excellent solution for the money.
Written: Dec 29 '02
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Product Rating:
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Pros: excellent price/performance ratio for dual-head video.
Cons: getting dual-head properly configured in Windows 2000 not well-documented.
The Bottom Line: Excellent solution for dual display support, especially if the PC manufacturer offers it built into the motherboard.
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| davidis99's Full Review: ATI RADEON® VE, (32 MB) AGP Video Card |
I can't review this card without also discussing the Dell Optiplex GX260, as the card is the lowest-priced solution I've seen for dual-display support when ordered straight from the PC manufacturer. (Try getting dual display support built in from any PC at CompUSA - it's NOT going to happen.)
I'm somewhat puzzled by this site not including Dell's Optiplex or Latitude series in the systems people can read reviews about, or as systems people can post reviews about. In our office, I wear many hats that all have "tech" on them - administration, support, procurement - and have finally had to deal with an issue that couldn't be put aside any longer - how to replace Macs (first generation G3s) that are going on 6 years old, and what to purchase as we add more people.
Having worked with corporate PCs from IBM, Compaq, HP, and Dell, I've had the fewest problems with Dell's PCs. the Optiplex line, in particular, has always been a step ahead in ease of servicing, having better case designs than any other Intel-based PC I've worked with. The model I've settled on, the Optiplex GX260, has a number of features I appreciate - choice of cases (from a small formfactor (SFF) that has a minimal desktop footprint, to a minitower with plenty of expansion), choice of operating systems (unlike the Dimensions, you can get Windows XP Home, Pro, or Windows 2000 Pro on the Optiplex line) and excellent choices for onboard video, including the Radeon VE (which is built into the motherboard of the GX260 SFF.)
The upside of having the Radeon VE built into the GX260 SFF system is that you get dual monitor support from a PC that otherwise has no expandability. This is good if you need to 1) minimize the amount of space used by the PC, and 2) maximize the amount of desk space available for other use, such as monitors. Why is this important? If someone wants dual flat panels on their desk, but doesn't want a huge PC, the GX260 SFF with onboard Radeon VE becomes ideal - it has no problem driving dual screens at 1280x1024, or 2560x1024 if you stretch the desktop across both screens.
The most important thing to know about the Radeon VE, when used with Windows 2000 (and, presumably, with Windows XP, as they share the same underlying code base) is to initially configure the displays with full administrator rights. I haven't seen anything from ATI documenting this, but when logged in as a user or power user, you aren't presented with all the available resolution choices UNLESS someone with administrator rights first sets the display to those resolutions.
I recently tried setting up dual display support as a power user, having not worked on one of these systems for a couple of months. When I went to set the desktop to stretch across both screens (NEC LCD 1700V series - gorgeous!) the best I could do was 1280x480. I couldn't remember right then what I needed to do, but knew that "this was wrong!"
At that point, since I knew I had gotten this to work months before, I tried logging in as administrator, and, lo and behold, there were the display options I wanted - 1600x600, 2048x768, 2560x1024 - all in 16 bit or 32 bit color. I set the displays to 16 bit color at the recommended res. for the monitors - 1280x1024 (each) at 60 hz - shut down, restarted, logged in using the user's account, and everything was good from then on. Now the one of the main problems I have to deal with is dual display envy.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 99
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Epinions.com ID:
davidis99
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Member: David Steinberg
Location: White Plains NY
Reviews written: 47
Trusted by: 0 members
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