Can dual-monitors show different things???

I am an on-line gamer.(America's Army, UT2003, BF1942, ect..) I also run Teamspeak (a voice chat program for talking to my Clan-mates while playing) as well as sometimes running system monitoring programs for performance data, all at the same time.

My question is this; with a dual-monitor set-up, can I have my FPS game going on my primary monitor (NOT streched across both monitors) while the secondary one displays my Teamspeak list (so I can see who logs on and off, as well at see who is talking if I can not recognize their voice) and sys. monitoring programs??

I have an ATI Radeon 9800XT graphics card, and I have never set-up a dual-monitor system before. I have been playing with the settings, but can not seem to get them to act as two seperate monitors.

Do I need to instal a second graphics card??

Is it even possible to do what I am trying to do??

If so, what am I doing wrong, and is there any good links anyone can give for a tutorial on how to set everything up??

Yeah it works I do it all the time. How exactly did you get the screen to span at all??? Anyways go to display options and make sure it sees 2 distinct monitors.

madcow235 said:

Yeah it works I do it all the time. How exactly did you get the screen to span at all??? Anyways go to display options and make sure it sees 2 distinct monitors.

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ok, here is what I have done so far.

In my Display settings I have my 20" monitor set up as my primary monitor, and my 15" monitor as my secondary monitor. My secondary monitor has the "extend my desktop" thingy checked.

Now my primary monitor works and looks normal, but all I see on the secondary monitor is my wallpaper from my primary monitor.

How do I actually get a program to run on the secondary monitor?? My mouse cursor will not go over to the secondary monitor's screen, so I can't just "drag-n-drop" a program over to it.

Please help!! This is driving me crazy. I am about to say "forget about it" and quit messing with this dual-monitor set-up. It is proving to be a big headache.

Your mouse cursor should go over to the secondary monitor. I'm not sure you're moving it to the proper side of the screen. If all the second monitor sees is your desktop background and none of your desktop items you have it set to expand your desktop. ATi chips do not have the option to Span and create one giant 2560x1024 desktop for example. The Radeon would only be able to create two 1280x1024 desktops. In your Display Properties panel, you should see two monitors and have them both set up. Depending on the arrangement of them in the Display Properties panel you should be able to either move your mouse to the right and have it go onto your second monitor if #2 is to the right of your primary, #1. If the reverse is true, then the opposite, mouse to the left of the primary monitor to go the seconday monitor, #2. If neither of these work, I'm not sure what the problem is. I had no difficulty in setting up dual monitors on my 9800Pro. And to move a program to the second monitor, yes, you drag and drop it. And do a google for Ultramon. Hands down the best way to manage dual monitors because of the features it provides.

Edit - bobn4burton replied to your thread on HardOCP with something I didn't think about. And he might be onto why you're having a problem. I'll just paste what he said.

You might just wanna check one thing however since you are using a 20" and 15" monitor. I'm sure you are usualy drastically different resolutions (i.e. 800x600 on 15" and possible 1600x1200 on 20"). In this case, the mouse may not go from your 20" to your 15" everywhere...this is hard to explain but with that much of a resolution difference, if you try to move you mouse to the second monitor on the bottom of your 20" monitor...it may not move over to the 15" unless you move the mouse up the screen (say halfway up the screen). Sorry...this is hard to explain. Let me know if this doesn't help or if I didn't explain well enough. **EDIT: I just tried this and if you have 1600x1200 on the 'left' monitor and 800x600 on the 'right' monitor then you mouse will only move to the 'right' monitor if you have the mouse in the top half of the 'left' screen.

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for my dual-monitor set-up with one 18.1 inch lcd and a 1 15 inch lcd i use a program called ultramon. it is free to try, but i bought it cause it is really useful

Thanks guys for all the help. I downlaoded ultramon, and that pretty much solved my problem. That program is great.

Again, thanks for all the help guys.

thanks for the tips. as well....Im downloading that for my customers

i have 2 montirs and im feeling greedy and wanting more hehe.

zeroxeal said:

i have 2 montirs and im feeling greedy and wanting more hehe.

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I know how you feel...I am thinking about adding a 3rd one now..LOL

I was going to add a 3rd, but when I temporarily hooked up a 3rd lcd i realized it was way too much.