Dual Monitor Question

Happynoj · #1 03-19-2008, 02:58 AM

OK, so I am thinking of upgrading to a dual monitor system. I currently have a GeForce 7300 in my PC, which I am more than happy with for my needs. However, will it happily run two monitors, or should I get another one the same to pair up with it? And would two of them run happily side by side? I'm using an Intel 1.8 dual core with 2g of RAM.

liquid-dream-ex · #2 03-19-2008, 03:33 AM

I looked it up, the card should be able to drive two monitors.

1. The optimal result will be had with two exactly identical monitors. for that to work properly, either the monitor must have both VGA and DVi-connectors, or you need to buy an adapter.

If you take different monitors, but want them to work side by side, you will have a hard time colour-matching those screens. It's not so much an issue with Audio-processing or standard-office-use, but when working with image processing it sucks.

BetterBottomEnd · #3 03-19-2008, 04:12 AM

Could certainly handle it although if you can swing it the upgrade to a card with Dual DVI would be a good idea. You can certainly use an adapter but all that does is put a VGA quality signal down DVI cable. Also different connections will not color match especially the blacks. I've had people who have no idea what they're looking at tell me which monitor was DVI and which was VGA just from the black screen at startup.

FL Knifemaker · #4 03-19-2008, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterBottomEnd

Could certainly handle it although if you can swing it the upgrade to a card with Dual DVI would be a good idea. You can certainly use an adapter but all that does is put a VGA quality signal down DVI cable. Also different connections will not color match especially the blacks. I've had people who have no idea what they're looking at tell me which monitor was DVI and which was VGA just from the black screen at startup.

+1 That's what I have. It will also provide you all the options and defaults for running the two monitors. You can have them work as one single screen or to separate ones. One vertical, one horizontal, click to change monitors, etc. It actually takes a while to set it up to your liking and get used to it!!

Depth_Charge · #5 03-19-2008, 05:22 AM

Can't beat stretching windows and alt-tab

Happynoj · #6 03-19-2008, 05:22 AM

If/when I get another monitor it will be the same model. I was just going to do it for cosmetic reasons - didn't know there would be colour match problems as well!

So you guys are saying my best bet would be to get a different graphics card with two identical outputs?

Would sticking in another identical card do the same job? Or would it just be better to get a different card?

peterbright · #7 03-19-2008, 05:25 AM

Two DVI outputs

FL Knifemaker · #8 03-19-2008, 06:23 AM

I just don't understand how you would control two separate boards. You need to have the cursor move between the monitors and have the windows frames "jump" to fill the chosen screen. There's quite a few things that have to work together that a single board with 2 outputs provides. It comes with a CD full of software to run it!! I bought mine to run CAD on one side and CAM on the other for my design and CNC programming. I couldn't live without it now

BetterBottomEnd · #9 03-19-2008, 06:30 AM

Once you go dual you can't go back. Yes a single card with dual DVI outputs is what you want.

i_got_a_mohawk · #10 03-19-2008, 06:33 AM

Maybe he is meaning using two boards utilizing SLi (as its nVidea, or it would have been Crossfire with ATI) ?

Good luck, im planning on doing the same when i eventually get my new PC setup