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2 VGA displays

Beej

Beej

macrumors 68020
Original poster
I'm in the market for a graphics card that will enable me to use two VGA displays with my Mac. I've read a lot about converters and all that junk, but it looks like it may be best for me just to get a new card. The card can be PCI or AGP 2x. Any suggestions?
 
Go with the retail version of the ATI Radeon 8500. It comes with one VGA and one DVI connection. In the box is a DVI to VGA adapter (it works, since I have used it on the peecee version).

The 8500 has excellent performance, and is a stable product. I have always had good results with ATI video cards.
 
go cheap

just pick up an 8 or 16 mb pci ati card on ebay. No use spending big dough if all you want is more real estate for your apps.
 
If you want to go cheap, then get the PCI version of the ATI Radeon 7000 card (about $130). If you want true high performance, then get the 8500 (AGP version which should be selling for under $300 when it hits the shelves).

Personally, I wouldn't opt for a used video card since there is no easy way to know if it was used long and hard or not. The seller can say anything they like to sell the card.

If you can spare the scratch, then get one of the new cards. If you can wait, then the prices will go down, as newer cards come out.

According to ATI's web site (www.ati.com), IBM is now using their cards in the Netvista systems.
 
I'm not looking at an expensive dual card. Thanks for the tips.

My plan is to set up my G4 400 with 2 17" displays for my dad and get a new G4 800.

Any views on which is better - the GF4MX or the 7500? Mostly for gaming, but a bit of PS work too. If the GF4MX is better, is it worth the extra dosh?
 
I'd say go with the ATI card... and if you don't like it, you can use some of the money you saved by not getting the GF card and get a higher level one.
 
Is the "Radeon Mac Edition" the Radeon 7000? If so, does it come with a DVI to VGA connector?
 
Originally posted by Beej
Is the "Radeon Mac Edition" the Radeon 7000? If so, does it come with a DVI to VGA connector?
Click to expand...

If it doesn't list 7000 in the name, it is the previous Mac Radeon card. I installed that one into my G4 tower well over a year ago.

Here is the link to the 7000 spec sheet... http://www.ati.com/na/pages/products/mac/radeon7000_me/index.html

And for the 8500... http://www.ati.com/na/pages/products/mac/radeon8500_me/index.html

And the older Mac version... http://www.ati.com/na/pages/products/mac/radeon_mac_edition/index.html

And ATI cards for the Mac in general (so that you can compare the spec's and such... http://www.ati.com/na/pages/products/mac/mac_index.html?parent=0&folder=16&doc=15

ATI announced (last week I believe) that they will be coming out with a 128MB version for the Mac. I do not remember a time frame, but it should be before the end of the year...
 
i just got my radeon 7000 two weeks ago and it's great. you can hook two vga displays to it (it's pci by the way) thanks to the dvi->vga adapter it comes with. also since this is the a new g4 i have my geforce 2mx still in it. i can have 3 displays connected at once. os x seems to do much better with multiple displays since 10.1

i love ati 🙂 (nvidia is ok for gaming and such but i dont do enough gaming to justify having a better 3d card)
 
might seem strange

can you really run a three monitor desktop (assuming i have a similar card setup)? i've run out of room on two 19" monitors and need more real estate-would love to get twin 22" cinemas but my wife and daughter have this hang-up about eating, clothes and such...
 
Get some 17.5 or 18.1" LCD screens. I have one on my G4 now (ViewSonic) and it is sweeet. It also costs less then Apple's 17" lcd, and accepts standard vga input.

You can also get a wall mount and have nothing on the desk but your keyboard and mouse (along with your other 'stuff').
 
thanks

i'm going to switch to the lcd's with my next upgrade ( trying to hold out for a dual 1.5 ) and i've always liked the viewsonics (that's what my 19"s are). you can run three of these puppies ( assuming the cards....etc) as one desktop?
 
I don't see why not. As long as you have enough video cards to provide signals to the screens that is.

I have a pair of Viewsonic's now, one E790B and one VG175, both are very nice.

Go for the ultimate... a wall of screens, or better yet, make a full arch, 160¡ of coverage, tow high 😀. Make the peecee people drool when they see all that attached to one computer.
 
e-gads

that would be sweet. of course a pair of virtual reality glasses that give you the perception of an IMAX screen would be nice. but its bad enough when my clients want to peer over my shoulder now.... 🙄
 
Ahhh.. the dreaded shoulder peepers... Just put up a charged ion barrier that goes live when you sit on your chair. That way they get 'pursuaded' to not look over your shoulder. You could set it to increase in strength the longer they are in contact with it (frying the truely stupid 😀).

I used to wish for something like that when I was still in the design field. I have become much happier since I became a tech. Now I can give people explinations as to why their computers are crashing, or why they get the flashing '?' on startup.

My favorite so far, was one person that had pretty much filled his 40GB drive, and then had so much fragmentation on what remained that nothing would run.

The same person, at a later date, had the bottom half of his system folder go MIA. Can I get an 'Oy VEY!!'?? 😀
 
another solution

a buddy of mine actually encircled his desk with a series of velvet ropes from a movie theatre. it was so funny to look at that people didn't take it seriously-he got truly P.O'd...of course he had a bad attitude anyway. i suggested a booth like you find in the all-nite gas stations located in the bad part of town. lots of plexiglass and one sliding drawer. he didn't go for it-go figure...

thanks for the info and the humor-time to get back to work🙂
 
no problem... you could also try barbed wire to protect your space... or limpit mines where only you know where they are 😀
 
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