Best older ATI PCI video card for 2nd monitor?

[drewK7VT2]

Hello,

I have two monitors, and I want to use them both on my main computer. I currently have an ATI Radeon 8500LE. I know this card supports dual monitors by itself, but I would prefer to use the 8500LE for more graphic-intensive things only, and have a second video card for just 2D apps. I would prefer to stick with ATI, as I have always had good experiences with their video cards.

There is one stipulation, though: I know some older cards will not support being run in a dual-monitor situation. My main goal is to weed those out. All I need is an inexpensive ATI card for 2-D use only that is capable of running dual-monitors along with my ATI Radeon 8500LE. Which models will fit this ordeal? Mach64? Rage? Rage 3D? Rage Pro? I know there are others too but that's all i can think of at the moment.

Any help would be much appreciated,
-Andrew

[HAL9000]

You should be able to pick up a third party, powered by ATI Radeon 7500 PCI for a half decent price. I haven't seen any actual ATI PCI cards around for a while, but at work, can readily get the Powercolour ATI cards.

[drewK7VT2]

radeon 7500 would be nice but i was looking more to spend like $20 or less lol. the second display was basically going to be just for internet/word processing/chat stuff and, I mean, just about any ATI card newer than the Mach64 can do that with ease.

[glc]

The Xpert 98 would probably be the best bet, Newegg has them for $33 plus $5 shipping. This is a 8mb Rage XL card.

I would personally just use the dual monitor function of your 8500. Either way, the second monitor is just going to be an extension of your desktop and you won't have the hassles of 2 drivers if you just use the 8500.

[drewK7VT2]

thanks....that xpert 98 might be my best bet.

the reason i don't want to use the 8500 for both monitors is because i have heard that it causes blur/distortion problems. i figured if i could just get another video card for cheap, I'd spare myself having to go buy a DVI adaptor for my existing card to run 2 monitors (I have an OEM card, so it didn't come with a DVI->VGA adaptor). Maybe someone else with an 8500/LE has tried dual monitors with this card and knows more about the supposed problem?