Hi everyone, I was wondering if a second video card for a second monitor would help any in performance for FS2004?? I've tried two monitors on an ATi Radeon 9000 pro 128mb on FS2002 (two CRTs) and that seemed to work great except (on the second monitor) I could not have any actual views outside the cockpit except for one small view of a spot plane but otherwise it was great for all my other instruments, especially my GPS. Now I have an ATi 9600 pro 128mb with FS2004, and I automatically suspect that it might lag too with two monitors with external views outside the cockpit, considering that there really isn't that much of a difference between a 9000 and a 9600 (also its not near as good as a 9800xp either). -What is everyone's opinion on multiple monitors for FS2004 or 2002??-Do any of you guyz have a separate video card like a PCI card as a second video card for a second monitor??-I've been looking at the Asylum GeForce FX 5200 Video Card, PCI, 256MB. Does anyone have any opinions on this type of video card for use with a second monitor??My current set up:Intel P4 2.4GHz @ 533FSB1028MB 2700 RAMASUS P4-S533x80.0 Gig 7200RPM HDD MaxtorATi 9600 Pro 128mb @ 4x (cannot enable 8x)15" Sony LCD19" Sony CRTThanks ahead of time!!James

Having experimented with both, I can say I saw very little difference in frames etc. However, the second card did interfere with my sound card, reducing quality a lot. That went away using the two heads on my 9700 Pro.

James,Check my sig - I have multi multi monitors ;)-What is everyone's opinion on multiple monitors for FS2004 or 2002??They're great. It allows you to undock key panels that you want to see most/all the time (FMC, throttle quadrant, chrono, overhead, radio, chat window) without having to overlay the main panel. It also allows you to keep other FS supporting programs in view, especially when flying online (eg. ServerInfo, AS2004, FSBuild). Performance-wise, there is reduced performance on your primary monitor in terms of FPS, but you have to temper that with how much more you are able to see at one time. If I just run everything off the primary monitor (ie. as if I don't have multi monitor), my frame rate sits most of the time pegged at or over 30 FPS and sometimes down to 20 or so when the situation is graphically intensive (bad weather, many AI, major airport, PMDG 737NG), whereas in full undocked glory I do see FPS drop to 15 or so when I would otherwise see 20.Unfortunately, multiple 3D views across monitors brings frames rates down to sub 2 FPS (at least it does for my Radeon 9800 - I do believe there are the odd Nvidia cards out there that will 3D accel across two monitors). If you want multiple 3D views in this iteration of FS, you really have to look at a program like Wideview to spread the load across multiple computers. Hopefully FS2006 will have better multimonitor support in this regard.-Do any of you guyz have a separate video card like a PCI card as a second video card for a second monitor??I run a monitor off my secondary port to my Radeon 9800 and I run a monitor off a Voodoo3 PCI I threw into my computer from my retired hardware box (in fact I even tried a Diamond Viper V330 PCI, being a 4M Riva 128 card, and that worked fine too). I do get a warning that my Voodoo3 does not support 3D rendering when I load up a flight for the first time, but since I only ever undock 2D panels or use this display for FS supporting programs or web browsing it does not cause any problems.-I've been looking at the Asylum GeForce FX 5200 Video Card, PCI, 256MB. Does anyone have any opinions on this type of video card for use with a second monitor??Given that 3D acceleration is not properly supported on secondary adaptors in FS, your suggested card could be overkill. I recommend putting in a scrapheap card like I did to see whether multimonitor lights your fire. If performance really sux when you undock to the secondary display, then consider buying the flasher card you suggest.GaryPS. I have attached a screenshot for when I was really keen and had four monitors set up, using a second PCI card and an old 15" monitor. It turned out that adding the fourth monitor caused performance to drop below my accepable standard, plus my kids wanted their secondary monitor back ;), hence I am now back at three monitors. It does give you some idea of how you can spread your FS work space out though.