Ed Bott's Microsoft Challenge--1/11/01

Ok since the thought of multi monitor support is present, I would go with the Matrox G450. The current price range is appx. $145.00 - $185.00. Additionally, if it is important to you, according to Matrox Windows 2000 does not support independent resolutions and this may (or may not) have an impact on your multi monitor support thoughts.In my view the G450 at 2048x1536 24 bit color or 1600x1200 24 bit color (for multi monitor support) covers all the bases and at a resonable price.

I would also go with the dual head Matrox card. I've got a Matrox G400 dual head and it works beatifully on my DELL with Windows 2000 SP1. Sometimes Matrox has problems with the drivers for the newer cards, but I think the drivers for the G450 card should work nicely. If you want to be sure, you could go with the older G400 card as they have had more time to get the drivers right. I don't have a problems with 2048 * 1024 32-bit with my G400.

Before I attempt an intelligent answer, I'd like to request a little info rather than make assumptions.

You emphatically used the plural "cards". Why? What motherboard services, speeds and connections do you expect to have available? Are you going to use ONLY digital panel monitors, ONLY CRTs or a mixture? How large? Do you expect to use a TV tuner or other special input equipment (like a R-T data-gathering instrument feed, O'scope, etc.)?

For around $150 any of the NVidia GeForce MX Chipset powered cards can meet all your specs. The ones with TwinView even support two monitors on one card.

For an excellent mixture of the newest 3d ability and Windows stability and keeps up with the GeForce 2 chipset in 32bit mode for games and 3d graphics I would suggest the ATI Radeon 64m DDR or if budget is tight go with the 32m version.

Check reviews and you can see that in 32bit mode it keeps up with most or all GeForce 2 Ultras. The Radeon 32m has even won some awards for best biz card.

It supports many features of DirectX 8 and would not be obsolete in the next few months.

Since you stated "cards" as in plural, you could go with a PCI version of an ATI card or other to be the secondary and setup the BIOS to have AGP your primary for all the Radeon features. Since DirectX abilities and special features of the card are not utilized when used as the secondary
(not sure about when in W2K) but should not have to waste money on fancy secondary card.

PS: for AWESOME! sound, go straight digital out via a SBLive or SBLive 5.1 (preferred) digital output for multimedia, games and DVD movies, into either digital speaker set (Klipsch or Cambridge) or like I have , into a digital input of an A/V receiver.

Sound is as crisp as ever wit digital out and the different surround modes allow for several speaker configs. (opt forthe pwrd sub-woofer for games and movies ;>)

Just my poke at the question....for one who loves graphics and sound.

Thanks,

Given the parameters listed, this is a real no-brainer. Everyone knows that the buck/bang ratio has been dominated by nVidia for a while, especially with the release of the GeForce MX series, which rivals their higher-end cards' performance marks for very little dinero. Add to that the multi-head support in the MX portion of the Detonator driver series and it sounds like the cards were made for you. If money were less of an object there might be a little competition from Matrox and ATI, but in the budget business desktop arena, the MX stands alone. The added features of S-VHS in/out, digital panel support, etc. make the MX a real bargain. The slew of vendors making GeForce cards have added all of those features along with dual-head output onboard for a superior all-purpose card. The nVidia Detonator drivers also show the best support for multiple-card configurations, which might allow four or more monitors simultaneously. There's your multi-monitor solution, regardless of wether you really want more than one *card* or not.

I run a Matrox Mellennium G450. it has dual monitor support in a single card with 64 megs of ram it is a great dual monitor setup on a single card.

Use the New Millennium G450 from Matrox! Have you seen the output of this card? Beautiful! Stunning! Gorgeous! Don't waste it on poor quality moniters. You can not go wrong with this one. Will do all that you have asked and has enough left over as not to be outdated any time soon.

Try the nvidia geforce MX it supports multimon and that color in one card.

Available in PCI or AGP flavors, the most bang for the buck is the Matrox G450.With a highly integrated chip, the added value of a 360 MHz primary RAMDAC, and next-generation DualHead support, the Millennium G450 responds directly to "Corporate"users' needs.
It is not a bad gaming card either. Probably the best output of text and color than any other card on the market.

Ed,

One good way to save money and yet have a great display would be a Matrox Millenium G450 card with DualHead dislplay on one card (32MB, DualHead, DVD etc. $145)
This way you save money from buying two cards and avoid some of the dual card installation woes (Two IRQs and memory addresses required plus you would need a dual AGP motherboard).

Also if you have saved enough money by not buying the second card you may wish to choose the Marvel G450TV with added TV tuner and video editing capabilities.

Regards

Richard

Combining performance and reliability, the Matrox G series Video Cards are difficult to ignore. With personal experience with the G400 running windows 2000, I found it to be an excellent pick. It delivers serious performance with dual monitor support; it would be my pick.

I just built my new system with the ATI Radeon AGP 4x 32 video card. My cost was $230.00 CDN. I love the performance. Initially I had driver problems, and had to download the new 2000 drivers and the patch for the VIA motherboard chipset. This fixed all. Most of the new systems at work are coming in with ATI cards (Xpert 2000 16) The latest drivers for these cards actually configure themselves to the monitors by plug and play at boot. (A bit flakey under NT 4.0, but great under 2000 WS.)

Oh well... It looks as if I was a bit slow in getting back to this one.
I tend to aggree with most here - the Matrox G400/G450 dualhead series is probably the best bet.

I would (and indeed have) bought a Matrox G400. It met my requirements perfectly (which match yours to the letter).

I would say one of the cards (if you want a dual card ability) should be the Matrox G400 series. The one I have meets all my needs from graphics to 2d operations. Further, with the dual head I have worked on one project and monitored another with the second monitor. So it works like two video cards for the price of one. The cost is lower also at about $145.

Definitely go with the duel Matrox G400 series.

Thats an easy one Ed, just one word for you:
Matrox

Millenium G400.
This puppy gives you dualhead action with a 360 Mhz DAC and up to 32 meg for some good old high res lovin'

You could also go with the Matrox G200 MMS series with offers quadoutput but you'll be loosing some crispness due to the lower DAC of 250 Mhz unless you got big bucks to go digital

You could go with the Millenieum G450 but why throw out money on 3d you won't use.

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