2 Monitors, 1 TV and HD Output, HELP!!!

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TheSandman2236

2[H]4U
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Mar 30, 2006
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Hey guys, I need your help once again. I have one 8800 GTS (768mb) and I have the breakout box for it. I have it currently driving (2) 22" 226BW's and I want to output video to my tv as well. Now, I'd love to have all three running at the same time, or if need be, I can disable one. I want to know what kind of quality I can get out of my TV while my video card is running through component or what-not. I have an Olevia 37" LCD TV (720p,1080i) with 1 component and 1 VGA port open for use. My 360 Elite is using the HDMI. Can you guys help me with my options and the kind of quality i'm looking at? I've got some hi-def content and some games I want to play on my TV (from my pc, like Flatout 2) Thanks again my friends.
 
since your two dvi ports are taken you're stuck using component out to the hdtv. You can get up to 1080i quality with it, but i'm not sure if you need to disable any monitors. Give it a try, and if you don't like the results you can always get a pci(e) video card and use rgb out
 
Could you elaborate more on the extra PCI-E card? Will it render everything using my 8800 or the other card? Thanks alot ^_^
 
I know ATI drivers only have support for 2 displays. I believe Nvidia is the same way. Theres no way to have one video card running more than 2 displays (matrox and some others special cards can run more however.).
If you get a second video card you can use it to power the HDTV, best quality would be thru VGA as alot of HDTVs don't work well useing HDMI or DVI with computers (this has been my experience with 4 differant HDTVs). I have never tried useing more than one video card so I am ot entrily sure what is possible with them or not, but you wont be able to have a game mirrored on 2 seperat displays if there useing differant video cards, but desktop should be no problem.
 
Diablo2K said:
I know ATI drivers only have support for 2 displays. I believe Nvidia is the same way. Theres no way to have one video card running more than 2 displays (matrox and some others special cards can run more however.).
If you get a second video card you can use it to power the HDTV, best quality would be thru VGA as alot of HDTVs don't work well useing HDMI or DVI with computers (this has been my experience with 4 differant HDTVs). I have never tried useing more than one video card so I am ot entrily sure what is possible with them or not, but you wont be able to have a game mirrored on 2 seperat displays if there useing differant video cards, but desktop should be no problem.
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Alright cool, I dont really want them mirrored. I want to be able to use my desktop on my 22" monitor, and watch a movie on my LCD as an extended desktop resolution. So how do you have yours set-up?
 
TheSandman2236 said:
Alright cool, I dont really want them mirrored. I want to be able to use my desktop on my 22" monitor, and watch a movie on my LCD as an extended desktop resolution. So how do you have yours set-up?
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I currently only run a 22" monitor and a 17" monitor, I dont have my HDTV hooked up to my computer at this time. I have played around with it as 22" as main and HDTV as secondary but I will need a longer cable to keep it permenant which I plan to do soon as the 17" LCD is going to my daughtors.
My desk is in a corner, Computer tower is in the corner and a 6ft cable is to short to have the HDTV sitting on the oppisite side from the tower so I need to get at least a 10ft but will probably get a 15ft DVI to VGA cable. This way I won't need to use an adapter and it will be plenty long.
I dont like to use the DVI-VGA adapters as they cause extra stress on the video port and can easily break your card, the Cables with DVI-A on one end and VGA on the other are fairly cheap on E-bay and I have had good luck with them, in fact I got 5 6ft ones for $15 shipped and they work great with VGA only LCD dispalys and HDTVs.

I tried a DVI to HDMI cable on my current HDTV and picture was fuzzy no matter what setting I chose, but with VGA 1280x768 looks awsome. I tried DVI on my old HDTVs and had the same problems so I just stick with VGA. Ultramon is a great software program for multimonitors, i highly suggest getting it if you dont have it.
 
Thanks for the help ^_^ Now I either do that, or the component TV out with the breakout box or the 2nd video card.
 
TheSandman2236 said:
halp?
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I think what he meant by "won't support more than two displays" means that you can't run two monitors AND an hdtv off of the same card. Its either two monitors, or one monitor and one hdtv, despite the fact there's three physical outputs. That means you probably need to buy a second video card to run the hdtv in addition to the two monitors. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, A cheap PCI or PCIe 1x card would probably get the job done if you don't plan on gaming on the hdtv. That way you can use the RGB output, since some people have trouble with component outputs. Personally, I run a CRT HDTV off of a Radeon X1600 component out and have no problems with overscan.

Before you spend any money, its worth trying to just plug the HDTV into the component output and just try it with two monitors and the tv. Why not, it'll either work or it won't, you're allowed to experiment without asking everyone first
 
JPGR87 said:
Before you spend any money, its worth trying to just plug the HDTV into the component output and just try it with two monitors and the tv. Why not, it'll either work or it won't, you're allowed to experiment without asking everyone first
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You are right, but I currently don't have a cable currently long enough, and before I went out and bought one I just wanted some questions answered. Thanks all : /
 
JPGR87 said:
I think what he meant by "won't support more than two displays" means that you can't run two monitors AND an hdtv off of the same card. Its either two monitors, or one monitor and one hdtv, despite the fact there's three physical outputs. That means you probably need to buy a second video card to run the hdtv in addition to the two monitors. It doesn't have to be anything fancy, A cheap PCI or PCIe 1x card would probably get the job done if you don't plan on gaming on the hdtv. That way you can use the RGB output, since some people have trouble with component outputs. Personally, I run a CRT HDTV off of a Radeon X1600 component out and have no problems with overscan.

Before you spend any money, its worth trying to just plug the HDTV into the component output and just try it with two monitors and the tv. Why not, it'll either work or it won't, you're allowed to experiment without asking everyone first
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input though, I just ordered my 12 foot cable. ^_^
 
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