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Is this dual monitor setup idea any good?

A

asintu

Senior member
I currently have a 19'' (5:4) samsung at 1280x1024.
I was initially thinking of getting a 24''. But then I thought...I could have more workspace and save money if I get a 22'' (1680x1050) and have a dual setup with my old 19''. I would game only on the 22'' at a lower resolution than the 24'' so I'll save some video cards money saved as well in the long term.

Would there be any problems with this dual setup? Like the fact that the horizontal resolutions are not the same? (1024 vs. 1050). Would all video cards handle this properly?
 
No problems with screens running at different resolutions. I would be concerned about the video card if you are jumping from a 19" to 22". Also, it's just me but I love my 24". HD video just looks amazing and gaming at 1920x1200 on 24" feels superior to my friends' 22" setups.
 
Originally posted by: ther00kie16
I would be concerned about the video card if you are jumping from a 19" to 22". Also, it's just me but I love my 24". HD video just looks amazing and gaming at 1920x1200 on 24" feels superior to my friends' 22" setups.
Click to expand...

I'm getting a whole new system, not just monitor..probably a 9600gt or 8800gt. I know 24 should be pretty amazing compared to 22..but at the same time 22 is cheaper and the video card will last me longer at the lower resolution.
 
Eh, it might become annoying detatching the 2nd monitor before you game. That's one of the reasons (amongst others) I never setup a second monitor. I've been running 1920x1200 for years (long before there was an LCD that ran it) and I have to say its a sweet res to run.
 
You can run games on the 2nd display. So you don't have to change any settings. And if that 19" is bothering you while you game, you can just turn that off.
 
Running games with the two monitors will have a negative impact on performance. I can't say how much of an impact. Oh, ya turning it should detatch it and then you're running in a single display mode.
 
Originally posted by: halabb
Running games with the two monitors will have a negative impact on performance. I can't say how much of an impact. Oh, ya turning it should detatch it and then you're running in a single display mode.
Click to expand...

You would usually use Dualview on multi-display setups rather than a span. There shouldn't be any performance impact in this case as you would only be running the game on a single display at a time still and you wouldn't have to change any settings.

You wouldn't want to do a horizontal span in general as most games don't look right due to the aspect ratio. Vista does not even have the option to do a span.
 
the thing is...how is the video card supposed to deal with the different horizontal resolutions? 1050 vs. 1024..i just don't see how it'll work.
 
The difference in resolutions won't matter. You can get a feel for how it'll look in display properties -> settings. It will just be a smaller box next to a larger one.
 
Originally posted by: asintu
the thing is...how is the video card supposed to deal with the different horizontal resolutions? 1050 vs. 1024..i just don't see how it'll work.
Click to expand...

You just have a difference in resolution, and you cant go from one to the other perfectly.
They match up at the top, and then you'll have 26 pixels at the bottom where you cant move the mouse to the other monitor (from the 22" to the 19"), but move the mouse up slightly and it's fine. Imagine a field with a small bit of fence that you have to go round rather than through.

There is ABSOLUTELY no problem running mixed resolutions (under XP at least).

I run 17 <> 20 <> 17 at 1280x1024 <> 1680x1050 <> 1280x1050 on 2 cards with no issues.
Gaming is done on the middle screen.

22" and 19" combined is the perfect setup also since 19 and 22" monitors are pretty much exactly the same physical height, as well as being almost exactly the same in terms of pixel height.
 
Originally posted by: Lonyo
Originally posted by: asintu
the thing is...how is the video card supposed to deal with the different horizontal resolutions? 1050 vs. 1024..i just don't see how it'll work.
Click to expand...

You just have a difference in resolution, and you cant go from one to the other perfectly.
They match up at the top, and then you'll have 26 pixels at the bottom where you cant move the mouse to the other monitor (from the 22" to the 19"), but move the mouse up slightly and it's fine. Imagine a field with a small bit of fence that you have to go round rather than through.

There is ABSOLUTELY no problem running mixed resolutions (under XP at least).

I run 17 <> 20 <> 17 at 1280x1024 <> 1680x1050 <> 1280x1050 on 2 cards with no issues.
Gaming is done on the middle screen.

22" and 19" combined is the perfect setup also since 19 and 22" monitors are pretty much exactly the same physical height, as well as being almost exactly the same in terms of pixel height.
Click to expand...

sweet, thanx for the great explanation. One more thing though...when I go from the 22 to the 19...does the lower part of the windows bar at the bottom get cut? or does it scale properly to the smaller screen?
 
Originally posted by: asintu
Originally posted by: Lonyo


There is ABSOLUTELY no problem running mixed resolutions (under XP at least).
Click to expand...

is there any know problems for dual display in vista?
Click to expand...

I haven't got any experience with using Vista, so I am not sure, but I know it works fine on XP.
I'm sure they couldn't have broken it that much on Vista.

As for the Windows taskbar, I'm not sure about Vista, but on XP the bar only features on the main screen. Programs like Ultramon (IIRC) can add a taskbar to the other screen, and it won't get cut off. So you can have an extended taskbar, and it won't be cut off. But I've only got XP experience, so I can't make any comments for sure about Vista.
 
Originally posted by: asintu
Originally posted by: Lonyo


There is ABSOLUTELY no problem running mixed resolutions (under XP at least).
Click to expand...

is there any know problems for dual display in vista?
Click to expand...

I'm sitting at my desk right now using 2 monitors with vista, and it's working perfectly for me. When I set the monitor up all I had to do was hook it up to the second DVI port on my card, then tell windows to extend my desktop to monitor 2. Also, contrary to what has been posted earlier in this thread, you will never need to disconnect the monitor or change settings when you play a game. Whenever you fire up a game with 2 monitors under vista it'll just run the game on monitor 1.
 
Originally posted by: Banzai042
Originally posted by: asintu
Originally posted by: Lonyo


There is ABSOLUTELY no problem running mixed resolutions (under XP at least).
Click to expand...

is there any know problems for dual display in vista?
Click to expand...

I'm sitting at my desk right now using 2 monitors with vista, and it's working perfectly for me. When I set the monitor up all I had to do was hook it up to the second DVI port on my card, then tell windows to extend my desktop to monitor 2. Also, contrary to what has been posted earlier in this thread, you will never need to disconnect the monitor or change settings when you play a game. Whenever you fire up a game with 2 monitors under vista it'll just run the game on monitor 1.
Click to expand...

what's the size/resolutions of your monitors?
 
the max resolution of the video card is 2560x1600. The combined resolution of the two monitors will be 2960x1050. How does the video card do that?
 
Originally posted by: halabb
Eh, it might become annoying detatching the 2nd monitor before you game. That's one of the reasons (amongst others) I never setup a second monitor. I've been running 1920x1200 for years (long before there was an LCD that ran it) and I have to say its a sweet res to run.
Click to expand...

Why do you have to disable it? Whe I was running my 8800 GTS/G92 I had my second monitor (1280x1024) on all the time, I just used my 24 for gaming. It was kinda nice having my mail up so I could see when something came in while gaming.

There is no difference in performance.
 
Max resolution is for a single monitor. 2560x1600 (~4.1MP) is for 30" lcds which require 2 dvi connections. Anything 1920x1200 (~2.3MP) or less only requires one so you can have 2 displays of up to 1920x1200 each.
 
Originally posted by: asintu
Originally posted by: Banzai042
Originally posted by: asintu
Originally posted by: Lonyo


There is ABSOLUTELY no problem running mixed resolutions (under XP at least).
Click to expand...

is there any know problems for dual display in vista?
Click to expand...

I'm sitting at my desk right now using 2 monitors with vista, and it's working perfectly for me. When I set the monitor up all I had to do was hook it up to the second DVI port on my card, then tell windows to extend my desktop to monitor 2. Also, contrary to what has been posted earlier in this thread, you will never need to disconnect the monitor or change settings when you play a game. Whenever you fire up a game with 2 monitors under vista it'll just run the game on monitor 1.
Click to expand...

what's the size/resolutions of your monitors?
Click to expand...

2 17 inch 1280x1024
 
Been running a 1920x1200 and 1680x1050 setup for awhile now. I could game easily on my 1920 while keeping email, im, internet open on the 1680 even with an overclocked 8600GTS. You don't have to disable the second monitor when you fire up a game unless the second monitor bothers you for some reason.
 
i've been running dual monitors for 2 years now and have no plans to go back to a single monitor
1680x1050 + 1280x1024 = lots of productivity.

i game on my 1680x1050 and do "secondary monitoring" on my other monitor
 
you *usually* don't have to disable the second monitor when you game. Most games just run on the main monitor and there's no problem. This goes for XP and Vista.



HOWEVER, there are a few cranky games that suffer from one of two problems.

Some games (Doom 3 in my experience) suffer from HORRIBLE performance (I'm talking ~15fps on an 8800 with all the settings on LOW) if you have a second monitor enabled. Disabling it via ultramon didn't fix this for me, but disabling it in NCP worked fine, and the game ran smoothly.

Other games don't "catch" the mouse, and you'll be able to move your mouse to the other monitor while in-game, and if you click, you'll kick yourself out of the game (similar to alt-tab). Especially bad in RTS, as most of them use the screen edges to scroll.

But these are both few and far between, most games catch the mouse and run normally.
 
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