How fast of a computer needed for dual monitor (GPS & DVD) setup

**mykolJay** · 09-22-2004, 05:27 PM

Hi, as many of you know I had my carputer finished...yeh right?
Mp3/DVD/OBDII/GPS/DIVX/wireless internet - but not expandable

Problem is: no pci slots for usb2.0 or extra video card (multiple monitor)

So, I've got another awesome case to use, and am getting a Celeron 650 mhz mobo/cpu combo for nothing. It's got embedded video/sound and pci/agp slots. I have a spare 256mb of ram.

Here is what I want to do.

I want to add a video card and have a multiple monitor setup so I can run, gps/music in the front and dvd in the back.
(Using Mediacar/FrodoDVD/iGuidance v.2.0)

Can a 650mhz do this? Is 256mb good enough? Is an old voodoo 3 good enough?

I've searched and no ones talked about performance of the computers in regards to multiple monitors. I know DVD play perfect by itself.

Thanks in advance for your help. Damn, this is an addiction.

**cheerio** · 09-22-2004, 06:05 PM

Well, to start off it depends on your configuration. The card will determine a lot of it, BUT your processor AND memory will have a very high load from the multiple applications. Also it depends on the code, i have a dual monitor setup right here, and i can watch a movie while doing other things. But i have noticed a lagg if i take a application and drag it very fast across the screens. As for the programming aspect, Media Player Classic will not play a video on my second screen without severly downgrading my preformace, but Media Player 9 will fine. As for DVD AND GPS/Music, you would be looking at a very downgraded perfomance. Remember MP3 takes up cpu to be decoded, and DVD takes up even more to decode the video, decode the audio, and still play them syncronized. DVD alone takes up a lot of the IDE shared bus speed.

My configuration is:

Intel Pentium 4 1.60 GHz
768 Mb ram
NVIDA GeForce MX 440 34 Mb
3dfx Voodo5 34 Mb

**mushin** · 09-22-2004, 06:06 PM

multiple monitors in itself doesn't really affect performance (as long as you're not saturating the PCI bus, but we won't go there because you're nowhere close.) So it's really whether your system can handle the various apps simultaniously.

**kickercivic1** · 09-22-2004, 09:00 PM

i think you need P4 3.2 and 2g.b of ram.lol.. on real note i have 733mhz in my car at this moment and it sux.i just orders amd 2500. cant wait to install that.

**mykolJay** · 09-22-2004, 11:16 PM

well, I have a celeron mhz w/ 256mb right now and mediacar, frododvd and iGuidance 2.0 all run smooth. It all depends on whether I can play both gps and dvd. I guess we'll see.

Any further input?

**mushin** · 09-23-2004, 12:07 AM

Sounds like you have all the hardware, try it out and see! (reality is a better judge of these things then we are anyway.)

**cheerio** · 09-23-2004, 04:29 AM

Originally Posted by mushin

multiple monitors in itself doesn't really affect performance (as long as you're not saturating the PCI bus, but we won't go there because you're nowhere close.) So it's really whether your system can handle the various apps simultaniously.

While this may be true, remember that every pixel that the OS has to display, it has to figure out which monitor it is on, so this means that every time a app is on the second monitor, it has to figure out the cordinates, put the cordinates relative to the 2nd monitor(0,0) instead of (1025,0). [from a programmers perspective, 1024 being the end of the 1st monitor, 1025 being 0,0 on the second monitor]

So if everytime the display is updated, it has to figure out these coordinates, it WOULD effect the cpu. Now what you said about PCI IS true, your best bet woudl be a multi-monitor outpout AGP card, as it would be the fastest, but it would still have an effect on the cpu.