Dual Monitor - Performance hit

[islandhoppers]

Is there any performance slow down using both the outputs of a graphics card to display on two monitors. I recall trying this with a 6800GT in Flight Simulator 2004 and there was a definite decrease in frame rate, I was wondering if this would still be the case with a 8800GTX?

 

[Supertaff]

Simple answer is yes, there is a performance hit with running two monitors as the graphics card has to render each individually.

I have used my 8800GTS in the past to play FSX with dual monitors and there is a noticeable drop in frame rates. I had to reduce the quality settings to make it playable again but was running one screen at 1920*1200 and the other at 1280*1024.

If though your using one screen to play a game and one screen to display something relatively static, e.g. Email via Outlook, then you won't see a dramatic drop in frame rate, but there will be a small amount of drop.

Hope that helps

taff

 

[Guy]

When I first played Quake Wars with dual screen it lagged very badly, until I removed one monitor from dual screen. It then ran perfectly.

 

[SkeeterUK]

What kinda performance hit with a x1950pro 512mb agp? With using both at 1280x1024 res? 1 screen would be for the game the other is desktop for xfire and msn etc and emails if i get one during gaming.

 

[snowdog]

Is there any performance slow down using both the outputs of a graphics card to display on two monitors. I recall trying this with a 6800GT in Flight Simulator 2004 and there was a definite decrease in frame rate, I was wondering if this would still be the case with a 8800GTX?

FSX supports & outputs dual screens, obviously rendering @ 2560x1024 is harder than 1280x1024.

When I first played Quake Wars with dual screen it lagged very badly, until I removed one monitor from dual screen. It then ran perfectly.

Game bug, disable your 2nd screen temporarely when playing it.

Simple answer is yes, there is a performance hit with running two monitors as the graphics card has to render each individually.

I have used my 8800GTS in the past to play FSX with dual monitors and there is a noticeable drop in frame rates. I had to reduce the quality settings to make it playable again but was running one screen at 1920*1200 and the other at 1280*1024.

If though your using one screen to play a game and one screen to display something relatively static, e.g. Email via Outlook, then you won't see a dramatic drop in frame rate, but there will be a small amount of drop.

Hope that helps

taff

Incorrent, there is no noticable drop at all ( perhaps 1 fps if you get 100 ingame) using your 2nd monitor for 2d stuff only ( EG some windows open ), there is a drop only if a game has a bug ( eg. etqw) or when it renders @ double the resolution, eg. supreme commander, fsx, st:armada 2, etc...

In games like CoD4, or 3dm06, or crysis, I've noticed no performance drop at all. The Crysis benchy is completly accurate and I get the same results with 1 screen as with 2.

What kinda performance hit with a x1950pro 512mb agp? With using both at 1280x1024 res? 1 screen would be for the game the other is desktop for xfire and msn etc and emails if i get one during gaming.

No hit. Yes.
Only in games that truely support dual screens your card will struggle with 2560x1024, but otherwise, it's fine...

 

[Wizardskills]

When I first played Quake Wars with dual screen it lagged very badly, until I removed one monitor from dual screen. It then ran perfectly.

Ahhh now i know why it runs really badly on my system Cheers

 

[Rroff]

On nvidia cards it can depend on the setting for mutl-GPU acceleration - and usually having it on single display acceleration will give the best performance - with ETQW you can still have the second display attached and functioning if you use single display acceleration but on some SLI setups (which won't use more than one monitor anyhow) using single display/gpu acceleration will result in a slowdown as the 2nd GPU will be downclocked even when rendering 3D stuff...