,560 x 1,600, if you want a comparison. And that runs only on dual-link DVI.
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post #15 of 23
3/3/06 at 11:51pm
Thread Starter 
Woah!! Dell is having a deal 2405 for 739 before tax (free shipping)

Or 2001FP for 398 !!!!

im thinking abt dual 2001s (yeah old model but cheap!!)
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post #16 of 23
3/4/06 at 5:04am
739$ for the 2405FPW?? Where did you find a 25% off code to override the automatic 20% discount??

And after much contemplation on the while HDCP issue I've come to realize some things and I think I'll be getting another 2005FPW and 2405FPW right before (or right when) the 2007FPW and 2407FPW come out. Screw HD DVD and Blu-Ray... I want control over my media, not the other way around. They won't be able to kill off DVD for a very long time and US TV won't require that my monitor be HDCP to record them with the next TV tuner models... so old screens will still work thru Vista.
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post #17 of 23
3/4/06 at 5:45am
Thread Starter 
it twas a coupon on techbargains...

sucks, it expired.. i went out toa bar, got b ack, and its over.
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post #18 of 23
3/4/06 at 5:59am
Damn, I didn't see it on TechBargains. I missed it as well. Must've been about 1,000 to 2,000 uses for it to expire that fast. If it was 4,000 uses it would've lasted about a day.
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post #19 of 23
3/4/06 at 6:12am
Quote:
DirectX content is decoded at the video card and then pushed to the monitor. The monitor doesn't do the DirectX decoding. So the box just splits the signal into 1/3's horizontally.
You misunderstand me, I understand how DirectX works. I was speaking to the question about connecting two monitors directly to the E1705 and playing games or video. I don't think it will work because of the DirectX limitation. Using an external splitter should word just fine, though.
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post #20 of 23
3/28/06 at 12:39am
you can do 3d over 2 displays with nvidia using the horizontal span, where it does 1a, 1b, and basically emulates a single screen over 2 displays, like that actual device does.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Revenent
Plus, it's only DB-15 only, no DVI. Though honestly, they're pushing the signal integrity pretty much to the edge.

I'm not sure a standard VGA cable can handle 3,840 x 1,024 (which is something like 2,560 x 1,536 in terms of pixel pushing) signal without some degradation above and beyond the normal DAC/ADC conversion.

The 3007WFP is 2,560 x 1,600, if you want a comparison. And that runs only on dual-link DVI.
Actually I can push more bandwidth through DB-15 analog then dual-link DVI can do, i can put out about 420 MHz over an analog cable however dual link DVI is 330 MHz.

you can probably do 5120x1024 (4 monitors) though analog DB-15 probably at only 60 Hz though.
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