HOw about that for a useful title?

Says it all, really.

Unfortunately, I have a Dell machine (hey, I got it cheap from work) so my upgrade options are practically zero. But the machine itself is still pretty zippy.

I would like to have support for two monitors, so I can get SuSE Linux 9.3 (or 10.0/10.1 if I upgrade) and Gnome running, with a vmWare session on one monitor. Only problem is, I only have PCI slots. ALso, a single monitor card won't work in conjunction with the existing Intel-based onboard GFX chip - already tried it with the nVidia based card currently in the machine.

Any suggestions?

You didn't mention what type of system it is, or whether or not the current NVidia card can be upgraded, and if so, what type is it (AGP/PCIe). If it's AGP, upgrade to a 5xxx or 6xxx series with dual DVI outputs (they can be converted to VGA). I have the 5200, and it has both DVI and VGA connectors (one each).

Failing that, you'll have to revert to an older model, like the GeForce 2FX, or get a different brand entirely.

Ah sorry, thought I'd got a really efficient post there.

It is a Dell Dimension 2400, with onboard graphics. I guess the onboard is AGP. There is no AGP socket available for use. Therefore, I am limited to replacing my existing nVidia PCI card. I am willing to use other cards, so long as they will work with SuSE 9 +.

Ok, now that I have been able to look up the full specs for your system, I have been able to locate a bunch of dual vga, pci cards with nVidia chipsets on pricewatch.com. Get the highest version of the nVidia model you can, for better performance & capabilities. They aren't the high end stuff, and you really need to read the full details of each card, as they have a lot pci-express cards in the mix. They do exist, though. Not very expensive either. Good hunting!

Excellent.

Thank you very much.
You have confirmed a card I was looking at anyway, which is this one:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=159184

Do not get a GeForceFX cards because their performance to price ratio is worst than GeForce4 (aka MX4000) and GeForce6.

Ah, thanks for that.

Well that puts me back to square 2! I'm having trouble finding a MX4800 card in the UK using my normal suppliers. Will search a little more ...

Electro - you've got them backwards. The FX cards are their higher end cards, the MX are the "Celeron" version of the chipsets. I currently have a 5600FX and my FPS in glxgears is over 1900fps at 1440 x 900 with multiple apps running. I used to have the 440MX before that, and the FPS was below 1000 at 1024x768. In fact, the last MX card they made was the 4k series (according to nvidia.com).

Programx - the card you are looking at is very good. I bout one for my son's 2.2Ghz P4, and it runs everything up to and including Doom 3 very well (Doom 3 is slugish, but it really wants a dual core cpu & 7900GTX video with SLI).

GrueMaster
Master of all things Grue-ish.

GrueMaster, you are wrong the GeForce4 performs better than GeForceFX. A GeForce4 MX420 performs better than GeForceFX 5600. The reason for this is because the GeForceFX is memory bandwidth hungry. The only model GeForceFX that I suggest is a 5700 Ultra. However, if programx puts VMware in fullscreen mode the primary display will get used while the second display is blank even though programx moved VMware to the second screen.

What ever card you decide to go with, do your homework. Check the hardware recommendations for the applications you intend to use. Look at sites like http://tomshardware.com for benchmarks (they have an excellent video card buyers guide).

You might find that your base system is underpowered, in which case no video card is going to perform well.

Probably. I do only intend to use it for development work, as I am not a big gamer. I have a Media Center PC for that sort of thing. I just want the slickness and reliability of Linux with the .NET of Windows - but so I can rebuild it easily.

Thanks for your help.