For anyone getting a Vista machine or thinking of....
Maybe this is old news but it took me some digging and may save someone some time and/or $$.
Follow on from a previous thread where I was being told by Dell that my Vista machine could not run 2 video cards to have more than the 2 displays I already have running off my PCI-express slot; the PC could only address one of the slots. I didnt really believe the phone people, so I spent a couple of hours trawling the internets.
It seems like Vista constrains the system such that you
can have multiple video cards addressed by your machine, but only so long as the cards are run using the same drivers; basically, get the same brand and check they're compatible. I ordered a PCI card that should hopefully work w/ my current PCI-e card to get 3 monitors going; haven't got it yet, but fingers crossed....
Links I found (there are prolly better/more informative ones out there, but...):
http://www.downloadsquad.com/2006/11...r-restriction/
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device...imonVista.mspx http://ilikeellipses.com/2007/11/07/...tors-in-vista/
http://forums.legitreviews.com/about10730.html
Bottom line: dunno, but I'd prolly get a machine w/ 2 PCI-express slots & 2 identical video cards if I went back and ordered again. But, anyway, just make sure the video cards match with respect to their drivers; Vista isn't forgiving like XP when it comes to multiple video cards.
Edit: Here's a pertinent quote from a post in 1st link: "
I haven't had problems with Vista & multi-monitors yet, even when using four cards in the same system. (6800 PCI-e, 6600GT PCI-e, 5200FX PCI, 5200FX PCI) Course they are the same driver. I've not had any luck with vista & ATI cards at all. My R9200SE's don't work, my friend's Xpress 200 didn't work. The "Control Centers" that ATI & nVidia use now do nothing but waste space and anger me. "