Dual Display?

[Loyal]

I am currently thinking about what I am going to put in my new system.

I do really like the look of the 9800SE, however it does not support dual display right? While the 9600XT AIW does. I am looking to do alot of development work both Web and C++ as such I really think dual moniter display will be the way to go.

So what is best my best option? this is for a system i`m doing in January.

Buy a XP2500 before they are locked and a 9800SE NOW and keep them to use in February with a nice 18inc TFT. (you think the display area will be good enough to really multi task? with a few windows open)

Or

Wait a while and get whatever CPU is good in February and whatever GPU and a couple of 17-19 CRTS.

What do you think? Of course i am still kinda hopin I can pick up bargin 9800 AIW Pro while i am in China! (but i doubt it)

[Austin]

(AFAIK) the only AIW that supports dual display is the 9600 series as they use the newest version of AIW. 9800SE/9800PRO_AIW use the older version, IIRC the same version implimented in the 9000_AIW days. If you don't need/want AIW then all other modern Radeons should support dual display, only some 8500 didn't because they used DVI-D instead of the now common DVI-I.

It may already be a lottery to find an unlocked XP2500+, chances will be virtually nill come Feb though. The 9800SE is only good if you know it uses 256bitDDR and 380/340 clocks (seems most do). Even then it's no better than 9600PRO/XT. Basically the 9600 are superior in their design and o/c well but of course only the 9800SE stands a chance of being modded to a full 9800PRO. It pretty much evens out. I'd certainly advise to WAIT if you don't need anythign until Feb, there should be much better £150ish offerings out around then, after all the 9800SE & 9600XT are still largely inferior to the 9500PRO released nearly a year ago!

A 17" TFT gives you the same display area as a 19" CRT so is plenty, just rem to check the TFT's native res is suitable for you and rem to get 20ms response time if you want to game or watch video.

[Loyal]

Thanks, I wanted somebody to say *Just wait*

I am just getting itchy feet as I see all these possibles that might not be around in February so I am missing a Bargin?

Especially the 2500XP, at the moment on Ebuyer the 2600XP Barton is cheaper than the 2500XP!

Guess I`ll just wait

Might use the Nforce onboard GPU for a few months if its worth waiting for the Directx9.1 cards in March/April.

[gamezfreak]

I received my 9600 pro - That has dual display on it.

What does dual display actually entail? Can some things be stored on one screen and the rest on the other?

[Moby-Dick]

there are a couple of way to go with a dualhead display - one is to use a card with two outputs ( usually one DVi and one VGA )

the other way is to have a cracking card as your main display , then stick a reasonable PCI card in as a secondary display. I use this method at work and find it hard just having the one monitor these days.

[Enverex]

My Radeon 9700 (np) has a VGA and DVI ports, and comes with a converter to use the DVI as a second VGA port. So it seems that quite a few Radeons can do dual display.

If you pick up a 9800 then if it has a DVI port then you can just buy a converter to use the second monitor, or it may even come with the converter so you don't need to even buy anything.

NS

[Loyal]

Yup dual display is quiet good,

At the moment I`m running a P3-1GHZ Notebook with an old mobile Radeon.

So I can work on the notebook screen and watch a Movie through the S-Video out on the TV.

Or hook up a second moniter.

Basicly it works like having a primary moniter like a normal PC and a secondary montier which is just blank (+ your wallpaper) you can then drag and drop windows and programs to the secondary moniter.

So if i want to watch a movie, I open up my DvD player and drag the program to the far right of the screen and then it moves onto my S-Video output. Max it in the second screen and bingo all done.

Of course it might have changed alot as my Drivers for the Radeon are over 2 years old, for some reason the new drivers do not like it and I can not reformat and reinstall till I am back in the UK with a machine to copy my files too.

Basicly its extends your desktop onto another screen.

So my plan would be to have say for webdevelopment would be I would have Dreamweaver open on my primary display, MS Access and IE open on my secondary display to alter the site database and preview results.

[quarryman]

On my 9600pro i have a DVI and a VGA output. Does that mean I can run one half of the desktop on one monitor and plug the VGA into another and see the other half?

Or will i get 2 identical screens on each?

I have onboard video on the Shuttle. Should I be able to run 3 screens? Two off the video card and one off the onboard?

I've only got 2 monitors - just wondering

[Loyal]

They way it works is yes two moniters (with my current drivers)

Go to Video Props, and you`ll notice a drop down menu to select a display number.

You will notice just below the res settings there are two tick boxes

Use device primary display
Extend my desktop on this montier.

So just plug in your second moniter into the second port, select the second moniter and then click extend my desktop on this moniter.

You can find more also if you click on advance and then click on the display tab.

I`m sure you can work out the rest from there.

Again this is on my two year old mobile radeon using two year old drivers!

[petrefax]

Originally posted by quarryman
On my 9600pro i have a DVI and a VGA output. Does that mean I can run one half of the desktop on one monitor and plug the VGA into another and see the other half?

Or will i get 2 identical screens on each?

I have onboard video on the Shuttle. Should I be able to run 3 screens? Two off the video card and one off the onboard?

I've only got 2 monitors - just wondering

u can set it up whichever way you want - 2 screens with the same display or different displays on each

imho option 1 isn't that much use unless you are using a TV as display no. 2 & want to watch films etc, but using different displays on each is useful cos u can play a game and see IM / email at the same time (although it can get in the way of gameplay )

i got a dvi -> vga adapter with my ati card are you sure there wasn't one with yours?? if not i doubt they cost much tbh

i dunno about 3 displays, i don't reckon it would work. imho wouldn't you ned to disable the onboard graphics in order to get the motherboard to pick up the AGP? not really sure since i don't have onboard graphics so can't try it - i'm sure someone with onboard could advise

[Austin]

Yup AFAIK the only way to get triple display is to use Matrox's over-priced, quirky & under-performing Parhelia type cards. The main problem is firstly lack of demand, secondly the cost of implimenting it (inc sw) and finally the lack of a third RAMDAC. Oh and onboard gfx have been AGP based fo quite some time, plugging in an AGP card means you can't run both simultaneously. Only chance would be if the onboard gfx are PCI or you add a PCI card to AGP/onboard but even then I've never heard of anyone successfulyy doing that.

[Moby-Dick]

there are more ways than that austin...have a look at the 16 screen displys used for flight sim enthusiats

or even the tft arrays used by mach 1 pc's !

will find links when omre sober

[Austin]

I meant for use average consumers. I doubt those use publicly available hw or sw too!

[azrael1]

Hello I have a 9800 Pro with a DVI out put and a VGA output with a DVI Adaptor ! I am Thinking about getting another 17inch LCD which I can use to have 2 Displays on !

Is this possible with a 9800 Pro ?

[Austin]

So you have CRT+DVI with an adaptor? That should mean you can either run dual CRT displays or 1xCRT+1xLCD.

The adaptor is usally to convert the DVI port into CRT in order to run two std CRT monitors simultaneously. I don't think you can convert CRT into DVI. The only reason you can convert DVI to CRT is because they all tend to be DVI-I now (instead of the older DVI-D) which carries an analogue signal alongside it which the convertor taps into. If you want dual DVI capability your choices are VERY limited at the mo, esp if you want good 3D perf too. With LCD prices falling demand is increasing so we should see it become more widespread soon.

[quarryman]

u can set it up whichever way you want - 2 screens with the same display or different displays on each

imho option 1 isn't that much use unless you are using a TV as display no. 2 & want to watch films etc, but using different displays on each is useful cos u can play a game and see IM / email at the same time (although it can get in the way of gameplay )

i got a dvi -> vga adapter with my ati card are you sure there wasn't one with yours?? if not i doubt they cost much tbh

ok sorry for my ignorance here. I'm still waiting on my shuttle so can't try it out. are you saying i can have 2 different desktops (1 on each)? so there'll be 2 taskbars etc. So i open a game and it runs on one screen and then have email etc on the other?

what i thought you meant was that i would have one continous desktop across the two screens. I run a game in a window and move between the two?



look it'll all be solved when i get it set up.

thanks

EDIT:

i got a dvi -> vga adapter with my ati card are you sure there wasn't one with yours??

yes i got an adapter - could have sworn it was a VGA -> DVI though. yeah i remember looking at it. the cable came out of the VGA port and the on the other end i had an adapter that allowed it to plug into the DVI port on the LCD. Presumably this is for users with only VGA output on the comp but only DVI input on the LCD. This has gotta be a pretty rare situtation!