Dual monitor setup question...

[murphy_30547]

I have a 19" monitor with a native res of 1440x900 and was thinking of buying another monitor that is 1920x1080 and using my 19" monitor for running system monitoring programs and keeping an eye on them while I play a game. I have an asus p6t with hd5770 crossfire and was wondering if it would be possible or would it work if I were to throw in a lower end pci-e card in the extra slot and run my 19" on that card whilst running the main monitor on the crossfire setup or would there be complication issues or performance hits or am I just plain stupid for wanting to even do this. I just want to keep an eye on temps and whatnot while playing games to ensure a safe overclock for both my 920 and the vid cards. The extra card would be a 7300gt or an 8800gts512, which is all I have or if this is possible should I get a cheap low end Ati to avoid driver issues? Thanks for any and all help that you may be able to provide. Murphy

 

[jaguarskx]

Sure, if that what you want...

You will run into driver issues with Win Vista when mixing AMD & nVidia since it cannot handle multiple video drivers. On the other hand it can be done with Win XP and I am almost positive Win 7 will allow you to do so as well.

If you are running Win XP or Win 7 then give the mix a shot. It's not gonna cost you any money...

 

[murphy_30547]

I am running win7 64. I might just get a cheap ati card to throw in there I just wanted to make sure that it worked. Thanks

 

[dkapke]

Your video card(s) can run three monitors - why wouldn't you just use that? Don't set them up in EyeFinity, but just have the 5770 (even in in crossfire) simply drive two monitors. Your main desktop would be your 1920x1080 monitor and the other just an extended desktop. Your game will play on the primary desktop, not both of them. I actually ran 3 mismatched displays on my 5850 until I really wanted to play games in EyeFinity and that worked exactly like you're wanting.

 

[murphy_30547]

So would it cost in performance when playing games? That's what I am tryin to avoid.

 

[murphy_30547]

Sweet, will do thanks for info

 

[jaguarskx]

If you are gonna be using that 2nd monitor to watch video, then I suggest a video card just for that monitor.

While playing a game like Fallout 3 on one of my 26" monitor and a movie on the other 26" monitor I noticed very choppy playback with my PC (see sig). I don't do that too often, but I'm considering adding another HD 5xxx just for watching video.

 

[jaguarskx]

^^^

I'll need to check my setup then...

 

[paperfox]

My question is this, Can you even run a dual monitor setup in Extended Mode (not Eyefinity) while crossfire is enabled? Im thinking the answer is no.

If you only had one 5770 then dekape's idea of running both monitors off your single card would work. But as you say in your first post you have two, which leads me back to my question.

Some people might be telling me "he can just enable Eyefinity" and no he cannot do that. Because when he goes to open his game it will stretch across both monitors thus he cannot see his desktop to measure his temps. In addition to enabling Eyefinity his 1920x1080 screen will be limited to 1440x900, the smallest of the two screens.

Since murphy allready has his 2 5770s and monitors the best thing to do is for him to try and get his setup to work first. Then if it dose not work he can go and get a 3rd card as stated in the above posts.