Win2k - Dual monitors - Do you have to run them at the sam..

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On Wed, 15 Dec 2004 03:38:52 GMT, Utter Newbie <dabba@yabbahey.com> wrote:

>I was just wondering if anyone knows if you have to run dual monitors
>at the same resolution under Winows 2000? I have a 19" crt running at
>1280x1024 and was thinking of getting a 21" crt and running it at
>1600x1200 at the same time. I have a radeon 9500pro (hydravision). Is
>this possible using the latest catalyst drivers?
>
>I've heard you can under XP but I've tried looking it up for Win2k and
>it seems I can't find a clear answer. Thanks for any info.
>

It depends on the card and driver combination.
I am currently using 2 LCDs at 1024*768 and a 17" CRT at 1280*1024.
Some cards map the desktop across as one monitor, some treat each
as seperate desktop (in a "sort of" way) Look for dual head cards with
dual chips not dual output chip. Current config will allow me to play a full
screen video on any of three desktops and continue to use the other 2
for what I wish.
What chipset does the 9500 use?
I am currently running a nVidea vanta AGP with Appian J2k PCI and
find it better than the combo of (2)Appian Hurricanes or 1Hurricane and
the vanta. But space restraints keep me from using 2 J2K's that worked fine
until I had to put it all in one spot.




--

Woodsy,
Off the Grid, Off the Road, Off my Rocker...

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Utter Newbie" <dabba@yabbahey.com> wrote in message
news:kecvr01noacq4ivg3thi2rnotbg89l47g2@4ax.com...
> I was just wondering if anyone knows if you have to run dual monitors
> at the same resolution under Winows 2000? I have a 19" crt running at
> 1280x1024 and was thinking of getting a 21" crt and running it at
> 1600x1200 at the same time. I have a radeon 9500pro (hydravision). Is
> this possible using the latest catalyst drivers?
>
> I've heard you can under XP but I've tried looking it up for Win2k and
> it seems I can't find a clear answer. Thanks for any info.
>
>

You've got it right.

Windows 2000 hasn't got fully independent multi-monitor settings.

So all monitors must run at the same resolution, colour depth and refresh
rate.
I looked into this when i used W2K and got a second monitor.

I couldn't get along with W2K any more - the monitors needed individual
settings to be of any use.
So i've been using WinXP since then.

I think that Win98 has truly indendent multi-monitor settings too - but i'm
not 100% sure.

Martin.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Utter Newbie wrote:
> I was just wondering if anyone knows if you have to run dual monitors
> at the same resolution under Winows 2000? I have a 19" crt running at
> 1280x1024 and was thinking of getting a 21" crt and running it at
> 1600x1200 at the same time. I have a radeon 9500pro (hydravision). Is
> this possible using the latest catalyst drivers?
>
> I've heard you can under XP but I've tried looking it up for Win2k and
> it seems I can't find a clear answer. Thanks for any info.
>

Should work. I used to have a Radeon 9000 Pro and a pair of 17" CRTs,
and I'm pretty sure I could adjust resolution/colour depth/refresh rate
independently. I now have a Radeon 9700 Pro (which is basically just a
faster 9500 Pro), and the display settings show two monitors (with one
greyed out because I no longer have a second monitor connected). The
second output is currently set to 640x480 in 256 colours, with the
primary at 1024x768, 32-bit.

If your 9500 Pro has the same output connectors as my two cards, you
will need a DVI->VGA adapter to plug the second CRT in.

Ian

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"Martin" <zedolf@o2.co.uk> wrote in message
news:32a4iaF3j9rgbU1@individual.net...
>
> "Utter Newbie" <dabba@yabbahey.com> wrote in message
> news:kecvr01noacq4ivg3thi2rnotbg89l47g2@4ax.com...
> > I was just wondering if anyone knows if you have to run dual monitors
> > at the same resolution under Winows 2000? I have a 19" crt running at
> > 1280x1024 and was thinking of getting a 21" crt and running it at
> > 1600x1200 at the same time. I have a radeon 9500pro (hydravision). Is
> > this possible using the latest catalyst drivers?
> >
> > I've heard you can under XP but I've tried looking it up for Win2k and
> > it seems I can't find a clear answer. Thanks for any info.
> >
> >
>
> You've got it right.
>
> Windows 2000 hasn't got fully independent multi-monitor settings.
>
> So all monitors must run at the same resolution, colour depth and refresh
> rate.
> I looked into this when i used W2K and got a second monitor.
>
> I couldn't get along with W2K any more - the monitors needed individual
> settings to be of any use.
> So i've been using WinXP since then.
>
> I think that Win98 has truly indendent multi-monitor settings too - but
i'm
> not 100% sure.
>
> Martin.
>
>

Maybe i should have added that i was referring to a typical dual VGA output
type of setup, and not to the use of two or more graphics cards to create a
multi-monitor system.

Martin.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

Utter Newbie <dabba@yabbahey.com> wrote:

>I was just wondering if anyone knows if you have to run dual monitors
>at the same resolution under Winows 2000? I have a 19" crt running at
>1280x1024 and was thinking of getting a 21" crt and running it at
>1600x1200 at the same time. I have a radeon 9500pro (hydravision). Is
>this possible using the latest catalyst drivers?
>
>I've heard you can under XP but I've tried looking it up for Win2k and
>it seems I can't find a clear answer. Thanks for any info.
>

You can do this with Matrox dual head cards but AFAIK is problematic with
many other cards.

Expensive answer is to update to XP cheap answer is to get a secondhand
Matrox dual head card prefarable of G550 or P series but you do lose any
chance of playing modern games.

A good site for everything multi monitor wise is
http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/

Hope this helps

Andy