Hi TMP, you'll need a dual head video card (known as dual output) and another lead to connect it.

Firstly, is the 19" monitor you have at the moment DVI or VGA?
Many can actually take a VGA input even if they have a DVI socket but this will depend on the spec/compatibilty of your monitor. I won't go in to specialist converter cables until you've figured out what you need though.

You can then buy another monitor, preferably with the same type of connection, and simply plug from the second output on the video card to the monitor.

The layout is software configurable; clone (two matching sceens) or extended desktop (where the second monitor is a continuation of the first - you want to select this one). There are other setting but these are more or less variations of these two.

I recommend the ATI cards as they don't run cpu heavy background tasks and the software is very intuative.

Let me know if you need more in depth info as I used to do this sort of thing to pay the rent......

Thanks for replying so sharpish!
How do I know whether its a VGA or DVi? - The one I have (and im going to buy an identical one) is an ACER AL1916s LIKE THIS

I was thinking of buying a 128MB graphics card - will this be ok?

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on the description for video input it says analogue d-sub which is a 15 pin HD D-sub also known as..........VGA!

128 will be fine. There is little to no benefit for going higher on DAWs as you won't be rendering advanced grpahics or really need shit hot 3d capability, it's just to display your audio software which doesn't really tax even the average video card.

A lot of cards (like mine) have vga and dvi so you can connect 2 displays without making other investments.

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Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/dezmamusic

I already have a NVidea GeForce FX5200 graphics card - im assuming you dont always need 2 outputs on the card - so would this card already support 2 monitors?


TMP

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quote:

Originally posted by MessiahProject Thanks for replying so sharpish! How do I know whether its a VGA or DVi? - The one I have (and im going to buy an identical one) is an ACER AL1916s LIKE THIS I was thinking of buying a 128MB graphics card - will this be ok?

I have the exact same screens, hehe.


They're analog so you will need a DVI-Analog converter for one of the screens. I use a Gainward Bliss 7300GT PCX SilentFX graphics card. It's fanless and actually works pretty well for games too.

you will always need two outputs on the graphics card.
Most cards today have DVI output (the white connectors), but in case your monitors have VGA (blue connectors) you can get an adaptor for 2$ at any computer store (and usually they also come free in the box with the graphics card).

You can get lower end geforce card with two outputs for 50 bucks these days (hell, even my old Geforce 2 from back in '01 had dual outputs).

things to look out for:
be sure whether you have an AGP or PCI-Express slot on your mainboard (different types of video cards, older PCs have AGP)
If you're thinking about buying a high-def 24" screen (1920x1200 pixels) you'll need a video card with DVI-D High definition capabilities. These look the same as regular DVI connectors, but the card itself needs to support them.

Thanks everyone - thats a great help!

TMP

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TMP I think your video card only has a VGA out and an s-video. if I'm right, then you will need to buy a dual output VGA card.

lowprofile is right, if you get a card that has one vga and dvi output on it you can usually configure the dvi out to send a vga (analogue) signal, so all you would need is a cheap dvi male to female vga adaptor.

just make sure you check what two outputs the card has and that it is set up to allow configurable simultaneous output from both.

TMP I think your video card only has a VGA out and an s-video. if I'm right, then you will need to buy a dual output VGA card.

lowprofile is right, if you get a card that has one vga and dvi output on it you can usually configure the dvi out to send a vga (analogue) signal, so all you would need is a cheap dvi male to female vga adaptor.

just make sure you check what two outputs the card has and that it is set up to allow configurable simultaneous output from both.

nice setup, Eldrich