Can I Use A A Dual Dvi Splitter Video Cable On A Gtx 8400 Low Profile Video Card?

I have a small form computer (Acer Veriton VX4630G ) which has a low profile GTX 8400 video card with only one dvi out. Can I use a DVI-I 24+5 Pins Male to 2 Dual VGA Female Monitor Adapter Splitter Cable with the video card for connection two my monitors so I can have 2 separate windows screens up? I want to run 2 programs at once. Thanks

 

No. When you use a splitter, the same image is sent to both monitors.

 

okay thanks

 

it has no other outputs?

 

It has an onboard video and when I checked online about the possibility of using both the onboard video and the geforce 8400gs that's in the PCIe slot I'd read that you have to use one or the other, that you can't use both at the same time. The article didn't refer to a specific computer. So I didn't try using both at the same time.
I have the Acer Veriton VX4630g - i5 443X which is a small form pc. With your inquiry it seems that maybe I should try it. The worst that would happen is it just wouldn't work. Thanks

 

And it matters because many motherboards do allow you to use both.

Typically, what happens when you install a graphics card is the on-board graphics is automatically disabled. This is usually done to free up any system RAM the on-board graphics stole... err... is "sharing" for graphics processing. You should be able to boot into the BIOS Setup Menu and find the section for the on-board graphics. If your system supports the use of both, you should be able to enable the on-board. But note this will then cause a chunk of your system RAM to be dedicated to graphics processing by that on-board graphics processor.

It might be better to find a new graphics card that has two video outputs. But note you will need to pay attention to the power needs of that new card or you will have to buy a bigger power supply and we already discussed the issues there in this thread.

 

Right now it has 8 gb of ddr3 1333 ram. How much of that do you think the onboard video would use? The motherboard has 4 ram slots, so I could increase the ram to 12 gb using a total of 6 X 2 gb ram sticks. They're all the same speed. Would there be any problem using 6 instead of all 8 ram slots because of the dual channel support?

 

Please post a picture of your card's connector.

 

The geforce 8400gs is a low profile card and has the DMS-59 connector, so I would have to purchase a video adapter DMS-59 Y Splitter to dual DVI-I female adapter in order to use it with my monitor. I only want to use one monitor though. If I purchased the adapter mentioned do I have to use it with two, or can I just plut in connector one on the adapter?

 

With 8GB of RAM installed, your on-board graphics is not using enough to worry about. I would not worry about adding more RAM. 8GB is generally considered the "sweet spot". Adding more, for most users, does not result in significant performance gains.

If you use a "splitter", you don't have to use both connectors. But again, a splitter is just a Y cable. It divides 1 signal and sends that to two monitors. It does not allow two different signals to be sent to the monitors.

As noted on the NVIDIA website, the GeForce 8400 GS comes in several configurations and "actual specifications may vary by Add-in-card manufacturer". So you need to visit the website the actual card maker (brand) of that specific card to make sure it has the DMS-59 connector and supports a dual-monitor (and an "extended" desktop) setup with just one port.

 

It would work with just one monitor.