Question about dual monitors

[b easy]

Hello.

Will a 4770 run dual 22" monitors at 1920x1080 resolution? I'll be using it for web design and gaming.

When you connect 2 monitors to a single graphics card it basically splits it in half, so you would only get half the performance, right?

Would it be better to just buy 2 graphics cards and hook up one to each monitor? Or should I just connect both to the same graphics card?

I'll be using two Dell 22" S2209W.

Suggestions are always welcome. Maybe a stronger graphics card? Or 22" with lower resolution?

 

[somethingsketchy]

Not exactly. Your primary monitor (whichever one is plugged into the first port) is assigned to the primary actions of the card. For example if you were to play a game on the primary monitor, the visual effects on the second monitor will be somewhat degraded since your graphics card is working to process the graphics for the first monitor. Both monitors will run fine, but the first (primary) monitor will have priority over the second monitor. To play games at 1920x1080, I would recommend nothing less than a 1GB 4850 or 4870 (unless you go 4850x2 or 4870x2). You will notice a performance decrease when the card will be working to display two different images at the same time.

You can hook both monitors up to only one card, but be fore-warned that your gaming performance will take a significant hit, if you decided to use a 4770.

 

[Chapbass]

Originally posted by: somethingsketchy
Not exactly. Your primary monitor (whichever one is plugged into the first port) is assigned to the primary actions of the card. For example if you were to play a game on the primary monitor, the visual effects on the second monitor will be somewhat degraded since your graphics card is working to process the graphics for the first monitor. Both monitors will run fine, but the first (primary) monitor will have priority over the second monitor. To play games at 1920x1080, I would recommend nothing less than a 1GB 4850 or 4870 (unless you go 4850x2 or 4870x2). You will notice a performance decrease when the card will be working to display two different images at the same time.

You can hook both monitors up to only one card, but be fore-warned that your gaming performance will take a significant hit, if you decided to use a 4770.

This isn't quite true either. Sorta, but I feel you're making it sound much worse than it really is.

You won't notice a big hit in performance with 2 monitors over 1, so long as the 2nd monitor is doing 2d work (web surfing, AIM, etc). If they're both doing 3d work, definitely.

And depending on the game, the 4770 would run 1920x1080 just fine. My 8800gts 640mb runs 1920x1200 with another 1440x900 just fine on most titles (to be fair, I dont really play top of the line state of the art shooters with all effects enabled).


All kinda depends on what you want to do. Definitely the 48xx series will be more "up to it", but it all depends on what games you plan on playing.

 

[dhorn]

I just hooked up two 1920x1080 monitors to my 8800gts 640mb as well. They are the Dell S2209W that you mentioned and it works fine. Excellent displays for the price too. I have played TF2 and Mirrors Edge at that resolution mostly maxed and it's been fine. Haven't gotten around to testing any more graphic intensive games yet though.

 

[mpilchfamily]

The only real differnce you will see with one monitor versus 2 monitors is in a benchmark. If you want to know the differnce then run 3D mark a few times and see what your scores are. There will be a small drop in your FPS and score with the dual monitor but its not that big of a deal.

 

[Jakeisbest]

Originally posted by: mpilchfamily
The only real differnce you will see with one monitor versus 2 monitors is in a benchmark. If you want to know the differnce then run 3D mark a few times and see what your scores are. There will be a small drop in your FPS and score with the dual monitor but its not that big of a deal.

^^
I agree.

I am running 2x 19" monitors 1440x900 with an 8800gt 512mb. I have not noticed any kind of performance hit in TF2, L4D, Supreme Commander, or Stalker. Love being able to have the my game playing on one monitor and having chat / gmail / game guide open on the other monitor.

Just beware once you get used to the convenience of two monitors you can never go back!

 

[CKent]

I never noticed any performance hit at all running 2 monitors. My real problem with it was that to access another window (say, a web browser) in a game, I'd have to tab to that window, which would minimize the game - making having a second monitor kinda pointless, at least for me. However if a game runs in fullscreen windowed mode (eg. WoW) then you can set it to that and benefit from a second monitor, being able to surf the web while keeping an eye on the game. In short it's really a matter of preference rather than whether a card can do it, and imo pretty pointless. The only performance hit you might see is if you try to run two 3d games, one on each monitor.