Important Specs for dual monitors?

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generalv

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May 19, 2008
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I've been searching for a concise explanation about what the important specifications for multiple monitors, but I can't seem to find testing or reviews of how different card specs impact using multiple monitors.

Its generally accepted that you don't need to use crossfire for screen sizes under 24", but what about if you are using multiple monitors and the are both under 24".

Its accepted that you wont gain much on a monitor under 24" with more than 512 MB on your video card. Again I haven't found any information on how performance might change with multiple monitors.

I want to use 2 monitors for my new rig, one a new LCD around 22"-24" the other a 19" CRT. I'm just not sure if 1 video card will be sufficient, or if crossfire may improve performance. My plan is to use the CRT monitor as a secondary monitor that will used primarily to watch TV though my tuner card.
 
What's your primary use of the rig? I use a 20" Samsung 206BW while my second monitor is a 17" ViewSonic VA721 running off my 7900GS and I'm perfectly happy however I don't really play that many games I'm more of a video, IM, general browsing person with the light gaming of HL2 or it's variants instead of a "I need Crysis maxed out" kind of person.

If you could explain what you'll be using your computer for besides watching TV on your second monitor it'd be easier to suggest something that will be good for you besides just telling you to get top of the line.
 
My use is about one third gaming: maybe about a third multimedia such as TV, video capture, and DVD encoding; and a third general use. I also intend on having 2-4 virtual machines running both Windows and Linux.
 
If you are looking to run dual monitor setup, all you really need is 1 video card that has 1 x DVI with 1 x VGA port or 2 x DVI connectors on that video card. If one of the monitors uses a VGA connection then, use the DVI to VGA adaptor that comes with the video card. Basically, you do not need a high end gaming card to run a dual monitor setup. But, if you plan to play games then get a more decent video card. Most decent video comes with 2 x DVI connections whether you buy an ATI chip video card or Nvidia chip based video card. I used dual monitors on an old Radeon 128mb video card with 1 montior being an lcd and the other a crt monitor.
 
I run a 24" and 22" dual monitor setup. With nvidia i have to set the 3d mode to single monitor performance. If it is on the default setting cod 4 suffers. But other than that just a standard 8800gt and is fine.
 
One card is enough to run dual monitors and any decent video card will come with 2 x DVI ports. I'm running dual with a 6800 GT, lol!
 
Thanks. I'm probably going to get a HD4870 but wasn't sure it would be enough to handle 2 monitors if I was going to be doing video and gaming.

I guess I don't need to worry about a second card or crossfire board which means all I need is a P45 board.
 
Gaming only uses one monitor, so there's actually no performance impact from running two monitors compared to running one. Any card that will be able to handle gaming on your primary monitor by itself will be able to handle your dual-monitor setup just as well.
 
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