need to drive 2 Dell DVI monitors with my new PC, can you help

happyhero

Hi I bought this PC recently
http://www.aldi.co.uk/uk/html/offers/58_7963.htm?WT.mc_id=2008-11-24-11-59

I had a Medion from Aldi for the last 5 years or so that I was very happy with. This seemed like a fairly high spec model.

With my last Medion I was fortunate enough that it came with 2 VGA outputs to power my 2 Dell monitors. I had it set up so that I can open different browsers windows on each monitor as opposed to any duplicate picture or a stretched one and I could move the mouse from screen to screen in one swoop which was great, not sure if this is the normal or most popular setup.

I want to set up like this again, only this time I am thinking with the higher spec PC I would like to take advantage of the DVI connections on these monitors for hopefully even better picture quality than the great quality I already had from these monitors, but the question is how best to do this?

The current video card seems to have DVI, HDMI and VGA connections, so what would you do? Could I somehow utilise the DVI and HDMI and get the setup I want or would you think it better to change the card for a dual DVI card?

The current video card is plugged into a slot with what looks like a sort of latch on the back which seems over the top as it is secure anyway. Not sure what slot this is and not sure if this is the best slot for performance for a video card.

Also the video card has some bits plugged into it from the PC and I am worried if I got a new card, would all the the plugs fit the new board.

Should I notice a big difference going from VGA to DVI as I did a little test and struggled to see any difference? I plugged in my old PC to one monitor into the VGA and my new PC into the other using a DVI lead and looked for a detailed picture on the net to display next to each other but I was not sure if I saw any difference but also not sure if I have to do anything with the new PC to get the best DVI out of it.

I really appreciate quality but I am not a gamer so I dont want to go mad if I have to buy a new card, but I want something that will give me a great picture etc.

Really appreciate any help or guidance.

DatabaseError

your video card is ok. the card is in a PCI-E slot.
the cables connected to the card are for power and audio out (for HDMI)
If you are hoping for better picture quality...buy better monitors or play with resolutions until you find the one you like.
dvi vs vga ? on smaller (sub 20") I'd not expect to see much difference

happyhero

My monitors are 20.1 and I think of higher standard then average Dell monitors when I bought them, model number 20WFP I think they said they were rebadged by Dell Apple monitors or something.

But if my card is ok how would I connect, would it be ok to use 2 different ouputs, ie VGA and DVI or DVI and HDMI and would they then work as I described I would like them to?

TonyMMM

Use the DVi for one monitor, and the VGA for the other - shouldn't have any problem

Poppycat

If both monitors take dvi and your pc has vga, dvi and hdmi I would get one of these below, Then you have the ebst possible picture quality rather than opting for vga and dvi as you will notice the difference having two monitors running sidre by side one vga and the other dvi

Sorry I rewrote what I said, rather than editing. I cocked it up when I pasted wrong link and it messed up what I said

Something like this

happyhero

Cheers guys but Poppycat what did you mean to say, I think you may have accidently missed word out in your top line, it says " If both monitors take dvi you can get a.........???"

My thinking is that both HDMI and DVI are digital so I should not use the VGA but TonyMMM you are saying use the VGA, why is that do you think the DVI and HDMI will not both work or is there another reason?

Also do you think this card will be ok ie I wont do harm it if I connect up 2 of its ports and will it cope, ie might it only be designed to work with one port in action and thus struggle a bit?

Should I not better buy a dual DVI card or do you think this card will be fine and I would be wasting my money?

Also any ideas, why did I not see a difference when I connected old PC with VGA and compared it with new PC with DVI connected as I describe above side by side?

Sorry for all the questions guys.

Poppycat

DVI and HDMI are digital, hdmi can carry sound where is dvi can't. I never tried two monitors side by side but I have tried a dvi to hdmi lead on a pc and tv so I know that works I assume it can work with hdmi to dvi and dvdi to dvi to two monitors on same pc, but I cant be 100% certain as I never tried it