Questions about Multi-Monitor Setups!

[CrazyHelloDeli]

I am going to be a building a new machine with an 8800gts and a Samsung 940BF 19" 1280x1024 75Hz LCD very shortly. I currently have a 21" NEC FE2111SB CRT running at 1600x1200 at 85Hz that I would like to continue using for games. I guess I should list what I would like to be able to do and maybe you all can answer wether ill be abale to do it

-I would Like to use both monitors with their above listed resolutions and refresh rates simultaniously.
-I would like to be able to switch between the two monitors for different applications as needed. For example would I be able to choose which monitor to play a game on?
-I want to be able to surf the web on one monitor while using another application, such as a game, on the other. Extended duplicate desktop, not spanned.

Forgive me for my rather clumsy writing atm, as I have highly medicated and not thinking clearly I would appriciate any help.

 

[brikis98]

Originally posted by: CrazyHelloDeli
-I would Like to use both monitors with their above listed resolutions and refresh rates simultaniously.

shouldn't be a problem

Originally posted by: CrazyHelloDeli
-I would like to be able to switch between the two monitors for different applications as needed. For example would I be able to choose which monitor to play a game on?
-I want to be able to surf the web on one monitor while using another application, such as a game, on the other. Extended duplicate desktop, not spanned.

for regular windows applications, this isn't a problem. i run two LCD's at work and two CRT's at home... i usually have the primary reading (code, webpages, email) on the best monitor and other junk (gaim, itunes, menus) on the other monitor. windows supports "extended desktop" which just spans the desktop across both monitors. you can drag whatever windows you need between them and certain apps (ultramon, for example) give you multiple taskbars and other fun multi monitor gizmos.

as for games, you'll be able to choose which monitor to play a game on (or it'll default to whichever monitor is specified as the "primary") but sometimes while you game, the other monitor goes black/shuts off. for some combinations of video cards/drivers/games, you'll be able to run games in one monitor and other applications in the other, but it's not guaranteed. moreover, even if the other is running, you can't always move the mouse to it w/o alt-tabbing, which some games don't support.

 

[Tifosi248F1]

Like you I have 2 different res monitors, 20" NEC LCD and 19" samsung CRT running different resolutions. Since you are getting an nVidia card you can use the included multi-monitor software called nview. It should install automatically with both monitors connected. Once everything is installed you just have to go in to the display properties to the tab for the card and it should give you options for running your displays in certain modes: spanned, cloned, or multiview. Spanning would be awkward with 2 different resolutions, I believe it would default to the lowest res, or maybe it just creates a black line on the higher res monitor I'm not sure I don't use spanning. MultiView would be the best for you as it allows running at different res. You set a primary monitor where things open by default and you can add buttons to the titlebars that throw the window to the other monitor. It should also remember which monitor an app was opened and closed on, as if I closed firefox on the secondary monitor it would open on the secondary the next time I ran it. I'm unsure about having a specific program open on a specific monitor as I never got that far with the nvidia software. I now use a program called UltraMon which is a multi-mon prog. It has the same basics as the nvidia software but more flexibility. I can edit shortcuts and tell my games to run on my CRT, and it doesn't disable my LCD although you can choose to do so. It's fairly simple to use, although it isn't free. Hope this helped you out a bit.