Dual monitor/Computer.....

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23 Oct 2006
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Hi, im not really sure what it is that i am asking about, but basically i wanted to know how you would go about setting up a computer with two monitors. One monitor could be used for doing one thing while the other could be used for something else. Effectively its like having two computers but actually only one cpu. Is this possible? Im pretty sure it is but i have no clue about how to set one up or even were to start looking.
 
If your talking about sharing one PC with 2 users then its a whole different ball game...

if you just want 2 monitors so you could for instance have a movie playing on one whilest chatting on IM on the other then you simply need 2 monitors and a graphics card with 2 outputs (common on all but the cheapest GPUs these days)

A word of warning - the 7950GX2 has 2 DVI outputs but you can only use it in single card mode when driving 2 monitors - a 7900 SLI setup of 7950GX2 QUAD doesn't have this restriction...
 
easily done, just need a graphics card with two outputs - and just plug a monitor into each.

then right click the desktop, go to properties, settings tab, right click the greyed out display and click attached. this should then show output on the second monitor. then just drag them around depending on how you want them to be displayed
 
Hello, I have indeed been wondering about dual screen, very handy for multiple photoshop windows and overall designing (3D design). Is there restrictions on the resolution? I see many monitors are 1440x900 (widescreen), is this supported on most graphics cards in dual screen option, i.e 2 x 1440x900 resolution. Or would it be better to invest in 2 x 1280x1024 screens? keeping in mind a budget or about £160 per monitor.
 
not sure what the limit is off hand (other than the available video memory) but I've had 2x 1280x and 2x 1600x working fine...

If your using an nVidia GPU it will often default to multi-display hardware acceleration which is fine if you want to run games, etc. on both displays but if like me you only use one of the displays for gaming you want to turn it to single display mode or you will see a fairly big performance hit.
 
Running 2 x 1440 x 900 widescreens here, both different models, running them on a 7900GS, though any card with 2 inputs will do it, Analog or DVI.

I game on one, and have teamspeak and outlook open on the other, or multiple aps and windows if i'm doing graphic/website stuff.

Have ran dual monitors on a 6600GT also.

hth
 
Okay, cool i have done the two montior setup, but i am now wondering about the whole 'other ballgame'. Is it possible to technically have two computers off one cpu. Im sure i have heard of this, is it fully implemented in Vista? Cheers.
 
ozzaman said:
Okay, cool i have done the two montior setup, but i am now wondering about the whole 'other ballgame'. Is it possible to technically have two computers off one cpu. I'm sure i have heard of this, is it fully implemented in Vista? Cheers.
It's cvertainly possible but I've only ever seen it done in Windows with thin clients. It's much more common to have multiple user sessions, including X server sessions, in the *nix world.
 
ozzaman said:
Okay, cool i have done the two montior setup, but i am now wondering about the whole 'other ballgame'. Is it possible to technically have two computers off one cpu. Im sure i have heard of this, is it fully implemented in Vista? Cheers.

Virtual PC? Used this a lot in my last job. You can run mulitple windows desktops off one physical computer. Not sure of the latest software think its VPC 2004? Each virtual pc acts like a normal computer with its own settings and attributes for example they will have different IP addresses for networks/internet.
 
Two monitors - Hyundai N91W

Kinitawawi said:
Hello, I have indeed been wondering about dual screen, very handy for multiple photoshop windows and overall designing (3D design). Is there restrictions on the resolution? I see many monitors are 1440x900 (widescreen), is this supported on most graphics cards in dual screen option, i.e 2 x 1440x900 resolution. Or would it be better to invest in 2 x 1280x1024 screens? keeping in mind a budget or about £160 per monitor.

Two of these would be just.... :cool: I have one widescreen monitor and one CTX 15" monitor, I use the 15" for toolbars, boxes etc
 
Rroff said:
not sure what the limit is off hand (other than the available video memory) but I've had 2x 1280x and 2x 1600x working fine...

If your using an nVidia GPU it will often default to multi-display hardware acceleration which is fine if you want to run games, etc. on both displays but if like me you only use one of the displays for gaming you want to turn it to single display mode or you will see a fairly big performance hit.

Seeing as I am soon to get myself a second monitor and have an Nvidia graphics card, I was interested in what you are saying cos I do like a bit of gaming.

Rather than using the windows display properties dialogue/ Nvidia's, would it work using ultramon with 2 different profiles, ie a dual monitor one and a single monitor one???

Valve
 
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