I don't know what to think anymore. I'm a fool for tying to build my own computer. I should've just paid Hypersonic the $4k they wanted and been done with it.
I own two Nvidia Quadro NVS 440's. There is next to nothing on these pages, or the web in general, about getting these cards to work.
I just want 6 monitors (for business purposes). I went with two of the same card to avoid compatibility issues. My Abit IP35 Pro mobo has two PCIe slots. One is x16/x16, the other is x16/x4.
Each of my Quadro NVS 440's is x16.
For the life of me, I can't get it working. Since I built my own PC, windows was a clean install. I uninstalled RAID when I thought that was a problem. That Raptor drive looks nice in that HD cage. Too bad it isn't doing anything or connected to anything.
I asked elsewhere if I should install both cards and then install NVidia drivers or install one, install the drivers, and then install the other card. I got two totally different answers.
Apparently, there is a certain order in which to connect the monitors to the card. Too bad they don't mention it in the card instructions. I can't tell if my problem is that the slot doesn't read the card or that the monitor isn't getting a signal from the port. The port doesn't put out a signal unless a monitor is connected, I can't afford the next 4 monitors right now on account of the wad I blew on the other hardare, so how am I supposed to know if the card is working if I've haven't got spare monitors to plug into it? And even if I did have the monitors, I can't figure out the wretched port connection/verification sequence.
Got that? I don't.
Whatever. Daul RAMDACs, native display drivers in XP, voltage, watts, slots, ports, connection order, this, that, the other. I'm in way over my head, but it's too late now!
I thought I would try a 440 x1 version in the x4 PCIe slot to see if that worked, but I've already got $900 worth of graphics cards that I can't get to work, so I'm not keen on spending another $400 to have 3 cards that don't work. I don't know if the x1 slot has enough power/bandwidth/fill-in-the-blank-with-whatever-you-like to power the x16 440. Seems no one else does either.
Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment. I'm probably 60 hours into this whole mess and I'm no closer to the finish than when I started. I thought the $1,500 I would save over Hypersonic's price building it myself would be more than enough compensation for any trouble I had. That was bad judgment, for sure.
But now I can check "experienced" (by way of utter frustration and despair) when registering for these internet forums, so I guess it isn't all bad!