topic RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card in PCs & Accessories

RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

markd — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 09:02:08 GMT

Hello everyone

I need to install a 'dual head' graphics card in my RX-201 to run two monitors simultaneously.

Does Sony recommend a suitable card?

I am considering either a Matrox G550 or a Matrox Parhelia 128 Mb - does anyone know if these will run OK on this PC? Is it as simple as taking out the existing card and installing the new one?

I am a graphic/web designer, so any suggestions welcomed for a card which would be suitable for my usage.

Thanks

RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

kee-lo_ — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 10:55:25 GMT

Any of the Geforce FX 550's should do nicely, make sure they support dual head.

RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

VAIOneer — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 11:05:54 GMT

Any of thew new Nvidia cards or ATI cards will be fine (as long as its AGP)

RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

markd — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 15:31:42 GMT

Thank you both very much.

Kee-Lo - would the Matrox Parhelia 128 Mb be OK? I think its a newer model with DVI support?

Jaan - will check out your recommends.

Thanks again

RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

kee-lo_ — Mon, 26 Apr 2004 15:35:52 GMT

Never heard of it.

RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

VAIOneer — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 06:45:04 GMT

Mark - the Matrox is a great card - it'll even do tri-monitor support (though I have never used it).

However, the main big boys right now are NVIDIA & ATI and they do have some great cards out.

RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

markd — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 08:25:15 GMT

Jaan

Would the Matrox card be OK for my Vaio?

The spec on the Matrox site on says that it needs to be:

AGP 2.0 compliant system
128 MB RAM
600 MHz CPU
Microsoft® Windows® 2000, Windows XP, or Windows NT 4.0 operating system
(check regularly for updates on support for other operating systems)
300W system power supply
CD-ROM

I wasn't sure about the 'AGP 2.0' aspect on my Vaio.

Kee-Lo
Here's the link to the card, just in case it's of interest:

http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/parhelia/home.cfm

Thanks once again for your help and advice

RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

VAIOneer — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 09:04:17 GMT

I can't get onto the Sony site for some reason to check the specs, but if your PC is less then 2 years old then you will have an AGP2.0 slot.

RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

kee-lo_ — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 09:37:03 GMT

AGP 2.0 is normally a 4x-8x bus?

RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

VAIOneer — Tue, 27 Apr 2004 09:49:27 GMT

The worse that can happen is that you buy a 4x card and your AGP slot only supports 2x, therefore it will run at 2x.

Let me see if I can get onto the tech specs for your PC to confirm.

RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

reaper — Wed, 12 May 2004 14:02:06 GMT

its not a 4x card its says 2.0 at matrox

i went for it anyway i have the parhelia installed 128mb and the only thing that is wrong with it is that it displays the first intel and sony bit scrabbled apart from that it is emazing ....i think it is great i get one colour flicker at the start up as well but i think thats coz i have a ntfs file system /
my vaio came with a multi display card installed i think but it was'nt as good as the parhelia i was told and it wasnt powerful enough to run the matrox rt x 100 xtreme

that being the nvidia geforce fx 5200 graphics card 128mb ddr sdram

which had a video connector dvi monitor connection and a vga monitor connection

as for your model i dont know
i just went for it lol if it doesnt work you can always send it back lol :smileygrin:

laters