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ATI vs NVidia Dual Monitor Support

N

napes22

Senior member
I recently had to RMA my ATI 4830 due to issues with Dual monitor and screen flickering. I'm considering buying an NVidia as a replacement because I have had nothing but issues with ATI's last 3 catalyst releases.

Is NVidia Dual Monitor support any better than ATI? My ATI card used to crap out when I used overdrive with 2 monitors enabled.
 
Originally posted by: napes22
I recently had to RMA my ATI 4830 due to issues with Dual monitor and screen flickering. I'm considering buying an NVidia as a replacement because I have had nothing but issues with ATI's last 3 catalyst releases.

Is NVidia Dual Monitor support any better than ATI? My ATI card used to crap out when I used overdrive with 2 monitors enabled.
Click to expand...

I've had good results with dual monitor support on a few different NV cards, but I can't tell you if it's any better or worse than ATI's stuff.
 
I've been having the same annoying issues with a visiontek 4850 and dual monitors. Overdrive is unusable with dual monitors, and I've noticed that when playing games, the second monitor loses all hardware acceleration, and defaults to aero basic. Certain windows with transparency, or other graphical elements start flickering. Honestly, I'm done with ATI's shitty support so I'm waiting for a good deal on a 260.
 
Not tried overdrive with duals hooked up, but not had any issues using my ATI card and basic dual monitor stuff.
NV is still superior IMO (from my experiences with dual monitors and XP) since you can use span mode which allows you to have a game fullscreen over two monitors. AFAIK that can't happen with ATI.
NV also has other stuff, or did, like the ability to grid your monitors.

IMO NV has the far superior multi monitor/desktop stuff, and the only reason I'm using ATI is because it has better price/perf.
Not had any issues with basic dual monitor use with ATI and XP, but I do miss the extra functions and features NV offers.
 
Originally posted by: ss284
I've been having the same annoying issues with a visiontek 4850 and dual monitors. Overdrive is unusable with dual monitors, and I've noticed that when playing games, the second monitor loses all hardware acceleration, and defaults to aero basic. Certain windows with transparency, or other graphical elements start flickering. Honestly, I'm done with ATI's shitty support so I'm waiting for a good deal on a 260.
Click to expand...

nVidia does that too 😛

Originally posted by: Lonyo
Not tried overdrive with duals hooked up, but not had any issues using my ATI card and basic dual monitor stuff.
NV is still superior IMO (from my experiences with dual monitors and XP) since you can use span mode which allows you to have a game fullscreen over two monitors. AFAIK that can't happen with ATI.
NV also has other stuff, or did, like the ability to grid your monitors.

IMO NV has the far superior multi monitor/desktop stuff, and the only reason I'm using ATI is because it has better price/perf.
Not had any issues with basic dual monitor use with ATI and XP, but I do miss the extra functions and features NV offers.
Click to expand...

There is no span mode in Vista. nVidia and ATi both don't offer it. At the moment with Catalyst 9.2 vs the current nVidia drivers. I find that they are pretty much on-par in terms of multi-monitor performance.
 
I know for the money right now, ATI is the better buy (I got my 4830 at $85 from newegg compared to the 9800GT at $130), but the driver get annoying. I have an 1800XT before this where I had little to no issues, but my ATI card before that was a buggy piece of junk.

One thing I've heard about the 4830 that I have (Sapphire) is that it significantly underclocks the 2D to lower power consumption. Does the 4850 do that too? Do the NVidia cards?
 
Originally posted by: ss284
I've been having the same annoying issues with a visiontek 4850 and dual monitors. Overdrive is unusable with dual monitors, and I've noticed that when playing games, the second monitor loses all hardware acceleration, and defaults to aero basic. Certain windows with transparency, or other graphical elements start flickering. Honestly, I'm done with ATI's shitty support so I'm waiting for a good deal on a 260.
Click to expand...

I get that with my 8800gts

 
Originally posted by: WelshBloke
Originally posted by: ss284
I've been having the same annoying issues with a visiontek 4850 and dual monitors. Overdrive is unusable with dual monitors, and I've noticed that when playing games, the second monitor loses all hardware acceleration, and defaults to aero basic. Certain windows with transparency, or other graphical elements start flickering. Honestly, I'm done with ATI's shitty support so I'm waiting for a good deal on a 260.
Click to expand...

I get that with my 8800gts
Click to expand...

In my case Vista switches to basic mode when playing games, but I do not see any flickering.
 
Originally posted by: fleshconsumed
Originally posted by: WelshBloke
Originally posted by: ss284
I've been having the same annoying issues with a visiontek 4850 and dual monitors. Overdrive is unusable with dual monitors, and I've noticed that when playing games, the second monitor loses all hardware acceleration, and defaults to aero basic. Certain windows with transparency, or other graphical elements start flickering. Honestly, I'm done with ATI's shitty support so I'm waiting for a good deal on a 260.
Click to expand...

I get that with my 8800gts
Click to expand...

In my case Vista switches to basic mode when playing games, but I do not see any flickering.
Click to expand...

Win7 is better, it doesnt switch to basic mode but it still flickers on some windows.
 
I'm pretty sure I still had 3d acceleration on monitor 2 when running a 8800gt with dual monitors in vista, but I could be mistake since it was a while ago.

As for windows 7, even with the newest 9.3 drivers I am getting the second monitor entering basic mode with flickering on certain windows with a fullscreen 3d app on the first window.

Overdrive with two monitors is still completely borked when entering a 3d app.
 
Originally posted by: ss284

Overdrive with two monitors is still completely borked when entering a 3d app.
Click to expand...

How so? I run 2 monitors with the setup in my sig, both 4870x2's overclocked in OverDrive... haven't really had any issues. I mean the second monitor isn't as useful as it could be since I have to run in FullScreen mode to retain the benefits of CrossFire, but still... if I have say iTunes or Ventrillo open on my second monitor and load up a game, I haven't noticed any adverse effects like flickering or what have you.

 
I'm still on XP, and after 2 minutes of Overdrive with Dual Monitors, the screens go blank and I have to reboot. There hasn't been one driver that has been able to handle it. I haven't had a chance to try a game with OD because it gets "borked" before I can open anything.
 
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