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Wishful Thinking And Perhaps Slightly Off Topic : Dual Displ
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27 posts
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Sun Feb 02, 2003 9:26 pm
You'll be able to tell if there are 2 or more outputs on the back of the graphics card. I think for some cards there is a spiltter cable (it's more complicated than just that) that allow more than 1 to be connected to a single port. Not sure though. However the card HAS to support it for the spiltter to work. And I'm sure that most cards would boast about that feature. So if you don't remember anything about this at all then it is fairly safe to say that it doesn't support it.
Best bet, look up the manufactures website.
Best bet, look up the manufactures website.
Sun Feb 02, 2003 9:48 pm
I'm pretty sure this should work... in theory that is...
as long as you have 2 the same cards it should work, i dunno if they have to be internaly connected via cable to eachother though. My computer teacher is a bit screwwy and tells you about half you need to know to make stuff work. Ask stinger, he knows a lot about this stuff!
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United SL Modelers¸
Administrator for World Of Gamers
Webmaster for Red Faction World
as long as you have 2 the same cards it should work, i dunno if they have to be internaly connected via cable to eachother though. My computer teacher is a bit screwwy and tells you about half you need to know to make stuff work. Ask stinger, he knows a lot about this stuff!
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United SL Modelers¸
Administrator for World Of Gamers
Webmaster for Red Faction World
Sun Feb 02, 2003 9:53 pm
Doh!, I forgot about having 2 cards in. Yes you can have 2 video cards in at the same time. But with only having 1 AGP port in your system you will have to find a PCI graphics card. It will be a lot slower. Plus I don't think it will work with many games if that is what you are after. But it is possable.
Mon Feb 03, 2003 5:16 pm
For those people without the 2nd monitor support video cards, a second PCI graphic card can be installed for your second monitor. Windows98 and above supports this (I think this has been said already)
But from experience, I've had some driver conflicts trying to put 2 high end video cards in. So now I run a very basic PCI card (standard VGA PCI) for my second monitor. Not the best for multiple 3d viewing, but good enough for main 3d monitor and 2nd monitor for stats and chats..hope this makes sense...
But from experience, I've had some driver conflicts trying to put 2 high end video cards in. So now I run a very basic PCI card (standard VGA PCI) for my second monitor. Not the best for multiple 3d viewing, but good enough for main 3d monitor and 2nd monitor for stats and chats..hope this makes sense...
Tue Feb 04, 2003 2:31 am
I see I've sparked a bit of interest in the subject. Once you've used two (or more) displays for web browsing or even general windows use you can't go back to just one 
OMEGA is spot on regarding the way it works, just like one big screen. And you can run the monitors at different resolutions and refresh rates so any two will do. The secondary display can also be used as either a clone or a closeup zoom of an area on the primary display. Which is why it's so popular with graphic artists etc.
As for which mainstream cards support the feature : certain types of gf2MX, most gf4mx and gf4's, and most Radeons from the 8500 onwards. Remember, you'll need to check that the card has two connectors (eg. VGA + VGA or VGA + DVI - in which case you may need a dongle) and that it's actually enabled on the card. Some of the gf4ti4200's I was looking at, before I got this Triplex one, only supported TV-Out. Even though they had all the relevant connections.
And as others have said, another option is using an old pci card to drive the secondary display. But as DVX mentioned driver conflicts can ruin the fun.
Matrox pioneered dual display technology as a consumer desktop solution with the G400 chip. (Whose dual display feature set Nvidia and ATi have only just managed to equal.) The Parhelia can drive 3 displays in stretched mode, or "Triple Head" , but it doesn't have the independant monitor settings of Dual Head. Which means you need 3 displays of similar spec and size. Or one of those funky "3-Lcd panels-in-one-cabinet" monitors that have a similar pricetag to a small hatchback. The card also has Dual Head independant mode, but is expensive and performs somewhere around a gf3. Innovative though.
In any case my hope was that when dual display functionality was picked up by the big players in the video card industry it would finally become widely used in games. But it's still not quite there yet. Oh well, a man can dream.
OMEGA is spot on regarding the way it works, just like one big screen. And you can run the monitors at different resolutions and refresh rates so any two will do. The secondary display can also be used as either a clone or a closeup zoom of an area on the primary display. Which is why it's so popular with graphic artists etc.
As for which mainstream cards support the feature : certain types of gf2MX, most gf4mx and gf4's, and most Radeons from the 8500 onwards. Remember, you'll need to check that the card has two connectors (eg. VGA + VGA or VGA + DVI - in which case you may need a dongle) and that it's actually enabled on the card. Some of the gf4ti4200's I was looking at, before I got this Triplex one, only supported TV-Out. Even though they had all the relevant connections.
And as others have said, another option is using an old pci card to drive the secondary display. But as DVX mentioned driver conflicts can ruin the fun.
Matrox pioneered dual display technology as a consumer desktop solution with the G400 chip. (Whose dual display feature set Nvidia and ATi have only just managed to equal.) The Parhelia can drive 3 displays in stretched mode, or "Triple Head" , but it doesn't have the independant monitor settings of Dual Head. Which means you need 3 displays of similar spec and size. Or one of those funky "3-Lcd panels-in-one-cabinet" monitors that have a similar pricetag to a small hatchback. The card also has Dual Head independant mode, but is expensive and performs somewhere around a gf3. Innovative though.
In any case my hope was that when dual display functionality was picked up by the big players in the video card industry it would finally become widely used in games. But it's still not quite there yet. Oh well, a man can dream.
Wed Apr 28, 2004 8:24 pm
I play Freelancer on a dual monitor, but it is the same look on both. i have 1 brighter monitor which is why i like playing with that.
I play Star Trek Armada II with dual monitor. While in a tactical view where I command my ships, the other monitor shows the actions in a Directors Cut form, just like the movies. You have to slow down the game via options to make it look like the movies, but when you are ready to attack, you just slow the game down, give the orders and watch the fun unfold on the 2nd monitor.
Freelancer would be nice that way, a 2nd monitor with no HUD showing the action. But, when i am fighting, I don't have time to look at the 2nd monitor like I do with Armada. So, maybe it wouldn't be worth it.
I know X2-The Threat supports dual monitor with the latest patch, but I passed on that game because I already have X-BTF/X-Tension, don't need the graphics upgrade really, and I think the X2 story sucks.
Looking forward to Freelancer 2, love those MODs, what a game. I equate this game with Halo on the X-Box, a must have for the PC. I also passed on Homeworld 2 last year because of Freelancer.
I play Star Trek Armada II with dual monitor. While in a tactical view where I command my ships, the other monitor shows the actions in a Directors Cut form, just like the movies. You have to slow down the game via options to make it look like the movies, but when you are ready to attack, you just slow the game down, give the orders and watch the fun unfold on the 2nd monitor.
Freelancer would be nice that way, a 2nd monitor with no HUD showing the action. But, when i am fighting, I don't have time to look at the 2nd monitor like I do with Armada. So, maybe it wouldn't be worth it.
I know X2-The Threat supports dual monitor with the latest patch, but I passed on that game because I already have X-BTF/X-Tension, don't need the graphics upgrade really, and I think the X2 story sucks.
Looking forward to Freelancer 2, love those MODs, what a game. I equate this game with Halo on the X-Box, a must have for the PC. I also passed on Homeworld 2 last year because of Freelancer.
27 posts
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