Video Card and dual monitor compatibility

[kentuckyser]

Hi,

I'm building a new system (first build) with this video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102436

I will be using dual monitors, using this Samsung monitor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824001066

I want to use DVI input. The video card has 1 DVI out and 1 D-SUB out. What do I need to do to get DVI to both monitors with only a single DVI output on my video card?

Thanks for the help.

[doctorgonzo]

You can't. You need a video card with two DVI outputs if you want to use DVI with both monitors.

[kentuckyser]

Would I be able to run 1 monitor off the DVI, and the other off the D-SUB? Would that just require a simple D-SUB to DVI connector?

If so, would I be able to specify that the primary monitor run off the DVI, and the secondary run off the D-SUB?

[doctorgonzo]

Since the monitor has both a VGA and DVI connector, you can easily use both monitors with that card. One will be connected by DVI, and the other will be connected by a VGA cable. In reality, it will make very little difference that the monitor is using a VGA cable and not a DVI cable.

[kentuckyser]

Thank you.

Let me get one thing straight. VGA = D-SUB ?

[doctorgonzo]

Originally Posted by kentuckyser Let me get one thing straight. VGA = D-SUB ?

Yes. "D-SUB" is the form factor of the physical connector.

[Zick Boy]

I am using right now a computer with 1 DVI port and 1 VGA. I have two monitors pluged through a "Y" splitter cable on the VGA port and they work just fine. You might want to research if there's a "Y" cable for DVI inputs.

[doctorgonzo]

Originally Posted by Zick Boy I am using right now a computer with 1 DVI port and 1 VGA. I have two monitors pluged through a "Y" splitter cable on the VGA port and they work just fine. You might want to research if there's a "Y" cable for DVI inputs.

Yes, but they show the same image, don't they? That's different from splitting the desktop across two monitors.

[Zick Boy]

Originally Posted by doctorgonzo Yes, but they show the same image, don't they? That's different from splitting the desktop across two monitors.

You have to configure how you want to use them. You do this through your display properties. Check your video card manual. I have an nVidia card and I can configure it to several options:

Single: use just one display
Clone: both monitors show the exact same thing
Horizontal span: the whloe desktop spans across the two monitors side by side (I don't like that setting 'cause the windows look streched when maximized)
Vertical span: same thing as horizontal but with one monitor on top of the other.
Dualview: the one I'm using, it's like having two desktops. But you see the same wallpaper on the two monitors.

[doctorgonzo]

Let me get this straight: you have a video card with one VGA output. You have a Y-cable attached to that one VGA output, and to that Y-cable you have two monitors connected. Those two monitors show different images. Is this correct?

[Zick Boy]

Originally Posted by doctorgonzo Let me get this straight: you have a video card with one VGA output. You have a Y-cable attached to that one VGA output, and to that Y-cable you have two monitors connected. Those two monitors show different images. Is this correct?

Yes.
To give you an example of my set-up.
One monitor is my "primary" display, the taskbar sits there. Rigth now I have Dreamweaver open on my left monitor(primary) and on my right monitor(secondary) I got my web browser and I'm typing this post without having to minimize Dreamweaver. I can drag applications from one monitor to the other if I want to. I can move the taskbar and desktop icons also.

[doctorgonzo]

Well, frankly, I'm having a hard time seeing how that is possible. If you have two monitors hooked up to one VGA port using a Y-splitter, then both monitors are going to receive the same signal, and thus display the same picture. That's how Y-splitters work. Are you sure that you don't have one monitor on the DVI port and one on the VGA port?

[Zick Boy]

Originally Posted by doctorgonzo Well, frankly, I'm having a hard time seeing how that is possible. If you have two monitors hooked up to one VGA port using a Y-splitter, then both monitors are going to receive the same signal, and thus display the same picture. That's how Y-splitters work. Are you sure that you don't have one monitor on the DVI port and one on the VGA port?

Well, you need to configure your video card through the display properties. It's kinda like two desktops that are "shared". Like if I have an application on my right monitor and I maximize it, it will maximize only on my right monitor. You have only one taskbar that shows only on you primary monitor. The wallpaper is the same on both mintors, you cannot have two different wallpapers. Think of the second monitor as extra space to put more stuff. I'm sorry if I have you all confused.

Actually I don't even have two ports on my video card(I just looked). I have only one DVI port with a Y splitter connected to it, the cable has 1 DVI on one end and 2 VGA on the other end.

I wish I had a camera with me so you could see it.

[doctorgonzo]

What video card do you have? I am aware of having two monitors and having increased desktop space; I have done that myself. What is confusing me is that it is impossible to do that with just a Y-splitter, since all a splitter does is split the electrical signal so the same signal goes to two places. But it sounds like you may have a special connector that allows this, not just a plain Y-splitter.

[Zick Boy]

I'll have to check on that cable then. I have to ask my tech guy 'cause this one is the computer in my office and I don't know the complete specs.

Anyway, I'll get back in an hour or so, I'm out to lunch now.

[kentuckyser]

Zick Boy is right. I just looked at our computers here. Our video cards have 1 DVI output, but it's not the normal DVI output that you're used to. It's intended to be used with a Molex splitter which converts that to two separate DVI outputs. Or, you can use it to split into 2 VGA outputs.

Here is the Molex connector:



Here is the end that plugs into the video card. Notice it's different than a normal DVI connector that you see on most video cards.



Here is the end which you plug into the monitor. It's a normal DVI plug.



Here is the plug at the video card itself.



Most video cards I've seen have the normal DVI output. In that case, the y-splitter would not work like Zick Boy says...

[doctorgonzo]

Yes, that makes sense now. That "abnormal" DVI connector on the video card looks like it has twice the number of pins as a normal DVI connector, making it two connectors in one essentially. It's probably a space-saving measure of some sort.

[kentuckyser]

Here is a good read I found about DVI outputs. Seems to me that the "abnormal" DVI output is simply a dual link DVI output. The "normal" DVI connector we are used to is single link, obviously.

http://www.datapro.net/techinfo/dvi_info.html

[Zick Boy]

Thanks for the information Kentuckyser, I did not know that. I'm sure I got one of those cables. Now it makes sense.

[KVMKING]

Can anyone help?

I have a docking station with a single DVI output, I wanted to show a split desktop across 2 Dell lcd monitors, is there a device which can do this.

I have managed to get the same image on each screen but not split across the two.

Kind Regards,

KVM KING