Dual Monitor Question

Darren555 · 21 Mar 2012 at 18:06

I currently run a Samsung SyncMaster 2232BW monitor with my ATI HD 5850 and want to add a second monitor.

The card has two DVI outputs so I assume it can run 2 x DVI screens?

Also, is it best to use monitors with matching screen resolutions?

Cheers,

Darren

cmndr_andi · 21 Mar 2012 at 18:10

Yes, you can indeed run two DVI monitors from that graphics card.

As for matching screen resolutions - it really depends what you will be using them for. If you see yourself wanting to game across two monitor (or possibly three in the future) then it would be a good idea to get the second monitors size and resolution to match the first - so that eyefinity will work.

However, if you won't be using it for gaming across multiple screens then you don't need to worry about matching monitor resolutions - just get whatever you like and can afford (for example 1920x1080, 1920x1200 and 2560x1440 resolution are more common these days than 1680x1050).

Darren555 · 21 Mar 2012 at 18:33

Cheers!

Darren555 · 2 Apr 2012 at 16:13

Ok I'm an idiot

Just unwrapped my nice new Benq G2222HDL and realised that my graphics card has 1 x DVI, 1 x HDMI and 1 x Display Port.

I already have a DVI male - male cable so am I right in assuming that I just need one of these to get up and running with dual displays?

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-029-OK&groupid=1929&catid=1753&subcat=

Is this gonna affect the image quality/resolution or will it work as normal?

Cheers,

Darren

MOOGLEYS · 2 Apr 2012 at 18:27

You will need one of these to use a hdmi cable and convert to dvi. It runs fine like that, I did it with mine for a while (same monitor)....

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-028-OK

cmndr_andi · 2 Apr 2012 at 18:43

MOOGLEYS said:
You will need one of these to use a hdmi cable and convert to dvi. It runs fine like that, I did it with mine for a while (same monitor)....

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CB-028-OK

+1

That is a better cable to use. As sticking this cable into the monitor isn't ideal as it isn't very secure.

Also, if you want to use a single cable (or don't have a male-male HDMI cable on hand to use with the above adapter) then something like this cable would be ideal.