PC help – dual monitors

I’ve got an ATI Radeon 9550 graphics card (with 256Mb on-board) – I’m wanting to stick a secondary monitor on my PC – what do I need? There appears to be a single standard monitor plug and what I’m guessing to be HDMI (or DVI – not sure what the thing is called!) plug on the card – both monitors only have standard monitor plugs on them so I’m hoping I can get an adapter for a standard monitor plug to HDMI plug.

Is this possible?

My display settings show 2 monitors (but I’ve only ever had 1 monitor plugged in (and only have 1 plugged in now).

What do I need to get to get both monitors plugged into the PC and working?

I’ve tried a search online for the ATI user guide but can’t find it – best possible solution so far has been to download 75Mb worth of Legacy drivers from the AMD site – but from what I can tell they are only the drivers.

I’m stuck – been about 8 years since I last properly did any PC tech stuff and have no idea where to start.

Thanks.

You can get an adapter, makes two plugs out of one. So you plug both monitors into the same monitor plug. Our work PCs at the last place all had that. I guess your card has to support it tho, and yours might not – the two monitor thing on the settings could just be the normal and hdmi.

When you say standard monitor plug do you mean VGA or DVI? Simple option is to get a second monitor and an HDMI to DVI/VGA convertor. Plug it all in, windows will pick it up and away you go.

Saying that the 9550 is a pretty old card not sure it would have DVI or HDMI. Post a picture of the back of it and I’ll let you know what the connectors are.

Cool…what am I looking for? Any links online so I can have a nosey so when I got to PCWorld I won’t look like a total numpty (just sound like one!).

VGA – http://dsnimg.dell.com/images/external/images/Monitor/VGA%20Port.JPG

DVI – http://vocaro.com/trevor/blog/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/_support_mac101_connect_images_connect01-6.jpg

HDMI – http://www.techpin.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/hdmi-port.jpg

Other option is that it’s an S-Video connector in which case it will be a circular connector with a number of pins in it.

Sorry I’ve gone and done some digging to get my names right.

Standard monitor plug is VGA. The graphics card on the machine has a VGA and DVI plug. The 2 monitors I have can take VGA and 1 can take DVI (but both has VGA cables with them).

The graphics card software on the machine says I have 2 monitors available – I’m guessing the VGA supports 2 monitors so will see if I can get a double plug.

Thanks for the help.

I think your Radeon card actually has a VGA socket (the one you are using, I think) and a DVI socket [not an HDMI]. DVI can carry VGA signals as well, and converters are available for about £10. Whether that will work depends on whether the card/drivers output VGA over DVI – there is a good chance they do.

You shouldn’t need any clever software.

Oh sod that then. Just buy a DVI cable.

(I ran two monitors from a similar card for years, on XP. Which is suspect is your OS)

Just buy a DVI>VGA converter or a DVI cable and hook the second monitor up with one of those. DVI would make more sense, but most cards with a DVI socket come with a DVI>VGA converter free anyway so check in your spares boxes in case you’ve just lost it.

Evening..

I have got the whole double screen thing going at the moment. With the same graphics card.
You need a little adapter that goes from DVI to VGA, so you can then use a normal monitor lead to get from the graphics card to the monitor.

Once it’s all plugged in. Easiest way to do it, is left click on the desktop and go to the graphics/display settings. If your running Windows 7 there is a button that says ‘Identify’ just click that and it will to all the double screen setting automatically.
Think windows vista is the same.
But with XP, just select the click box where is says use dual screen, then use the click and drag boxes and the options that come up to make it how you want it.

Hope that helps
Josh…

No really, just buy a DVI cable. It’ll just plain work. Converting DVI to VGA, given that you have a DVI-capable monitor, is just daft.

Having just read the OP’s second post.

As the guy above says. Just a DVI cable will work fine. It is designed to have a better picture, so no point converting.

Josh..