Can I do a dual monitor setup with 2 different size monitors?

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rowdymoody

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Jan 16, 2013
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Hello, I am wondering if I can dual monitor with 2 different screen sizes/screen ratios.

I currently use a 24" 16:9 widescreen monitor. I am a gamer, and find myself alt tabbing a lot to change my music, IM people, change vent/teamspeak channels or servers, look up things about my games online, etc, etc, etc.

I recently acquired a monitor from my mom after she upgraded, I was just going to stash it as a spare or something, but then I thought "maybe I can hook it up as a 2nd monitor on my setup". It is an LCD monitor, but it uses the 4:3 ratio, so it is more square than rectangle.

Is it possible for me to hook it up to my PC as a 2nd screen, and configure it so that I can have a game playing on my main screen, but use the 2nd screen to keep web pages and the like on? Even if it doesn't work like that and I still have to alt tab out for games, it would still be nice to have a separate screen on to keep some of the program windows I keep running regularly on to keep the clutter off my main desktop.

My rig has a Radeon HD 7950 with 2 dvi outputs (one currently being used by my monitor) but I also have a DVI/VGA adapter I can use to hook up the 2nd monitor. Can this work?
 
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I am currently doing that. So yes you can. The pc auto detects, or you can specify, which monitor is the primary and all games will launch to that one. Once you do that you can alt tab with the game still full screen on to the second monitor. It works great. As for yours the converter will work just fine. Im using a 23" 1920x1080 and a 21" 1600x900 setup right now.
I am currently doing that. So yes you can. The pc auto detects, or you can specify, which monitor is the primary and all games will launch to that one. Once you do that you can alt tab with the game still full screen on to the second monitor. It works great. As for yours the converter will work just fine. Im using a 23" 1920x1080 and a 21" 1600x900 setup right now.
 
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rowdymoody

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Jan 16, 2013
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Thanks for reply, before getting your reply I went ahead and decided to just try it. The instant I plugged the monitor in it came right on, I only had to make a few minor adjustments in the settings to tweak it to my liking.

I do still have one more question however, When I have a game fullscreen on my main screen I can't access the 2nd screen (as expected, I have to alt tab to get the 2nd screen.) But when I alt tab to access the 2nd screen, it still minimizes my game on my main screen. Is there a setting or something I need to apply so that I can alt tab to screen 2 without minimizing the game on my main screen?
 
Yeah you have to alt tab, but you need to set your games to Fullscreen(windowed mode) that is usually the setting you need. I know on games like Starcraft, planetside, etc it works like that. Games like terraria dont have that setting so they minimize.
 

rowdymoody

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Jan 16, 2013
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Okay that might be what the deal is, I have my games set to just regular fullscreen not windowed fullscreen. I will give that a try, Thanks a lot!
 
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