ATI Hydravision with 2 video cards: AGP + PCI- anyone have this?

[mfavin]

Since there are no good video cards with 2 DVI that don't cost $700+ I'm looking at this option as an upgrade for my Geforce 4 4600. I do want to run the latest games at the highest settings.

My thought is to get a Radeon 9800 Pro AGP and a Radeon 7000 PCI. ATI returned an email stating that Hydravision will support 2 monitors with DVI with all the seemless functionality you'd expect, using these two cards simultaneously.

However, I have my doubts and wonder if anyone has this type of setup and how well it works in terms of stability and functionality.

 

[rbV5]

You don't need hydravision for dual monitor support. It should work right out of the box, it would with VGA. I don't know why DVI would be any different.

 

[mfavin]

Wouldn't you need Hydravision to have one large desktop, where you can drag windows back and forth between monitors screens?

 

[blazingoat]

BE CAREFUL!!

I'm running an ATI All-in-Wonder 7500 AGP card and a Radeon 32mb PCI card w/ 2x 17" proview LCD monitors. I have problems playing dvd's with the ati software. It's a conflict between the mpeg2 decoding on each card, even if i disable the secondary monitor, my system still locks up when playing any mpeg2 file or dvd. I have to use windvd... ugh.. because it doesn't use the hardware decoding (software only, and not as good as the ATI dvd player). Ati says they don't offically recomend using two of their cards in this manner.
I duno if this will happen to you, but it's something to think about.

Now, Don't use hydravision. You don't need it. It's buggy as hell, and doesn't do anything. I use Ultramon (http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/). It's awsome. They have a 30day trial, check it out. And it's toally worth the 30$ or whatever. It ls the best piece of software ever.

"efficiently move windows and maximize windows across the desktop
manage more applications with the Smart Taskbar
control application positioning with UltraMon Shortcuts
multi-monitor support for desktop wallpapers and screen savers
mirror your main monitor to secondary monitors for a presentation "

try it out.
My Lcd's are only analogue, so i'm not worried about DVI right now, I got a great deal on them!

I do alot of video editing and such, also use my computer as my tv, since i don't have a regular tv, so the All-in-wonder card is a necessity. I'm wating for a dual-monitor All in woder card. (I'm told it should be available begining of next year).
CAn't wait good luck,

 

[mfavin]

Thanks for that info blazingoat.

Do you play any games with that setup? How does the computer know which card to use in a DirectX or OpenGL game?

 

[rbV5]

Wouldn't you need Hydravision to have one large desktop, where you can drag windows back and forth between monitors screens?

No, "extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor" is natively supported.

 

[Noriaki]

Originally posted by: mfavin
Wouldn't you need Hydravision to have one large desktop, where you can drag windows back and forth between monitors screens?

No Hydravision is just ATi's fancy name for doing that with 2 video out ports on the same card.

With two physical video cards it is supported natively in Win98+
I dont' think Win95 will do it, OSR2 might though.

 

[rbV5]

No Hydravision is just ATi's fancy name for doing that with 2 video out ports on the same card.

Even for a single card with dual RAMDAC hydravision isn't required for dual head support. Hydravision adds more functionality to dual head support, but doesn't provide it.

 

[Noriaki]

Originally posted by: rbV5

No Hydravision is just ATi's fancy name for doing that with 2 video out ports on the same card.

Even for a single card with dual RAMDAC hydravision isn't required for dual head support. Hydravision adds more functionality to dual head support, but doesn't provide it.

Actually that's a good point.

I don't have Hydravision installed on my machine at home (Radeon 7500 with 2 video outs), and it works just fine in multimonitor mode.

What the hell does Hydravision do? I have the drivers on a CD, but I never use it.

 

[blazingoat]

I play command and conquer Generals and filght sim and a few other things ocasionally. I usually disable my secondary monitor while playing games, because the game will only be displayed on the primary monitor (set up throught your windows display pereferneces). I have my AIW 7500 AGP card set as my primary monitor on the left. I can only watch TV in on this monitor. It's annoying to have the secondary monitor turned on during C&C generals because as i'm scroling the battlefiled, the mouse will move onto the other monitor by mistake (it doesn't stop at the edge of the screen, just goes onto the other monitor). Ultramon has a simple taskbar click to disable the secondary monitor.