# surefire dual monitor card?



## myfbsdreader (Jul 5, 2012)

Before I spend more on restocking fees, I wonder if someone could suggest a surefire dual-dvi pcie graphics card.

It's been a while since I upgraded.  I've replaced a motherboard with an agp slot with one that has two pcie slots.  Now I've learned that just because the Xorg docs say a card such as the Radeon 6xxxx is supported, does not mean it will work on FreeBSD.  In addition, if a card is really supported, such as the Radeon 4xxx, that does not mean there will be multi-card support.

So would someone please suggest a not-too-expensive dual-dvi pcie graphics card that is sure to work now on FreeBSD 8 or 9 with up-to-date ports?  I don't need anything fancy, just respectable 2D performance.

Thank you.


----------



## SirDice (Jul 5, 2012)

Not sure about ATI but as far as I know the latest cards don't work. Some older models however should work. Hopefully AdamK will see this thread and respond, he usually knows what works and what not.

Personally I would buy an NVidia card. It has great support with x11/nvidia-driver. Added bonus, you get accelerated 3D too :e


----------



## wblock@ (Jul 5, 2012)

Daily, I use a PCIe HD4650 with two monitors, although it's DVI/HDMI/VGA.  I have also tested the HD 4850 with dual DVI in a two-monitor setup, which worked fine.  The 4850 seems no faster than the 4650 and produce more heat.  (So I am currently not using them; maybe we should have a new "For Sale" forum for FreeBSD-compatible video and wireless cards.)

Note that one of the two monitors is VGA, and was connected to DVI on the 4850 with an adapter.

Both cards have 2D and 3D acceleration with the radeon driver from x11-drivers/xf86-video-ati.


----------



## TheDreamer (Jul 6, 2012)

There seems to be a YMMV with video cards.

I have a colleague that has FreeBSD 9.0 working with two DVI monitors on a Radeon HD 5450.

So, I got a Radeon HD 5450....but I can't get it working. I then got a Radeon HD 4670....also not working.  Tried a FireGL V5700 yesterday....also didn't work.

I'm thinking of getting an NVidia card.  Any thoughts on the Quadro 400 or the Quadro NVS 310?

The Dreamer.


----------



## mwatkins (Jul 6, 2012)

Nvidia GeForce GTX 570 works fine here. Two DVI out. FreeBSD 9 installs without complaint; later install the NVidia driver rather than the open source nv driver. nvidia-settings makes short work of configuring for Twinview if that is your poison.


----------



## wblock@ (Jul 6, 2012)

To be clear, I'm running amd64 9-STABLE and have WITH_NEW_XORG=yes set in /etc/make.conf.  That gives xorg-7.5.2.

There is some support for 5000-series Radeons in the UMS driver, but don't count on it.  If it works, it may not provide acceleration.


----------



## myfbsdreader (Jul 6, 2012)

Thanks for all the help!  I got an MSI card with a Radeon 4350 chip.  One monitor on the dvi port, another on the hdmi port.  Works great!


----------



## sim (Jul 6, 2012)

Just missed this, but I've ordered a Zotac GT640.  It's kind of annoying that virtually all info/reviews about video cards is in the context of games. Trying to get hard facts about the basics such as how many monitors, max res on each display etc etc is very difficult.  

By all accounts, the GT640, which is based on nVidia's new Kepler GPU, is low-end and less than impressive on current games, but for me I'm sure it'll be more than good enough.  The clincher was that the Kepler architecture supports more than two displays - a limitation of previous nVidia offerings. And in the case of the Zotac implementation, it has two DVIs, which is hard to find (plus an HDMI).

Once it arrives, if anyone is interested, I'll report back.

sim


----------



## sim (Jul 11, 2012)

Just to follow up on my last post...

... I received my Zotac GT640 Kepler-based nVidia card today. Dual DVI outputs - works perfectly.  I'm using TwinView with it right now.

Next test is to get a mini-HDMI -> DVI cable and see if I can get three monitors working, using the mini HDMI output.

sim


----------



## TheDreamer (Jul 12, 2012)

Turns out my colleague was having unexpected display crashes with this HD5450, so he scrounged the Quadro FX1400 out of his old (Sun Ultra 20) workstation and so far its been working good.

So, I have a (refurbished) Quadro FX1700 on order (a third the price of a Quadro 400 or Quadro NVS 310...)

Hopefully it works....and its not the deeper issue mentioned in another thread of needing a BIOS update (HP only supports Windows 7 on my computer, and there are no plans to release a BIOS update....even though the HP forums refer to Intel saying a BIOS update is the needed fix for some bug they announced.)

Wonder what I'll find homes for the HD5450 and V5700 that I had purchased....

The Dreamer.


----------



## TheDreamer (Jul 19, 2012)

Just a quick update.  Received the Quadro FX1700 on Monday.  Didn't find time until Tuesday night to install it, and it kind of worked.  Researched the issues I had encountered on yesterday morning, and found that I needed rebuild the X drivers (mouse/keyboard ABI 7 vs 12 error) and the NVidia driver (GLX failed).  Guess I'm kind of annoyed that *portupgrade -ca* wasn't enough to keep things up to date.

I had originally intended to go with an XFCE desktop, but didn't notice that gdm defaults to Gnome...even though I invoking startxfce in .xinitrc.  So it was making a big mess at first.  And, selecting XFCE4 in gdm, also contradicted the instructions in the FreeBSD Handbook?  Ended up cleaning out my home dir and going with just Gnome, to match what I've been using at work.  Had been going XFCE on my Ubuntu systems....though wondering how expensive it would be to go FreeBSD 

Also wonder if I'll want a 'new' Quadro card....

The Dreamer.


----------



## Zapikanka (Sep 11, 2012)

wblock@, Could you show me your xorg.conf where you use ATI HD4650 with two outputs.
I have the same but cannot manage to use two monitors. Thanks.


----------



## wblock@ (Sep 11, 2012)

xorg.conf:

```
Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier   "X.org Configured"
        Screen       0  "Screen0" 0 0
        Option       "AIGLX" "On"
#       Option       "AutoAddDevices" "Off"
EndSection

Section "Files"
        ModulePath "/usr/local/lib/xorg/modules"
        FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/bitstream-vera/"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
        Group 0
        Mode  0660
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
        Option       "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "HWP"
        ModelName    "2615"
        Option       "PreferredMode" "1920x1200"
        #Option       "RightOf" "VGA-0"
        Option       "Position" "1280 0"
        Option       "DPMS" "Off"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor1"
        VendorName   "SAM"
        ModelName    "215"
        Option       "PreferredMode" "1280x1024"
        #Option       "LeftOf" "DVI-0"
        Option       "Position" "0 0"
        Option       "DPMS" "Off"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Card0"
        Driver      "radeon"
        VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"
        BoardName   "RV730 PRO [Radeon HD 4650]"
        Option      "AccelMethod" "EXA"
        Option      "Monitor-DVI-0" "Monitor0"
        Option      "Monitor-VGA-0" "Monitor1"
        Option      "ClockGating" "On"
        Option      "DynamicPM" "On"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        SubSection "Display"
                Virtual 3200 1200
        EndSubSection
EndSection
```


----------



## adamk (Sep 11, 2012)

For what it's worth, if you change the Identifier lines in the Monitor sections, to be the names given by xrandr (ie. DVI-0 and VGA-0) you can remove these lines from the Device section:


```
Option      "Monitor-DVI-0" "Monitor0"
        Option      "Monitor-VGA-0" "Monitor1"
```

Makes things a little simpler.

Adam


----------



## Zapikanka (Sep 13, 2012)

Good day. Thank you for reply

I have two monitors 1600x900 and 1280x1024

I've managed to get expanded screen for two monitors with xrandr as well but I every time I get 1600x900 one monitor with propely, but second one leaves with the same 1600x900 and I Do not get both monitors with different parameters. I suppose there is a miss in my configuration. Xorg.conf is the same as abox, I just change "PreferredMode" to main and vitrual size.


----------



## adamk (Sep 13, 2012)

What happens if you try to adjust the second monitor's resolution with xrandr?

Adam


----------



## Zapikanka (Sep 13, 2012)

Trying to point exact HxW with next commands:

```
zakhar# xrandr --output DVI-0 --mode 1280x1024
zakhar# xrandr --output DVI-1 --mode 1600x900
*zakhar# xrandr --output DVI-0 --mode 1280x1024 --left-of DVI-1
*zakhar# xrandr --output DVI-1 --mode 1280x1024 --left-of DVI-0
*zakhar# xrandr --output DVI-1 --mode 1600x900 --left-of DVI-0 --mode 1280x1024
```
Every time I get DVI-0 with propely HxW and DVI-1 with the same HxW and by * I get just monitor changing desktop tools.


----------



## Zapikanka (Sep 13, 2012)

Sorry, correcting: monitor 1280x900 is propely and cannot catch 1600x900 for the second.


----------



## Zapikanka (Sep 13, 2012)

x(Sorry, correcting: monitor 1280x1024 is propely and cannot catch 1600x900 for the second.


----------



## Zapikanka (Sep 21, 2012)

2 wblock@: Thank you for your xorg.

Per my writing above, could you suppose what is wrong with my configuration?

FreeBSD 9.0
HD 4650 two DVI outputs
Driver xf86-video-ati

My xorg.conf 

```
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "keyboard"
Option "XkbRules"   "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc105"
Option "XkbLayout" "us_EN,ru(winkeys)"
Option "XkbOptions" "grp:ctrl_shift_toggle"
EndSection

Section "ServerLayout"
        Identifier   "Dual Virtual"
        Screen       0  "Screen0" 0 0
        Option       "AIGLX" "On"
#       Option       "AutoAddDevices" "Off"
EndSection

Section "Files"
        ModulePath "/usr/local/lib/xorg/modules"
        FontPath "/usr/local/lib/X11/fonts/bitstream-vera/"
EndSection

Section "DRI"
        Group 0
        Mode  0660
EndSection

Section "Extensions"
        Option       "Composite" "Enable"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor0"
        VendorName   "HWP"
        ModelName    "2615"
        Option       "PreferredMode" "1280x1024"
        Option       "Position" "1280 0"
        Option       "DPMS" "Off"
EndSection

Section "Monitor"
        Identifier   "Monitor1"
        VendorName   "SAM"
        ModelName    "215"
        Option       "PreferredMode" "1600x900"
        Option       "Position" "0 0"
        Option       "DPMS" "Off"
EndSection

Section "Device"
        Identifier  "Card0"
        Driver      "radeon"
        VendorName  "ATI Technologies Inc"
        BoardName   "RV730 PRO [Radeon HD 4650]"
        Option      "AccelMethod" "EXA"
        Option      "Monitor-DVI-0" "Monitor0"
        Option      "Monitor-DVI-1" "Monitor1"
        Option      "ClockGating" "On"
        Option      "DynamicPM" "On"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
        Identifier "Screen0"
        Device     "Card0"
        Monitor    "Monitor0"
        SubSection "Display"
			Depth 24
                        Modes "1600x900" "1280x1024"
                        Virtual 2880 1924
        EndSubSection
EndSection
```


----------



## adamk (Sep 21, 2012)

What is the output of xrandr --verbose?


----------



## Zapikanka (Sep 21, 2012)

Good day

```
xrandr --verbose
Screen 0: minimum 320 x 200, current 2560 x 1024, maximum 2880 x 1924
DVI-1 connected 1280x1024+0+0 (0x53) normal (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 376mm x 301mm
	Identifier: 0x51
	Timestamp:  24272
	Subpixel:   no subpixels
	Gamma:      1.0:1.0:1.0
	Brightness: 1.0
	Clones:    
	CRTC:       0
	CRTCs:      0 1
	Transform:  1.000000 0.000000 0.000000
	            0.000000 1.000000 0.000000
	            0.000000 0.000000 1.000000
	           filter: 
	EDID:
		00ffffffffffff004c2d690139314a4d
		080f01036c261e782aee95a3544c9926
		0f5054bfef808180714f010101010101
		010101010101302a009851002a403070
		1300782d1100001e000000fd00384b1e
		510e000a202020202020000000fc0053
		796e634d61737465720a2020000000ff
		00485348593230363932340a2020007c
	dvi_monitor_type: auto
	scaler: off
	coherent_mode: 1 (0x00000001)	range:  (0,1)
	load_detection: 1 (0x00000001)	range:  (0,1)
  1280x1024 (0x53)  108.0MHz +HSync +VSync *current +preferred
        h: width  1280 start 1328 end 1440 total 1688 skew    0 clock   64.0KHz
        v: height 1024 start 1025 end 1028 total 1066           clock   60.0Hz
  1280x1024 (0x54)  135.0MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width  1280 start 1296 end 1440 total 1688 skew    0 clock   80.0KHz
        v: height 1024 start 1025 end 1028 total 1066           clock   75.0Hz
  1152x864 (0x55)  108.0MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width  1152 start 1216 end 1344 total 1600 skew    0 clock   67.5KHz
        v: height  864 start  865 end  868 total  900           clock   75.0Hz
  1024x768 (0x56)   78.8MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width  1024 start 1040 end 1136 total 1312 skew    0 clock   60.0KHz
        v: height  768 start  769 end  772 total  800           clock   75.0Hz
  1024x768 (0x57)   75.0MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width  1024 start 1048 end 1184 total 1328 skew    0 clock   56.5KHz
        v: height  768 start  771 end  777 total  806           clock   70.1Hz
  1024x768 (0x58)   65.0MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width  1024 start 1048 end 1184 total 1344 skew    0 clock   48.4KHz
        v: height  768 start  771 end  777 total  806           clock   60.0Hz
  832x624 (0x59)   57.3MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width   832 start  864 end  928 total 1152 skew    0 clock   49.7KHz
        v: height  624 start  625 end  628 total  667           clock   74.6Hz
  800x600 (0x5a)   50.0MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width   800 start  856 end  976 total 1040 skew    0 clock   48.1KHz
        v: height  600 start  637 end  643 total  666           clock   72.2Hz
  800x600 (0x5b)   49.5MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width   800 start  816 end  896 total 1056 skew    0 clock   46.9KHz
        v: height  600 start  601 end  604 total  625           clock   75.0Hz
  800x600 (0x5c)   40.0MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width   800 start  840 end  968 total 1056 skew    0 clock   37.9KHz
        v: height  600 start  601 end  605 total  628           clock   60.3Hz
  800x600 (0x5d)   36.0MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width   800 start  824 end  896 total 1024 skew    0 clock   35.2KHz
        v: height  600 start  601 end  603 total  625           clock   56.2Hz
  640x480 (0x5e)   31.5MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width   640 start  656 end  720 total  840 skew    0 clock   37.5KHz
        v: height  480 start  481 end  484 total  500           clock   75.0Hz
  640x480 (0x5f)   31.5MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width   640 start  664 end  704 total  832 skew    0 clock   37.9KHz
        v: height  480 start  489 end  492 total  520           clock   72.8Hz
  640x480 (0x60)   30.2MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width   640 start  704 end  768 total  864 skew    0 clock   35.0KHz
        v: height  480 start  483 end  486 total  525           clock   66.7Hz
  640x480 (0x61)   25.2MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width   640 start  656 end  752 total  800 skew    0 clock   31.5KHz
        v: height  480 start  490 end  492 total  525           clock   59.9Hz
  720x400 (0x62)   28.3MHz -HSync +VSync
        h: width   720 start  738 end  846 total  900 skew    0 clock   31.5KHz
        v: height  400 start  412 end  414 total  449           clock   70.1Hz
DVI-0 connected 1280x1024+1280+0 (0x53) normal (normal left inverted right x axis y axis) 443mm x 249mm
	Identifier: 0x52
	Timestamp:  24272
	Subpixel:   no subpixels
	Gamma:      1.0:1.0:1.0
	Brightness: 1.0
	Clones:    
	CRTC:       1
	CRTCs:      0 1
	Transform:  1.000000 0.000000 0.000000
	            0.000000 1.000000 0.000000
	            0.000000 0.000000 1.000000
	           filter: 
	EDID:
		00ffffffffffff004c2d21053032524c
		0e1401030e2c19782ab811a6554b9b25
		13505423080081009500818001010101
		010101010101302a40c8608464301850
		1300bbf91000001e000000fd00383c1e
		5111000a202020202020000000fc0053
		796e634d61737465720a2020000000ff
		00484c4a5a3430303434340a20200088
	dvi_monitor_type: auto
	scaler: off
	coherent_mode: 1 (0x00000001)	range:  (0,1)
	load_detection: 1 (0x00000001)	range:  (0,1)
  1280x1024 (0x53)  108.0MHz +HSync +VSync *current +preferred
        h: width  1280 start 1328 end 1440 total 1688 skew    0 clock   64.0KHz
        v: height 1024 start 1025 end 1028 total 1066           clock   60.0Hz
  1600x900 (0x63)  108.0MHz +HSync +VSync +preferred
        h: width  1600 start 1624 end 1704 total 1800 skew    0 clock   60.0KHz
        v: height  900 start  901 end  904 total 1000           clock   60.0Hz
  1440x900 (0x64)  106.5MHz -HSync +VSync
        h: width  1440 start 1520 end 1672 total 1904 skew    0 clock   55.9KHz
        v: height  900 start  903 end  909 total  934           clock   59.9Hz
  1280x800 (0x65)   83.5MHz -HSync +VSync
        h: width  1280 start 1352 end 1480 total 1680 skew    0 clock   49.7KHz
        v: height  800 start  803 end  809 total  831           clock   59.8Hz
  1024x768 (0x58)   65.0MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width  1024 start 1048 end 1184 total 1344 skew    0 clock   48.4KHz
        v: height  768 start  771 end  777 total  806           clock   60.0Hz
  800x600 (0x5c)   40.0MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width   800 start  840 end  968 total 1056 skew    0 clock   37.9KHz
        v: height  600 start  601 end  605 total  628           clock   60.3Hz
  800x600 (0x5d)   36.0MHz +HSync +VSync
        h: width   800 start  824 end  896 total 1024 skew    0 clock   35.2KHz
        v: height  600 start  601 end  603 total  625           clock   56.2Hz
  640x480 (0x61)   25.2MHz -HSync -VSync
        h: width   640 start  656 end  752 total  800 skew    0 clock   31.5KHz
        v: height  480 start  490 end  492 total  525           clock   59.9Hz
```


----------



## wblock@ (Sep 21, 2012)

Zapikanka said:
			
		

> 2 wblock@: Thank you for your xorg.
> 
> Per my writing above, could you suppose what is wrong with my configuration?
> 
> ...



Remove the red section.

Also, for two screens side by side, the Virtual value would be "2880 900".  Don't add both width and height values.


----------



## Zapikanka (Sep 21, 2012)

Thank you for reply.
I've got DVI-0 with 1600x900 propely and xrandr doesn't set mode 1280x1024 for DVI-0

%sudo xrandr --output DVI-1 --mode 1280x1024
xrandr: cannot find mode 1280x1024

But give to set any of

  1152x864       75.0* 
   1024x768       75.0     70.1     60.0  
   832x624        74.6  
   800x600        72.2     75.0     60.3     56.2  
   640x480        75.0     72.8     66.7     59.9  
   720x400        70.1


----------



## Zapikanka (Sep 21, 2012)

At last 've managed. Just virtual size increased to 1024 and changed opposite preffered modes in monitor section.
After the second set as well as the first.

Sorry for verbosity. Thank you wblock and all for help.

But favorable question: is that possible to have two restricted screens, I mean, to don't get any application window expanded for two monitors when try to expand the window inside single monitor?


----------

