Stupid question... but...

[Lilwolf]

Can Windows 9x or XP handle MORE then 2 monitors natively?


I have extra monitors sitting around... and I was going to throw them away..

but then I saw this... its a decent pci video card that handles two monitors.

http://www.compgeeks.com/details.asp?invtid=PCI-MX440DDR-64MTV&cat=VCD

And I have an ATI AGP that handles 2.  

And windows used to (haven't tested it recently) handle an AGP and a PCI at the same time.

But does it handle two cards that handle two each?

the drivers SHOULDNT trounce on each other.. but I could see them doing it....

but anyway, it would be a GREAT geek feeling to have 4 monitors lined up around my desk... I could out GEEK ANYONE with 4 monitors hooked to one computer!  OOOHHH YEAH!  

[AlanS17]

Yes. And you don't need dual-monitor video cards. You just need 1 pci card for every monitor (plus 1 agp if it's available). The pci card may try to pull seniority, but you can reassign the primary window through desktop settings once it's installed.

[Witchboard]

Yeah, I've had 5 monitors running off 1 AGP and 4 PCI video cards.  They weren't dual cards though, but I would presume you could get 4 monitors up and running with 2 dual monitor cards.  You can setup in your BIOS which card to set as primary display (AGP-PCI) then in Windows you can set which monitor is the primary out of all the monitors.

[AlanS17]

Yeah, I've had 5 monitors running off 1 AGP and 4 PCI video cards.  They weren't dual cards though, but I would presume you could get 4 monitors up and running with 2 dual monitor cards.  You can setup in your BIOS which card to set as primary display (AGP-PCI) then in Windows you can set which monitor is the primary out of all the monitors.

That all depends on the BIOS. You don't always have the option to choose primay in BIOS. I've seen it go PCI/AGP/onboard AGP before without giving the option to choose primary.

[J_K_M_A_N]

Another question along the same lines...Can you have 2 monitors running at different resolutions? I have a 21" running 1600x1200 and I have an extra 17" that I could run at 1024x768 if it would work. That would be geek enough for me.

J_K_M_A_N

[pointdablame]

you can run multiple monitors at different resolutions at the same time.  I have a dual monitor setup on my main computer, and sometimes do this.

If your going with dual/multiple monitors, I'd really highly suggest you grab a copy of UltraMon.  It is the BEST (IMHO) multi-monitor program around.  It lets you create taskbars, disable monitors, set seperate wallpapers, etc etc.  Give it a shot.

[8bit]

having more monitor space is pretty pointless unless you need it for a reason of doing say graphics, 3d work or editing.

Havent you learned out geeking someone isnt done through how many monitors but how much hard drive space you have  

[Jakobud]

Hmm I didn't know you could do this.  Can you expand your desktop to all of these monitors that are coming from your PCI slots?  Or are they just clones?

[Witchboard]

Yes, your desktop is expanded into the other monitors.  You can set them up side by side or one on top of the other.  The choice is yours.

[pointdablame]

Correct, you can expand or clone/mirror whichever monitors you'd like.  UltraMon does this very easily. Windows can also do it to a slightly lesser degree from within Display Settings.

And I'm gonna take a guess and say that 8bit has never used a multi-monitor setup.  Believe me, when you use a multiple monitor setup, you won't want to go back.  For everyday use, there are tons of reasons for two monitors.  I can also see myself using three for use with photoshop, frontpage, etc.

While I will agree that 4+ monitors may not be worth it unless you have a real reason for it, don't knock multiple displays.  They are absoultely great, and once you get used to them, you won't ever want to use a single display again.