I Need Advice, ...

[Arne]

Hey guys, just needed some pc advice. Basically, I want to run dual-monitors and I want to know if it is likely that my PC will be able to handle multiple applications running on two monitors. In particular, I want to play video clips on one monitor and play video games (CS) on the other... I am currently running a Celeron 1.6 with 2 gigs of RAM. I intend on buying another graphics card so both monitors are running off separate graphics cards, with the 'main' monitor on a good card. PLus I intend on getting another 1 gig of ram (i've got 3 slots so 1GB on each slot).. However, I am worried that the CPU is not going to cope. Plus, my powersupply is only 400Wts.

Is it possible? or is it just worth upgrading to a better CPU, which will be costly considering I'll also need to upgrade my M/B, which supports the older 478 socket and also only supports upto 2.4Ghz cpu's.

What do you guys think??

If I do upgrade, what do you guys think will be appropriate within a reasonable budget... i.e. upto $400US for upgrading... but then again, I doubt I'll find anything reasonable within that budget...

[Chase]

Quote: Originally Posted by Arne

Hey guys, just needed some pc advice. Basically, I want to run dual-monitors and I want to know if it is likely that my PC will be able to handle multiple applications running on two monitors. In particular, I want to play video clips on one monitor and play video games (CS) on the other... I am currently running a Celeron 1.6 with 2 gigs of RAM. I intend on buying another graphics card so both monitors are running off separate graphics cards, with the 'main' monitor on a good card. PLus I intend on getting another 1 gig of ram (i've got 3 slots so 1GB on each slot).. However, I am worried that the CPU is not going to cope. Plus, my powersupply is only 400Wts.

Is it possible? or is it just worth upgrading to a better CPU, which will be costly considering I'll also need to upgrade my M/B, which supports the older 478 socket and also only supports upto 2.4Ghz cpu's.

What do you guys think??

If I do upgrade, what do you guys think will be appropriate within a reasonable budget... i.e. upto $400US for upgrading... but then again, I doubt I'll find anything reasonable within that budget...

Sounds like ur pushing ur luck... cs source kills some frames when ur doing other stuff, especially running two vid cards... I didn`t even know that was possible but I have a pentium D 3.0 with a radeon x1800 which i don`t even fool with but I`m sure with a similar setup u could do it. The capabilities are there u don`t even need to cards just one nice one. 1.6 sounds like too little cpu though to me.

[battmain]

The celeron is what's going to kill you. You might be able to use some of the utilities out there to use some of the ram as a cache. Even so, video is rough on a celeron cpu. I have a regular 1.7ghz on the laptop and running dual monitors and dual desktop. Using the docking station with one monitor and the built in monitor on the laptop. Same card configured. Works great for work. You can see the cpu usage go up when I run a video and have 10-12 windows open. Only running 512mb RAM and since its the work pc, I'll let them spend the money on it.