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#1
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Upgrade for new dual monitor setup
I just added a second monitor (a Samsung SM223BW) to my Dell Dimension 8400
desktop with 1.5g RAM. The video card that came with the computer-- {PCI express ATI Radeom X300 with 128) was fine with one monitor but it a little sluggish pushing two of them. I run WIN XP SP2 fully updated and use mainly office productivity apps and surf. I was thinking about going to at least a 256 PCI express video card that has 1 VGA and 1 DVI port. So how far up the video card food chain do I need to go to get improved performance? I don't want to leave myself short-- but can't afford to waste hard-earned bucks on a bleeding edge card that I don't need and whose capabilities I could never take advantage of. Any recommendations? -- "Beware of the man of one book." - Thomas Aquinas |
#2
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Upgrade for new dual monitor setup
"Slacker" Slacker@ wrote in message
. .. I just added a second monitor (a Samsung SM223BW) to my Dell Dimension 8400 desktop with 1.5g RAM. The video card that came with the computer-- {PCI express ATI Radeom X300 with 128) was fine with one monitor but it a little sluggish pushing two of them. I run WIN XP SP2 fully updated and use mainly office productivity apps and surf. I was thinking about going to at least a 256 PCI express video card that has 1 VGA and 1 DVI port. So how far up the video card food chain do I need to go to get improved performance? I don't want to leave myself short-- but can't afford to waste hard-earned bucks on a bleeding edge card that I don't need and whose capabilities I could never take advantage of. Any recommendations? -- "Beware of the man of one book." - Thomas Aquinas Would get a dual DVI Out. You can always use the converter to analog. How much do you want to spend is the question. The 7 or 8 series is what I would go with. |
#3
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Upgrade for new dual monitor setup
Slacker wrote:
I just added a second monitor (a Samsung SM223BW) to my Dell Dimension 8400 desktop with 1.5g RAM. The video card that came with the computer-- {PCI express ATI Radeom X300 with 128) was fine with one monitor but it a little sluggish pushing two of them. I run WIN XP SP2 fully updated and use mainly office productivity apps and surf. I was thinking about going to at least a 256 PCI express video card that has 1 VGA and 1 DVI port. So how far up the video card food chain do I need to go to get improved performance? I don't want to leave myself short-- but can't afford to waste hard-earned bucks on a bleeding edge card that I don't need and whose capabilities I could never take advantage of. Any recommendations? Good news: Any modern card that fits your undisclosed budget will suit your minimal display needs. |
#4
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Upgrade for new dual monitor setup
"Kevin Weaver" wrote in message
t... "Slacker" Slacker@ wrote in message . .. I just added a second monitor (a Samsung SM223BW) to my Dell Dimension 8400 desktop with 1.5g RAM. The video card that came with the computer-- {PCI express ATI Radeom X300 with 128) was fine with one monitor but it a little sluggish pushing two of them. I run WIN XP SP2 fully updated and use mainly office productivity apps and surf. I was thinking about going to at least a 256 PCI express video card that has 1 VGA and 1 DVI port. So how far up the video card food chain do I need to go to get improved performance? I don't want to leave myself short-- but can't afford to waste hard-earned bucks on a bleeding edge card that I don't need and whose capabilities I could never take advantage of. Any recommendations? -- "Beware of the man of one book." - Thomas Aquinas Would get a dual DVI Out. You can always use the converter to analog. How much do you want to spend is the question. The 7 or 8 series is what I would go with. I'm willing to spend all I need to for capable performance. If I can get that for $50-$60, great. If I need to spend $125, that's cool too. |
#5
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Upgrade for new dual monitor setup
"Mr.E Solved!" wrote in message
. .. Slacker wrote: I just added a second monitor (a Samsung SM223BW) to my Dell Dimension 8400 desktop with 1.5g RAM. The video card that came with the computer-- {PCI express ATI Radeom X300 with 128) was fine with one monitor but it a little sluggish pushing two of them. I run WIN XP SP2 fully updated and use mainly office productivity apps and surf. I was thinking about going to at least a 256 PCI express video card that has 1 VGA and 1 DVI port. So how far up the video card food chain do I need to go to get improved performance? I don't want to leave myself short-- but can't afford to waste hard-earned bucks on a bleeding edge card that I don't need and whose capabilities I could never take advantage of. Any recommendations? Good news: Any modern card that fits your undisclosed budget will suit your minimal display needs. Well, that's my problem. The card I have isn't strong enough-- I got the computer about 18 months ago. I don't have any particular budget because I don't what I need to spend to get decent performance. That was kind of what I was asking here-- how much do I need to spend---- $50? $100? $200? more? I'll pay whatever it takes-- but don't want to over-buy. |
#6
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Upgrade for new dual monitor setup
"Slacker" Slacker@ wrote in message I don't have any particular budget because I don't what I need to spend to get decent performance. That was kind of what I was asking here-- how much do I need to spend---- $50? $100? $200? more? I'll pay whatever it takes-- but don't want to over-buy. Based on your minimal need (you don't play 3D games, do you?), I'd suggest any new Radeon cards around $100 will work for you (something like X1300 series). |
#7
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Upgrade for new dual monitor setup
Slacker wrote:
"Mr.E Solved!" wrote in message . .. Slacker wrote: I just added a second monitor (a Samsung SM223BW) to my Dell Dimension 8400 desktop with 1.5g RAM. The video card that came with the computer-- {PCI express ATI Radeom X300 with 128) was fine with one monitor but it a little sluggish pushing two of them. I run WIN XP SP2 fully updated and use mainly office productivity apps and surf. I was thinking about going to at least a 256 PCI express video card that has 1 VGA and 1 DVI port. So how far up the video card food chain do I need to go to get improved performance? I don't want to leave myself short-- but can't afford to waste hard-earned bucks on a bleeding edge card that I don't need and whose capabilities I could never take advantage of. Any recommendations? Good news: Any modern card that fits your undisclosed budget will suit your minimal display needs. Well, that's my problem. The card I have isn't strong enough-- I got the computer about 18 months ago. I don't have any particular budget because I don't what I need to spend to get decent performance. That was kind of what I was asking here-- how much do I need to spend---- $50? $100? $200? more? I'll pay whatever it takes-- but don't want to over-buy. This 7900GS is $165, minus $30 rebate. It comes with two DVI-I to VGA adapter dongles, so you can use two analog or two digital monitors. If you read the reviews on Newegg, there is a wealth of suggestions for this card. Like, if the fan noise is too much, you can fit a Zalman VF-900 as an aftermarket cooler. Or for better case temps, you can fit a slot cooler next to the card (blows out through a PCI slot hole). There are 110 reviewer comments here, to help you. There are even people who have Dell 8400 in the reviews. Power consumption should be about 48W or so, based on being similar to the 7900GT (Xbitlabs doesn't appear to have measured the 7900GS). BFG Tech BFGR79256GSOCE GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143070 On this page, 7900GS rates 20th in overall capability. The emphasis in this ranking, is gaming and 3D. http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/pcs/every...ked-241379.php Will it help ? I cannot really say, because all I can afford is one monitor :-) From your description, it sounds like your Windows desktop is not painting fast enough. There will be a significant CPU component to the desktop, so you need to do as much as you can, to help out the CPU. For 2D, the video card probably has accelerated line drawing, bitblt and the like, but at least some of the screen rendering, is limited by the CPU. I notice in your system description, you have 1.5GB of memory. That is a weird amount of memory, and you should do what you can to help your system. Here is some background reading material for your system. The first link, is the 925X memory guide from Intel. Page 11 shows the dual channel symmetric configuration, which is what you want for your system. http://download.intel.com/design/chi...s/30234403.pdf These two links are on the Dell site. One channel consists of slots 1 and 3. The second channel is slots 2 and 4. The memory should balance such that: (1)+(3) = (2)+(4) http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...0/SM/parts.htm http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...0/SM/specs.htm If you can, try to use the fastest memory for the machine. The docs say that is DDR2-533. The Intel document says 3-3-3 memory would only be supported by 925XE, and the Dell BIOS writers would probably slow down some 3-3-3 DDR2-533 memory, to run at 4-4-4, to please the staff at Intel. You should also find a benchmark, so you can compare your current card, to the new one, in a meaningful way. We'd certainly like to hear how it turns out, and benchmarks are always nice. The only thing that comes to mind for 2D, would be something like Wintune 97 :-) I found WinTune 98 here. If you load this link, it will prompt to download the file. The file is wintune_43.exe and is 1729KB. http://comunitel.tucows.com/win2k/ad...681_30039.html On my 9800Pro, 1280x1024@32bit, with a 3.2Ghz P4 Northwood, I get "Video(2D) 305.3937 MPixels/s" Maybe someone else has suggestions for a benchmark for 2D stuff. To compare your basic computing performance, try out SuperPI. http://www.xtremesystems.com/pi/super_pi_mod-1.5.zip Run super_pi_mod.exe (104960 bytes). Select 1 million digits and run it. It helps if the machine is idle when you run the test. My 3.2Ghz P4 processor (Hyperthreading enabled), with 1GB DDR460 CAS3 memory, gets 49 seconds. I used to get 44.1 seconds, before my anti-virus software was installed. Less time is better. Paul |
#8
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Upgrade for new dual monitor setup
"Paul" wrote in message ... Slacker wrote: "Mr.E Solved!" wrote in message . .. Slacker wrote: I just added a second monitor (a Samsung SM223BW) to my Dell Dimension 8400 desktop with 1.5g RAM. The video card that came with the computer-- {PCI express ATI Radeom X300 with 128) was fine with one monitor but it a little sluggish pushing two of them. I run WIN XP SP2 fully updated and use mainly office productivity apps and surf. I was thinking about going to at least a 256 PCI express video card that has 1 VGA and 1 DVI port. So how far up the video card food chain do I need to go to get improved performance? I don't want to leave myself short-- but can't afford to waste hard-earned bucks on a bleeding edge card that I don't need and whose capabilities I could never take advantage of. Any recommendations? Good news: Any modern card that fits your undisclosed budget will suit your minimal display needs. Well, that's my problem. The card I have isn't strong enough-- I got the computer about 18 months ago. I don't have any particular budget because I don't what I need to spend to get decent performance. That was kind of what I was asking here-- how much do I need to spend---- $50? $100? $200? more? I'll pay whatever it takes-- but don't want to over-buy. This 7900GS is $165, minus $30 rebate. It comes with two DVI-I to VGA adapter dongles, so you can use two analog or two digital monitors. If you read the reviews on Newegg, there is a wealth of suggestions for this card. Like, if the fan noise is too much, you can fit a Zalman VF-900 as an aftermarket cooler. Or for better case temps, you can fit a slot cooler next to the card (blows out through a PCI slot hole). There are 110 reviewer comments here, to help you. There are even people who have Dell 8400 in the reviews. Power consumption should be about 48W or so, based on being similar to the 7900GT (Xbitlabs doesn't appear to have measured the 7900GS). BFG Tech BFGR79256GSOCE GeForce 7900GS 256MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card - Retail http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814143070 On this page, 7900GS rates 20th in overall capability. The emphasis in this ranking, is gaming and 3D. http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/pcs/every...ked-241379.php Will it help ? I cannot really say, because all I can afford is one monitor :-) From your description, it sounds like your Windows desktop is not painting fast enough. There will be a significant CPU component to the desktop, so you need to do as much as you can, to help out the CPU. For 2D, the video card probably has accelerated line drawing, bitblt and the like, but at least some of the screen rendering, is limited by the CPU. I notice in your system description, you have 1.5GB of memory. That is a weird amount of memory, and you should do what you can to help your system. Here is some background reading material for your system. The first link, is the 925X memory guide from Intel. Page 11 shows the dual channel symmetric configuration, which is what you want for your system. http://download.intel.com/design/chi...s/30234403.pdf These two links are on the Dell site. One channel consists of slots 1 and 3. The second channel is slots 2 and 4. The memory should balance such that: (1)+(3) = (2)+(4) http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...0/SM/parts.htm http://support.dell.com/support/edoc...0/SM/specs.htm If you can, try to use the fastest memory for the machine. The docs say that is DDR2-533. The Intel document says 3-3-3 memory would only be supported by 925XE, and the Dell BIOS writers would probably slow down some 3-3-3 DDR2-533 memory, to run at 4-4-4, to please the staff at Intel. You should also find a benchmark, so you can compare your current card, to the new one, in a meaningful way. We'd certainly like to hear how it turns out, and benchmarks are always nice. The only thing that comes to mind for 2D, would be something like Wintune 97 :-) I found WinTune 98 here. If you load this link, it will prompt to download the file. The file is wintune_43.exe and is 1729KB. http://comunitel.tucows.com/win2k/ad...681_30039.html On my 9800Pro, 1280x1024@32bit, with a 3.2Ghz P4 Northwood, I get "Video(2D) 305.3937 MPixels/s" Maybe someone else has suggestions for a benchmark for 2D stuff. To compare your basic computing performance, try out SuperPI. http://www.xtremesystems.com/pi/super_pi_mod-1.5.zip Run super_pi_mod.exe (104960 bytes). Select 1 million digits and run it. It helps if the machine is idle when you run the test. My 3.2Ghz P4 processor (Hyperthreading enabled), with 1GB DDR460 CAS3 memory, gets 49 seconds. I used to get 44.1 seconds, before my anti-virus software was installed. Less time is better. Paul Super-- thanks for the very comprehensive answer!! Oh, and on the 1.5g of memory-- not weird at all. Mobo has 4 slots, it came with 2x256 and I added 2x512 in the remaining two slots... |
#9
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Upgrade for new dual monitor setup
"Mandinga" wrote in message
news "Slacker" Slacker@ wrote in message I don't have any particular budget because I don't what I need to spend to get decent performance. That was kind of what I was asking here-- how much do I need to spend---- $50? $100? $200? more? I'll pay whatever it takes-- but don't want to over-buy. Based on your minimal need (you don't play 3D games, do you?), I'd suggest any new Radeon cards around $100 will work for you (something like X1300 series). Thanks, that will work... |
#10
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Upgrade for new dual monitor setup
Slacker wrote:
Super-- thanks for the very comprehensive answer!! Oh, and on the 1.5g of memory-- not weird at all. Mobo has 4 slots, it came with 2x256 and I added 2x512 in the remaining two slots... Just thought I'd check, because occasionally I run into people who do stuff like use 3x512MB :-) Just for fun, did you try any benchmarks ? I'm curious how your system compares to mine. Paul |
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