Dual Monitor Spanning

  • Thread starter Thread starter ManFriday
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ManFriday

Hi,

I've got 2 CRT's running off a Matrox G450 but I'm looking into upgrading so
I can play some games like Halo or FlightSim. I was leaning towards a
Sapphire 9600 (not se, not xt, not pro) until I saw this article that says
none of the new Radeons can span multiple monitors horizontally.

http://www20.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040216/index.html

Now I'm thinking MSI 5600XT (I don't have the $ for higher end cards). I
need to drag toolbars in the 2nd monitor for things like Photoshop or Flash.
Can someone help me out with the differences between NVIDIA and ATI when it
comes to dual monitors? spanning?

Thanks,
ManFriday
 
ManFriday said:
Hi,

I've got 2 CRT's running off a Matrox G450 but I'm looking into upgrading so
I can play some games like Halo or FlightSim. I was leaning towards a
Sapphire 9600 (not se, not xt, not pro) until I saw this article that says
none of the new Radeons can span multiple monitors horizontally.

http://www20.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040216/index.html

Now I'm thinking MSI 5600XT (I don't have the $ for higher end cards). I
need to drag toolbars in the 2nd monitor for things like Photoshop or Flash.
Can someone help me out with the differences between NVIDIA and ATI when it
comes to dual monitors? spanning?

Thanks,
ManFriday
Click to expand...

Hmmm, not sure that's right (if I understand you correctly). I have the
Sapphire 9600 pro and I can and do have dual monitors and can drag and drop
between them. This works fine for me - I tend to watch a DVD on one screen
while working on the other. However I think you are talking about
stretching one programme across both. Pallettes on one, a graphic in
progress on another? Well as Toms Hardware says this doesnt work with games
but... just did a test with Paint Shop Pro, a 17" monitor and a projector -
all plugged into the 9600 Pro. I put the programme on the 17" and dragged
some pallettes across to the projector screen. I then stretched the actual
programme workspace across both the 17" and the projector. Took a couple of
pics. Not sure where to put them so dropped them in alt.binaries.test as
'test'. Take a look - is this what you wanted to do? HTH, Shaun..
 
Thanks a lot Shaun. Your pictures say a thousand words and answer my
questions :-) I guess I got mislead by the THG article into believing that
no spanning in games meant no spanning in regular apps. Looks like I'll be
sticking with ATI after all.

Thanks,
ManFriday
 
ManFriday said:
Hi,

I've got 2 CRT's running off a Matrox G450 but I'm looking into upgrading so
I can play some games like Halo or FlightSim. I was leaning towards a
Sapphire 9600 (not se, not xt, not pro) until I saw this article that says
none of the new Radeons can span multiple monitors horizontally.

http://www20.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040216/index.html

Now I'm thinking MSI 5600XT (I don't have the $ for higher end cards). I
need to drag toolbars in the 2nd monitor for things like Photoshop or Flash.
Can someone help me out with the differences between NVIDIA and ATI when it
comes to dual monitors? spanning?

Thanks,
ManFriday
Click to expand...

I have a dual monitor (ATI primary & Nvidia secondary) extended desktop
setup.
Usually, apps can span the screens as long as the window frame is in "window
mode" (ie. not fullscreen)
I can span web browser and Excel across two monitors.

You cannot usually span when you run apps in "fullscreen mode"
In this case, the app usually just go full screen in the current monitor.

Games usually run in a special video mode, so it just run in the primary
screen, unless the app is written to work with multi-monitor setup.
 
ManFriday said:
Thanks a lot Shaun. Your pictures say a thousand words and answer my
questions :-) I guess I got mislead by the THG article into believing that
no spanning in games meant no spanning in regular apps. Looks like I'll be
sticking with ATI after all.

Thanks,
ManFriday
Click to expand...

No probs. Wasnt sure if that was what you wanted so glad it helped :-)
Shaun
 
Thanks Yuki,

In the THG article, they seem to say that Nvidia cards can play any game
across 2 monitors. Anyway, all I care about is spanning for apps like Excel.
Like you say, that's not a problem either ATI or Nvidia.

Thanks,
ManFriday
 
I have ATI 9600 pro, two monitor. i tried Flight Simulator 2004, it
works. i had flying view on one monitor and can select to put other
view and some instruments on the other monitor.
 
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