Please Recommend Video Card

I am getting a second 1901FP (LCD Flat Panel Monitor) for a dell Lattitude D600 laptop in a docking station. Can you please recommend a video card for me? I do not do any gaming with this PC it is strictly for work. I write code using multiple development environments. The video card will go into the docking station. The station currently has Digital output being used by my first monitor. I want a card that uses the digital output for the second as well.
Thanks

 

Geforce Asylum 256mb DDR 8x PCI on sale at comp usa for $100

 

Thanks a million

 

You didn't list a model for your docking station or what's in it already, so it's going to be a bit difficult to answer this question.

First, I must assume you actually have a docking station (one that allows space for internal HDD, PCI cards, etc) rather than just a port replicator (often mis-named docking stations, these just allow you to plug in your home peripherals such as a keyboard, mouse, printer, and network card to a single box that the laptop then attaches to.

Second, since you didn't say anything about which video card you have in the docking station, I must assume that it is an AGP video card that has just a DVI (digital) connector, or perhaps a DVI and a VGA (analog) connector.

So, assuming that, your solutions are:
1. Purchase a AGP video card that has two DVI connectors to replace your current AGP video card. Suggestions:

• ASUS nVIDIA GeForce FX5200 - $103
• HIS Hightech ATI RADEON 9600 - $129
• More...

Personally, I would go for the ASUS board here. It the cheapest dual-DVI I've seen, and it's more than enough muscle for non-gaming.

2. Purchase a PCI video card that has at least one DVI connector.

• SAPPHIRE ATI RADEON 7000(VE) - $44
• CHAINTECH nVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 - $51
• More...

Anything will do here. Desktop performance, even on the PCI bus, is perfectly fine.

There are PCI video cards with dual-DVI (well, just one I can find) but they're a bit on the expensive side:

• PNY nVIDIA Quadro FX600 - $605 [These are intended for workstation CAD and video/photo editing environments... way more power than you need.]

 

Lots of options. Thank you for your reply. Sorry about the lack of information. I would have to tear it all apart to get numbers from it. It really may be a port replicator. It has a video card in it and a network card as well as all the other com ports associated with it. One of the disk drives has to be in it if I am to have both cd and floppy drives available. Thanks again. I will take the cards you recommended into consideration and ask some more questions later.

 

Well, most true docking stations look like they could be desktop computers themselves. Usually the entire laptop sits on top of it and plugs in. A port replicator is usually just a small device -- about the size of a laser printer toner cartridge or a rolled-up newspaper.

Example Docking Station:
http://www.cheap-laptop-and-used-laptop-review.com/ibm-dock.jpg

Example Port Replicator:
http://www.oaktreeent.com/Ebay_photos/web_photos/IBM_Think_Port-Replicator_web.jpg

Another Port Replicaotr. Notice it would be too small for a HDD or a PCI card to fit into:
http://nxn.netgate.net/images/ebay/pr/tosh3017A.jpg

 

heh, thanks, never knew what they looked like, learning is good

 

Here is what I have on the dock or port replicator.
* Standard I/O ports, Serial, Parallel, video, two PS/2, four USB, VGA, DVI, S-Video, and audio
* features half height standard PCI and an internal media bay with battery charging support.
*RJ-45 and RJ-11 conectivity
*compact foot print
* easy to use cable security lock with latch
* Supported by Dell, blah, blah, blah

I am assuming that I can find a half height PCI video board with a DVI output? Is this a proper assumption? I think that the standard ports are all on one board so I do not believe I can replace the current video out with a dual DVI card. I will have to add one. I could use the current VGA output, would I gain performance with a PCI card and the DVI with this particular monitor?

 

Wow. That's seriously going to limit your available options. So, you need a half-height (aka, low profile) PCI video card, preferably with DVI. That pretty much forces you into more expensive cards.

OK. Try this:
PNY nVIDIA Quadro4 200NVS PCI

It's half-height, and the connector is LFH (which I'd never heard of until an hour ago). I'm not sure what LFH is. Seems to be some variant on DVI for workstations to me. It's probably some proprietary standard for workstations. Shoot, they make a (full height) PNY Quadro4 400NVS that has *two* LFH connectors, so you can use two Y-adapters to get up to *4* monitors connected to a single PCI video adapter!

In any case, this card comes with a LFH to dual VGA Y-adapters, and PNY (and Google) claim they also make LFH to dual DVI Y-adapters, too.

The 200NVS has been discontinued by PNY although it's still obviously for sale on retail sites. It has been replaced by the 280NVS.

If you go looking for these cards, make sure you're getting the PCI version, since both the 200 NVS and 280 NVS are available in AGP and PCI.

The most difficult part about buying low-profile stuff is that not all the cards come with low profile brackets, and the brackets are particular to any one card. Low-profile modems and network cards are much easier to find than video cards. You'll probably have to contact PNY for detail on getting a low-profile bracket.

Examples: Low-profile network card with high-profile bracket, and Low-profile network card and low-profile bracket

There's no reason you couldn't just use the connectors aready in place on the docking station, however. I can't say exactly how much performance gain you'd get by going to the PCI solution, however. It may not be noticable, or it may be substantial.

As for DVI vs VGA, there's no major performance difference. The idea is that LCD monitors use digital information to display the picture, but the VGA port signal is analog. So with a VGA connection to an LCD monitor, the graphics card run the signal through a digital to analog converter (DAC), sends it down the GA cable, and then the monitor sends it back through a, analog to digital converter (ADC) before it can use the data. DVI is all digital, so it cuts out the analog conversions that might reduce signal/picture quality. Old CRT monitors actually use analog singals, so the VGA DAC made sense before.

Leastwise, that's my understanding of it.