Installation is as easy as it gets: plug video card in, reboot, enable third monitor. At least on Windows 2000, which automatically installed drivers for the Diamond Viper 550 (Nvidia TNT chipset) and the Gateway Vivitron 15 monitor. On Windows 98, I had to change from the default VGA driver to the Detonator 2.08 drivers. Trying to enable the drivers, Win98 locked up. Re-enabling the driver with ASD and rebooting solved the problem.

Display properties on Win2000

One problem I did have was interference. When running the third monitor at 85 Hz refresh rate, I got a downward-moving wave pattern. When setting refresh to 75 or 100 Hz, the pattern vanished and the image was perfect. I'm currently using the following refresh settings:

Internet Explorer, Outlook Express and Windows Explorer

You can't see it on the image, but I have one toolbar on the bottom of each monitor. Taskbar on monitor 1, Quick Launch on monitor 2 and Address on monitor 3. This is very convenient. To add the toolbars, right-click the taskbar and select the toolbar you want. Grab it by its handle and move it to the monitor of your choice. It can dock at any side or float on the desktop.

If you don't want to use three monitors at all times (in my case, I'm also using the third monitor with my second computer), you can create a second hardware profile for booting only two monitors. You should create the second profile after you have successfully installed the third monitor:

• go to Control Panel, System. On Win2000, go to the Hardware tab, on Win98 to the Hardware Profiles tab.
• copy the current hardware profile
• rename the copy to '2 Monitors' and the original to '3 Monitors'
• reboot and select the '2 Monitors' profile
• go to Control Panel, Display, Settings and remove the third monitor from the desktop

VideoSaver playing the Star Wars Episode 1 Teaser

Conclusion
A third monitor is easily added and can be very useful. I'm writing this in a text editor on the first monitor, while previewing it in Internet Explorer on the third monitor and Navigator on the second. It seems like the multi-monitor experience is only limited by desk space and the number of PCI slots!

My system:

Win98, Win2000 RC2, 3 monitors, 3 video cards Dual Pentium II 400, 128 MB RAM, onboard Crystal audio, onboard 3Com Fast Ethernet NIC, Adaptec 2940U SCSI controller

Card 1:

AGP Diamond Multimedia Fire GL 1000 Pro, 3Dlabs Permedia 2 chipset Dell D1025HE 17" monitor Win2000: driver from CD Win98: 3Dlabs 21050366 driver

Card 2:

PCI Diamond Multimedia Fire GL 1000 Pro, 3Dlabs Permedia 2 chipset SONY CPD-100ES 15" monitor Win2000: driver from CD Win98: 3Dlabs 21050366 driver

Card 3:

PCI Diamond Multimedia Viper 550, Nvidia TNT chipset Gateway Vivitron 15" monitor Win2000: driver from CD Win98: Nvidia Detonator 2.08 driver

Note: pictures were taken with a Canon PowerShot A50 digital camera. I purchased this camera yesterday and love it. If you are interested in digital photography, check out the Digital Camera Resource and the Imaging Resource.