Video card for dual monitors, a few noobie questions.

M

Mint

New Member
I am planning to build a PC for the first time and now I have gotten up to the GPU part. I think I am planning on having two monitors hooked up to the PC, and I may do a bit of light gaming (CSS) as well. I've been searching everywhere for an answer, but no luck! What I do not understand is whenever I can just get one GPU and make it run two monitors as well as deal with the gaming, or do I need two GPUs for dual monitors. My budget is maxed out at $300.

Here is my current proposed setup:
Intel i5 3570K - 234
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H - 169
8G Kit 2133 Kingston HyperX *- 60
Intel SSD 520 SATA3 120GB - 139
Seagate SATA 3 1TB - 79
SATA Blu-Ray Combo Pioneer - 65
=746

Oh yeah, and can somebody tell me what all this PCI, SLI and RAM business is and how it affects my performance.
- Thanks!
 
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Any single card with 2 output ports (dial VGA, dual DVI, or DVI + VGA) will allow you to use multiple monitors.
 
voyagerfan99 said:
Any single card with 2 output ports (dial VGA, dual DVI, or DVI + VGA) will allow you to use multiple monitors.
Click to expand...
So my options are either buy two of the same video cards and have them like that. Will their performance add up, or will it be the same?

Or buy just one with two outputs. If I have two 1024x768 and make them dual monitor. Will the resolution be 2048x768 and I have to get a video card that supports such a resolution. Or are the outputs independent?
 
Just get a single card. The resolution can be whatever you want on either monitor because with extended desktop, each monitor can run its own resolution.
 
The AMD can run 3 monitors and nVidia only run two. so if OP want to run 3 monitors in the future better get the AMD.
Cheers.
 
As long as you have up to date components, you should be able to max out basically everything on the market today.
 
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