RX-201 - Suitable 'Dual Head' Graphics Card

[markd]

Hello everyone

I need to install a 'dual head' graphics card in my RX-201 to run two monitors simultaneously.

Does Sony recommend a suitable card?

I am considering either a Matrox G550 or a Matrox Parhelia 128 Mb - does anyone know if these will run OK on this PC? Is it as simple as taking out the existing card and installing the new one?

I am a graphic/web designer, so any suggestions welcomed for a card which would be suitable for my usage.

Thanks

[kee-lo_]

Any of the Geforce FX 550's should do nicely, make sure they support dual head.

[VAIOneer]

Any of thew new Nvidia cards or ATI cards will be fine (as long as its AGP)

[markd]

Thank you both very much.

Kee-Lo - would the Matrox Parhelia 128 Mb be OK? I think its a newer model with DVI support?

Jaan - will check out your recommends.

Thanks again

[kee-lo_]

Never heard of it.

[VAIOneer]

Mark - the Matrox is a great card - it'll even do tri-monitor support (though I have never used it).

However, the main big boys right now are NVIDIA & ATI and they do have some great cards out.

[markd]

Jaan

Would the Matrox card be OK for my Vaio?

The spec on the Matrox site on says that it needs to be:

AGP 2.0 compliant system
128 MB RAM
600 MHz CPU
Microsoft® Windows® 2000, Windows XP, or Windows NT 4.0 operating system
(check regularly for updates on support for other operating systems)
300W system power supply
CD-ROM

I wasn't sure about the 'AGP 2.0' aspect on my Vaio.


Kee-Lo
Here's the link to the card, just in case it's of interest:

http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/parhelia/home.cfm

Thanks once again for your help and advice

[VAIOneer]

I can't get onto the Sony site for some reason to check the specs, but if your PC is less then 2 years old then you will have an AGP2.0 slot.

[kee-lo_]

AGP 2.0 is normally a 4x-8x bus?

[VAIOneer]

The worse that can happen is that you buy a 4x card and your AGP slot only supports 2x, therefore it will run at 2x.

Let me see if I can get onto the tech specs for your PC to confirm.