anyone running dual moniters?
 

ive started getting into playing starcraft again, somtimes it would be nice to run dual moniters so on one i could play my game and on the other i could im and be on other web sites. i know i used to have a video card that supported dual moniters, but that was on a machine i built. i currently have a gateway and it has onboard video. would i achive dual moniters by simply adding a video card or woul they conflict? any help would be appreciated. iv been out of the whole pc thing im no longer up to date/

You should be able to just add on another card.

I myself have run up to 4 monitors at one time.

Alon

Hehehe, I have done that aswell. I have my 19 viewsonic, my parents 19 viewsonic, and 2 19 inch CRTs. I would see if you can run both apps at the same time. My old gaming rig would let me have 2 apps open at the same time, and on different monitors, but multitasking between the two monitors was difficult.


But I have since fixed it.... My HP laptop on one side of the desk, and an Apple G5 on the other side of the desk.

Dueling...

If you are running XP, its easy, just plug a monitor into every plug that will accept one (you said you had a video card and the onboard video...)

When the computer comes up, you will probably see stuff on each screen, whether you do or not, right click on the desktop, go to "properties...settings" and click as required to enable the monitors - drag them around (in the screen that comes up, its kinda intuitive...) to orient the monitors as they sit on your desk.


I am running 2 right now myself, its the only way to fly =)


-John

Or you can buy a See2 USB 2.0 to SVGA Adapter from Triton Technologies.

If the game you play uses full screen 3D rendering, then you dont beable to simply move the mouse between the two(or more) screens as you would when using normal desktop applications.
I have a dual monitor setup and if i'm playing a game, the second screen displays exactly as before launching the game, but to 'get back to it' I have to minimize the game.

Check this out

http://www.knudsons.com/images/MyDesk.jpg

Although as Ben mention, most games won't take advantage of them, hopefully sometime in the future.

First, I would ADD a dual card. even gamers ones aren't expensive to (Not counting PCIe).

If you add more than one card, stick with the same chip manufacturer, Nvidia, ATI ....

One final word, once you start running 2, you will NEVER go back. Having massive amounts of screen real estate is addictive. (I'm hoping for a Second Quad setup next to this one, and maybe even add 2 more still to this one)

Thats sickly awesome.

Wow thats pretty hard core. I have a hard enough time posting here, watching TV, and talking on the phone.:D


So wait when someone goes stupid in a game they probably are IM or somthing like that? I really don't feel guilty about killing them though.

I don't play video games, but I have dual monitors at work. "My" HP xw4100 workstation came with a dual monitor card.

MSVS is much nicer with dual monitors, especially if you have anything else running at the same time. I tend to have multiple explorer windows and even windows from OpenVMS machines open.

19" and 17"
 

At work I've got the second video card installed. The second monitor is a 17" set at 800x600 and the main is a 19" with 1024 x 768.
The different resolutions allow for the tiled wallpaper and desktop icons to be OK on the eyes without strain. The second desktop is really great.

I've had my dual monitor set-up for a couple of years, and like anyone else who uses twin screens, would never go back. The increase in productivity is well beyond the doubling you get from using another monitor.

For example, while I wait for one screen to show, in the three or four seconds it takes I can be checking the other screen for more listings, opening another view, or whatever.

They run off a double head Nvidia card, but the secret is to use Ultramon (www.ultramon.com) to make both monitors flows seamlessly together with the mouse.

My next step is to get another matching screen, now that there is a triple head video available.

I took a picture of my desk just now showing the two 19 inch HP flat screens... you can see the forum showing on the right hand monitor.

http://www.kensilver.com/dual.jpg

Thats purdy!

Thanks - it would look better however if I could completely conceal the wiring. Unfortunately I chose a glass topped desk so that I could check to see whether I was wearing matching socks, but forgot that see-through applies to everything :)