Adding multi monitors

[paulunwin]

Whilst at college I used a powerful computer with 2 monitors, I new I could never work with one monitor again. The mother board is a GA-8SIML, 2 gig of ramm and a AMI bios: details are 62-1029-001199-00101111-040201-SiS650-NECC_000 and 8SIMLNF V1.0N - 1.0N
I have been using computers for 25 years and can do most things, adding an extra monitor should be a doddle! Or so I thought.
I used a splitter and went to the Display settings to add the extra monitor but the option for 2 monitors isn't there, I tried altering the resolutions and many other menial tasks. In the end I updated the Bios, drivers and graphics card. I went to Nvidia to update the graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440-SE) and download their latest updates. I don't know what else to try to get this second monitor to work independently.
It works on the splitter, by that i mean both monitors show exactly the same information, i want them to be able to work independently so i can do more than one job at once
If the general opinion is to fit a second graphics card then could someone advise me what to get, where to get it and best way to fit it and what to be careful of.

 

[cboucher]

Yeah, you need a video card that specifically supports multiple monitors. Most of the videos cards on the market either have the two ports built in to the card or come with a "splitter" device that plugs into the one port on the card and allows the two monitors to both be connected, but allows the desktop to be expanded onto the second monitor instead of simply displaying the same thing.

 

[paulunwin]

I bought a good splitter, expensive too, the engineer told me it would run 2 monitors, which it will but obviously he forgot to mention it still needs a good card to cope..

 

[cboucher]

Yeah, and the "splitter" I was referring to isn't actually a splitter, it's more like a multiplexer. Anyways, it would come with the video card it was designed for. You wouldn't have to buy it separately or anything...

 

[paulunwin]

It sounds like the bloke that sold me the splitter misled me, so wou;ld you think it best to get another video card so there are 2 cards or take the single one out and replace it with a card that has 2 ports

 

[cboucher]

It would probably be easier to replace the current video card with one that supports multiple monitors. Usually with two video cards you would have to set them up in SLI(NVIDIA) or Crossfire(ATI) in order for them to both operate at the same time. Even then both cards would have to support this function. I would just replace the card with one that does what you want right out of the box.

 

[paulunwin]

Where's the best place and easiest place to find and match up what i want, do i have to match the video card to the board i have? if so how do i do this? And i know im a pain but i do appreciate your help!

 

[cboucher]

Here's the problem, you have kind of an old setup. Your motherboard only supports AGP and PCI video cards. Most newer video cards are PCIe, so they won't physically fit into any slot on your motherboard. Your only option short of upgrading the motherboard (and probably the CPU and memory with it) would be to find a used AGP video card with multiple monitor support on ebay or something.

 

[paulunwin]

will this card work..
Matrox G450 AGP graphic card Dual-Head Video 2 x VGA f7 | eBay

 

[cboucher]

It looks like theoretically it could work, however I've never heard of that particular brand. I would keep looking for something a little more well known like Nvidia or ATI. Also, 16MB is not a lot of video memory. More memory is always better...