Hi everyone, I am contemplating to install a second video card. I am running a Radeon X1950 at the moment with 2 monitors and have an X1900 on the shelf. I am using one with Track IR in VC mode and the second one in 2D mode with the instrument panel.

 

I want to add one or two additional monitors with touchscreen for FMC / pedestal and possible overhead panel.

 

I am wondering whether I will have to expect an overall decrease in performance (frame rates) as the additional card might draw CPU power, but I am only guessing here and would be glad about your advice.

 

Best regards,

Holger

 

Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 (build 2600)

2.40 gigahertz Intel Core 2 Duo

64 kilobyte primary memory cache

4096 kilobyte secondary memory cache

Multi-core (2 total)

Not hyper-threaded

Board: ASUSTeK Computer INC. P5B-Deluxe Rev 1.xx

Bus Clock: 266 megahertz

BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. 0910 12/27/2006

 

Slot 'DIMM0' has 1024 MB

Slot 'DIMM1' is Empty

Slot 'DIMM2' has 1024 MB

Slot 'DIMM3' is Empty

 

 

c: (NTFS on drive 0) * 262.15 GB 34.05 GB free

d: (NTFS on drive 0) 738.05 GB 12.53 GB free

e: (NTFS on drive 1) 2000.39 GB 140.27 GB free

Short answer yes, you will see a slight to moderate drop in performance, as an added device will draw CPU/ IRQ resources.

 

EDIT: Additionally, as you are not running more than 2Gb of ram, and your OS is not 64bit, you are likely to run into OOM errors, with another videocard added to the mix.

Thanks for the interesting reply. This is new to me but makes a lot of sense. Still, I think I will give it a try - I have come across some pre 64bit posts in other fora where people sucessfully operated four monitors.

 

Best,

Holger