Dual monitor support using two video cards

[Daft]

I am trying to setup dual monitors with two video cards. One video card is an ATI X800 on AGP interface and the other is an Sappphire ATI Radeon 9250 on PCI bus interface (not PCI-express). I originally had my two monitors connected to the X800, one on DVI the other on analogue but I would like them to be both on DVI connectors so I purchased the PCI Sapphire card cheap which has a DVI output.

Now, when I have both cards in my mobo the POST screen only displays the PCI video card and renders my AGP card useless. I tried plugging in the PCI video card in every PCI port I have but nothing. Is there some kind of jumper or BIOS setting I have to change to make my mobo see both video cards? Is this even possible to have two video cards or is an SLI or CrossFire my only solution? My motherboard is an old Asus P4G8X Deluxe. I know I can just purchase another vid card with two DVI outputs but it's kind of a waste since my system is pretty old and when I upgrade in the near future it will be PCI-express. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Geoff]

There should be an option in the BIOS which sets which bus it will look for a video card in first, by default it's PCI.

IMO it was a poor decision buying the 9250, because the x800 produces far superior image quality, and is much, much better at playing videos and games. Any difference in quality with the DVI and VGA on the x800, will be lost by going to the 9250.

You dont play any games do you?

 

[Daft]

Omega, thanks for the input. You are correct I did find the option buried under many sub menus and it was set to PCI. I set it to AGP. It worked nicely but now I have another problem with Windows!

My problem is, when I install the Radeon drivers for the PCI card it works fine for my secondary monitor but my primary monitor (on the X800) is very choppy so I'm assuming it overwrites those drivers. Now, when I go to install the X800 drivers, my primary monitor is now fine but my secondary monitor (on the Radeon) becomes all choppy! So I'm kinda stuck in a loop. How do I successfully install both drivers and make them work correctly for both my video cards?

I don't play any games on my PC. It is strictly my work machine. I need DVI on my second monitor because I can really tell the difference in colour comparing to VGA. I do lots of web design and graphic editing so colour accuracy is very important. Also, DVI doesn't bleed like VGA does.

All my gaming is played on my X360!