Dual ATI video cards for 3 monitors

[cheroxy]

I read some posts on this forum stating that I could do three monitors on my vista system if I bought video cards that use the same drivers. I already had the ATI Radeon HD 3400 card (pci-e) running two monitors. I did a little research and bought the ATI Radeon 9250 128mb (PCI not PCI-e) from Newegg after reading some reviews of people doing the same thing there (ie-the second review) ...http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814161010.

I can't get it to work

If I take out my pci-e card and only use this 9250 PCI card, the 9250 will work. If I have both plugged in though, vista defaults to the pci card. Device manager will recognize the pci-e card, but won't let me run any monitors on it. I plugged in a monitor to the PCI-e card, but it gets no signal and when I go into display settings it doesn't show up.

Anyone have any suggestions?

Thank you

[Sttm]

Yeah I do not think that will work. Dual Cards might work if they were both PCI-E and in an crossfire setup.

I would suggest buying an eyefinity card instead, which supports 3 or more monitors by itself.

Like this 5750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... -_-Product

And then get any adapters you might need. Hopefully your monitors have DVI as that has been common for years now, then youd only need to get a Display port or HDMI adapter to whatever your monitor has.

They also have cheaper Eyefinity cards, but they might require more adapters since they utilize only 1 dvi port.

[cheroxy]

Thanks Sttm. That looks like a good option. I've read that others have done it w/ one pci-e and one regular pci. I'd like to exhaust those options first since I bought the other card, then if nothing works get a card like the one you linked to. That is a lot cheaper than other 3 monitor cards I've seen.

[stopthekilling77]

Cheroxy, I think we're missing out on one specific piece of info here. ATI/AMD cards can do 3 monitors out, but they only have the capability starting with the 5xxx series cards. The cheapest solution is the ATI 5450 which can be found for under $40. These cards do 3 monitors in what's called Eyefinity, and were designed from the ground up to do just that, so its guaranteed that they'll do what you need!If I were you, I'd return the card you bought and buy the sure thing.

[cheroxy]

Thanks, that sounds like a great option!

[pwcmed]

That one might not be able to do 3 because it does not have a display port. It think that is one of the requirements. I have a 5450 with no display port, let me know of you want me to try it out.

I remember having an AGP and PCI working but never a PCI-E and PCI.

[cheroxy]

What do you mean by display port?

[stopthekilling77]

DisplayPort is the next next generation of video output for graphics cards. Pwcmed is right though, that particular card cannot do Eyefinity due to the lack of a DisplayPort connection, but this Gigabyte variant meets the requirements for Eyefinity. The only thing to remember is that you'll either need at least 1 of the monitors to have a DisplayPort input or you'll need to purchase an active DisplayPort to DVI adapter. A bit more than just the $40 card, but worth it to get a triple monitor setup going with Eyefinity.

[cheroxy]

Update:
I've been waiting for HIS to give me an answer to this question from their support site. The only reply I have so far is that their techs are working on it. It has been 9 days since I created that support ticket. I should just give up and buy the card that stopthekilling suggested, but I have a hard time giving up

Mainly because I read here http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/di ... vista.mspx on MS's site that I should be able to do PCI-e and PCI together on Vista.

WDDM and Multimonitor Configurations
The following examples describe possible desktop and mobile system configurations with WDDM-capable graphics adapters in cases where a user wants to connect more than one display device:
• Two monitors or dual-view: Single graphics adapter with two outputs, for example, DVI and VGA.
• Two, three, or more monitors:
• Graphics adapter A with two outputs in an x16 PCIe slot, plus another graphics adapter B with one or more outputs in another x16 PCIe slot.
Both A and B use the same WDDM driver.
• Graphics adapter A with two outputs in an x16 PCIe slot, plus another graphics adapter B with one or more outputs in an x1 PCIe slot.
Both A and B use the same WDDM driver.
• Graphics adapter A with two outputs in an x16 PCIe slot, plus another graphics adapter B with one or more outputs in a conventional PCI slot.
Both A and B use the same WDDM driver.
• Graphics adapter A with two outputs in an AGP slot, plus another graphics adapter B with one or more outputs in a conventional PCI slot.
Both A and B use the same WDDM driver.
• A mobile PC with an internal graphics adapter A, connected to a docking station that includes an external graphics adapter B.
Both the internal graphics adapter A and external graphics adapter B use the same WDDM driver.

I've done a lot of experiments and haven't got anything to work. I'm at the point that I want to say screw HIS and just get the triple monitor card if I don't hear anything tomorrow.

The main problem I run up against is that if there is any card plugged into the PCI slot it won't let graphics go out via the PCI-e card. I've tried it with AMD and Nvidia cards. Anyone know why that happens when the MS site says I should be able to do it? Also, any other suggestions on triple monitor PCI-e x16 cards that I can evaluate?

Is it possible to clear out all my graphics drivers and install one that would run both of my cards?
1-ATI Radeon HD 3400 card (pci-e)
2-ATI Radeon 9250 128mb (PCI not PCI-e)

Thanks

[skier]

you're missing out on the key problem:

Both A and B use the same WDDM driver.

they both need to use the same display driver, your old 9250 has to use a legacy driver (10.2 last I knew), so the 3400 would also have to use the same driver (windows would auto-update the 3400 to a newer display driver if you didn't pay attention and originally installed 10.2)

try running driver cleaner pro and uninstalling your ATI drivers/catalyst control center etc. reboot, and install the 10.2 Legacy driver/suite, and make sure you have automatic update disabled in windows

also, make sure in the change resolution screen that you detect available outputs and try playing with the available options there