[Saber Cherry]

Well... multiple cards probably don't work too well in this age of AGP. It's best to have one good AGP card that does everything... also, multiple video drivers can conflict. All the ATI All-In-Wonder cards do this kind of stuff (dual monitors, TV in and out) but they are kind of expensive. I know some Nvidia-based cards have TV and multi-monitor support, but I don't know which ones.

Why avoid MX? They are inferior. MX cards are crippled Versions of Nvidia's main cards, and they have an inferior chip and (usually) cheaper components. I generally prefer a high-end previous gen card with good components than a low-end current gen card with crippled chips (like half the pixel pipes) and cheap, inferior components (lower reliability, worse image and signal fidelity).

ATI and Nvidia both make high-end and low-end cards, and sometimes even the high-end ones use crappy components and break or don't work right, but I always avoid the low-end ones. Middle ones are OK, like the GF4TI-4200 which is the bottom of the true GF4 line, but much better than the top of the low-end GF4MX line (the 440).

Nowdays, both companies hide this stuff, and don't stick obvious letters like "mx" or "ve" (value edition) in their products. So Radeon 9800 and 9700 are good, and 9600/9500 are mid-range but use a crippled chip (probly with a half-width memory datapath), while the 9000, 9100, and 9200 I don't know much about but probably use a badly crippled chip and crappy components on the card to lower the price to the minimum.

I wish I could tell you exactly what to buy, but I haven't tracked the market much lately, what with no good demanding 3D games coming out. All I can say for sure is that retail stores rip you off=) A 2-year-old $129 GeForce MX 440 at Best Buy will cost $50 on the internet.

-Cherry