Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with nvidia

But will it game?

askmehow — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:17:23 -0800

Will my developer laptop be able to handle the current crop of RPG games? Specs after the jump I'm interested in getting back into computer gaming. I'm thinking about Fallout 3 and Dragon Age Origins. I've got a beefy laptop, with a poor gfx card, and I'm wondering if it will be able handle the games I'm interested in:

Windows 7 64
8gb RAM
NVIDIA Quadro FX 370M (256MB)

If that's not going to be able to handle these games, any recommendations on immersive RPGs that aren't twitchy that I can play on this?

thanks,
jt

Suggestions for an Nvidia gfx card with s-video out and overscan capability

siclik — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:46:21 -0800

Help me find an inexpensive PCI-E graphics card that closely matches the TV-OUT capabilities of the fried Asus 6800GT that it's replacing. The Asus video card in my home media server came very close to melting today. Long story short - it no longer works and needs to be replaced.

There are only two mandatory features I'm looking for in an inexpensive Nvidia PCI-Express card:

1.) Must have an S-video output
2.) Must be able to customize the overscan via the Nvidia control panel

I'm not against buying one off ebay if it fits the bill.

The overscan customization was a nifty little feature I discovered just recently when using the 6800GT. Through the control panel, I went to something along the lines of "adjust output size/position" and the image on my screen either zoomed in/out depending on the settings in that window. This is VERY important because this image is displayed throughout our house (via RF modulator) and I need to be able to trim the black borders that typically appear around video card TV-OUT images.

I just got back from Fry's with an Nvidia 8400GS, however (contrary to what I was told by employees) it has a composite output (even though an s-video cable DOES fit into the port on the video card) and I now don't see the option in the Nvidia control panel to adjust the TV-OUT display size. In fact, I can't even get it to output to S-video even though the cable is plugged in there. So, I guess this one's going back.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions you can provide!

Fun and games

murtagh — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:11:28 -0800

New to gaming. Please help me with upgrading my system (PC) with gaming in mind. Also looking for game recommendations. I have a PC with the following configuration:

- AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3600+ (2.01 GHz)
- 1GB DDR2 RAM
- Realtek HD Audio
- MSI motherboard with onboard video card: NVIDIA GeForce 6150 (128MB video RAM)

I've recently started playing video games. I've played the Prince of Persia series of games, which I enjoyed immensely, especially The Two Thrones. I've also played Cricket 2007 (EA Sports) and Tomb Raider: Anniversary.

I'm really enjoying playing games, but it seems like most new games require a higher end system, especially with regards to the video card. What would be the best way go about upgrading my system with gaming in mind (nothing too expensive)? I would really appreciate any advice. Recommendations for specific video cards are welcome.

Also, in the meantime, what games can I play that will work well with the configuration I've mentioned?

Needs More RAM?

Oktober — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 07:37:09 -0800

I've upgraded my video card. Games run great (for the most part), but windows itself runs slower. What do I do? Add more RAM? As always, more inside. I'm running Vista Ultimate SP1 on a Dell Dimension 9200 with a 2.4ghz Core Quad and 2GB of DDR2-800 RAM. I upgraded from a GeForce 7600GT 256MB to a GeForce 9800GT 512MB. I uninstalled and reinstalled the drivers while doing the upgrade, even though it's the same package. After installing the drivers, rebooting, etc, I notice that Windows itself feels slightly less snappy, and that Sins of a Solar Empire (which is memory constrained more than video constrained) seems to take longer to load, and runs somewhat slower. When I ran 3dMark06, my score had jumped from ~7900 to ~11000, even though that's the very bottom of "systems like mine". I'm a former windows IT guy who's been off in *nix land for the last few years, so I don't know if there's some glaringly obvious vista problem that I'm missing here. I have a vague memory of something along the lines of "video memory is shadowed in main RAM, and if you have more video memory, you need more RAM for the same performance", but that could just be a misremembering of how a 32-bit OS can address a maximum of 4GB of ram. Additionally, could it be a power issue? I have two internal hard drives, and the 9800GT requires its own PCIe power connector, but when I've had power problems with home-built systems, I tended to get system hangs more than just slow performance.

So my questions:

1) What can I do to get my performance back where it was? Add another 2GB of RAM?

2) Are there any Vista tweaks that could help? I've already moved my paging file off of my system drive, but that's an old trick. Give me some new ones.

3a) I've got the Windows 7 RC lying around somewhere, I could install that. I've heard great things. What would be the effect performance-wise?

3b) 32-bit or 64-bit? Considering my system is hardware limited to 4GB of ram, would going 64-bit be worth it for the full 4GB versus the ~3.4GB I can get under 32-bit?

Help me pick a dual-head video card compatible with OSx86 (hackintosh) and Linux

fishfucker — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 07:58:47 -0800

Recommend a video card that can push dual monitors on OSX86 (Hackintosh) and Linux. Lots more info about my setup inside. I have a stock Gateway GT 5636e, and two HP w2207h 22" Monitors (1680 x 1050 with HDMI). I want to buy a video card that's compatible with OSx86 and Ubuntu (or a similar workstation distro) that's dual head.

Usage: The primary use of this machine is for web development. (I'm pretty much just going to be running RubyMine/IntelliJ and a web browser). It will also see occasional Photoshop, Flash, and Illustrator work. In theory, it should be capable of working with video. I have zero intention of playing games on this machine, so I don't need gaming level performance.

Budget: as close to $50 (after rebate, if necessary) as possible, but feel free to give recommendations up to $100 if this is too low or there's a compelling reason to spend extra money for my needs. Ideally I won't have to buy a new power supply to get the new video card running (according to some newegg commenters, the current power supply is 400w and it *may* have a 6 pin pci express adapter -- I haven't cracked the seal to verify yet). Being carried by Amazon/Newegg/Fry's or anyone with fast shipping is a plus.

Compatibility: Supposedly, nVidia Geforce cards work best with Hackintosh/OSx86, which is my first choice to install on this machine, but if the OSx86 install fails, I will be installing some flavor of Linux, most likely Ubuntu. If it comes to that, I want to be able to run the whiz-bang compiz effects. Generally, I want a card that will work for either purpose, but if I have to sacrifice some minor linux compatibility (slightly harder to install, etc) for having greater OSx86 compatibility, that's fine. Actual experience and/or links to comments/threads that verify compatibility is preferred to guesses, but I'm not picky.

The Zotac 1GB Geforce 9500 is an example of the sort of cards and price range I've been looking at. Still, I am no longer clued in to what makes any particular card model better than another (last time I built a machine, whichever card had more RAM and a 'bigger' model number was usually better). Mostly, I'm worried that I am misinformed in thinking that simply because a video card has two separate DVI ports that it will be able to drive two separate monitors.

I probably won't be able to check back until midday to provide more information, so hopefully I didn't leave anything out. Thanks guys!

Is there a fix for this dual monitor issue?

mephesta — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:58:07 -0800

If I turn on my secondary which is connected to a DVI to HDMI adapter and then turn it off it disconnects my primary which is connected via VGA. I have my Panasonic Plasma hooked up to my Nvidia graphics card through a DVI to HDMI adapter. My monitor is hooked in via the VGA port on the same card. I am trying to use the monitor as my primary and the television as the secondary. If i leave the television off when booting up, my monitor works fine. When I turn on the TV they both work just fine. However if I turn the TV off, I hear the device unplug sound that windows makes as if I disconnected a USB drive. Then my monitor goes black and loses the signal. I can only regain the use of my monitor by turning the TV back on. I have tried several combination's of booting with just the TV on or both off, etc. This is really inconvenient and I was hoping there is a fix, I know I have used this setup before and it has been fine but since I reformatted a few months ago the issue has been constant.

Any help will be extremely appreciated! I won't be able to thank you enough.

PC specs in case they are needed.
Mobo: Gigabyte EP45-DS3L
Proc: Intel Q6600
Ram: 4gigs DDR2-800
Graphics: Nvidia 8500GT 512mb (latest drivers installed)
OS: Tried on XP x86, Vista x64, Windows 7 x64
Currently using vista x64

Which is better - integrated nForce 420 or external GEForce2 MX400?

obiwanwasabi — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:22:27 -0800

What should I use in this aging Packard Bell desktop - the integrated nForce 420 chipset, or an external GEForce 2 MX400 64mb card?

Can I SLI my video cards without the original bridge?

burnfirewalls — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 22:06:33 -0800

Where can I get an SLI bridge to connect two nVidia GeForce 7600 GTs? My schweet box (tm) has an Asus P5B Deluxe that I got a year and a half ago. It runs great, but unfortunately the motherboard package did not include the necessary SLI bridge. I contacted ASUS and they were completely unhelpful. I know I've let this sit a long time, but is there a way I can purchase a compatible SLI bridge for my motherboard/video cards, and how much am I looking at spending? Will I get a performance boost for Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead?

Can the new macbooks handle HD DVR'ing?

middleclasstool — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:29:27 -0800

New Macbooks: how good are the integrated NVIDIA graphics? So I'm finally making the leap and buying my first Mac, hopefully by the end of this year. Now that the gap between the high-end MacBook and low-end MBP is so narrow, I can't justify the extra cost...except maybe for graphics.

I don't do hard-core gaming or anything, but I may use this thing occasionally as an HD DVR and to play high-def content. Will the regular Macbook with integrated graphics have enough juice to handle this, or would I need to upgrade to the Pro?

And yeah, I know I can get a Pro refurb for cheaper, but right now I just want to know all my options.

Help me avoid laptop death!

karyotypical — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 13:05:27 -0800

My computer is flaking out on me (perhaps due to my NVIDIA driver?). I can't get it to a tech support place until Thanksgiving! Help! I have a HP Pavilion dv2000 pc with a NVIDIA GeForce Go 6150 driver (bought June 2007). I use my computer everyday to do powerpoint presentations for my job, so I hook my laptop up to an LCD projector. However, as of late (especially after using the LCD projector), if my computer is shut down, put to sleep, or hibernates, it shuts down completely and will not turn back on. I'll press the power button, and the power light will come on but none of the keys work and the fan doesn't run no matter how long I wait. I have to keep turning the power button on and off 10 or 15 times before the screen randomly comes back on.

Further complicating things, when it does turn on, it will either say the NVIDIA driver recovered from an error or the screen will turn black and I can only get it to display by toggling between display modes (fn + f4). Also, and this may not be related, but the battery life indicator doesn't seem to be working, so I don't know when my computer is about to shut down due to reaching critical battery level.

So far my only solution has been to keep the power on with the charger in all the time. I'm don't know a whole lot about computers, but even I know this can't be good.

Any idea what might be causing this? Any ideas how to fix this (besides keeping my computer running all hours of the day)? Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated!

SLI MODE

Beaufort — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:40:49 -0800

Which DVI slot on the back of my 2 NVIDIA Geforce 8800GT 512MB cards running SLI mode should I hook up my monitor? And how do I know if they are install and running SLI mode correctly? My monitor came up and I can use the computer, but I can’t tell yet if every thing is running correctly.

Make some noise

skylar — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 09:54:57 -0800

I've just bought a second-hand Shuttle XPC computer with an Nvidia sound card. One fault is bugging me: no sound through the analogue audio outs or headphone sockets on the front or back, even when the operating system volumes are set to maximum. However, I have been told that the previous owner used the optical audio out. Is it possible that he could have disabled the analogue sound somehow? If so how might I re-enable it?

Help Lenovo - they need it !

southof40 — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 22:06:37 -0800

I want a list of resolutions supported for external screens by a ThinkPad T61P - is this asking too much ? I'm looking at a ThinkPad T61P - it uses a by 256MB nVIDIA Quadro FX 570M graphics adapter.

Having recently bought a 1920x1200 screen for the office only to discover that a number of the laptops can't drive it I've suddenly become sensitive to the available output resolutions of graphics adapters ! (and man aren't there a lot of them ?)

The T61P uses a nVidia FX570M but if you go to the nVidia site they tell you a lot of stuff about it but then basically say 'for the details you'll have to ask the company building the computer'.

I did ask Lenovo - the answers included : "everything"; "having you tried Google" etc.

Before I give up on thinkpads can anyone tell me where I can find the spec for this device as it is used in a T61P ? (I though maybe LeNovo could have one of those website things on which they could place the specs ?).

High-end (As of 2 Years Ago) PC Help Needed!

JLobster — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 13:17:39 -0800

For about a year now, I have been having major problems with my home built PC. In the middle of 3D games (of any kind really), it will freeze for at least 10 seconds, sometimes more. Sometimes it will give me back control, sometimes it will reboot. More recently, it will blue screen (referring to nv4_disp) if it does not give me back control. During that freeze time, the sound will continue for a few seconds and then repeat like a skipping CD for a few seconds. I would like to replace the faulty part, but it is such a mess in there and a pain in the ass to replace some that I want to find out the best way to find out. It could be the mobo, PSU or GPU(s)

Also, just as important, do any of you know good, trustworthy forums for this type of troubleshooting? Or a local PC mod/gamer group in the Austin, TX area?

Here are the specs:
* Asus A8N32-SLI Mobo (nForce4 chipset)
* 2GB RAM
* AMD 4200+ CPU
* 500W Seasonic PSU
* IDE DL DVD+-RW
* 2x250GB SATA 300 drives in striped RAID via mobo
* 2xXFX 7600 GT in SLI mode
* Creative Xfi sound card
* No overclocking, all stock fans on mobo and card. Case has some quieter fan replacements.
* Logitech G15 keyboard and MX518 mouse. I know this is not in the case, but in case someone knows any issues with the power draw or something.

What I have tried, all to no avail:
* Taking the cover off: temp (both CPU and GPUs) dropped by almost 10C to about 50ish, but no change in symptoms. Previously, it NEVER got above 70C, even under the heaviest of loads.
* Turning off SLI
* Laying down new OS (XP SP2. No way is Vista getting on here!)
* Religiously updating drivers. Never used beta drivers.
* Religiously updating BIOS. Using most current one off of ASUS's site
* Taking out Xfi and using onboard audio
* Removing all USB devices aside from kb and mouse.
* Changing the 3D settings down to lowest
* Running bootable CD of memtest86 test on RAM. No problems found.
* Running 3DMark06. No problems encountered.

If I were in a better financial situation (good job, but LOTS of debt), I would buy a new computer, but I would rather save money and just buy the component(s) needed to fix it.

Advice? Places to look? Best hair replacement therapy?

A->B instead of B->A?!?!?

notsnot — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 05:39:13 -0800

How to recover from sync-ing a RAID 1 the wrong way? So I bought a couple 300G drives a while back, put 'em in RAID 1, and one of them died. Ijust now finally got around to RMAing the defective drive back to Seagate. Mind you, for the last nine months I've been using this single drive as a repository for all my photoshop work (all the RAW files are on another RAID pair).

So last night, I hooked up the fresh drive, turned on RAID in the bios, designated the two drives as a RAID group in the POST ("hit F10...") doohickey, and went to Windows. There, I ran the Nvidia media manager, saw both drives, and told it to sychronize the drives. This morning, I woke up and looked at the drive letter represented by these drives....and it's empty. In fact, Windows sees an unformatted drive. Best I can tell, the Nvidia program synced the drive with all my beautiful data to the empty drive, instead of the other way around.

WTF do I do now? First thing, I shut the machine down, and turned off RAID in the bios, so I can see both drives, both looking to Windows like unformatted drives. I'm unsure what I can do now to save my data! (Yes, I know I should have backed the fuck up. I didn't.)

Other information: ASUS M2n-SLI, Seagate 300G drives, Phenom/8G RAM. I'm not near the computer until this evening, but wanted to get y'alls thoughts.

RAID-5 Array on a new motherboard?

cameradv — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 19:09:39 -0800

Can a RAID-5 array created on one computer transfer to another computer, data intact? The kicker: different SATA controllers. OK: I had a 3 drive RAID-5 setup working fine all SATA drives connected to an MSI K8N motherboard (AMD CPU, with nVidia chipset). I think the SATA driver controller is by SIL. Something fried that computer, though the drives were still in a healthy array.

I built a new computer, new Intel chipset motherboard (Abit IP35 PRO), but when i turned it all on, the three drives are recognized, but the Intel MAtrix Storage Manager ROM says their type/status is "Non-RAID Disk"

If I create a RAID volume with these disks, I'm sure to lose all the existing data, right? Is there any path to recovering the data from this new computer? Or do I have to re-construct the old computer with the old motherboard to recover the data?

RAIDers of the nVidia Board

maxwelton — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 02:27:38 -0800

nvidia RAID: Can I just turn it off? I got tired of the inevitable failure of the onboard nVidia RAID in my desktop, and a few months ago rather than futzing around with "fixing" it every time it happened I just started ignoring the RAID warning on startup. Instead of having one mirrored drive, I have had two separate drives as a result--it's been fine.

Can I just go into the RAID setup on startup and turn it off? Or will that take my broken-but-working c: and i: drives and turn them into soup?

I was going to ghost the current c: to a new drive and then use that new drive after turning off the RAID, but if I don't have to go through the hassle I'd rather not.

Is Fedora this bad?

Doofus Magoo — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 17:24:38 -0800

I've upgraded to Ubuntu 7.10, and now I seem to be having problems with both my wireless and graphics card. Any help would be greatly appreciated. So I upgraded to Gutsy Gibbon last Friday night, and everything went smashingly -- until I rebooted for the first time Sunday morning. At that point (and ever since), I've been having problems with my wireless (using ndiswrapper) and video (Nvidia). To wit:

When I boot, the first symptom that something is awry is an 800x600 screen saying that Ubuntu's running in low-graphics mode. I'm given the option to Configure or Cancel, but configuring doesn't seem to do a dang thing -- I can pick the nv or nvidia drivers, but the test always fails and none of the changes I make seem to stick. So I click "Continue." The machine continues to boot, and I get the same message about 20 seconds later, click Continue. This goes on about three or four more times, at which I'm finally given an "X Server could not be started" error, the details of which have to do with failsafeXServer. It kicks me back to the CLI.

At that point, I do a sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg and plow through all the prompts (selecting the default nv driver). Once it's done (at which point I get a warning about overwriting a previous custom configuration file), I can startx, and yay, I'm at my desktop.

At this point, however, I still have no wireless. A ping results in a "network not reachable" error. I do a dhclient, and then voila, I'm connected, and all seems right the world -- except that I can't seem to perform any administrative-type tasks (from the desktop), as I get an error "Can not run /usr/bin/whatever as user root. Unable to copy the user's Xauthorization file."

I've searched the Ubuntu forums (and even posted a question of my own), but have had no luck trying to resolve this problem. Making things just a hair more frustrating is the fact that even once I get into GNOME, I have no mouse cursor -- the mouse works, but I have to guess where it is (or draw a trail and figure it out).

Sorry for the extended length, but I'm pretty sure these are all semi-related, and with my luck it's something stupid simple like a read-only filesystem or something.

Dual monitors and remote access. Not what you think.

wile e — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 20:39:14 -0800

Dual monitor/remote access/I'm a moronFILTER: Accessing a desktop machine that used to have a dual monitor setup but now has none. My desktop machine (Win XP sp2) has a NVIDIA graphics card with dual monitor support. I had it running for a few years with two monitors and it worked wonderfully. Now I have the desktop sitting by itself, with no mouse, keyboard, or monitors hooked up and am only accessing it remotely via logmein.com pro.

Here's my problem: I didn't disable the dual monitor setup while they were still attached. I assumed that it would still output in a dual monitor display (remotely) even with the displays removed. I was incorrect. It defaulted to a single monitor display. But now, when I open certain programs that used to run exclusively on the 2nd monitor, they are 'off-screen'. I can force some of them onto my default display by right clicking the item on the task bar and hitting maximize. But if the program has a sub-window pop up, its gone forever. I have tried every option (I think) in the nView desktop manager that comes with the NVIDIA video card. I've even attempted to disable the nView controls. I cannot get it to work.

I know the obvious answer is to hook up the two monitors for a minute and properly switch over to a single monitor setup, but as I am lacking the monitors at the moment thats not the best solution right now.

<>><>>><>><>><>>

If anybody knows how I can force my desktop machine to think its still outputting to two monitors, that would be awesome. I would love to get the added real estate on my remote connection without having to use a virtual desktop.

If I have confused anybody, please ask and I will attempt to make my situation more understandable.

Thanks!

Will this be good computer?

DJWeezy — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:51:27 -0800

I am building a new computer and was wondering if this setup seems good I already have the OS, case/power supply, and video card more details after break. previously Optical Drive - SAMSUNG Black 18X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 18X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner With LightScribe Technology - OEM

Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3320620AS (Perpendicular Recording Technology) 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Memory - CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

Motherboard - ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium/WiFi-AP LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Processor -Intel Core 2 Duo E6400 Conroe 2.13GHz 2M shared L2 Cache LGA 775 Processor - Retail

OS - Microsoft Windows Xp Professional I already have this.

Case - Alienware MJ-12 Mid-Tower ATX Case with 700 Watt Power Supply Aslo already have this

Video Card - 3D Fuzion GeForce FX 5500 Video Card, PCI, 256MB DDR - I got this last year for christmas i think i dont really want to spend the money on a new one and wont be gaming so i hope it will be fine

Which graphics card manufacturer should I choose, and does it make a difference?

edbyford — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:18:57 -0800

Buying an Nvidia graphics card... which manufacturer to go for? Does it make a difference? Hello all,

I'm building a PC and I've settled on a Geforce 7600GS 512MB, but I find that there is a fair amount of choice when it comes to manufacturers, and obviously you find a difference in price between them.

MSI make one, Gigabyte make one, and there are a few others as well.

How can I tell which is a good manufacturer to buy from? Will it make a difference?

Help me fix a software RAID-5?

scottnic — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 10:11:23 -0800

I've got an nVidia nForce 570 motherboard with 5 drives (500 GB each -- 465 GB actual) in a RAID-5 array. The RAID has been working well in Vista until yesterday, when my system froze. Now nVidia's Storage control panel reports a "Healthy" array with 5 drives but with a capacity of only 465GB (rather than the expected 1.81 TB). Can this be fixed? The system freeze happened while I was trying to install new drivers for the RAID (I was using XP drivers, nVidia recently released Vista ones, which I was trying to upgrade to).

Initially, when I rebooted after the freeze, I was unable to boot at all. I got a disk read error immediately after the BIOS screen, with the only option being a Ctrl-alt-Del. In Vista's recovery console I was able to determine that my system drive (a separate drive on a different SATA interface) was fine, and disabling the controller with the RAID on it allowed me to boot, but re-enabling it gave me the error again.

I ghosted my system drive and reinstalled Vista (with the RAID disabled). After Vista was up and running again I re-enabled the RAID in the BIOS and Vista detected it and installed drivers, but only showed 465 GB available (as noted above).

Windows Disk Management shows the drive with 465 GB available as well, with a RAW partition using the entire space.

The MediaShield RAID setup in the BIOS shows the array as "Healthy" with a capactiy of 1.81 GB, as expected.

x64 Windows Geforce 4 Ti Driver Woe

Arcaz Ino — Tue, 09 Jan 2007 16:25:28 -0800

We installed XP x64, and can't find drivers for our video card, NVIDIA GeForce 4 Ti 4600. There are drivers for older cards and new cards, but not our card. A lot of the sites claiming to have the drivers are lying, and have maybe pasted in the inf for the 32-bit drivers by mistake. Is there any way I can make this work?

Alt-tab is asking too much! Help me help my computer!

cowbellemoo — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 22:47:28 -0800

DualMonitorFilter: What am I missing? Two-cards, two monitors to get an extended Windows desktop. What I want: My main monitor plugged into my newest PCIe card showing my main desktop and games, and my other monitor plugged into another gfx card that will always show an extended windows desktop for browsing, iTunes, etc.

What I have:

Windows XP Pro
GeForce 7950GT (PCIe) -- main card
Radeon 9250 (plain PCI)
HP f2105 -- main monitor
Viewsonic VX710

All fitting into this computer (tigerdirect barebones kit links to motherboard)

I've looked up other AskMeFi posts, visited the wiki entry, read the online help, visited the nVidia and ATI sites, but I can't quite get the hang of it (and I was so impressed with myself putting together the kit, too..). My main gfx card has two heads and can display on both the monitors fine, but I want a two-card setup so that my games run at the max resolution of the main card -- 2 monitors on that one card limits it in the games since it's splitting processing power between the two.

I don't know much about the PCI and PCIe architecture, but I gather from just looking at the mobo that I can't have more than one PCIe card in my computer at once -- the smaller PCIe slots that are labeled on the link must just be for SLI or something (I have another newish nVidia PCIe card if that's wrong and I can use those little slots).

So, I'll have to use the plain PCI card to run the second monitor. When I install the PCI card in one of the plain PCI slots, connect the monitor, and boot -- neither displays anything but the PC (apparantly) continues to keep booting with no display. I installed the secondary monitor drivers as well. I went into the BIOS and changed the PCIe card to the Primary Display Driver (instead of setting it to "Auto"), but the same thing happens -- neither monitor shows anything.

Are the nVidia and ATI cards incompatable for this purpose? I assume it's not a software issue since neither of them are displaying. Is the older ATI card not multi-monitor capable? Do I need to find a nVidia plain PCI card that will play nice with my 7950? Is there something else I'm missing completely?

LCD Monitor on laptop goes dark, but not completely off

chicobangs — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 17:55:07 -0800

My LCD screen on my laptop refuses to stay on. I have a laptop (a Dell Insipron 8600 running XP, with which I have had no such problem before; in fact, it's been pretty maintenance free up till now).

My laptop goes dark after a very short time (between 1-5 minutes when running on battery, and right after startup when plugged in). This first happened last night overnight, so it's not an I-hit-the-wrong-key issue, and the screen is still "ghosting out" to the point where I can see what's happening. Also, the boot-up screens all show up fine, and it only goes dark when the desktop itself appears (or doesn't, in this case).

Running a second monitor off the back works fine (which is how I'm typing this), and I've installed the latest nVidia driver, for what that's worth. Is there something else I can do, or am I just screwed?

(Note: this seems like the same problem wendell had, except I've had this computer for over two years, so it's off warranty, and replacing the monitor would be rather more of a hassle.)