How to setup up dual screen?

Masterdeadly · 20 Oct 2012 at 17:43

Hello guys,

I'm really eager to go towards a dual monitor setup but I need some advice. I've no experience with doing it so how would I go about doing it? I currently have a single 21.5" LG monitor but I think I'll opt for buying two new 23"/24" monitors.

So my question in a nutshell is:

How do I go about setting up dual monitors?

Can you recommend two 23" or 24" monitors for me with a budget of £150 each?

Thanks guys.

Kosmiche · 20 Oct 2012 at 18:02

Just plug them in and go to the display options on your OS and make sure the mode that stretches the view is enabled.

You want the stretch mode on so you don't simply have two monitors displaying the same image.

Masterdeadly · 20 Oct 2012 at 18:25

Eames said:
Just plug them in and go to the display options on your OS and make sure the mode that stretches the view is enabled.

You want the stretch mode on so you don't simply have two monitors displaying the same image.

So do i need something like a DVI splitter to connect them both?

Surveyor · 20 Oct 2012 at 18:33

Extended desktop is what you need to select in Windows so you can have different things on the two monitors or you can set up an Eyefinity group but then you'd be gaming over the two monitors which would be a bit crap for most games.

You need to connect the monitors to different connections on the card.

So DVI+HDMI, DVI+DisplayPort(DP), HDMI+DP etc.

If you were ever thinking of adding a third monitor then that has to use DP or an active DP adapter.

Your card may have full size DP or miniDP depending on which model it is.

Masterdeadly · 20 Oct 2012 at 18:39

Thanks Surveyor so i'll connect one monitor with DVI and the other with HDMI. Will I be able to play two games at once, one on either monitor? Also I'm running on XFire so will I be able to utilize both?

martinoheat · 20 Oct 2012 at 18:47

Masterdeadly said:
Thanks Surveyor so i'll connect one monitor with DVI and the other with HDMI. Will I be able to play two games at once, one on either monitor? Also I'm running on XFire so will I be able to utilize both?

how would you control them?
you could have two games open; one on each screen, but to play on it it needs the mouse + keyboard to control it, which obviously only controls one at a time.

Masterdeadly · 20 Oct 2012 at 18:49

martinoheat said:
how would you control them?
you could have two games open; one on each screen, but to play on it it needs the mouse + keyboard to control it, which obviously only controls one at a time.

Well say if I'm playing on Fifa on the left hand screen, waiting for my friends to get online to play clubs or something, I can just move my mouse over to the right hand monitor and play Football Manager whilst I'm waiting.

martinoheat · 20 Oct 2012 at 18:49

p.s. one thread is enough

Surveyor · 20 Oct 2012 at 19:01

martinoheat said:
p.s. one thread is enough

The other one was already closed before you posted that

Surveyor · 20 Oct 2012 at 19:06

Masterdeadly said:
Thanks Surveyor so i'll connect one monitor with DVI and the other with HDMI. Will I be able to play two games at once, one on either monitor? Also I'm running on XFire so will I be able to utilize both?

I've really no idea how that would work

You could possibly start two different games on different screens but for CrossFire to work you have run the games full screen (not windowed) so I don't know how you'd select which game was active.

Maybe someone has tried it and can advise you further.

Masterdeadly · 20 Oct 2012 at 19:15

Surveyor said:
I've really no idea how that would work

You could possibly start two different games on different screens but for CrossFire to work you have run the games full screen (not windowed) so I don't know how you'd select which game was active.

Maybe someone has tried it and can advise you further.

Ok fair enough, what about pairing each monitor to a separate card. Do you know if that would work?

Surveyor · 20 Oct 2012 at 19:36

Masterdeadly said:
Ok fair enough, what about pairing each monitor to a separate card. Do you know if that would work?

You're taking me out of my comfort zone here.

It might work for running a separate game on each but then you wouldn't be able to use the cards in CrossFire.

Masterdeadly · 20 Oct 2012 at 20:12

Surveyor said:
You're taking me out of my comfort zone here.

It might work for running a separate game on each but then you wouldn't be able to use the cards in CrossFire.

Ok thanks a lot for your help Surveyor, if anyone reading this has any experience with playing 2 different games on 2 monitors then please let me know

JonoB · 22 Oct 2012 at 12:06

I dont think its possible if you are playing full screen. Maybe in windowed mode.

Clav · 22 Oct 2012 at 13:49

Masterdeadly said:
Ok thanks a lot for your help Surveyor, if anyone reading this has any experience with playing 2 different games on 2 monitors then please let me know

If the games are in windowed mode you can open one on each screen. If you open a game in fullscreen mode it will 'lock' your keyboard and mouse into the game and you will have to alt-tab out to regain control.

e: Also having 2 games open at the same time can cause resource problems, freezes and glitches. EG if I leave stronghold kingdoms open in the background and then play sleeping dogs I get a half second pause every minute or so.

Masterdeadly · 22 Oct 2012 at 17:44

I usually always run games like Football Manager in windowed mode so this could possibly work, thanks for the insight guys.

Akagi · 23 Oct 2012 at 15:59

Crossfire bridge between the two cards, connect both displays to the top card, dual display options can be configured from display options within windows.

Surveyor · 23 Oct 2012 at 17:09

acme15 said:
Crossfire bridge between the two cards, connect both displays to the top card, dual display options can be configured from display options within windows.

I think that's already covered.

If you read the whole thread the OP has moved on to asking about running separate games on each monitor.

Akagi · 23 Oct 2012 at 19:44

Surveyor said:
I think that's already covered.

If you read the whole thread the OP has moved on to asking about running separate games on each monitor.

Terribly sorry