Dual monitors

[boybi]

Anyone here using dual monitors on their PCs? Can I play a full screen game like Starcraft in one monitor and surf the net on the other monitor?

[Jun aka Pekto]

Anyone here using dual monitors on their PCs? Can I play a full screen game like Starcraft in one monitor and surf the net on the other monitor?

I'd say no unless the game is windowed.

Right now, I have dual-monitors using 2 17" Samsung CRT's. Soon, it'll be dual 22" widescreen lcd's. Once I buy my GF 8800GTX that is.

Also, you'll still have to Alt-Tab out of the windowed game game so you can surf.

[boybi]

So if I'm playing a full screen game, will it show on both monitors? Or only in one monitor?

And if I'll watch a movie and I made it full screen, will it maximize in one monitor only or it will stretch across the 2 monitors?

[Jun aka Pekto]

So if I'm playing a full screen game, will it show on both monitors? Or only in one monitor?

And if I'll watch a movie and I made it full screen, will it maximize in one monitor only or it will stretch across the 2 monitors?

The game will show up on only one monitor, normally the primary one. Make sure the game screen res is the same as the desktop screen res.

With movies, it's one or the other monitor but not both at the same time.

If you have an nVidia card, there are some settings on the driver software that may allow you to treat two monitors like one huge desktop instead of one standard desktop with an extended desktop. But, that'll tax the video card like crazy.

Also... Certain games will not run correctly with dual-monitors enabled. An example is Command and Conquer: Generals. Normally with one monitor, put the cursor to the edge and the screen will scroll. But with dual monitor, the cursor moves right to the second monitor which is blank instead of scrolling the game screen. I also tried it with the older Red Alert 2 and scrolling wasn't a problem. The cursor stayed within the game screen.

[B2Bomber]

on the "movie-mode": depende rin po kasi sa graphics card, settings and application. di ko po alam kung anong card meron kayo and settings pero this ought to be a good test. try maximizing say, your internet explorer, if it "spreads" to both of your monitors, most likely ganun din mangyayari sa movie-mode n'yo. if it doesn't pwede pa ring parang yung effect na dinescribe ni junakapekto ang mangyari. pwede ring hindi.
may settings that let you zoom a full-screen video on one of the monitors only which means may naka-windowed dun sa primary moni mo and then yung 2nd moni mo e dedicated para sa full zoom nung media player, etc. wala kang makikitang "play", "pause", "rew" and "ff" control buttons dun sa "zoom" moni. kaya ang control mo dun sa primary moni mo. then kahit minimize mo yung player mo andun pa rin yung movie sa 2nd moni. then pwede ka na magbrowse, type, etc. dun sa primary moni.
furthermore, usually pag nag-"spread" sa 2 monitors yung application na minaximize n'yo ang makikita nyo sa display property under settings tab e isang monitor lang pero eto ang resolution: 2048x768. whereas kung nagmaximize lang sya sa iisang monitor makikita nyo na 2 monitor ang nakadisplay and may separate resolutions ang bawat monitor.

[SIZE=1]disclaimer: results achieved from other "gaming" gfx cards may vary. basing my experience on my rig's (built circa 2003) MSI GF4128TX + 2x17 CRTs and most of our non-gaming/movie-watching multi-moni (2x & 4x) setups at work, present day.[/SIZE]

[boybi]

Complicated pala ang mag dual monitor. Na aliw lang kasi ako dun sa pic sa Time magazine ni Al Gore sa office nya, 3 ang monitors nya. Parang ang sarap magtrabaho ng maraming monitors

[Jun aka Pekto]

I've always liked dual-monitor starting with Linux/mac and later Windows esp when surfing or watching a movie while doing other stuff (not necessarily gaming).

[B2Bomber]

at home -- masaya nga dual monitor e. hehe. more desktop space lalo kung kailangan mong mag-refer every now and then from one window to another. silip silip na lang sa magkabilaang monitor rather than moving the mouse, restoring a previous window, go back to your work window... etc.
at work --

Parang ang sarap magtrabaho ng maraming monitors

hehe. depende siguro sa trabaho. I really wouldn't call it "enjoying myself" but then, kailangan talaga yung multiple monitors in my work.
PS: nakalimutan ko palang sabihin na pwede ring yung multi-monis mo ay configured as clones -- same "picture" on both monis.

[wildthing]

kailangan ba na multiple video cards din pag-idudual ko ang monitor ko?

[B2Bomber]

may mga (single) cards po na multi-head (multiple monitors). so not necessarily kailangang 2 cards. unless na ang purpose n'yo po for the question was to just buy another card identical to your current card, check n'yo na lang po muna sa card manufacturer n'yo kung pwede po sya sa iniisip nyong setup.

[Jun aka Pekto]

Most modern video cards should have 2 video ports. Some have 1 VGA/1 DVI while others have dual-DVI.

At work, some of our Dell pc's have 2 video cards driving either 4 x 19" lcd monitors or 2 x 19" lcd monitors and a 42" plasma monitor. 1card is PCI-E while the other card is a dualhead pci.

The prices of lcd monitors are dropping like a rock. That's why I plan on getting a couple of 22" lcd widescreens. I've had this same 17" crt dual-monitor setup for 6 years now. This setup is really equivalent to 2 x 15" lcd since only 15" is viewable on a 17" crt monitor.