Dual monitor setup help

rob77 · 7 Mar 2012 at 21:19

Hi

I've just ordered a second 24" monitor to go with the 24" one I have now and I'm just wondering on how would be the best way to set it up. I will probably just use the one monitor for gaming as I hear dual display isn't ideal and eyefinity really works best with 3. I'd just like to be able to browse the internet, email, run apps and play movies on the second screen whilst I'm gaming etc.

I have crossfire graphics cards and the ports on the back of each are 2 x DVI, 2 x displayport and 1 x HDMI. The monitors both have 1 HDMI and 1 DVI, are 1920x1200 60hz. Currently I run the one display through DVI, would I be best running the second monitor through DVI in extended desktop mode? And would it be best to attach both the displays to the one graphic card or wouldn't it really matter if one was attached to each card?

Thanks

Rob

beejjacobs · 7 Mar 2012 at 21:23

I'd use DVI yeah, I'm not sure how CF works but it should work with them both just in one card yes. Then extend the desktop in Windows and job done.

Most games will still just start up to one screen. You may want to run in windowed mode I believe, so that you don't have to tab out to use the other screen.

Surveyor · 7 Mar 2012 at 21:29

You can only use the outputs of 1 card with CrossFire.

I'd suggest using the second DVI (unless you need audio out) as it'll just work rather than messing around with HDMI scaling.

If you run games in Windowed mode I believe CrossFire doesn't work which would defeat the purpose of having it in the first place.

cmndr_andi · 7 Mar 2012 at 21:30

+1 for DVI - it gives you the same image quality as HDMI and you shouldn't have any issues with scaling when you first connect it (which often does crop up with HDMI).

For crossfire, plug all the video connections into the top card (the one closest to the CPU).

rob77 · 7 Mar 2012 at 21:36

Thanks for the quick reply's

So for example if I was to open up a full screen game on the extended display and wanted to browse the net on the first display. Wouldn't I be able to do that? Would my mouse pointer still work in the primary desktop whilst being able to control the game with my gamepad on the second?