Graphics card

[wallie]

I am after suggestions on the best graphics card to buy.
I would like to use 2 monitors and I do not do games.
My main reason for a 2 monitor setup is because I am doing a CD course on Adobe Premiere and Photoshop. What I would want is to have the teaching course on 1 monitor and Premiere or Photoshop on the other.
Thanks for any help.
wal

[SuperSparks]

Hi Wallie,

I have a dual monitor setup on one of my PC's, and it really is the only way to work

Any mid range card with a DVI & VGA output should do what you want - just plug the primary monitor into the DVI output using a DVI to VGA adaptor (usually suplied with the card), and the secondary monitor into the VGA output. WinXP will handle the dual-monitor setup by itself, just go to Display Properties>Settings, click on the secondary monitor and check "Extend my Windows destop to this monitor. Each monitor can have independent resolutions and refresh rates.

I'm using an Asus 9280S Ti4200 card, it cost about £160. Crucial are doing a card that looks to be very good value, especially as you won't want the bundled games for just £62:

http://www.crucial.com/uk/store/part...E=CTV9100128A5

[semble]

or instead of replacing your video card you could also just add a second inexpensive pci card.

[chorro]

the nforce Nvidia cards are really good videocards for photo/video editing and are mainly designed for that. There's also the Matrox line which is good for photo/video editing as well. The matrox cards however don't handle cards as well as the Radeons and the gf4 titanium and fx cards.

[ProfessorU]

I use the Matrox Parhelia 128MB. It lets me use dual-monitors plus preview whatever I'm doing on a TV in Adobe after-effects. The card also has the advantage of being able to split video across two or more screens. The frame rates aren't spectacular in 3d but for video it keeps up. This is probably overkill for a presentation, it's designed as a workstation card.
The GeForce 4 Ti42000 would be a good investment.... under $100. You could play back NTSC video no problem with that card.

NOTE: WindowsXP home doesn't support dual-monitors, only Pro.

[terryp]

ProfessorU,

Perhaps I have read your post wrong, but I have XP home and can assure you it does support dual monitors.
I have dual monitors myself, no problems

[ProfessorU]

Well I retract my XP home comment.... you're right terryp. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/h...n/features.asp

but I would swear I read in another post here and on a 3rd party comparison webpage that dual-monitors were not supported. Can't find it now, though

[terryp]

Salright ProfessorU, no problem