I'm building a new computer for my brother that he is going to be using for work. I've already got all the parts picked out and ordered except the video card. The catch is he is going to be using a dual monitor setup, which I have not done before, so I need a video card that will run dual monitors without any problems or slowdown. I just haven't actually had to pick a monitor with that specifically in mind before, so I don't know exactly what to look for (other than it having dual DVI outputs). Price range is up to $200. What say you Massassi?

You can spend like $40 on a GeForce 8400. I would say atleast 99% of video cards support dual/multiple moniters. Just get the card that is applicable (AGP,PCI,PCIe)

Yeah, I know a lot support it, I'm just wanting to make sure they do it well.

Well it depends on what kind of 'work' he is doing. There is always a performance hit when using 2 displays, if its all desktop work then the Geforce 8400 is probably good enough.

I think Nvidia drivers probably better than AMD for multi-monitor stuff, alot of 5xxx series AMD users are reporting problems even with the latest Catalyst 9.12 hotfix.

There's no real performance hit for running dual monitors on any card that supports it. Unless he is running something that needs lots 3D speed on BOTH monitors at the same time, it's not really going to matter.

ATI and nVidia have no difference as far as I can tell, having used both multiple times. The drivers really don't matter, since all of the driver-side stuff for nVidia and ATI both suck. (That is, you'll want to stick with Windows's own settings, don't bother with their fancy software)

He owns a construction company, so what he's wanting to do is have building plans on one monitor while he does stuff on the other.

Yeah just about any video card with two outputs is going to handle that

Thought so, but wanted to make sure. Thanks guys.