Two graphics cards?

[jemmo]

Hi folks.

I have a PC running Windows XP.
I have a Matrox RT2000 video capture card with a Matrox Millenium Flex 3D graphics card. The graphics card is old but it is needed by the RT2000 capture card.

My question is, is it possible to add a 2nd graphics card that will work for high end applications or gaming, and retain the RT2000 and Flex 3D for video editing?

If so what problems am I likely to encounter?

[Gecko]

Hi jemmo,

As long as you have an open AGP or PCI slot on your motherboard for the new video card, then yes it is possible.
But realize that there are limits on using a pci video card.

You really should not have any problems, windows xp has

[jemmo]

Thanks for the reply Gecko.
I only have 1 AGP slot on the MB which is taken up by the Matrox Flex 3D card, but I do have 2 free PCI slots - although it looks like only one of them lines up properly with the slots on the back of the chassis.

I spoke to a guy in PC World yesterday and he was saying it's not possible to mix AGP and ATI PCI graphics cards. Not sure this is correct. I am thinking that if both cards are instaled, then surely I should be able to just plug the monitor into the required card and if necessary disable the 'unused' card?

I was also told that there are 2 types of PCI slots for graphics - ATi and Nvidia, and you have to be careful as to what your MB uses. Is this correct as I thought PCI was just PCI? The only reference my MB manual makes is that certain ATi Rage128 PRo graphics cards made by Power Color may not function properly (although Gigabyte cards based on the ATi Rage128 chip will work fine).

I have read many posts saying that the Matrox RT2000 system will not work with any other cards but the Matrox Flex 3D and the G400 (I think) for dual head display. The thing is, I don't want dual head, I just want a better graphics card for high end graphics applications and a game or two.

[Pacodurf]

There are 2 different types of graphic slots that ati and nvidia both use... pci and agp.

[BrentBertsch]