3 monitors but only 1 for gaming?

harber · 24 May 2013 at 02:28

hey guys

im sick of waiting for haswell so i can make a better decision on parts for my new build and i was dying to buy something so i bought a third 24 inch monitor. the new one is a 3d 120hz screen and the other 2 are old but still going strong dell 2407 ultrasharps.

the question is is it possible to have all 3 screens hooked up to my computer but only use the new screen when gaming?

cheers

BlackBat · 24 May 2013 at 03:45

Yes, AFAIK games should display on your main monitor only unless you enable eyefinity/surround.

iostream · 26 May 2013 at 16:06

Yes you'll be fine - I have 3 monitors, and (usually) only use the middle one for gaming. Very rarely I'll enable eyefinity and play e.g. a racing game or something that supports eyefinity. But as BlackBat said, if you don't have eyefinity/surround enabled, a game will always launch on your main screen, i.e. in my case (Windows 7), the monitor where my start menu is.

99% of the time I therefore don't eyefinity enabled, as I can't maximise applications without them taking over all 3 screens, and your start menu would be waaaay off to the left, etc.

Does anyone know if harber can run his new monitor at 120Hz and his older Dell monitors at 60Hz simultaneously?

harber · 28 May 2013 at 00:49

thanks very much for the replies guys.

ive not long got back into using my pc again. used to upgrade and game quite often but my last uprade was a 8800gts so im a little behind the times im afraid. starting a computer science course at uni so thought i mite as well get back to doing what i enjoy.

i never even considered there could be a problem with using screens with different refresh rates. definitely going to have to check before i decide on the final set up

thanks again