Dual Monitors how??

[yu-cha 0]

the way i do it is that i have to nvidia cards (one agp and one pci). if you go with two video cards, then you have to have them the same chipset (nividia with nvidia or ati with ati). i have also found that it is a good ideal to set the pci card as the primary for the display card. once done and you you install any recent nvidia drivers, windows will choose one of the monitors at a primary display. when you are logged into windows you go into your display properties and adjust screen size and refresh rate. another good thing to do it to have simular type monitors. having to two that are different size or refresh rate can cause freuqncy disruptions between the two.

[organicbmx 0]

i have a vga and dvi output graphics card. i have a spare lcd screen so when i get the adaptor cable will i get a better resolution/quality if i use the dvi cable to my best, largest, main screen? or will the adaptor remove any benifits or are there none anyway?

[hazeshow 0]

I think it wouldn't look good having a gap in the middle of your desktop, in between the monitors. LOL.

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Hehe ...

 

Hmm ... what if I have three graphic cards in my computer? Can I use three monitors? Can I use four monitors if I have two dual graphic adapters? I have seen a dual monitor system, it looked pretty cool, but a three of four monitor system would be sooo much cooler, wouldn't it? Ok ... if we forget the two or three gaps in the desktop.

 

GreetingZ

[kam1405241509 0]

You just need 2 screens and 2 VGA or DVI ports, either on 1 or 2 cards. It's known as dual-head or multi-head. You don't have to stop at 2 either. Computerjoe, since you dislike having two LCD bezels blocking your gaming enjoyment, you could go for three, and have the other two angled and at the side of the middle one. There are other methods too, but they are not meant for consumers and currently cost too much for mainstream users.Matrox used to be a leader, and are famous for having quality 2D, but now only really focuses on 2D and multihead, and decent cards often have decent TMDS chips anyway, so there's no advantage. Their Parhelia drivers are good for multihead gaming, but Nvidia's are pretty good too in this area. ATI however (at least last time I checked last year) suck in this respect. Also, many games simply don't take advantage of these driver features anyway. I think there was an old THG article that spoke about how cool it'd be to have 3-head racing games to see opponents trying to overtake you without having to use trackers/HMDs. It also mentioned a use in RTS games where you could have a zoomed out view on one of the screens, and in online games where chat could be on a separate screen. There are so many uses even beyond simply stretching out the viewpoint ... but most developers just don't seem to want to bother!! Perhaps it's recent popularity, thanks to thin gaming LCDs allowing the use of further desktop space, may eventually change their minds.There's no need for two graphics cards, it costs nothing these days to add an extra DVI transmitter chip & socket. Adding a 2nd card can however increase your 3D performance (look up Nvidia's SLI on Google .. ATI also have an equivalent though it's not very good!).It's best to get two DVI ports, rather than DVI & VGA. AFAIK I though most of the modern gaming cards I've seen had DVI ports not VGA ones. As for TV gaming .. someone mentioned FPS's .. I'm amazed. I suck at FPSs when on a console (suck more than usual ;-)). Maybe it's the lack of a mouse, but I think it's also due to not being able to see as much (TV is at 640x480 unless you have an HDTV .. I guess eventually we need HDMI so I can't see many bothering with this yet .. compared to high-end games that regularly run at 1600x1200) and having constrained reaction timings (normal TV is at 24/30Hz interlaced, so at best we'd get 60Hz games ... which is pretty lame compared to 8ms responses at 125Hz and decent cards can get to 125fps in many games). TV it seems is still far from ideal for FPS games in my mind. Of course, it's a 'free' option, so what the heck!Finally, at the really high-end, there are cards that have 4 or even 8 outputs (the latter are only 2D focused really, by Colographic, but they have low-end ATI based ones too, but the latter have occurred once or twice in ultra high-end gaming cards, and pro cards).In summary, Nvidia seemed to have the best multi-head drivers (and the best drivers overall for many other things, IMHO .. but there's no arguing that ATI cards have their advantages too .. see my other recent post today on ATI/NV gaming benchmarks). And since most games have no support for this, even today, I'd prefer to buy a really high-res fast LCD like Apple's HD LCDs, and then pump dual-link DVI data into it! ATI at the consumer-end is potentially going to lead here in the non-Mac field, though there relevant cards aren't out yet (see their X1800 series).In non-gaming settings it's definitely useful to be able to setup certain sets of apps at different screens (e.g. email/chat on a separate screen from your main work, so you can respond ASAP without having to minimise the work apps etc).Organicbmx, better resolution depends on the type of DVI TMDS chips at your card & LCD, and their specs of course. The high-end is at dual-link DVI (the data channel is twice as fast, basically).Hazeshow, yes, you can easily go up to 4 screens, no probs, with either 3-4 cards with single outputs, or two cards with two outputs each. There are limits to scaling up however. The current Windows consumer OS, XP, can handle up to 10 screens (http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/display_multi_monitors_overview.mspx), though you can use some custom drivers to trick windows around this by making it think 4 screens are actually just one (I think it's a software only solution but it might have some FPGA box in there too .. sorry I've forgotten, saw it last year, and I'm sure you can find it on Google by searching for multi-head (it was a small company dedicated to this area). Linux/X also have certain limits, and it was >10 for sure. But I don't think anyone here (home users, gamers etc) really needs (or can afford) that many displays .. however there are some famous modders with decent flight sim setups with loads of CRTs or LCDs .. I'm very jealous of those guys, since I love flight sims!!! Many flight sims support programmability, for things like putting instruments on certain screens, or for accessing/setting up servers for traffic control, chatter, real world weather/time ... but that's a specialist topic, sorry for going off on this tangent ;-).Anyway, I'd finally like to mention that some of you may be interested in looking at PCIE if you're getting into multi-head. There are many dual PEGx16 boards, and even one FOUR (yep FOUR) PEGx16 board demo'd recently at a computing show in Taiwan (I think). I'm sure this kind of thing will eventually become common/cheap, as with all things in computing!

[hazeshow 0]

Hazeshow, yes, you can easily go up to 4 screens, no probs, with either 3-4 cards with single outputs, or two cards with two outputs each. There are limits to scaling up however. The current Windows consumer OS, XP, can handle up to 10 screens (http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/display_multi_monitors_overview.mspx), though you can use some custom drivers to trick windows around this by making it think 4 screens are actually just one (I think it's a software only solution but it might have some FPGA box in there too .. sorry I've forgotten, saw it last year, and I'm sure you can find it on Google by searching for multi-head (it was a small company dedicated to this area).

Hi Kam,

 

Thanks a lot for your posting! Unfortunately all the graphic adapters I own are AGP slot, otherwise I would really like to try out to have three screens. Now I know why PCI graphic cards on ebay are more expensive than AGP cards. I think you're right, noone here needs 10 displays, three monitors would really be enough, who has a table with enough space for 10 screens? But I can imagine that the possibility of running ten (or even 40 with that driver trick) screens could be interesting for artists, video installations in galleries and so on.

 

GreetingZ

[kam1405241509 0]

Hi Kam,

 

Thanks a lot for your posting! Unfortunately all the graphic adapters I own are AGP slot, otherwise I would really like to try out to have three screens. Now I know why PCI graphic cards on ebay are more expensive than AGP cards. I think you're right, noone here needs 10 displays, three monitors would really be enough, who has a table with enough space for 10 screens? But I can imagine that the possibility of running ten (or even 40 with that driver trick) screens could be interesting for artists, video installations in galleries and so on.

 

GreetingZ

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Hi Hazeshow, not to worry, you CAN still do it with AGP plus PCI cards. I've seen good mid-level gaming cards for PCI (GF5s), and of course AGP (GF6s) cards are still fine in most modern games (half life 2, doom3, far cry etc), and both have dual-head features so you can go up to 4 screens with decent gaming performance. There's no real need to go to PCIE right now unless you're a real gaming enthusiast. Personally, if you can, I'd wait for the crazy 4-way PCIE boards to come down in price maybe in a year or 2. Also DX10/Xbox360 will influence the marketplace a lot ... Of course the other side of that is that you could keep waiting forever!!

 

He he, well, this is one famous setup (http://www.pibmug.com/files/wideview.jpg), but most people actually modify or DIY a custom desk!! With LCDs, though, this is now a bit easier to do without rearranging your whole room/desk for it :-). I remember there was a website that collected all these guys' setups with pics, but I've forgotten where that is, sorry, but you get the idea .. monitors going in ALL directions ;-).

 

Also, there were several guys who actually setup projection based systems similar to pro/military systems .. but that requires extending the house, using a truck etc. One guy even bought the cockpit part of an old 737 .. it's in his basement or garage (the wife wasn't too happy, I remember, but resigned to it .. damn he's lucky .. er, or perhaps a bit too much of an extreme geek :-))).