OK, so I have a voodoo3 2000 running at 170MHz and an old Nvidia Vanta or something (based on TNT2 from what I know). Both are PCI and 16MB.
Anyway, I am trying to get dual monitors working by putting in both PCI cards under XP Pro.
Now, when I did it a few weeks ago Windows only wanted to use one card, not both.... I just didnt get the options for dual in the display properties.
Am I doing something wrong, or do these cards just not like each other?
I think you need a card with dual monitor support with 2 video cards.
Nah, I had an ATI Rage II+ and Voodoo 3 working together, but I cant seem to get the TNT2 + Voodoo3...
does the Vanta even HAVE XP drivers that work? if the card doesn't have a WORKING XP driver, then the dual thing doesn't come up. I had this problem with an old Intel I740 based AGP card, the solution was that the video BIOS actually needed updating so I could run the latest XP drivers, but the card was not flashable. the V3 is the PERFECT second XP video card to run since the 2D is very fast and the drivers WORK.
Like I said, the Vanta is based on the TNT2 from what I know, therefore works with the GeForce/TNT drivers from nVidia.
dont use nvidias tools to do dual moniter. use XPs.
....as stated before, i didnt have *any* options for dual.
I'm thinking that everytime, i heard 2 cards working in dual monitors, one was Agp and the other Pci. [?]
Hmmmm..... you will need the latest drivers for the VANTA as well as one of the XP capable drivers for the V3 from this here site. I know for a fact that Microsofts drivers won't let the dual thing come up for the V3. you will need an XP cabable driver from here. I have never tried two PCI cards though....... And I think you can have even MORE than just two video sources as well, since there are usually 1 AGP and FOUR PCI slots available. the VANTA BIOS may be too old for XP dual? I could get the I740 intel board to work as a single card in XP, but NOT in the dual config because the BIOS wouldn't let me do SOMETHING? with the drivers that WERE capable with XP and dual monitors.
just a hunch, but try not overcloclocking the cards as well...... just something to try.
I've tried using a dual monitor setup for serveral times. This only time it worked for me was with a simple trident 2 mb pci card and a tnt m64 (tnt 2 chip based). The vanta is indeed a tnt2 based card with a 64 bit memory interface and 16 mb of memory and a 100/125 core/memory clock. (other than the real tnt 2 and ultra, which had a 128 bit memory interface and 32 mbyte @ respectively +-170 and 200 mhz).
This is why it might not work:
PCI supports full device bus mastering, and provides bus arbitration facilities through the system chipset. PCI's design allows bus mastering of multiple devices on the bus simultaneously, with the arbitration circuitry working to ensure that no device on the bus (including the processor!) locks out any other device. At the same time though, it allows any given device to use the full bus throughput if no other device needs to transfer anything. In a way, the PCI bus acts like a tiny "local area network" inside the computer, in which multiple devices can each talk to each other, sharing a communication channel that is managed by the chipset.
just a hunch, but i guess this is why 2 pci cards won't work that smooth. One pci and one (dedicated bus) agp will work without interfering each other, so that's why i guess that will work. Don't know it for sure though.