Two Monitors?

[Venesectrix]

I've been thinking of using two monitors, but I've got a bunch of n00b questions...how does having two monitors work? Can you just put some programs to display on one and some on the other? Do you press a button or something to signify that you're changing from using one monitor to the other? Or does whatever you're doing appear on both monitors? Do you need any special hardware (other than a second monitor)? Is the hardware expensive? Any and all information would be greatly appreciated :)

[Damian]

Well, let's see. To work with two monitors, you either need a dual head card (most new cards are dual-head nowadays; obtain a DVI->VGA adapter and you're ready to go) or two single-head cards. If you have a single-head AGP card, an easy way to get another monitor is to buy a cheap PCI card and attach the monitor to that.

The benefit of two monitors is that you get a larger desktop. You can drag/drop windows from one monitor to another, and even have them go between windows; think of it as a higher-res desktop, although it's nont exactly the same.

Software such as nvidia's nview (and ATI's version too, I'm guessing) allow you to assign keyboard shortcuts to move windows between monitors. Again, this is not necessarily since they can just be dragged from one monitor to another.

[kagee108]

To the extent that you can do one thing on one monitor and something else on the other depends on the software too.

Something else... you are using more memory as you open up more programming. Beef up your ram if you do go to two monitors.

[Venesectrix]

If I maxamize a window with 2 monitors, will it fill up both screens or just one? Could I, for example, be playing a full-screen game on one monitor and surfing the 'net with the other? About how much RAM is good (I've got 512MB Corsair PC2700 right now)?

[kagee108]

Originally posted by Venesectrix
If I maxamize a window with 2 monitors, will it fill up both screens or just one? Could I, for example, be playing a full-screen game on one monitor and surfing the 'net with the other? About how much RAM is good (I've got 512MB Corsair PC2700 right now)?

1) 1. But, let's say you are using WORD, you can have two windows open, drop and drag the second window to the second screen and view both at the same time as well as work on them (1 at a time).

2) That will depend on the application (game) and system resorces. Remember... 2 monitors does not equal two computers. You may be able to, but how fast and will the game run smooth?

3) How much ram is dependant upon what you plan to do. Games need ram, sometimes alot of it. I don't know what apps you plan to run simultaneously. Another 512 stick wouldn't hurt, but then if the rest of your system is so-so, simply adding more ram may not solve all the problems you may run into should you run two intense programs at the same time.

[9mmCensor]

Having two monitor is really nice. To see if you like it, and you most likely will, if your Graphics card supports it grab an old monitor and hook 'em up and play around with it and see how you like it.

[funzie]

I had dual monitors when it first came out in windows, I used it for a week and removed it since I found myself only using one monitor most of the time. It was useful however when programming. As for gamming playing a full screen game that is not in a window will only cause one monitor to work. Off course this was using win98se, but maybe it has changed with XP, but i doubt it.

[JigPu]

Originally posted by kagee108
1) 1. But, let's say you are using WORD, you can have two windows open, drop and drag the second window to the second screen and view both at the same time as well as work on them (1 at a time).
Actually, with ATI's Hydravision (their multi-monitor thing) enabled, you can have the choice of maximizing to the monitor, or to the entire desktop (both monitors). However, this isn't very usefull in most circumstances as text editors will have the page stuck between your monitors, and webpages aren't designed with an 8:3 aspect ratio in mind :D

But that's if you go ATI and not nVidia. I've never messed with nView, so I don't know what it can do.
JigPu

[Damian]

Yeah, nview allows that too. I don't like to have one desktop stretched across two monitors, though, so I just let winxp handle it. It allows me to strech a window across two monitors, although maximizing it limits it to one.

In winxp, playing a game doesn't blank the second monitor; however, most games lock the mouse and so it's impossible to input anything into any windows in the second monitor without getting out of the game. You can look at things, though, if that's your wish.

[Venesectrix]

My graphics card is the sux (no second monitor port), so what you guys are saying is I should buy a cheap PCI card? Do I have to configure anything (so that the computer isn't just using one card at a time)? Can the two cards be different brands (I'm using a NVIDIA geForce2 MX400 right now)? Does two monitors work with linux (since I'm currently dual-booting)? (one more :p) Can the two monitors be of a different resolution/color quality?

[kagee108]

Originally posted by Venesectrix
My graphics card is the sux (no second monitor port), so what you guys are saying is I should buy a cheap PCI card? Do I have to configure anything (so that the computer isn't just using one card at a time)? Can the two cards be different brands (I'm using a NVIDIA geForce2 MX400 right now)? Does two monitors work with linux (since I'm currently dual-booting)? (one more :p) Can the two monitors be of a different resolution/color quality?

Yes, buy a cheap PCI. Let XP configure it. Generally the AGP would be the main screen. Yes, brand mix is okay. I don't know about Linux. Never messed with it... never will. Yes two monitors can be different, but best results are when they are the same. The resolution settings will be limited to the weakest of the two.

[madcow235]

the problem with alot of these programs is you cant stretch anything across dual monitors that arent at the same resolution. And remember games take control of your mouse so you cant really mouse to the second monitor. It is however great to have alot of system management programs on one monitor and a game on another. I will never go back to single monitors after this fun stuffs.

[funzie]

IIRC when I tried it, windows would shut off the second monitor if you went into a full screen game.

[Smirabi]

as says my sig, i;m using two almost identical monitors, and it is simply awesome. forget whatever you hear about nvidia's driver releases sucking because of benchmark performance and give them a spin for their other options. a lot of the cool stuff they can do is even better when you have 2 monitors. it is disappointing not to be able to do much with the second monitor during game play, but it is good to have if you're trying to play and need to monitor other stuff at the same time... like mbm5, or an away message or whatever. as far as i can manage it, i am never going back to single display. one odd thing that will happen is that for me, windows will only play full screen movies on the default "dislay 1" monitor even if you try to put it on the second monitor. this can easily be changed under desktop settings by simply telling it which monitor is number 1 and 2.

if anybody else had dual display and nvidia's latest det driver relase (52.16... i think) then try doing the "window throwing" thing, it's a hella good time to throw windows across 2 monitors.

[Nero]

As a graphic design student I use dual monitors to boost my productivity. Life is a lot easier when you can have twice as many programs, images, objects on screen at once. Same thing goes for coders. There was a study done recently that showed that using dual monitors resulted in a marked improvement in productivity. And for the uber-geek in all of us, dual monitors allow you to monitor your temps, aim, irc, winamp, etc, all while playing a game on the primary monitor. Honestly, who needs a Matrix Orbital when you can have all the prgrams it monitors sitting right there?

An no, all modern video cards don't shut off the second monitor when the primary monitor is running full-screen 3D.

[Damian]

Yeah, linux works with dual monitors. Setting up a dual-head card is a bit tricky, but very much possible; at least it is for nvidia. I'm not sure about the state of ATI drivers but I'm guessing that they do support dual.

Dual with two different cards, however, is very easy.