Dual monitor when there is only one port

[louisr]

Is it possible to have dual monitor when I only have one DVI port (and no other port) in my graphic card? The cpu has a vga port too but I am told I cannot use this if I have a graphic card and indeed a monitor connected to this vga port cannot read any input. Is there a way I can have a dual monitor without installing a new graphic card?

 

[mosox]

You could use a DVI splitter but you wll have the very same image on both displays. Also I think you need to have a dual link DVI connector on your GPU in order to work, not a single link one.
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/monitor3.htm

 

[louisr]

so I can't have two monitors that display different things?

 

[mosox]

Only if you get a new video card. It doesn't have to be an expensive one.

 

[microterf]

Can I ask what your specs are? I haven't seen many videocards in the last 10 years with only 1 port.

 

[louisr]

NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS

 

[mosox]

The 8400 GS should have at least a VGA and a DVI output. That card has support for dual monitors, one on VGA, one on DVI and you can have different things on the screens.

 

[microterf]

yes, I as far as I can see, I haven't seen any models with only 1 output.... unless it's like a 4650 I got for my parents, that I had to plug the second port in on the card, and physically connect it... wierd.

I guess that could have been somewhat the case, and if that is, then if you have the original stuff you should be able to get it to work..

Im assuming that is has to be that as you specifically said "No other port" besides the DVI.
Similar to this zitac 8400gs. It looks like this does the same thing as the 4650 I was referencing.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500151&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-ZOTAC-_-14500151

 

[louisr]

excuse me sir, for being so ignorant. but i don't understand the last post. Is that product a new graphic card or some tool to enable dual monitor? Actually I'm not sure how many port my graphic card has, but in the casing there is only one hole and one port in the graphic card area

 

[mosox]

Those are the video card connectors - can be seen in the back of the case where the cables go:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/fullimage.php?image=879

Your video card should have the DVI and the VGA one. One of them is occupied by the cable to the monitor, one should be free.

 

[microterf]

loisr, the product I showed you is a new video card. What I was trying to explain is that if you look in the picture, there are 2 backplates for it.

One of the backplates has 2 port openings (for dvi and vga) one has just 1 opening, (for just the DVI) you can physically unplug the other port and hook up the backplate with just one (as it appears your card has) or you can plug the second port into it, and use the backplate with 2 ports on it.

What I was saying is that it seems this is your case, where you only have one in there. Did you install this yourself? do you still have the box/accessories?? If not, you might have to order another videocard. As you can see though, for $30, you can get the same card you have now.

 

[louisr]

my videocard is the factory-shipped one when I bought the PC
here is a picture

There is one DVI port and another port but I dont know what that is. and the casing blocks any other port even if I have two ports, right? Since you guys said it's very unusual for a new card to have only one port, I suspect there might be actually two, but it's just that the second port is blocked by the casing. I don't know, I'm really a noob on this.

How do I connect to the second port if I have a video card with 2 ports?

 

[mosox]

Never seen before a card with the more modern DVI and lacking the VGA. Your second display is a TV or another monitor?

 

[louisr]

it's a monitor

 

[microterf]

Ok. If you took out your videocard, I gurantee you would see the same thing as the picture of the card I posted earlier on newegg, since you have a 8400.

you will see a place with like 6 pins on the actual card, this is where you would plug the VGA port into, you would unscrew the backplate, take it off, plug the VGA port in on the card, replace the backplate with the backplate with both the VGA and DVI port openings on it, screw that in, put the card in, and you're good to go.

This is all assuming that you have the parts that came with your videocard. If you don't have this, then there really is nothing you can do short of ordering a new video card. For $30, it's not terribly expensive though.

 

[louisr]

I took a look at the actual video card, and there is no additional port other rthat those visible from outside (see picture). looks like I have to buy a new one if I want to have dual monitor. Is it possible to have 2 graphic cards. what are the differences between different brands/ models of graphic cards. I saw cards of the same size can have really different price (can be up to 300% as expensive)

 

[microterf]

by size do you mean physical size? Yes, they can be quite expensive. just look up the cards in my sig. As far as using mulitple cards, yes, as long as you have the ports open (PCIe). What motherboard are you using? Although like we said earlier, most every card you get will support dual monitors.

 

[aethelbuz1978]

What you need is a DVI Video Splitter. I would recommend buying an active DVI Splitter as it enables you to display the same image on all the outputs. I have bought a few units from KVMSwitchTech in the past and they work well.

 

[DumbJuice]

So I have a similar problem with the initial question asked. I am thinking about purchasing the ASUS Q400A laptop and in my research I have found: it only has 1 HMDI port, but the video card and processor both support up to three seperate displays. Would the extended desktop displays funtion if I purchased a HDMI splitter so that I could connect two monitors to the latop through the one hmdi port?
laptop: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8041979
splitter: haven't found one yet