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Dell Inspiron 570 desktop
Windows 7
Turns out the graphics card (ATI something) doesn't support 2 monitors despite having VGA, DVI and HDMI ports (HDMI doesn't seem to work at all)
It should do but seems a common problem if Internet search anything to go by (sounds like there was a batch of dodgy cards in similar age machines and Dell refused to do anything)
Both monitors show desktop but both recognised as monitor 1 regardless how plugged in (splitter or one in VGA one in DVI) and therefore cannot extend desktop across them both something I want to do as going to be working from home a lot and like having one monitor for emails and one for excel
So can someone recommend a cheap graphics card that will do this?
Don't want to spend much, don't do gaming just work, Internet and basic photo/video editing
I don't know very much about PC's to be honest
I'd check first to see if you can add one Dell Desktops aren't very user friendly for adding parts.
Something used from Overclockers.co.uk or similiar- get some tech-head's castoffs. Dell desktops can be a pain but graphics cards are reasonably standardised now on pci-e... So the only things that'd concern me are physical size in the case (some cards are mahoosive) and power supply.
I can do you an ATI Radeon 4890 if you want? I've had it running with two monitors with no problems, and it's pretty quiet with the non-stock cooling. Have been meaning to ebay it for a while since I've upgraded, just not got round to it yet.
It's this one: http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/product_index.aspx?psn=000101&pid=259&lid=1
Let me know if you're interested 🙂
GeForce GTX260 896MB over here if you need one
Sam and xiphon
How much you both after?
The above cards offered may need dedicated 6 or 8 pin pci-e power connectors. Check you have sufficient connections to your PSU to support this - you can get 2x 4 pin molex to 1x 6pin pci-e adaptors easily enough (off the top of my head,not sure about 8 pin). Both of the above are also previous generation high/mid range gaming cards and not exactly small. 🙂
ATi sapphire HD5450 off of Amazon new for £20 will do the job without any additional power connectiobs, as long as you have a pci-e slot on your motherboard (sounds likely). If you can find the model no. of your current card we can let you know if you've definitely got the power connection a necessary for the above cards.
Scuzz pretty sure it's a 5450 in there at the moment
Have you tried a driver update for the current card?
As per scuzz's post - my 4890 needs 2x 6pin PCI-e power inputs, and is a dual-slot card. But it's also very powerful and very quiet 🙂
Was looking for ~£30 posted?
I always look for fanless graphics cards.
I'd look at this list for reliable ones:
http://www.quietpc.com/graphics-cards?sort=price&descending=yes&set=Set
I don't see why the first one wouldn't be ideal.
It's a good place to shop too.
Edit: looks like scuzz has you covered 🙂
Yes Steve that's the first thing I did, card is faulty I suspect given a generous number of similar issues a few years ago on various Dell forums
I'll look into it more at the weekend