Hi I recently helped a friend build a computer, he has 3 monitors and wants to use them all at the same time.

he has a radeon 9600 pro that he has two monitors plugged into, and an old stealth 64 from diamond multimedia from about 1995. Only 1 AGP slot of course so the second card is PCI. They both work, but in order to get one to work you have to change the "primary display" thing in the bios to either PCI, AGP, or PCIE.

So we tried and they both work, just not at the same time.
The MB is an ASRock mb, and it says it supports surround display (shows 4 monitors on the sticker on the box). I emailed them to ask them about this, but I don't think they really understand the problem... being a somewhat small asian based company... I don't think they have the best english support.

Anyway, I couldn't find anything in a search on the web so far, so I was wondering if you guys have any ideas?

I am thinking we might just have to get a PCIE card instead of the PCI one. PCI one, even though it works just might be too old ?

What is the exact model of ASRock?

http://www.asrockamerica.com/

Is it dual PCI_E?

If the board is advertised with 4 monitors it should show us how to do it. I am unsure if you can run off of two cards unless they are dual PCI_E.

The single cards that I see are quite pricey:

http://www.matrox.com/mga/workstatio...id_lp_pcie.cfm

http://www.google.com/search?q=Quadro4%20400%20NVS

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157081

This is the MB.

the example instructions were very limited, but they were for an AGP and a PCIE card. The question I emailed ASrock with, is if I had to have a PCIE card or if I could still do it with an AGP and a PCI. The response was to make sure I install the video card drivers.... not what I asked.

http://www.asrock.com/product/939Dual-SATA2.htm

http://download.asrock.com/manual/939Dual-SATA2.pdf

2.5 Surround Display Feature
This motherboard supports Surround Display upgrade. With the external add-on
PCI VGA card and PCI Express VGA card, you can easily enjoy the benefits of
Surround Display feature. For the detailed instruction, please refer to the document
at the following path in the Support CD: ..\ Surround Display

Have you read that document?

Yeah we read that one off the CD. That is what gave instructions about how to install it. It just said to install the two cards and then set it up in you display settings.

Well the instruction example was an AGP and a PICE. That is why I am thinking it might not work with a regular PCI one. Although I specifically asked this to ASrock, they didn't really answer.

So unless you can think of something else to try, I guess I'll just tell him to buy a cheap PCIE card to see if that works...

Do the instructions mention anything about changing the Primary Display setting in the BIOS? Just wondering whether getting a PCI-X card would give you the same problem.

Before you get your mate to spend money on something that could potentially have the same problem, you might want to leave a message for ClaireLovesTLC in the Chat Room to see if she knows anything about this stuff - I know that she has a pair of top-end graphics cards running in her new PC.