Dual display using onboard and PCI-E Video card

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I have an ECS A790GXM-AD3 Motherboard with a AMD Phenom II X3 and a XFX Ati R7 240 video card. I have 2 VGA monitors that I want to configure in extended desktop and the video card doens't support the 2nd one because the DVI output is digital.

I enabled SurroundView in the BIOS and managed to make the extended desktop to work. but when i want to play a game it crashes saying that it cannot recognize the video card and the AMD Catalyst only recognizes the on-board video. If i try to re-install catalyst Windows 8 crashes and reboots.

how can I make the video card driver work while on extended desktop?

UPDATE I uninstalled all drivers and now i have no drivers at all since it crashes when i try to reinstall them. Only the video card is working but both cards are listed (as ATI Radeon HD 3300 Graphics and ATI basic display adapter).

Solved Ended up installing a 2nd nVidia Video card.

Arheisel

Posted 2014-04-24T13:28:13.330

Reputation: 53

you can't make a video card Driver work for the Motherboard built-in graphics hardware, it doesn't work like that. you need to use the video card for both monitors. it's one or the other, Graphics card or Motherboard Graphics, not both – Malachi – 2014-04-24T14:25:30.823

1@Malachi That's not strictly true, and depends entirely on the exact system configuration. Some (most?) systems do support dual display from both the video card and motherboard. – Bob – 2014-04-24T14:31:33.830

@Bob I stand Corrected. it still won't be a good setup for a game that requires dual monitors. the game will try run through one Graphics Device (Graphics card) not both. it will most likely assume that you have a Gaming Graphics card that is set up for 2(+) monitors – Malachi – 2014-04-24T14:46:54.120

I intend to use only the video card for gaming, the second one is for desktop use only. i just want it to work, nothing more. – Arheisel – 2014-04-24T22:25:59.437

Answers

if the Game requires that you use dual monitors it probably has specifications on which graphics card that you need to use as well, which will always be one that supports dual monitors. if you have to use a work around to get dual monitors to work then the game probably won't run very smooth when you get it to work.

Now that I see you are using VGA monitors, you should be able to buy a ~~DVI to VGA adapter like this one~~ Try this Adapter for DVI-D. That will allow you to use the Graphics card the way it was intended to be used

Malachi

Posted 2014-04-24T13:28:13.330

Reputation: 1 069

1The problem with the adapter is that is only for DVI-I or DVI-A, and i have DVI-D – Arheisel – 2014-04-24T14:58:42.407

Google is awesome http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/StarTech.com-DVI-D-to-VGA-Active-Adapter-Converter-Cable-1920x1200/3049285.aspx?cm_cat=GoogleBase&cm_ite=3049285&cm_pla=NA-NA-STP_CC&cm_ven=ShoppingFeeds&ef_id=UuK@5AAAAckUFSiM:20140424150117:s&gclid=CLCQl_ix-b0CFYFhMgodmlUAjg

– Malachi – 2014-04-24T15:01:46.090

I added the link into the answer @Arheisel – Malachi – 2014-04-24T15:31:29.497

im unable to find theese in Argentina, thats why im trying to do this – Arheisel – 2014-04-24T22:24:42.653

From all the Google images, it looks like the XFX R7 240 has both a VGA port and DVI-I port. DVI-I includes analog output, since it's a superset of both DVI-D and DVI-A. Buy a DVI to VGA adapter or cable. The electricity saved from pulling one of your 2 video cards will probably easily cover the cost of a cable DVI-I cable/adapter.

There are some other brands of the R7 240 video card that just have DVI-D. Those would require an active adapter that can convert the digital signal to an analog such as the StarTech DVI2VGAE DVI-D to VGA Active Adapter Converter Cable. The electricity you save may not cover the cost of these adapters, but you won't run into as many headaches as you would with ATI and NVIDIA cards.

Monoprice cables here ($2.87-$9.37) and Monoprice DVI to SVGA adapter ($1.73). Shipping isn't included, but they have about the best shipping rates I've seen. Their cables are of impressive quality, which matters with an analog signal. You may find a cheaper adapter on Amazon, but you have to watch the shipping times, which can be 6-8 weeks from China.

The StarTech adapter is on Newegg for $27.74 (free shipping) or Tech For Less (rated a Google Trusted Store) for $25.61 ($22.49+$3.12 shipping).

jbo5112

Posted 2014-04-24T13:28:13.330

Reputation: 131