graphics card question

[Atown]

hey all, i was bumming around thinking, and i was like.... i have an on-board graphics that isnt being used, so i spent 45mintues trying to get a third monitor running on my computer which didt work and then i was like..... well shoot im sure there are graphics card without more than 2 outputs, so i found this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102809

question: is there a way to get my current setup to use 3 monitors or should i save my money and get the last upgrade my pc could handle?

my current specs are
Manufacturer: Custom
Processor: AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+, MMX, 3DNow (2 CPUs), ~2.0GHz
Memory: 4030MB RAM
Hard Drive: 500 GB
Video Card: RADEON X800 Series
Monitor: 2 17" LCD
Sound Card: Speakers (Realtek AC'97 Audio)
Speakers/Headphones: $5 head set
Keyboard: Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse: Logitech cheapo
Mouse Surface: Autocad Mousepad
Operating System: Windows Vista™ Business (6.0, Build 6002) Service Pack 2 (6002.lh_sp2rtm.090410-1830)
Motherboard: Winfast
Computer Case: Custom Wooden

 

[Hescominsoon]

which mobo? Certain AMd chipsets can use the onboard AND add in cards. Otherwise a second graphics card is what you are going to need and the one you ahve specced there is waaaay voerkill for a second graphics card plus you don't ahve the cpu horsepower to keep all of them fed(you really don't ahve the horsepower for the one listed in newegg to keep just it fed.) I ahve not seen any pci-e 1x vid cards yet..you can stil get some old cards in pci but don't try to run games on them but for another desktop that would work fine.

 

[Atown]

Well the newegg card would be a full replacement my board doesnt have two pcie, also it would require a new power supply for sure but thats sad my cpu wouldt be able to support it either

my motherboard:

Mainboard Vendor WinFast
Mainboard Model C51MCP51
Northbridge NVIDIA GeForce 6150 rev. A2
Southbridge NVIDIA nForce 410/430 MCP rev. A2

 

[Hescominsoon]

your cpu can support it..but you won't be able to push the card to it's max. Unfortunately vid cards aren't able to do the basic calculations first(vertex data and physics) but that's coming..then it'll get better..

 

[Atown]

your cpu can support it..but you won't be able to push the card to it's max. Unfortunately vid cards aren't able to do the basic calculations first(vertex data and physics) but that's coming..then it'll get better..

oh ok.... hmm then i might still consider getting the card in a couple months. i dont think i'll be updating (eg. replace with a new custom) for another 8-12mo and that kind of card could really be useful for work for my current pc and my future pc. having 4 monitors and multiple browsers and spreadsheets open should be fine for it, the only time id like to have it pushed i if im playing css or gw on a single screen lol. having to get a new psu though makes the price a bit high for now though.

 

[vibrokatana]

your cpu can support it..but you won't be able to push the card to it's max. Unfortunately vid cards aren't able to do the basic calculations first(vertex data and physics) but that's coming..then it'll get better..

Actually they are. The main problem was settling on a standard to do such calculations. NVidia came up with CUDA, while ATI came up with FireStream. Both companies seem to have settled in on OpenCL, which also allows the program to fall back on using the CPU for calculations. With something like LLVM you can actually compile to the target CPU/GPU at runtime, as apple does for video cards without certain hardware extensions.

 

[Odale]

I have the HD 4870 version of that card minus one fan. Mine's enormous... Id hate to see how big that one is.

May want to see if it would even fit.

Also, have you considered getting a larger monitor?

 

[Atown]

yeah unless its a mac, a giant screen is kinda useless and having multiple monitors helps to organize the screens and work and yeah i think ill have to get rid of a hard drive carriage.

 

[Odale]

I was thinking more along the lines of having a larger monitor in addition to one of the smaller screens you have. You would have to get another monitor anyway to run three, why not just get a bigger monitor? The monitor seems to be the best decision in reference to spending money in my opinion.

 

[Atown]

thats the thing though. i have enough monitors, another flat and alot of crts, i just dont personally like monitors bigger than 19" though. and also as of right now i dont have the capacity to run more than 2 monitors