Dual Monitor Display

[Logan M]

Can anyone give some insight on some cards that work with the G4 Digi 001 dual monitor set up. Cheap or expensive...What has been working for everyone? Thank you.

[Chaasm71]

I have an ATI Radeon 9000 Pro graphics card feeding two VGA 19" Mitsubishi 930SB-K monitors. I have lots of room to work (resolution=1600X1200 @ 85Hz), and a nice crisp picture. Not the dual LCD monitors I dream about, but... I just didn't have the $4000Cad for two Formac Gallery 2010s!

Hope this helps...

Charlie.

[Son of David]

I'm using a Radeon 7000 video card and running 3 VGA video monitors. Two of them hang off the Radeon card and one hangs off the card that came with the G4.

Works great - just be sure to set colors to "thousands" and not "millions" to avoid maxing out your PCI bus utilization.

Peace.

[The Mighty Burner]

I hate to beat a dead horse, but...

I need help with this issue as well, and I can't find info specific to my model mac here on the DUC...hopefully someone can help.

Here are my pertinent specs:

G4 dual 450mhz Gigabit Ethernet w/ altivec/velocity engine

ATI Rage 128 Pro Graphics card w/ 16mb of SDRAM graphics memory installed in a dedicated AGP 2x graphics slot

ADC connector

VGA connector (15-pin)

three 64-bit, 33mhz PCI slots (one occupied by the digi001)

Now, based on my research, it seems as though I should be able to simply use an ADC to VGA adaptor to run a second monitor, but I'm confused by websites like this one that don't list my model as compatible.

Can anyone shed some light on this? Does my G4 support dual monitors? Or do I need a new graphics card? Even though my G4 has both ADC and VGA connectors?

thank you in advance for your help,

[Freeheel]

Hi Burner, as far as I can tell, the first G4's that supported extended desktop dual monitors, were the Quicksilvers of late 2001 and on. I don't think your Rage 128 will do anything beyond mirroring (the two monitors showing the same thing) I've got a Digital Audio 733 from mid 2001 with a Nvidia geforce mx AGP card. Supposedly this card was designed to be able to support an extended desktop, but it actually doesn't. I tried hard to make it work. My workaround was to throw an old ATI Rage 128 VR into a PCI slot. Seems to work just fine. -No PCI overloads - luscious dual monitors.

[The Mighty Burner]

Freeheel -

Thanks for your response. I spoke to someone at MacWharehouse, and I have since learned that my G4 (Gigabit Ethernet) only supports dual monitoring (with the existing Rage card) if you use a combo of one SVGA and one ADC (although he did not mention if it would only be a "mirror" display). Not really cost effective, since a 17" Apple display will run ya about $700.00, and a new 17" CRT + ATI Radeon 7000 card will cost about $250.00. I not doing graphics work, and the cost of being hip is still too pricey...LOl

You have peaked my interest though, when you said:

My workaround was to throw an old ATI Rage 128 VR into a PCI slot. Seems to work just fine. -No PCI overloads - luscious dual monitors.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">HHmmmm...would this actually be a better route to go? cheaper? better for system performance? can you actually buy a Rage 128 card? Ebay?

Thanks again for the help -

[Freeheel]

My Ati card was definitely cheap ($50) and has not affected my system performance negatively. I don't know how available these older cards are - have you got any friends with an old Mac around you could try pulling the graphic card out of?

[H E A D W E R K ' N]

Rage 128 cards come in both PCI and AGP variants, with the PCI ones being much more in demand (on eBay) as they offer increased video performance in older PowerMacs. I have one in my 9600 along with the original 4Mb TwinTurbo.

The best solution for an AGP G4 is to replace the existing AGP video card (the first gen AGP models had only 16Mb cards) with a new dual output AGP card like the Raedon 8500, which was VGA and DVI outputs - you get a DVI to VGA convertor so you can drive two standard monitors. The 8500 is about US$180 which isn't chump change but you'll be getting a very powerful card.

While LCD screens still aren't as cheap as equivalent CRT monitors, I think the prices are down low enough for them to be a serious consideration for the home studio. Buying 2x17" flatscreens is a decent investment BUT their are so many advantages. Firstly, space. I don't know about you guys, but there's never enough room in my studio - two 17" or 19" CRTs take up a heap of space. Secondly, CRTs pump out sh*tloads of EMF radiation; whether or not you're worried about eyeball cancer or not, they're a pain in the bunghole when you're recording your fav Tele or P90-equiped guitar.

They also use less power, are easier on the eyes and last longer. Seriously - CRTs only last so long. I've had two die on me in the previous year (including my beloved Apple Studio17) because I use them so much.

I've also been told by some that you can use longer cabling with DVI than with analog VGA without signal degration, which is helpful if you want your noisy CPU hidden away somewhere else.

The ideal system, which I'm aiming for (getting there!, is 2x17" LCDs for the Edit and Mix windows, and a 15" LCD running off a spare PCI card for plugins - and, during tracking, as a remote display for use with a US428 as a transport control, so I can drive PT from another room. Sweeeeet!

[Logan M]

I have a G4 450 (AGP Version). Could I still use a ATI Rage 128 (PCI) or any other PCI card in one of the other G4 slots?

[H E A D W E R K ' N]

Yes, it won't be a problem as such, just remember the PCI bus is a shared resource, and that if you have a Digi001 (or another multitrack audio interface card) it will use up much of the bandwidth. That said, provided you don't run the PCI video card at super high resolution and colour depth, I doubt you'll have problems. SCSI controller cards are another matter...