Monitors don't have "drivers" in the strict sense of the word - its an INF file that contains information about refresh/resolution/etc and it isn't required to use a monitor. With a VGA splitter both monitors will get the same signal (cheap/bad splitters may degrade quality) - they'd have to operate at some common mode if you wanted everything on at once (if you exceed the ability of either monitor it will probably just pop up an error telling you the input is out of range - some really old CRTs may try and run inappropriate settings and the resulting image is usually very blurry). Alternately a VGA selector might be a better choice, again cheap ones may degrade quality, and then you could simply select up to whatever maximum resolution the selector can handle for a given monitor.

The Personal Cinema FX cards actually do have two monitor outputs, but if you don't have the break-out cable you won't have the VGA output. Here's a picture of the complete package:
http://mlm-s1-p.mlstatic.com/tarjeta-de-video … 34_112012-F.jpg
(it's a Chaintech branded card but they're all pretty similar) - the DVI-I port is available directly, but there's a VGA output carried on the proprietary breakout plug (next to the DVI-I port).

The FX 5200 will support clone output as if it were split (but no risk of quality loss as it's cloning the signal into each RAMDAC) - again you'll have to select a common resolution for them to be on at once. Alternately you can enable/disable whichever output you want based on the resolution/timing/etc you need. For example I'm guessing the TFT probably doesn't do 75-85 Hz (not many do), while you will probably want the CRT to do that to mitigate flicker. Running in "Extended" or "DualView" mode would allow each one to be configured independently, HOWEVER most games will default to whatever is set as the primary monitor, and Windows will treat the pair as a single larger desktop (so if you have 1024x768 on each, you will have an effective desktop of 2048x768), so you probably don't want to enable Extended/DualView mode for your specific application here.

If you don't have the break-out box, I would look for one, unless you don't need the Personal Cinema aspect of the card, in which case I'd just get a normal FX 5200 or some other card that doesn't rely on the proprietary breakout.

Quick ebay searches and voila:

Breakout box:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/220487771043

Another TV tuner enabled videocard (with all of its cables (I picked the first one I found that included its cables)):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/191288543840

A normal GeForce FX (I looked for something that's a bit faster):
http://www.ebay.com/itm/111430080259

VGA splitter won't work. But if the DVI carries RGB then you can us a DVI to VGA adapter.

Alternatively there are cards with dual VGA like the Matrox G400 / 450 for example.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

VGA splitter won't work.

And why not? 😕

EDITED: If cloning the output is not the desired effect, I see why a splitter would not work. 😀

But if the DVI carries RGB then you can us a DVI to VGA adapter.

DVI on all FX cards is DVI-I and carries the 'secondary' VGA signal (they have twin 400MHz RAMDACs); I'm assuming the issue here is that the break-out cable/box that has the secondary VGA output is unavailable. AFAIK only very modern cards (like Kepler GeForce) and some very old 3DLabs cards carry digital-only outputs (DVI-D or DFP), so that shouldn't be a worry with early-era DVI cards (GF3/4/FX or Radeon 7/8/9).

Alternatively there are cards with dual VGA like the Matrox G400 / 450 for example.

This would work well in terms of connectivity, but you'd give up features and performance from an FX (even the 5200 - depending on what you need the card to do this may or may not matter). With Matrox you easily go up to quad output (QID, G450-MMS, etc). There are twin-VGA GeForce FX cards from Jaton, PNY, and (if I remember right) PixelView, but there's no point imho - DVI-I->VGA adapters are cheap and common, and while DVI on older cards like this usually isn't a paragon of capability, it's still nice to have the optional connectivity.

Example twin VGA card:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/261560091325

Matrox with twin VGA:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/371124757114

Matrox with quad output:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/221518948466

TELEPACMAN do you want to clone the image or have 2 desktops?

For example I'm guessing the TFT probably doesn't do 75-85 Hz (not many do)

I don't know about 85hz but I have found many LCD monitor s do 75hz

smeezekitty wrote:

I don't know about 85hz but I have found many LCD monitor s do 75hz

Didn't mean to imply it doesn't exist 😊 - IME older and/or larger TFTs tend to be 59 or 60Hz. 75Hz seems relatively common on newer-ish 5:4 displays though (I always assumed it was a compatibility thing for working in "mixed" environments with CRTs).

I'm pretty sure a correctly set up CRT at 80+ Hz will give you less eyestrain than an LCD at non-native resolution with impedance mismatch (blurring and ghosting). And since the LCD is likely stuck at 60Hz, one peek at the CRT will cause instant headache. Better use one or the other, or just add a second graphics card...

Matrox Parhelia, and problem is solved. It should perform better than the FX5200 and it'll be able to run 3 monitors, all with different resolutions and refresh rates.

Mau1wurf1977 wrote:

TELEPACMAN do you want to clone the image or have 2 desktops?

I know this idea may seem a little crazy, but Initially I wanted a 19" Sony CRT to play games and watch movies (DirectX 7 and Glide), but at the same time when browsing PC magazine pdfs or just organizing my retrogaming-related files, would like to use a TFT, I do spend a lot of hours researching.
The FX5200 Personal Cinema is because I have some Sega and Nintendo Promotional VHS I want to backup and because it is fine for the games I want to play, and it has composite out if I want to play my games (NES for instance) on a tv.
I am connecting this PC also to a hi-fi because I need to backup a few vinyls and audio tapes. It will be a retroPC for all kind of stuff, not just games.
I'm thinking a 2.0GHz athlon xp-m, nGlide (or even a voodoo if I can spare one)and DOSBox would be a good start, with what I have, and not having to buy anything else.

I do have the break-out. Oh, and my FX5200 does not have DVI.

Maybe I'm missing it, but I still haven't seen do you want cloned image on two different displays, or two independent displays as your workspace. Can you provide a picture of your FX 5200 if it doesn't match up with commonly available web images of Personal Cinema FX 5200 or FX 5200s in general, please (it should be capable of supporting dual monitors).

As far as all of the audio/video capture - you can do audio capture with soundcard fairly easily (and may be better quality/features depending on what the FX audio input actually can do), and video capture with separate hardware is also fairly easy to do, so don't feel "chained" to the Personal Cinema/AIW cards. 😊

Oh, ok sorry, I thought I implied that on my first paragraph, but it was all in my head. Here it goes: I don't want cloned image. 😀 my primary workspace will be just the tft. I turn off the tft to play games on the crt.

This one is from MSI but the connectors are the same:

So VGA should be on the break-out (like in the original picture) ++ on the card; it will do dualview (FX 5200 supports that). However you will want to disable the LCD in Windows before gaming (it'll just eliminate a lot of headache).

obobskivich wrote:

So VGA should be on the break-out (like in the original picture) ++ on the card; it will do dualview (FX 5200 supports that). However you will want to disable the LCD in Windows before gaming (it'll just eliminate a lot of headache).

That is good news, thanks 😀 bye bye splitter cable!

Regarding the LCD in Windows, it really doesn't seem enough pratical for me. Can't I just turn off the LCD while I play on the CRT?

TELEPACMAN wrote:

obobskivich wrote:

So VGA should be on the break-out (like in the original picture) ++ on the card; it will do dualview (FX 5200 supports that). However you will want to disable the LCD in Windows before gaming (it'll just eliminate a lot of headache).

That is good news, thanks 😀 bye bye splitter cable!

Regarding the LCD in Windows, it really doesn't seem enough pratical for me. Can't I just turn off the LCD while I play on the CRT?

Yes you will want to turn it off - just go into windows and disable desktop extension onto that monitor and then it will either go into sleep mode or you can switch it off. Turning it off with its own switch, the computer doesn't know if it's on or off (that information isn't made available back to the computer), and if the game defaults or displays on that display you won't see anything (and/or it will be on the "wrong" monitor). Usually assigning the monitor you want to game on as the primary/#1 monitor will eliminate this, but I've seen some games that still don't quite "get it" when it comes to being on the right display, whereas if you just disable the unwanted monitors it only gives the game the option you want it to have. 😀