The HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread

Disgustipated: Jul 28, 2003; Black metal ist krieg

TopGun posted:

Ok say I want to build a new computer using one of those newfangled Conroe processors. Basically just building a new computer with some fairly good specs.

I'm interested in using a three monitor setup (not desktop mirroring, but a full, three monitor desktop so the cursor goes from screen to screen). Specifically, three Dell 1907FP monitors (unless someone has a better idea for monitors). These monitors have both a DVI and analog input.

The question is, how do I hook these up to the computer? I realize many video cards come with more than one video out, usually two, but how to hook up three monitors? Do I use the DVI out and use a splitter of some kind? Do I hook up one monitor to one of the outputs and the other two to the other output with some kind of splitter?

Basically, how do I get a three monitor setup to work with a home desktop with one video card, and is it even a GOOD idea to attempt this?

Thanks for the info.

Short answer: you can't.

Long answer: You can, but it will be an ugly hack using the Matrox TripleHead2Go, which is analog only. You're better off buying a cheap PCI card with DVI out in addition to your regular videocard with dual DVI and using it that way. This is also much cheaper than the Matrox solution (~$35 for the PCI card, $300 for the Matrox thing).

# ¿ Jul 12, 2006 17:55

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 21:58

Disgustipated: Jul 28, 2003; Black metal ist krieg

-Dethstryk- posted:

I imagine so, if you run the 2x1GB modules in dual channel mode. I don't know what the actual performance increase is from running dual channel, but I know it's something.

4 sticks will be dual channel too. however, AMD's DDR controller really disliked 4 sticks of RAM. I don't know if that's still the case with their DDR2 controller. I don't think Intel has any such problems.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2006 02:46

Disgustipated: Jul 28, 2003; Black metal ist krieg

Secret_Squirrel posted:

Are there any affordable sound cards that can do multichannel (6 channels or more) audio output over spdif (digital coax or fiber optic)? I think M-Audio's Revolution is the only one I remember reading that could, but I don't know anything else about the product. I've recently upgraded from my beloved nForce 2 board that has the SoundStorm chip on it to a board that can support a socket 939 processor.

Depends, do you just want the digital output, or do you want the Dolby Digital Live like soundstorm had? If you just want the optical output, the Chaintech AV-710 can do it, and it's only $25. If you want the DDL, they're more expensive. Auzentech's XMystique does it, currently it's $65 AR at newegg. There may be other DDL cards, I just don't know them off the top of my head.

# ¿ Jul 16, 2006 03:58

Disgustipated: Jul 28, 2003; Black metal ist krieg

Secret_Squirrel posted:

Yeah, I want the 6 channel Doly Digital output over fiber optic or digital coax. How are the XMystique's drivers?

No idea, don't have one. Sorry.

But I don't think you understand the features of the two cards. The Chaintech will output Dolby Digital sound over optical from, for instance a DVD movie. The Xmystique will do that too, but it's big draw is Dolby Digital Live, which is a method of realtime encoding of audio to dolby digital mostly used in games. If you have no need for DDL, then just go for the Chaintech.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2006 03:02

Disgustipated: Jul 28, 2003; Black metal ist krieg

Zorilla posted:

As far as games go, P4s aren't really any better than Celerons. With the right video card, you could run Doom 3 and Far Cry if you wanted to.

To expand on this, the only difference between current Celerons and their Pentium 4 counterparts is a lower amount of L2 cache and a lack of power saving features. So a 2.4 GHz Celeron may be a tiny little bit slower than a 2.4 GHz P4, but it's really not something you need to worry about.

PS: There was never an 800MHz P4, so that box is bunk. They started at 1.3 GHz IIRC.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2006 04:19

Disgustipated: Jul 28, 2003; Black metal ist krieg

Willie McCoy posted:

Oh drat, you're right, it was a P3. Still, they're close to being equivalent?

Yes, a Celeron 2.4 is more than enough to play a game requiring an 800 MHz PIII.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2006 14:12

Disgustipated: Jul 28, 2003; Black metal ist krieg

Pixelated posted:

I just bought an MSI GeForce FX5200, and a DVI to vga adapter. The adapter has four pins above the flat blade, whereas my card does not. Hence, it does not fit.

every adaptor on newegg has these pins. What the hell?

You purchased a DVI-D card and a DVI-I converter. DVI-I has both the analog and digital signal, DVI-D has only digital. The flat pin is the analog signal, You can't convert DVI-D to an analog signal, as far as I am aware at least not with a simple converter like that one.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2006 22:07

Disgustipated: Jul 28, 2003; Black metal ist krieg

-Dethstryk- posted:

I need some input on RAM and the FUTURE.

I'm currently running a P4 on an Intel D875PBZ motherboard, and I have 1GB of PC3200 RAM. I'm looking to upgrade in the near future to the new dual-core chips, which also means a motherboard upgrade. I also wanted to try out 2GB of memory.

So, my question is: Can I get the 2GB of memory now in PC3200 format to use in my current machine and swap it to the new motherboard, or are they changing memory formats radically in any fashion with the next batch of Intel boards?

Also, if 2GB is considered retarded still, then I won't do it.

They changed memory formats radically like 2. Intel doesn't use DDR anymore, they use DDR2, and AMD just recently transitioned to DDR2 as well. So no, you can't buy more memory and use it in your current machine.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2006 18:54

Disgustipated: Jul 28, 2003; Black metal ist krieg

-Dethstryk- posted:

Thanks. That's exactly what I needed to know. Kisses.

Er, quick question. Crucial's site doesn't even have PC3200 RAM in anything other than DDR2. Does that mean that since I'm using PC3200 RAM (from Crucial no less) that I'm using DDR2? CPU-Z says "DDR" on the type, but I don't know if it makes the distinction or not.

http://www.crucial.com/store/listmodule.asp?family=DDR&tabid=DDR+PC3200 :confused:

# ¿ Jul 24, 2006 21:07

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 21:58

Disgustipated: Jul 28, 2003; Black metal ist krieg

Pixelated posted:

can somebody riddle me this: Why the gently caress are 133 Mhz SDRAM DIMMs so expensive compared to DDR?

Not needed, just wondering

Because who the gently caress uses SDRAM anymore? That's basically why, it's been phased out and is a legacy product. It hasn't been actively used in new computers since like 2001.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2006 21:23

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Serious Hardware/Software Crap > The HARDWARE Short Questions That Don't Deserve Their Own Thread