bishop245 Posted August 20, 2005 Posted August 20, 2005 Ok after being asked a few times I have dedcided to make a lil how to on the dual or more monitors. In this explanation i will use pics from my new quad setup. This will not cover using a tv as a second monitor as i haven't done that (yet ) This was also done under WinXP SP2 The easiest way to do this is to have a video card with 2 outputs(vga+vga or vga+dvi). Alternatly you can also use 2 video cards(1 agp and 1 pci). I can't remember if I have done this with 2 pci cards. I have also heard that you can't run more than 1 monitor per card in SLI mode. On a side not ATI and nVidia cards dont play nice with each other so stay with one company for both cards. My setup at this time is a BFG 6800OC and a PNY FX5500 with a Sony E540, Envision E-985e, Envision E-910e, and a Compaq MV540. First off turn your computer off before trying to install the second video card. Once you have both video cards installed then hook up all the monitors to be used and make sure they have power. After booting back up and getting drivers installed then the fun begins . Go to Display Properties>Settings This pic shows how it should be set for the Primary Monitor. This one shows what you need to check for adding a monitor Go ahead and move the second monitor to its desired position, set its res, colors, and then hit apply. Now you should have your dual monitor setup running like a charm. Now people also ask how i do the different wallpapers on each monitor. The way i do this is with Ultramon. Get it installed (you have to buy it) and then run it, with Ultramon you can have a bar on each monitor showing what is on that monitor(extension of the start bar). You can also use it to select different wallpapers per monitor(see pic below). Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
spazmire11 Posted August 20, 2005 Posted August 20, 2005 Q: i have a ati card (x800xt AIW) and i was curiouse if there was something you might know of to do this: first moniter: primary games and junk here. second moniter: music/tempature/systomspace/cpustats/foldingstats third moniter: miror of the first moniter but in a 640 by 480 box (3rd moniter will be recording(via my cool vcr) what i do on the first moniter so if i skrew something up i have it one tape! do you think this is a fesable setup? or will this kill my gaming preformance note: all monters are being run off a ati x800 xt AIW thx for any comments Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishop245 Posted August 20, 2005 Posted August 20, 2005 Good question wish I had an answer for you. All I can say is try it and find out. And good luck Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCC10281982B Posted August 20, 2005 Posted August 20, 2005 Nice bish. I got the dual setup working but I can't get the PCI GFX card to work. Assume U need both card to be from the same compnay. Mine are S3 and nvidia. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BloodySunday Posted August 20, 2005 Posted August 20, 2005 Nice bish. I got the dual setup working but I can't get the PCI GFX card to work. Assume U need both card to be from the same compnay. Mine are S3 and nvidia. 531110[/snapback] I've heard the video card drivers don't play nice so its very well could be your problem. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCC10281982B Posted August 20, 2005 Posted August 20, 2005 I think U are right. I messed with IRQs, DMA, U name it. So I think I will get a fx5500. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
martymcfly Posted August 20, 2005 Posted August 20, 2005 I have a Q: why is it that when I run dual monitors, my left one has ood FPS, but the reight one cannot even perform a windowfx animation? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishop245 Posted August 21, 2005 Posted August 21, 2005 I have tried using nVidia and ATI and the divers conflicted aka they didn't play nice together. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kamikaze_Badger Posted August 21, 2005 Posted August 21, 2005 Will this affect performance at all in regards to gaming and such? Because I would love to have a few monitors for IRC, Kal, and Firefox. Btw, thanks for the guide . It'll come in handy when I get my 6600gt. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishop245 Posted August 21, 2005 Posted August 21, 2005 I dont pay much attention to my fps while gamin but i dont seem to have a problem with it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
computergee Posted August 21, 2005 Posted August 21, 2005 Yeah, I had it setup so I could play Kal on one screen and watch a DVD on the other, I had to tweak the video settings because the DVD took some CPU power, but it worke prettty good. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Frankenstein Posted August 21, 2005 Posted August 21, 2005 if you are using the second port on your card it will effect performance just disable your second screen, but the best bet is buy a cheap pci card like a voodoo3 or something then here should be no performance decrease also i am using an ati and nvidia together i installed the full nvidia package for my 6800gt then i downloaded just the ATI windows drivers for my Radeon 7200 and installed just the drivers that the card needs using the device manager i have no problems what so ever Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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