msimon1251

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Mar 27, 2010
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I recently purchased a 23" widescreen, native resolution 1680x1050. I have connected a 17" flatscreen as a second monitor to watch video, play music, etc. through my 8800GT second DVI output. What I notice is, in some games (e.g. Left 4 Dead 2) that there is a significant performace hit - game unplayable - when the second monitor is on even when not being used except to display the desktop background. Other games (e.g. Far Cry 2) are uneffected. When I switch to single monitor mode - just the widescreen, it's all good. I know my 8800GT is getting long in the tooth, but is this normal? Not sure if there is something I can adjust (other than springing for a 5850). Thanks.
 

mteeple

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Mar 27, 2010
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I know excatly what your talking about... I got a 4890 and while I dont suffer not being able to play i do suffer perfomance issues... The only thing i can say is that your 8800 for those types of games is still good can handle it, but you should probably take the second DVI out if your going for performance since the second monitor takes about a couple fps off (5-10 with nothing running on it)... It's probably just the game being fussy about being too low on FPS...Did you try to lower the resolution in the game with the other monitor still on?