does x1900gt support two monitors as one?

[fiddyspence]

does anyone know if the x1900gt supports the feature of a stretched screen onto dual monitors, instead of just extending screen onto the other monitor? see, i'm thinking of buying a x1900, but i want to be able to have my taskbar go across both screens instead of just the one.

 

[djkrypplephite]

as far as i know, it's a vendor difference, nvidia does taskbar dragging and ati doesnt. i could be wrong though. if it's not a manufacturer thing, then yes, you'd be able to do it.

 

[fiddyspence]

yeah, thats what i've heard, but i'm still not to sure :?

 

[RichPLS]

Yes, you can stretch screen, duplicate or use as two seperate ones..

 

[sojrner]

akaik what you are talking about w/ the taskbar is different then just having a stretched desktop on two monitors, and I think it is a m$ thing there. ati supports the desktop over two (I have done it on many cards) but the taskbar stays on one. You can drag it wherever on either monitor, but it only stays on one. You have to get that multi-mon software to have the bar over both. (cant remember the name, is that it? theGreatGrapeApe knows I am sure)

could be wrong, but I am sure (if I am understanding what you are asking) that you are stuck regardless of card if you want the taskbar over the "whole" desktop.

 

[kamel5547]

akaik what you are talking about w/ the taskbar is different then just having a stretched desktop on two monitors, and I think it is a m$ thing there. ati supports the desktop over two (I have done it on many cards) but the taskbar stays on one. You can drag it wherever on either monitor, but it only stays on one. You have to get that multi-mon software to have the bar over both. (cant remember the name, is that it? theGreatGrapeApe knows I am sure)

could be wrong, but I am sure (if I am understanding what you are asking) that you are stuck regardless of card if you want the taskbar over the "whole" desktop.

Agreed, it seems to be an MS issue as we have people with both Quadro's and FireGL's and the task bar always remains on one screen. Meanwhile applications can span both monitors.... so it is definitely a windows thing.

 

[fiddyspence]

well, i know you can do it with nVidia cards (where the computer reconizes two monitors as one) and then the taskbar goes from one side over to the other side. also with this you can play games so that it shows up on both screens, like widescreen only with 2 monitors. i jus wanna know if the x1900gt will do that.

 

[fiddyspence]

RichPLS wrote:

Yes, you can stretch screen, duplicate or use as two seperate ones..

are you sure about that? cuz that is exactly what i was wondering about. can anyone else back up that info??? :roll:

 

[RichPLS]

Well I do it :roll: The taskbar does not cross both screens, you drag it to one of the other...
been using it like this for years too.

 

[sojrner]

well yes, you can make your desktop stretch over multiple monitors. That is elementary. The issue is your aparent demand for the taskbar to also stretch over both. Not really sure what you are wanting there. Unless you have special software then you are out of luck afaik. Not sure why this is a hangup for you, but hey... we all have our eccentricities now dont we...

 

[fiddyspence]

heres a pic of what i'm trying to say. see how the taskbar goes across all the way and the clock and other icons in the taskbar end up on the other side? is the x1900 (or ATI cards in fact) capable of this? This is just some pic of the internet (kind of hard to see)

 

[sojrner]

Yes, you can do that. I have run my old system w/ an ati 9700pro that way. I have never run the taskbar across the monitors like that but that is a windows thing, not a graphics card thing. If the card is cabable of multi-monitors (which all modern cards are) then the OS is the one that actually does it, so you are fine.

One caveat is that you say you ran one game on both monitors. afaik that is not a standard ability. (windows defaults the game to a "primary" monitor) Perhaps your Nv card came w/ some 3rd party app to enable it to spread over both monitors? Matrox has cards that do it, and they also have add on devices that allow other cards to do it. But beyond that the game must support it otherwise you need one of matrox's devices that "trick" the system into running one "large" monitor at the resolution of both of your physical monitors combined (2560 x 1024 for example). If you say that you did it then I believe you, I have just never seen it done that way outside of some of matrox's work.

Again, this is getting beyond anything I personally have done. Could be that I am over-thinking it and it is something simple. Just trying to offer the knowledge that I have, and I have been wrong before.

I know the theGreatGrapeApe would have a better answer... where is he anyway? This is exactly the kind of post he would normally get in on.

 

[fiddyspence]

sojrner wrote:

you need one of matrox's devices that "trick" the system into running one "large" monitor at the resolution of both of your physical monitors combined (2560 x 1024 for example).

That's actually what i'm trying to do. but, i know for fact that Nvidia cards all have this option, i just have no clue if ATi cards have the same.

Thanks for all this info though, it's really helping out

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

From the looks of things you want SPAN mode. (ie one large sektop, not duplicted not simply extended, but including task bar).

ATi has recently tweaked their Hydravision support to improve this.

Still IMO if you're serious, you should get a 3rd party app like UltraMon. However if you just want to increse the functionality of your desktop space because you happen to have 2 monitors then this will do.

Of course it's also a question of what exactly you're trying to do. It seems to be pretty simply, but when I get home, I'll screen capture my desktop and you tell me if it's what you mean.

 

[fiddyspence]

hey i figured it all out!! i downloaded the latest Catalyst driver, and it worked perfectly turns out the display mode was called "horizontal stretch". works great, and does support x1900 models.

 

[sojrner]

thanks grapeApe, I just wasnt sure as I do not currently have dual monitors on my system. Had 'em in the past but did not remember "span", and you say it is a recent tweak so if it was within the last year or so that would be why I did not know. If not then I must be a 'tard... lol. Anyway, it's good that someone here can steer ppl right.

@ the OP:
Good to know you figured it out. rock on man.