Dual Monitor Setup Questions

[Heihachi]

Hey Guys,

I'm working on building a dual crt monitor setup for my friends computer.

What video cards are compatible w/ 2 CRT monitors hooked up at the same time? Just as long as the card get's AVERAGE performance I'm fine w/ that.

Also... what are the good/bads to a dual setup.

Thanks

[topane]

Matrox makes inexpensive dual-head cards (G450 and G550 series). There's probably 10-12 PCs here at my office (including mine) running dual monitors on Matrox cards and they work well. You won't get very good gaming performance from them, though. There's also their Parhelia line which is more performance-oriented.

Good/bad? Good thing is more screen real estate. Bad things are losing desk space and the tendency of many applications to pop up dialog boxes in the middle of your screen, which means half will be on one monitor and half on the other. It can get annoying at times.

[Merlin]

I run a dual monitor setup on my ATi Radeon 7500. A little better than the Matrox in the 3D area but the Matrox probably has better drivers. I think they are about the same price.

Dual monitors is nice, real nice. You can check out e-mail or the threads here at G|A on while monitor while being constantly bombarded by porn on the other. j/k It does make for a nice computing experience.

[Showtime]

Doesnt the GF4 ti4200+ cards have dual support too?
That 9700 radeon does and that would be sweet!

-jel

[Merlin]

Originally posted by the jello is jigglin
Doesnt the GF4 ti4200+ cards have dual support too?
That 9700 radeon does and that would be sweet!

-jel

No doubt but now you are talking much bigger $$$. The Martox and Radeon 7500 can be had for about the same price, I think. And for a couple of $$$ more you can bump up to the Radeon 8500 - probably worth it given the current cost performance tradeoff at that price point. The others...well it depends on your budget. For the simple stuff (i.e. just 2D work) go with the Matrox.

[NullUnit2000]

I'm doing dual monitors using two video cards. A GeForce3 AGP and a TNT2 PCI. Works real nice. Plus, since both cards use nVidia chips I can just use the detonater drivers for both.

[d12agonxboi]

i'm just wonderin, what is dual moniter, i know u use two monitors n all but can u do one application on one monitor and then on the 2nd monitor another app? how do u switch back n forth between monitors? or its it same images on both monitors? please clarify this for me, thanks
also if u have dual monitor lets say, can u watch a DVD on one monitor n play a full screen game on the other?

[Nija]

Originally posted by d12agonxboi
i'm just wonderin, what is dual moniter, i know u use two monitors n all but can u do one application on one monitor and then on the 2nd monitor another app? how do u switch back n forth between monitors? or its it same images on both monitors? please clarify this for me, thanks
also if u have dual monitor lets say, can u watch a DVD on one monitor n play a full screen game on the other?

the only way *I've* seen it set up is, if you want to change which screen you are working on, you "scroll" over to it. IE. you are working on the left hand monitor, and you move your mouse continously to the right, it will go to the next monitor.

when I played a game on it, the game came up on the second monitor, but if i took the mouse too far to the "right" of the screen it went to the primary monitor. Not fun.

*I've* never seen a full-screen game and a DVD played at the same time, so I won't say either way.

[Cubsfan]

As far as Dual monitors go, I'm using the right now, and I love it!

First suggestion... two of the exact same monitor is the best
way to go. Right now I have 2 Compaq 17", and they fit
right together. I used to have 2 different 17", and they were
different heights, different angle's, etc... Also, when
picking out monitors, take a look at the amount of frame around
the screen. The more frame, the more space between the screens.

Second suggestion... get a dual-head video card. Right now I'm
using 2 (Geforce2ti and a Voodoo 3), and it gets really hot in
my case!

Third suggestion... get an Nvidia dual head card because of their
NView stuff. I'll explain!

With some of the older dual head video cards, they essentially
made Windows think that you had one desktop, which was really
wide. This is fine, except when you maximized windows, it'd put
the window across both monitors, which is rarely what people want.
With two separate video cards, maximizing a window only fills up
the current screen because Windows is taking care of that. Also,
with some dual-head cards when Windows wants to put a message box
right in the middle of the screen, it's split across the middle-
right of your left monitor and the middle-left of your right monitor.
Really annoying.

Ok, onto NView. I've been really impressed with this, even though
I can't really use it due to the Voodoo3. Check out this link:
http://www.nvidia.com/content/nview_tutorial/index.html
It's a really cool presentation of what it can do.

Anyway, just some ideas there!

[Heihachi]

I was debating on the Radeon 7500 or the ATI RADEON 9000 PRO 128MB DDR DVI/TV-out AGP 275/550MHz RETAIL.

I suppose my friend is willing to pay extra for the 9000 Pro. This card can do 2 CRT's right? I'm assuming that because it already comes w/ an adapter.

Now when I setup the duals... my taskbar will stretch out throughout both monitors on the bottom correct?

Is there a way to play 3d games on just one monitor also? I would think it would be annoying to play games on a dual.

Thanks

[bachviet]

Originally posted by Heihachi
I was debating on the Radeon 7500 or the ATI RADEON 9000 PRO 128MB DDR DVI/TV-out AGP 275/550MHz RETAIL.

I suppose my friend is willing to pay extra for the 9000 Pro. This card can do 2 CRT's right? I'm assuming that because it already comes w/ an adapter.

Now when I setup the duals... my taskbar will stretch out throughout both monitors on the bottom correct?

Is there a way to play 3d games on just one monitor also? I would think it would be annoying to play games on a dual.

Thanks

Get the R8500LE (128MB) from www.newegg.com for $107. It's faster and better than both R7500 or R9000 Pro.

[Heihachi]

Originally posted by bachviet

Get the R8500LE (128MB) from www.newegg.com for $107. It's faster and better than both R7500 or R9000 Pro.

ATI RADEON 8500LE 64MB DDR CRT/DVI/TV ,Dual Monitor support DVIS+CRT only - This one seems to only work w/ a DVI and a crt connection. I the one for $107 only has 15-pin output.

ATI OEM RADEON 8500 LE 128MB DDR DVI/CRT/TV - are you talking about this model? I'm not sure if it will work w/ 2 CRT's... does anyone know? It's going for $111.00

[Merlin]

Originally posted by Heihachi


ATI RADEON 8500LE 64MB DDR CRT/DVI/TV ,Dual Monitor support DVIS+CRT only - This one seems to only work w/ a DVI and a crt connection. I the one for $107 only has 15-pin output.

ATI OEM RADEON 8500 LE 128MB DDR DVI/CRT/TV - are you talking about this model? I'm not sure if it will work w/ 2 CRT's... does anyone know? It's going for $111.00

It should come with an adapter that lets ou plug a CRT into the DVI spot.

[Merlin]

Originally posted by Heihachi
Is there a way to play 3d games on just one monitor also? I would think it would be annoying to play games on a dual.

Thanks

WIth the ATi stuff it only takes a couple of clicks to turn one of the monitors off. I do this all the time when I want to watch full screen video. Which reminds me, time to watch those episodes of the Sopranos.

[Heihachi]

Originally posted by Merlin


It should come with an adapter that lets ou plug a CRT into the DVI spot.

SHOULD is the keyword. Some of these cards, an adapter will not work. I need to know which ones specifically do.

Thanks

[Merlin]

Originally posted by Heihachi


SHOULD is the keyword. Some of these cards, an adapter will not work. I need to know which ones specifically do.

Thanks

Since I have the ATi can say it does work there. As for the others I can't say for sure.

[Heihachi]

What's the exact card you're running Merlin? ATI what.

[Merlin]

Originally posted by Heihachi
What's the exact card you're running Merlin? ATI what.

Radeon 7500. I got it about a year ago.

[Heihachi]

ATI OEM RADEON 8500 LE 128MB DDR DVI/CRT/TV - N82E16814102213 - $111

This is from Newegg.com

Does this card support DUAL CRT MONITORS? I know that IF it does support it, I'll have to buy an adaptor, but I'm still confused because some Dual Monitor ATI cards DON'T support DUAL CRT but DVI+CRT ONLY.

[Thunder]

at work i have a dual monitor matrox card...its awesome...

at home i have a dual monitor ati radeon ve card...it works great as well...

lots of people do it with two separate video cards...but i went with the dual heads cuz my windows systems crash enough as is...didn't want to confuse the thing with more than one video card!

[Heihachi]

Originally posted by Thunder
at home i have a dual monitor ati radeon ve card...it works great as well...

What exact model would that be?

[Thunder]

Originally posted by Heihachi


What exact model would that be?

i think its this one...

http://mirror.ati.com/products/pc/radeonve/index.html

[bachviet]

I just got the retail 128MB built by ATI R8500LE from Circuit City (thru PM - $102.35 including tax). It doesn't have DVI so you could only use the CRT and S-video. The 64MB version has DVI and I'm sure you could hook up two CRTs.

[Heihachi]

Viet.. you wouldn't happen to know why some ATI Dual displays will not allow an adaptor to have it work for 2 crt's?

[DREDD]

in response to Nview I think Hydravision from ATI is faster and better. works just the same I guess though.