Dual monitors

[Harry Bloomfield]

I'm in the process of resurrecting my big, old winXP desktop system and wondered about adding a second monitor screen to it. The original, very fancy multi-media video card, died several years ago, so replaced it with a less fancy one, which did the basics. The edge of that card, card, and its heatsink, can be seen around the middle of the photo. I'm thinking to add a second video card, and a second monitor, just for very basic data display, nothing too fancy. That card fitted into a special socket, which had a plastic retaining clip, at the end of the socket.

The motherboard has two, what I think are called PCI sockets available, one light green coloured, the other white - see below. What's the difference between the two, and can I add a second video card to either one please?

What is that shorter white, vacant, two section socket for, next to my existing video card?

 

[foxhole]

There are different types of pci card , you need the motherboard details to match , though with such an old system if you find a card it should be very cheap.

 

[bilbobaggins88]

On first glance I thought that was AGP Vs PCI, but AGP has different slot lengths. Go with foxhole advice and check mobo specs

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I now have a simple used PCI video card, an S3 Verge 4Mb - obtained to supplement my ASUS PCI-E, and a second monitor. I plugged it into one of the two PCI slots, attached a monitor, then powered it up. Second monitor, known to be OK, remained blank and complaining 'no signal'. Display on ASUS card showed up and worked as just as normal.

Looking in Device Manager, it showed the S3, but was reporting an issue with it. I then swapped it over to the other PCI socket, and got the same issue reported in DM.

I then pulled the ASUS card out, leaving just the S3, and tried booting it up. System gave it's usual single beep, then nothing at all. Nothing appeared on the screen, no BIOS message, no HDD activity - nothing.

Once the ASUS was plugged back in, it all booted up as normal again....

Would my assumption be correct, that the S3 is faulty, please?

 

[flameport]

What is that shorter white, vacant, two section socket for, next to my existing video card?

The small white one is PCIe x1
The green and white longer ones are PCI.
The green will have some significance, but you will need the motherboard instructions to find out what.

Would my assumption be correct, that the S3 is faulty, please?

Possible but not necessarily conclusive.
BIOS settings may need to be altered for a graphics card to work in the PCI slot.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Possible but not necessarily conclusive.
BIOS settings may need to be altered for a graphics card to work in the PCI slot.

I found a setting in the BIOS, which allowed selection (tick in a box) of either PCI-e, or PCI, with both cards plugged in. Selecting the S3 PCI, and booting up, I still didn't get a display on the S3, whether the PCI-e card was plugged in or not.

Since then, I ordered a much newer, higher spec monitor, which supported VGA/DVI/HDMI. My PCI-e card has all three of these sockets on the back, but no clear clue whether it would support dual monitors/extended displays, and I didn't have any other leads than VGA, so I ordered a DVI lead.

One monitor connected on DVI socket, other via VGA, then adjusted the display settings to use VGA as an extension, and it works just fine

My new monitor is a 'refurbed' one, from a big reseller, and cheap as chips. It came with a fancy variable height stand, with H or V setting, and is a very sharp display, whereas I was struggling to read the display on the old VGA monitor. The new cost of the stand alone, was similar to what I paid for monitor plus stand - bargain.