Results 1 to 8 of 8

Thread: Performance hit using two monitors?

  1. #1
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Cardiff
    Posts
    350
    Thanks
    24
    Thanked
    15 times in 14 posts
    • WhiteGiant's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P5Q-E (1901 BIOS)
      • CPU:
      • Intel E8400 @ 3.6Ghz / TRUE Black
      • Memory:
      • 8gb Corsair 4-4-4-12 @2.1v
      • Storage:
      • 2 x 500gb Seagate (RAID0) + Storage drives(1.7tb)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Powercolor 4870 1gb
      • PSU:
      • Enermax 500w (Modular)
      • Case:
      • Antec Nine Hundred v1
      • Operating System:
      • Win7 Home Premium
      • Monitor(s):
      • Belinea Artistline 22w
      • Internet:
      • Sky Max - oddly getting faster.

    Question Performance hit using two monitors?

    Just pondering for a moment, and having never had two monitors at the same time (apart from when I had a Matrox G400 & Athlon 500@900, GFD's ftw!), I was wondering if there is a performance hit whilst using a second monitor?

    E.g. Running a game full-screen on the primary monitor, and playing a full screen AVI on the secondary, would it be noticable with my system for example? Also I assume the hit would depend on the resolution of the second monitor and the particulars of the AVI?
    "Don't wanna see your face, don't wanna hear your voice . . ."

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    London
    Posts
    1,197
    Thanks
    26
    Thanked
    79 times in 70 posts

    Re: Performance hit using two monitors?

    Would it be second monitor not gaming at all? If so then a small hit, and avis are done by cpu usually, so wouldnt change if it was avi or desktop on second screen.

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Cardiff
    Posts
    350
    Thanks
    24
    Thanked
    15 times in 14 posts
    • WhiteGiant's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P5Q-E (1901 BIOS)
      • CPU:
      • Intel E8400 @ 3.6Ghz / TRUE Black
      • Memory:
      • 8gb Corsair 4-4-4-12 @2.1v
      • Storage:
      • 2 x 500gb Seagate (RAID0) + Storage drives(1.7tb)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Powercolor 4870 1gb
      • PSU:
      • Enermax 500w (Modular)
      • Case:
      • Antec Nine Hundred v1
      • Operating System:
      • Win7 Home Premium
      • Monitor(s):
      • Belinea Artistline 22w
      • Internet:
      • Sky Max - oddly getting faster.

    Re: Performance hit using two monitors?

    Aye, was thinking of watching a film whilst gaming for example.
    "Don't wanna see your face, don't wanna hear your voice . . ."

  4. #4
    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Gateshead
    Posts
    15,196
    Thanks
    1,231
    Thanked
    2,291 times in 1,874 posts
    • scaryjim's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Dell Inspiron
      • CPU:
      • Core i5 8250U
      • Memory:
      • 2x 4GB DDR4 2666
      • Storage:
      • 128GB M.2 SSD + 1TB HDD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Radeon R5 230
      • PSU:
      • Battery/Dell brick
      • Case:
      • Dell Inspiron 5570
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • 15" 1080p laptop panel

    Re: Performance hit using two monitors?

    Quote Originally Posted by WhiteGiant View Post
    was thinking of watching a film whilst gaming
    So you either like dying a lot or don't pay attention to films, then?

  5. Received thanks from:

    Infinite (19-04-2009)

  6. #5
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2008
    Location
    Cardiff
    Posts
    350
    Thanks
    24
    Thanked
    15 times in 14 posts
    • WhiteGiant's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P5Q-E (1901 BIOS)
      • CPU:
      • Intel E8400 @ 3.6Ghz / TRUE Black
      • Memory:
      • 8gb Corsair 4-4-4-12 @2.1v
      • Storage:
      • 2 x 500gb Seagate (RAID0) + Storage drives(1.7tb)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Powercolor 4870 1gb
      • PSU:
      • Enermax 500w (Modular)
      • Case:
      • Antec Nine Hundred v1
      • Operating System:
      • Win7 Home Premium
      • Monitor(s):
      • Belinea Artistline 22w
      • Internet:
      • Sky Max - oddly getting faster.

    Re: Performance hit using two monitors?

    RTS single player, made for film watching!
    "Don't wanna see your face, don't wanna hear your voice . . ."

  7. #6
    Jay
    Jay is offline
    Gentlemen.. we're history Jay's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Jita
    Posts
    8,365
    Thanks
    304
    Thanked
    568 times in 409 posts

    Re: Performance hit using two monitors?

    I play eve and browse these forums or watch the slingbox at the same time.
    □ΞVΞ□

  8. #7
    Member
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Bristol, United Kingdom
    Posts
    195
    Thanks
    12
    Thanked
    9 times in 6 posts
    • smithy1158's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3 Intel P35 Chipset
      • CPU:
      • Intel Core2Duo E4300 overclocked @ 3.2GHz
      • Memory:
      • 4GB DDR2 @ 800MHz Corsair XMS2 (2x2GB)
      • Storage:
      • 500GB Seagate Barracuda sataII, 120GB Western Digital
      • Graphics card(s):
      • XFX NVIDIA GTX 260 896MB 216 Core
      • PSU:
      • 650W Xigmatek NRP-MC651
      • Case:
      • Antec P182 Gunmetal Black Edition
      • Operating System:
      • Windows Vista 64-bit
      • Monitor(s):
      • 22" LG W2242 DVI-D / 19" Kingston Tech DVI/VGA
      • Internet:
      • 2Mg ADSL Broadband

    Re: Performance hit using two monitors?

    Ive had multiple montitors for ages and I've never noticed any significant hit in performance... All the games are more than playable with both on at the same time.

    I usually have MSN, Email, RSS feeds and somtimes even movies or TV shows up whilist playing games and even that doesnt hamper anything.

    Some music players such as iTunes can make things a little sluggish although I've solved that by buying an ipod dock and remote for my ipod touch which links in with my PC speakers!
    "The knack of flying is learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss."
    - Douglas Adams.

  9. #8
    Registered+
    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Posts
    24
    Thanks
    0
    Thanked
    0 times in 0 posts

    Re: Performance hit using two monitors?

    I haven't seen any performance hit running 2 monitors for ages but when gaming I can see the second monitor but if i want to use any application on it the game sometimes doesn't allow me without pausing it or minimazing the window. What i usually do in my second monitor when gaming is monitoring temps etc.

    if you game and watch and movie at the same time obviously will be a performance hit but it depends of the rest of your components (how many cores you have, hard drives, memory etc)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Fitness 101 - Must read! (HIT)
    By Robscure in forum Sports and Fitness
    Replies: 19
    Last Post: 11-12-2008, 04:44 PM
  2. New monitor and performance questions.
    By Denic in forum Help! Quick Relief From Tech Headaches
    Replies: 6
    Last Post: 08-12-2008, 11:22 PM
  3. Replies: 9
    Last Post: 17-10-2008, 11:13 PM
  4. PCIe 2.0 vs 1.1 (16x) - Performance hit?
    By stormy in forum Graphics Cards
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 20-06-2008, 08:03 PM
  5. NVIDIA's SLI - 6800 GT Performance
    By Steve in forum HEXUS Reviews
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 24-11-2004, 08:35 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •