Eyefinity, 2 Monitors; One Desktop, One Gaming

[skywood]

Basically the title says it all, I have one 1366x768 20" VGA monitor, and one 1920x1080 50" HDMI Monitor. I am wondering if it's possible to have the 20" monitor used for general surfing and basically everything BUT Gaming, whereas the 50" would be only used for Gaming (e.g. Steam games).

I think this would suit me very well, as 50" is too big for regular activities, and 1366x768 isn't really suitable for real gaming so they really make up for each others disadvantages, If I must, I will only use the 50" if the VGA monitor isn't supported but this seems like a bit of a waste and it is a perfectly good monitor. Even if I only have to switch monitors instead of them both being persistent is fine.

The card I want to use for this setup is an AMD 7770 Vapor-X OC Edition

Cpu : Q9550 Core 2 Quad
Ram : 4GB DDR 2 RAM
HDD : ~500GB + 1TB External HDD
Motherboard : P5N-D Latest BIOS revision 1401

It may be a little dated except for the GPU but it should handle games well.
And I think thats it.

If I need to download specific software to enable multi-desktops, so be-it.
Also My Cpu and GPU aren't actually here yet, and so this is more a plan of how I am going to setup my pc.
Thanks for the help guys, I appreciate it.

SkyWood,

 

[nukemaster]

You should use the EXTENDED mode(and not Eyefinity) for your second screen, but for games to auto run on the right screen, you may have to set the TV to your primary. This means some programs will always want to open on the TV, but can be dragged over.

Also note that some games will freeze things happening on the second screen. If your games have the option called windowed fullscreen(or fake fullscreen). You should use it since the games are running in a boarderless window and should not effect the other screen.

You will have to play a bit to see what works best for you.

 

[phendric]

What you're talking about is not an eyefinity configuration (where a full-screen application like a game stretches across both screens), and so the usage scenario you're talking about will work just fine. Where you'd get into trouble is if you tried to enable eyefinity mode - you wouldn't be able to do it because your monitors have different resolutions.

 

[skywood]

Thanks alot guys, was not expecting an answer this quickly

I'd also like to ask. Is it really neccessary to buy the vapor-x edition over the regular GHz OC edition?

Also could you produce a short guide on how to get multi screen started? As I will be new when I attempt this.

 

[manofchalk]

Not really. The 7770 has a very low power draw (therefore low heat output) so getting a top end cooling model isn't really going to benefit you that much.

Its fairly simple. For what your after I bet the standard Windows utility will be enough.
Just plug both screens into the graphics card, Control Panel -> Appearance and Personalization -> change screen resolution. There you will see your two screens. Change the resolution if they aren't on the correct settings. Drag them around to match their physical position and make the TV the "main" display. That means games and programs will open up on that screen.

 

[nukemaster]

If you hit Start + P with both screens connected, windows will let you get the basic setup done.

You can also do that from the screen resolution panel or from the AMD CCC.

As for the card, Vapor-X cards are supposed to be cooler and more quiet. The choice is up to you.

 

[skywood]

Thanks for the help guys thats all I need.

 

[skywood]

Alright, well I've set up multi-Monitor ahead of time with my GT 630. Both screens work but, I can't get full 1080p on my TV because the start menu aswell as the top of my browser is cut off. As a result I'm settling for 1768x992, with this resolution I get a black edge around the screen but it's still better than 1080 without a menu.

Any suggestions on how to get full 1080 without losing the border of my window?

EDIT : Even without multi monitor on, I do not get full 1080 resolution on my tv.

 

[nukemaster]

You are running into overscan/underscan issues.

Since many TV videos had noise(best way to describe it.) around the edges of the video, the TV's used to over scan the image to make it go away.

I have no clue why they still do this since digital signals do(should) not have this issue.

Either way, you should have an option in the Nvidia(the AMD one will have it too) control panel to change the overscan/underscan settings to make it fit right.

 

[skywood]

It's alright I figured out why, It was because my monitor settings were set as 16:9 when the monitor should be in "Just Scan" mode