video card and video card question.

E

erik2282

New Member
video card and monitor question.

Hi everyone,
I have a plain jane $400 desktop pc that I bought a few months ago. I have a surveillance system thats connected to my network that I can see through the monitor. What I want to do is buy another monitor to be able to watch my cameras and be on my computer on the other monitor. Will I need to buy another matching video card to so I can support two monitors or do I have to ditch the one I have and buy a "dual video" card(if that even exists).

I will post the specs on the pc tomorrow since I am not at home today.

Thank you
Erik
 
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Almost any dedicated graphics card will support more than one display. Integrated chipsets, which most "plain Jane" computers will have, do not support multiple displays. A low end graphics card will suit your needs fine, but you may not have a power supply capable of powering it safely.
 
its a Compaq Presario CQ5600F
Windows7 Home Prem. 64bit
2gb ram
500 HD
Video Card is NVIDEA GForce with CUDA
It has only one video output. But slots where you can add cards.

Ive seen some LCD monitors have up to 3 ports on the bottom or back.
Are these only for input or can they serve as output also?

Thank you.
 
Only for input. nVidia GForce with CUDA doesn't actually tell me much unfortunately. Fortunately you've included the computer product name which got me all I needed. You have an integrated chipset, which is what I suspected. Also, exactly as I suspected, you have an incredibly underpowered PSU which would normally be quite problematic. Since this won't be a computer doing any 3D rendering, the card won't be under much if any load, so I feel safe enough recommending either of these low-power cards. I linked two simply because your output needs may vary, and you can always purchase things like DVI-VGA etc. adapters with it if compatibility issues arise. Be warned though, putting extra components in a system with such a weak PSU is usually something I'd argue myself black and blue with people to NOT do, simply because an overloaded power supply can spell doom for a whole system. If you'd rather not take the risk, you can purchase a higher quality unit for a bit of peace of mind. It may not be necessary, but its something you should be wary of.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102877
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125358
 
ok wow. thank you for the quick response. now i need to get a monitor. So basically the difference in the cards youre recommending is the ports correct? it depends on what monitor I use?

yeah this computer is not used for gaming or anything, just internet surfing and email and stuff like that.

Thanks

Erik
 
Yeah they're the same card. Different distributors but that pretty much only affects the box and the type of heatsink they put on it. The key difference like you said is the different ports for output. Most monitors these days (as you mentioned before) have multiple inputs, so it should be no problem for you to match it all up. If your current monitor is older, it probably uses VGA, if newer, then DVI. DVI is pretty much the standard now, but an awful lot of monitors can use either or, even HDMI.

You can also feel free to browse the site a little further and see if you like a different card. I wouldn't recommend picking something that isn't a 5450 though, just to keep things simple haha. Other than that my links were merely suggestions.
 
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