Best PCI gfx card for Marvel 2 monitor setup?

[Jkun]

I'm looking for a good PCI card to get dual head (2 monitor) with a Marvel setup.

While the G200 PCI is an obvious choice, it's also hard to find and expensive.

Any other cheap PCI boards? A basic S3 board would be sufficient but I am worried about the interoperability with Matrox drivers.

J-kun

[Dr Mordrid]

Some of us have used the old Matrox Millennium-II PCI cards. I tried it with my RT-2000 and it worked just fine. I believe Elie has also used this to provide dual monitor support with his RT-2000.

Dr. Mordrid

[This_Idiot]

It's probably best to stick to another Matrox card, purely to get around any driver conflicts. However, I've been told by folks that know that any decent PCI video card should do the trick (Nvidia or whatever). These guys do know wht they're doing tho, so it may not be as simple as they make it sound.

[wkulecz]

For a second PCI display card I'd recommend a 3dfx Voodoo3 2000. Cheap, and 2-D about as good as the G00 Millineum at 1600x1200. The TNT2 cards are OK if you don't plan to go beyond 1152x864.

V3 & TNT2 work well with win 2000 so they're not useless if you upgrade later.

I've played around a lot with different video cards in dual monitor setups starting with the win98 betas thru w2k. I'm of the opinion you will have fewer problems with two totally different video cards or two exactly identical cards as long as the secondary card has drivers that support multimon. Its cards that are simular that you run into problems with installation order or one driver stepping on the other. ATI and the various classes of RAGE cards have bit me on this.

In my experience the only multimon problems are trying to use win95 drivers on the secondary card -- just won't work. Any card with win9x drivers can be primary. but the secondary must have win98 (or w2k) drivers that support multi-mon.

When in doubt, first use the drivers on the windows 98 (or w2k) CD for the secondary card.

--wally.

[Jkun]

Thanks for the tips.

Would a ATI RAGE with the Marvel give any issues? Their selling of cheap PCI Xpert@work boards here.

J-kun

[wkulecz]

Avoid the ATI Xpert series if you expect to upgrade to windows 2000, as it won't work as a secondary display. ATI won't be fixing the drivers.

If its win98 only, then the Xpert series works well as a secondary. Be careful if the primary is another ATI card. Check their website and be sure to follow the installation order if the two cards are not using the exact same driver.

--wally.


[This message has been edited by wkulecz (edited 22 August 2000).]

[Jkun]

>If its win98 only, then the Xpert series >works well as a secondary.

Rats!

Any other ideas? A standard S3 Trio3D or similar card? The Voodoo3 2000 is a good card but it runs damn hot.

J-kun


[This message has been edited by Jkun (edited 22 August 2000).]

[wkulecz]

I've not noticed the Voodoo3 2000 PCI run hot, I've tried it as both primary and secondary on w2k. Perhaps your are confusing it with the V2 3000 which is a good bit faster in 3D (not relavent for secondary display).

Unfortunately, if you look at the hardware list on the w2k cd, you'll find none of the cheap PCI cards have drivers that support multi-mon, which is looking like planned obsolesence in action as most of them had good win98 drivers that supported multi-mon.

--wally.

[Jkun]

Wally,

I just checked the dealers around here (mail order shops in Germany and local stores). Neither still have the 2000. The next one is the Voodoo3 3000, and it's on the 'hard to find list already. Not to mention that it costs more than a G200...

What I can find plenty, but at the same price level as the G200, are PCI boards with TNT2 chips. Also powerhogs running hot.

ATI has some PCI boards out. Aslo easy to find are some SIS 6326 boards and some Savage 4 boards. But most of these are so close to the G200 price their not really worth the effort :-(

If I have to spend so much I'd rather get a 3dLabs Permedia 3 board. Do these work well with Marvel and also support Win2K multimonitor work?

J-kun

[wkulecz]

J-kun

Unfortunately I've not tried a 3DLabs permedia 3 on win 2000. Check the hardware compatbility list on the w2k CD or check 3DLabs website for drivers. I'd be leary of getting a very expensive board as a secondary display since none of the directdraw/directX advanced features will work on it by design.

OpenGL *might* work accelerated on both displays but then you are into workstationn class display cards in order to get ones with solid drivers.

If you can't find a voodoo3 or TNT2 clone for significantly less that the G200, get the G200. It has the best 2D display quality. Voodoo3 is almost is good. TNT2 is pretty much unusable above 1152x864 IMHO.

--wally.

[Elie]

Yes I have successfully installed a Matrox Mystique 220 for my second monitor on the RT2000 machine no problems.
However if I have the chance I will upgrade it to a PCI G200 or a Millenium II, simply because they are a bit faster.

I have a little article explaining how to install a second display card under Win98 with various Premiere 5.1 screen shots.
Here's the site..
http://www.anivstudio.f2s.com/rt2000/

Note: This method worked with RT2000 installed, I have not tested it with my Marvel, but it should work regardless.

Regards,
Elie

[ThoVie]

Hi Elie,

thanks for your info! After I read that you used a Mystique 220 as you second video card I went home and put it into my computer alongside my Marvel G400.

I got it to work beautifully in about five minutes. Pretty awesome! Again, thanks for your info.

Regards,
Thorsten