Dual Monitor Support???

M

macmastah

Registered
Hi All,

I have a 1 Ghz G4 with a Geforce 4MX 64 mb video card. The video card has both adc and dvi connections. Currently I have a flat panel hooked up (using the VGA to DVI adapter. Will I be able to have a dual monitor set up? If i can set up two monitors, where can i get a VGA to DVI cable?

Thanks
 
You're using a VGA to DVI adaptor, but you wanna know where you can get another one? It sounds like you either need an ADC to VGA or an ADC to DVI adaptor to use the other port, since you're already using the VGA port.

I may be mistaken, but I thought that Apple supplied NVidia cards had one DVI and one ADC port, with a DVI to VGA adaptor supplied as well so you can use a VGA monitor.

You can find all sorts of monitor adaptors on Apple's online store.
 
macmastah said:
Hi All,

I have a 1 Ghz G4 with a Geforce 4MX 64 mb video card. The video card has both adc and dvi connections. Currently I have a flat panel hooked up (using the VGA to DVI adapter. Will I be able to have a dual monitor set up? If i can set up two monitors, where can i get a VGA to DVI cable?

Thanks
Click to expand...
I think what you really need is an ADC to DVI adapter (or ADC to VGA) Belkin makes the first, they may also have the 2nd. You can also check with Dr.Bott or Gefen for other adapter possibilities.
 
I found the cable, but now, i am wondering if its all plug and play, or if i need some software?

Thanks for the help
 
Nope, no software needed. The only software you need is included with OS X, which are the drivers for that video card.

All you have to do is connect the adaptor to the card, and connect the monitor to the adaptor. Make sure your system is powered off before doing so, though -- it's not a good idea to plug a monitor into a computer while its on.
 
Nope, you can use a DVI monitor and an ADC monitor, a VGA and a DVI, an ADC and a VGA or any combination thereof, provided you have the right adaptor. Just make sure that one monitor (and adaptor if needed) is plugged into the ADC port, and one monitor (and adaptor if needed) is plugged into the DVI port.

The monitors you use don't matter -- you can run two completely different monitors. You can also run both of those monitors at the same time at different resolutions. You can have one monitor at 1024x768 and the other at 1280x960 or whatever your preferences are.

When you hook both monitors up, open up System Preferrences, click on "Displays" and on the main monitor (the one the Apple logo appeared on when you started the computer up) you will see some options for resolutions and arrangement of the monitors.
 
I have been running 2 monitors for some time using a 64mb ATI card that supports 2 monitors leaving my stock vid card (Dual 1.25 G4) open. I now want to add a third monitor connecting to the stock vid card, but I can't get it to recognize the monitor (ViewSonic 17GA). It dosent show up in System Prefs> Monitor> Arrangement. Any ideas wasup?

BTW- 1 card is PCI the other is AGP
 
bigbadbill said:
I have been running 2 monitors for some time using a 64mb ATI card that supports 2 monitors leaving my stock vid card (Dual 1.25 G4) open. I now want to add a third monitor connecting to the stock vid card, but I can't get it to recognize the monitor (ViewSonic 17GA). It dosent show up in System Prefs> Monitor> Arrangement. Any ideas wasup?

BTW- 1 card is PCI the other is AGP
Click to expand...

You total hero. I've been trying to find out if this is possible for ages - I have the ATI 64Mb 9000 with ADC and DVI - I don't know if we have the same card, but if yours is ATI 64Mb and runs two monitors on its own then mine probably will too. Also thanks to Diablo, thats useful information.
As I said in my '3rd party flat panels and Radeon' thread, I'm starting the process of shopping for a monitor (takes me months to work up the courage to spend over £200 on anything) but the rate things are going, I might be able to get 2 x 15" for cheaper than a good 17" or 19".
Right now at work I am running a G4 400 AGP with 2 x PCI graphics cards, one 32Mb one 16Mb. I am running a 21" Mitsubishi Diamond Plus 200 CRT off the VGA on one card, and a 15" Dell Flatty off the VGA on the other card.
I know they are separate cards, but the 16Mb one can't be more than £10 on Ebay or similar, and this is certainly one way of running very different monitors off the same machine. I just plugged them both in and booted straight up.
 
I'm just wondering why you're crippling OS X with a PCI video card? You can't use Quartz Extreme with it. If I were you I'd go buy a retail boxed Radeon 9000/9800, stick your two primary screens on that. Then may try a 3rd monitor on your PCI card, but just having it display anything that refreshes will slow the rest of your system down.

Brian
 
btoneill said:
I'm just wondering why you're crippling OS X with a PCI video card? You can't use Quartz Extreme with it. If I were you I'd go buy a retail boxed Radeon 9000/9800, stick your two primary screens on that. Then may try a 3rd monitor on your PCI card, but just having it display anything that refreshes will slow the rest of your system down.

Brian
Click to expand...

Ya that what I've got (2 cards), I am trying to add the third monitor on the stock PCI card. But it just doesn't recognize it.
 
Does System Profiler report the correct settings for the video card in the PCI slot, or does it not recognize the card at all?
 
ElDiabloConCaca said:
Does System Profiler report the correct settings for the video card in the PCI slot, or does it not recognize the card at all?
Click to expand...
per system profiler:

ims3d:

Type: display
Bus: PCI
Slot: SLOT-2
Vendor: IXMicro (0x10e0)
Device ID: 0x9135
Revision ID: 0x0001
 
Oh, now I see -- Panther does not support older video cards like the IXMicro, Twin Turbo, and some other older cards. Known compatible cards are the Rage 128 PCI, the ATi Radeon Mac Edition, and the ATi Radeon 7000 Mac Edition -- anything other than those cards would be hit-or-miss at to whether it would work or not.

http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20031101233045375

That link tells you how to enable ROM-based drivers on the card so that OS X may be able to use it.
 
While all you smart bods are about, now I know I can run two monitors off my AGP Radeon 9000; but its only 64Mb. With two flat screens running on VGA to ADC and VGA to DVI adaptors respectively, or even with one of them just on the DVI without an adaptor: am I going to get any lag on the graphics? It seems ok on my dual PCI cards at work and they are old, but on this single CRT on the AGP card at home fast user switching is a bit jerky already.
Basically, does running two screens from one card slow graphics down noticeably?
 
Well, if you're getting lag now as it is running one monitor, then yes, you will experience a little more lag with two monitors. When you connect two monitors to one card, the RAM is halved for each monitor -- so you'd get 32MB to one monitor and 32MB to the other. Still, 32MB VRAM should be plenty for everyday OS X use -- I just wouldn't play games with that setup.
 
Can someone post a link to a page that explains the differences between VGA, DVI, and ADC--and what these acronyms stand for in the first place?
 
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