Topic: another Tech question Dual Monitors.

[Captain Krenn]

Both my laptop and my home computer have dual monitor plugs on their only graphic cards and can
run two desktops pretty easily.  

The video cards are both dual monitor support and run two monitors.

Or am I missing something here and am shooting my mouth off in the wrong direction?

<wouldn't be the first time>

 

[Sirgod]

Hehe, No your with us. I was wondering about the topic, Buecause I have both an AGP card an A PCI card. Unfortunatly, I don't have a Dual Monitor Card.

I'll play around with IT later on this week though, se what I can come up with.

stephen

[Sirgod]

My system stats.

 

Quote:
 Windows XP Professional Service Pack 1 (build 2600)   MSI MS-6712 1.0
Processor a   Main Circuit Board b
1.67 gigahertz AMD Athlon XP
128 kilobyte primary memory cache
256 kilobyte secondary memory cache   Board: MSI MS-6712 1.0
Bus Clock: 133 megahertz
BIOS: American Megatrends Inc. Version 07.00T 04/02/01
Drives   Memory Modules c,d
33.80 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
24.75 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

JLMS XJ-HD166S [CD-ROM drive]
MSI CD-RW CR52 [CD-ROM drive]

Maxtor 6E040L0 [Hard drive] (33.81 GB) -- drive 0   512 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot '0' has 256 MB
Slot '1' has 256 MB
Slot '2' is Empty
  Local Drive Volumes
     
c: (on drive 0) 33.80 GB 24.75 GB free
 
 

I'm getting ready To install a Hitachi 62 gig Hd, as soon as I can figure out the jumpers as another Drive for Backup/Dual Boot.

However, My vid card is PCI, and I have a gforce MX 220 agp card (32 mb), What I'm curious about is If I run a dual Monitor, which card should be the first, and which the second. Also can I run say SFC on one , while having a movie/Music playing on the other? f so how would I set this up.

Thanks Guys,

Stephen

[Towelie]

  I am a few years out of date on this one, but the last I heard on most standard systems, dual monitors was only possible if one was monocrome. But back then, it was because monocrome and VGA used different areas of base memory.

  I would assume nowdays it is possible. Don't most games and other programs have option to change what video adapter to use?

  Good luck and let me know what you are up to.  

[Sirgod]

I'll keep you and everyone informed, Towlie My friend. I actually got the idea From reading a forum at pcclub.com, apparently one guy had made a system able to Watch TV, while playing a game at the same time, But I kinda suspect, He was running 2 MB's, in one case.

Stephen

[Towelie]

 I would just use a television or HDTV for that.  

[Bonk]

My card, the Matrox Millenium G450 dualhead handles two monitors no problem (though there are few good dualhead games), the ATI radon series can handle dual display through it's TV or video output as well (but not in the same way).
I highly recommend a visit to http://www.matrox.com as things have evolved considerabley since I purchased my G450, the new Parhelia series looks nice...  To make the most of multiple monitors is a rather expensive proposition however - it is best to use identical monitors - but not necessary.  

Mind you, some around here might appreciate these shots from some of the games enabled for the Parhelia multimonitor:

NWN:
 

IL-2 Sturmovik: Forgotten Battles :
 

Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force
 


Edit: but ah, I see you already have two video adapters... theoretically you should be able to install both, I'd use the AGP adapter as the main one and set each application to use the appropriate adapter as Towelie suggests. I've never tried that myself though. I'm not sure your system would be able to handle playing a game and decoding video at the same time... Perhaps a hardware DVD decoder card like the HollywoodMagic is in order, which I have used sucessfully in such applications (though now it has no drivers for XP...)

[jualdeaux]

I was just looking at the new parhelia line myself Bonk. They do look rather interesting.

[Towelie]

 Multiple monitors for games, I just want good VR and I'm happy!

[TOCXOBearslayer]

Oh I wish I could remember where I saw it..... but there is a pic on the web somewhere that has a guy's set up for MS's flight simulator.... amazing... he has like 12 monitors covering every view angle.....

It was impressive

[Bonk]

Quote:
 I was just looking at the new parhelia line myself Bonk. They do look rather interesting.

Ya, it must be time to upgrade again, I find myself lusting after new hardware. I'm leaning back towards Gigabyte from Asus mainboards and will probably stick with Matrox. Three 17" monitors all together ought to cost now about what I paid for my first 17" monitor.  I will have to do it in stages or save up, but the time is coming.

 

Quote:
 Multiple monitors for games, I just want good VR and I'm happy!
 

The Parhelia (dualhead or multimonitor setups) are best used for work not play and honestly Matrox cards excel at 2D graphics and color accuracy, 3D functionality with Matrox is usually just enough to get by, though the Parhelia's 3D (CAD) capabilites look superior to previous matrox products, but will not compare to the GForce 5900 or Radeon 9800 for 3D gaming performance really, but I have gotten used to Matrox's very fast 2D performance and color accuracy. (Holy run-on sentence Batman!  )

Sorry to hijack your thread there Sirgod, with essentially an ad for the Parhelia, but there might still be some helpful info there. Like, take a look at the config used with the Parhelia HR256  at the bottom of the page here, or the tip from the Parhelia installation manual:

"With multi-display mode, you may be able to use your existing graphics card. For more information, see Windows online help under ?Multiple Display Support?.

In WinXP Pro I did that search in help and found a page on "install additional monitors". You can do a help search for "install additional monitors" and it should only find that page:

 

Quote:
  To install additional monitors
Turn off your computer.
Insert your additional Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) or Accelerated Graphics Port (AGP) video adapter into an available slot.
Plug your additional monitor into the card.
Turn on your computer. Windows will detect the new video adapter and install the appropriate drivers.
Open Display in Control Panel.
On the Settings tab, click the monitor icon that represents the monitor you want to use in addition to your primary monitor.
Select the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor check box, and then click Apply or OK.
If the check box is not displayed on your computer, it may be because your video adapter does not support multiple monitors. See Notes for information about compatible hardware.

 Notes

To open Display, click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.
Selecting the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor check box allows you to drag items across your screen onto alternate monitors.
Or, you can resize a window to stretch it across more than one monitor.

To use the multiple monitor support feature, you need a PCI or AGP video adapter for each monitor. If you have an onboard video adapter (one that is not a plug-in card but is part of the motherboard) that you want to use as part of a multiple-monitor configuration, it must be set as VGA.
For a comprehensive list of hardware supported by Windows operating systems, see Compatible Hardware and Software in Help and Support Center.

If your computer doesn't recognize your second monitor, click Display Troubleshooter for more information.
The operating system always needs a VGA device. The computer's BIOS or EFI detects the VGA device based on slot order, unless the BIOS or EFI offers an option for choosing which device is to be treated as the VGA device.
The VGA device cannot be stopped, which is an important consideration for docking units.
The monitor that is designated as the primary monitor will display the logon dialog box when you start your computer. In addition, most programs will display windows on the primary monitor when you initially open them.
If you are using Dualview, skip steps 2 and 3 above. Just plug your second monitor into the video out port on your portable computer, or into the second video out port on your desktop computer. When you turn on your computer, it should recognize the second monitor. Follow steps 5 through 7 to extend your display to the second monitor. If the second monitor is not shown on the Settings tab, you might need to update your display driver.

So there, I feel a bit better I'm not just hijacking your thread with an ad for the Parhelia anymore!  
     

[Sirgod]

 

Quote:
 Sorry to hijack your thread there Sirgod,  

Hey not a problem, This is an interesting read, to say the least.

Also thanks for doing that search on the XP site, I might play around abit this afternoon to see how It goes.

Stephen

[Bonk]

Quote:
 
Also thanks for doing that search on the XP site, I might play around abit this afternoon to see how It goes.
 

You're most welcome, I love playing with this stuff and had been doing a little research myself lately. Let us know how it goes if you try it out.

I bet some of the modelers here would appreciate the Parhelia:

Quote:
 Not even in my wildest dreams could I imagine that one day I could run 3D software on three screens simultaneously. I couldn't even think about doing it a year ago. Now I am sitting in front of my triple flat panel monitors, and I have 3DS Max material editor and rendering menus on the first screen, camera view port on the second and MAX create panel on the third. This means that I don't have to waste a good deal of my time opening and closing menus and view ports due to lack of screen space. Another advantage of working on three screens is that you can really see what you're doing. I owe this miracle to Matrox Parhelia, a $399 graphic card." - Animation Magazine

Gheesh, you'd think I worked for them! but it does look pretty cool...  

[jualdeaux]

To continue the hijack, I wasn't really considering the use of a parhelia for games. Actually, I haven't played a pc game in a very long time. I really wanted it because it is rather akward to flip back and forth between apps with only one monitor. Plus, if I want to monitor something, I have to have it buried underneath other windows which is really inconvenient. Having multiple monitors would make life much easier.

[Sirgod]

Quote:
To continue the hijack, I wasn't really considering the use of a parhelia for games. Actually, I haven't played a pc game in a very long time. I really wanted it because it is rather akward to flip back and forth between apps with only one monitor. Plus, if I want to monitor something, I have to have it buried underneath other windows which is really inconvenient. Having multiple monitors would make life much easier.  

Heck It would be worth It to me just to have MSN on another screen out of my way for when I'm reading something here for example. Or even while looking at those extremly long XL files like the shiplist/fighterlist, etc.

Stephen

[Bonk]

Its funny, when I first got my G450 I put the monitor from my server on it too (only 800x600) and played with dragging windows from one to the other for a while just because I could, neat stuff! But it really does call for identical monitors or at least the same resolution. My G450 only has 32MB RAM and it splits it for dual display and I need the other monitor for the server (remote all the time is a pain) anyway so it didn't work out very practical for me, but I do use the TV adapter for the second output sometimes. But with monitor prices now and the parhelia I think it is a lot more practical.  

[Dash Jones]

I've used dual monitors (never triple monitors as shown above though) myself, but found I'd rather use an extra large monitor instead, or projection screen.

The only one that I thought looked pretty cool was the flight sim/airplane.  Put one monitor on each side, and the primary one to the front and that seems as if it would be rather cool!

[Sirgod]

Along time ago, I had a friend who had this 2 little moniter's (maybe 9") on either side of his 15 "  monitor, that I believe he was using for quake one. But man that was along time ago.
Stephen

[Barabbas]

You always want the best card to be primary, and that would be whatever you plug into the AGP slot.  All your games will default to the primary, and you won't get any high-performance effects out of the secondary card.


I absolutely LOVE my dual monitor set-up, and it's a blast with a TV Tuner card.  Windows XP will run two monitors all by itself, but there's a real slick piece of software called 'UltraMon' that gives you many new options for dual monitors and makes it truly awesome.

 

[JMM]

I just wish I was rich and could afford a plasma display tv that can be used as a monitor! I'd love to see what OP and SH2 look like on one of those babies!