Dual display question....

[PointlesS]

ok well I have two monitors and soon I'm going to have dual monitors once I get a dvi to vga adapter...I was just wondering....would it be possible to have like one monitor playing a game...while the other monitor...chatting on irc or aim or soemthing? I have a radeon 8500 and running windows 2000....

 

[ProviaFan]

This question was asked earlier, but I can't find the original thread, so anyway...

The way DirectX and OpenGL work does not allow you to be doing something on monitor #2 while a game or other app that uses the DirectX or OpenGL is running fullscreen on monitor #1. Also, on consumer-level cards, you can not have OpenGL or DirectX acceleration on both screens at once (AFAIK).

 

[edblor]

Both DX and OpenGL allow for multi-monitor gaming, but it is in the application that you have limitations.

In other words, the game must support the dual monitors. Also, both monitors have to be connected to the same video card (which I believe is your case)!

Note, this applies to 3d full screen rendering, 2d is not affected by this!

I run dual monitors, but off of 2 video cards. 1 is the Radeon 8500, the other is a Radeon 7000. I had both monitors connected to the 8500, but I had DVI distortion T'was not a pretty site:Q

Hopefully your dual monitors will not have the same issue as I had (with the DVI)!

Edblor

 

[fr]

Originally posted by: PointlesS
ok well I have two monitors and soon I'm going to have dual monitors once I get a dvi to vga adapter...I was just wondering....would it be possible to have like one monitor playing a game...while the other monitor...chatting on irc or aim or soemthing? I have a radeon 8500 and running windows 2000....

Well I played Jedi Knight 2 in one screen with the walkthrough open on the second screen, but I couldn't scroll through the text without switching the Word window the the foreground, which minimized JK2, which caused me to have to shut it down and start again because it would stop working properly after being minimized .

Also, when you're playing a game, you will probably not be able to move your cursor out of the primary screen.


So your answer: not really.

 

[onelin]

It has sort of been answered, but I'll share my experiences too. While in a game you can't control your other monitor...you can still see it fine. I run dual monitors and I keep IRC open on my second monitor always... if I'm in a game I alt+tab out (if applicable) or exit if I want to respond to any activity in the channel(s) ...same could be done for AIM.