Duplicate Monitors

[Phil_M]

I have a GeForce GTX 780 card. In one room, I have a setup where a have a normal computer desk and chair. In another part of the room I have a 42" LCD with a Lazy Boy sitting in front of it. I have a very long HDMI cable running from the computer to the LCD TV. For playing games and watching videos, I'll sit in the lazy boy. When I'm doing "work" I'll sit at the desk and I can work faster.

I can't figure out if there's a reason or o turn off the TV output when I'm not using it.

I did a quick benchmark both ways with the framerate test that's in Thief (@1080p with Max settings):

Only 1 output on (Only output to LCD Monitor)
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Min: 42.7
Max: 61.6
AV: 57.6

With 2 outputs active (Output on to both LCD Monitor and 42" LCD TV)
-----------
Min: 41.5
Max: 61.6
AV: 57.6

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I know I can use "Windows_Key + P" to fairly quickly change between the LCD Monitor at the desk and the 42" LCD TV. But, it would be easier to just leave both outputs on all the time and then just turn on whichever LCD I'm sitting in front of.

If leaving both outputs on does not seem to hurt frames per second, is there a reason to not leave a video output on for both the LCD Monitor and LCD TV at the same time?

 

[96Firebird]

In the past, if the two monitors had different resolutions or refresh rates, the idle clocks for the graphics card would be higher than if only one monitor was active. This meant higher idle temperatures, and obviously higher idle power usage. However, I just did a quick test on my setup (1680x1050 monitor, 1920x1080 TV) and the idle clocks always went down to the same clocks. Seems like they "fixed" this with the newer cards.

Seems like there is no reason to de-activate your secondary display when it is not in use.

 

[Phil_M]

You summed it up a lot better than I did "... de-activate secondary display when not in use".

Thanks, much appreciated!