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Post by XCELOR8 on Jun 27, 2008 7:40:47 GMT -8
How do I hook up two monitors together so that I can have 2 screens to work with?... i.e. i saw something where a guy had two monitors setup and he was using one screen for typing a paper while on the other screen he had AIM running and was looking at espn.
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Post by Roggie on Jun 27, 2008 8:00:51 GMT -8
You have to have either 2 video cards or a card that has 2 ports on it.
Then after hooking both up, you go to control panel, display, and there is an option for two monitors.
Not a good explanation, I know, but I'm on Vista and my only way of doing any of those things is in the Nvidia control panel instead of Windows.
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Post by Zangief on Jun 27, 2008 8:36:34 GMT -8
Actually, it was succinct and to the point Tyler. Hassan, like he said, you need to dual video cards to a card that has dual inputs. Dual monitor supports has been built into windows since Windows 2000 so its easy to get going. I will be running dual 20" widescreens in a month or so when I purchase my 2nd monitor. Although I just got a raise and a nice bonus, perhaps I will be greedy and go with 3 monitors...I am running dual SLI video cards w/ 2 inputs on each. MS Article |
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Post by FrkUout on Jun 27, 2008 9:32:19 GMT -8
Nicely said both of you. Roggie in Vista you can still do dual monitors without using the NVidia controlpanel. Just click on the second display and check the box that say extend my desktop onto this monitor.
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Post by Roggie on Jun 27, 2008 9:37:19 GMT -8
Oh yeah. Forgot you have to go through Personalization to get to display settings now.
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Post by XCELOR8 on Jun 27, 2008 11:08:12 GMT -8
thanks guys, that explanation helped. one more question though, if i don't have 2 ports, how do i go about getting a second one? I'm really crappy with computers, so if these are basic "stupid" questions, let them slide... thanks!
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Post by Roggie on Jun 27, 2008 12:38:48 GMT -8
You would have to be able to go Crossfire or SLI and run a second video card.
Rick should be able to explain that stuff a ton better than me.
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Post by FrkUout on Jun 27, 2008 13:36:18 GMT -8
You don't have to use crossfire or SLI to run two video cards. You have two options. First is to just add another video card in the next slot available. Most likely this will be a regular PCI slot, unless you have PCI express then you may have another PCI express slot available. Second option is to upgrade your current video card to one that has two ports on the card.
The second option is probably the better of the two considering most video cards can only support games and a particular version of direct x for so long then they are obsolete. If you're running an older video card then I would recommend just upgrading to a newer card that'll be supported for a while longer. There's tons of good mid-range cards out there that support directx 10. You won't have to break the bank and you'll get the dual monitor support you want.
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Post by Roggie on Jun 27, 2008 13:42:34 GMT -8
I've always been told it involved using Crossfire or SLI.
Stupid friends.
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Post by FrkUout on Jun 27, 2008 16:44:13 GMT -8
Using crossfire or SLI will get you a huge performance boost by slipping the graphics processing across multiple GPU's (graphic processing unit). Much like running multiple processors or a multi-core processor.
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Post by mcduffinator69 on Jun 28, 2008 23:22:06 GMT -8
Most mid to low end graphics cards have one DVI input and one VGA input, so if you want both DVI make sure the card you get has two DVI ports, otherwise you can pick just about anyone that will fit on your motherboard.
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Post by Mind Slaver on Jun 29, 2008 18:21:52 GMT -8
Yeah, you can probably get a card like that easily under $100. I'm probably gonna get one that's 100 with 20 MIR (mail in rebate) that has two dvi ports. But, if you have two vga monitors just get two dvi to vga converters.
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Post by Zangief on Jun 30, 2008 13:40:56 GMT -8
speaking of all this, I just ordered my second monitor and its on the way to my house...
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