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2 Video Cards XP Pro

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7 replies

by hawgfan 1 view

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I am installing new hdd in a pc with Biostar M7VKD mobo, 768mb SDRAM, SIS 315 agp, and ATI Rage Pro PCI vga. Previously,with Win ME, the 2 vga card situation worked fine. Since I have installed XP pro on the new hdd, I cannot get the second vga card to work. It shows in Dev Mgr with the yellow !. The driver is fine, it just won't work. I have tried a different agp, a different pci, and lastly tried 2 pci cards. When I use 2 pci, whichever card I plug closest to the agp slot works, the other doesn't. Please help!

7 replies

by willcomp

Need a little more info. PCI card is ATI Rage Pro apparently, but what is AGP card? Are you using ATI drivers or Win XP built-in drivers?

The ATI drivers have more flexibility and configuration options.

My wife is a "hawgfan" also. Assume you are an Arkansan.

Dalton

by willcomp

well I asked the questions and The Chas provided the needed info. Afraid he is correct. Best bet would be 2 ATI Radeon 9200 cards, 1 AGP and 1 PCI. The 9200's sell for about $50.00 each and work well.

by thechas

I can't speak to SiS cards, but for ANY ATI graphics card, dual cards are NOT supported unless both cards are ATI cards.

ATI even requires that you install their software for controlling 2 displays.

Another kink in using ATI cards for dual monitor operation is that BOTH displays need to be set to the same resolution.

Another factor is that the Rage Pro series is getting a bit "long in tooth". If memory serves me well, ATI did not even create a driver for XP. You are limited to the driver that Microsoft built into XP.
My experience with Microsoft drivers is that if there is any performance issue, they disable features rather than attempt a fix.

IMHO, you need 2 newer video cards, preferably by the same manufacture.

Chas

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