Dual monitor setup

[LkyOldSun]

I am ready for dual! (don't want mirroring) and have a couple of questions.

First, my setup:

OS = XP pro

Graphics cards:
AGP ATI 9600 (NP) dual head
PCI nVIDIA (PNY brand) MX440-SE

Monitors:
17" LCD (1280x1040) (primary)
17" CRT (not 1280x1040, but less)

I haven't even opened the 9600 yet, and I just unpacked the LCD

Will I be able to run different resolutions on the two monitors if I use exclusively the ATI card?

Is there any advantage to using the PCI card over using excluxively the AGP ATI dual head card?

[FunkDaMonkMan]

Yes you will be able to run different resolutions even if the monitors are hooked up to the same card. The advantage to having two cards, is that it takes the load off of the main card. This is most noticable during games. If you are running one monitor with a game, and the other just showing the desktop.. the performance in the game will drop significantly.

This isn't a problem however, if you have a program such as powerstrip that will shut off the second monitor when certain applications (games) are opened.

[Remove]

Should work just fine. The only problem with dual monitors on ATI cards is window spanning. Nvidia makes it easy to prevent this but ATI does not have that option. You will need 3rd party dual monitor management software. There was a post in the ATI section with links to some free software. I will try and find it.

[Remove]

I could not find the thread with info on the software. Maybe make a post about it if you need it and I'm sure it will get answered quickly here.

[CrashOveride]

Ultramon isn't free but it's good.

[LkyOldSun]

well, I got it up and running (PCI and AGP)
dual screen rocks
what do ya'll mean by screen spanning?
right now I can drag open windows across both screens, and both are at different resolutions.

[ajrettke]

screen spanning is when the two monitors act as one big desktop, and not 2 seperate windows. i.e. when you maximize a window it will stretch across both monitor so half the page will be on one monitor and the other half on the other

[FunkDaMonkMan]

I use two cards (the main is ATI), and do not experience screen spamming. Is this only a factor when u are running 2 monitors on one card?

[ajrettke]

From my experiance, yes. I've used the following single cards for dual monitor setups;
8500le
ti4200
9500np
5900nu
and g400

the g400 was the only one that screen spanned, but that's simply because they just have a done of options for dual and tri monitors. It was easy to set all video cards up with the configuration I liked.


"The problem with America is stupidity. I'm not saying there should be a capital punishment for stupidity, but why don't we just take the safety labels off of everything and let the problem solve itself?"
That's funny!!!! LOL