Building a Dual Monitor Display

Posted by on 08/18 at 03:09 PM Permalink

The ability to run multiple monitors off of one computer is nothing new, but such configurations are seeing a surge in popularity. The falling prices of LCD monitors, coupled with the desire to comfortably have as much on screen as possible, are leading this surge. It might be an even more popular upgrade if people were aware of the ease of installation and the relatively reasonable costs associated with it. To that end, this Tech Tip will take a look at some of the basic requirements and features associated with setting up a dual display desktop on a personal computer.

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    Posted by David Benway  on  08/18  at  04:49 AM

  1. I have a sli system. My real goal is set up a dual monitor setup and have sli enabled. I’m running an ath 64 fx-55 proc. asus a8n sli deluxe mobo and 2 XFX 6800gt’s. At the moment I have sli disabled and a monitor hooked to each card. I have a tv tuner also working in the system watching tv on the secondary monitor is fine on the primary it is tinted blue (no setting changed this) I’m trying to find an answer to the 1st question but a solution to the second setup would sufice.

    2. Posted by Brian D. Bucy  on  08/27  at  07:58 PM

  2. I found this article very timely as I have gbeen seareching this subject for some time. I have often wished that my monitor was wider so as to fir more work on it, now I can spread it out on two monitors and get the work done faster and with less frustraton.

    3. Posted by jason s  on  08/29  at  08:58 PM

  3. every article ive seen says the laptop makes the second monitor a mirror by default. well i cant get my second monitor to mirror! monitor-2 is black, then when i check the ‘extend my windows desktop’ in display properties, it turns on (but functions as an extension). how do i get it to mirror??
    laptop OS: Windows XP Tablet Edition
    secondary monitor: KDS VS-7i

    4. Posted by callks  on  09/01  at  07:06 AM

  4. Hi there,
    Thanks for the valuable information.

    I am just wondering just like dual monitors can we share a single system unit with two monitors, two keyboards and two mouse so that two different peoples can use a single system for different applications? something like clone sytem????

    regards,
    Callks

    5. Posted by Mike Q  on  10/24  at  10:11 PM

  5. Thanks for the great article.
    I have tried upgrading two computers to dual monitor display and always get the same result.
    It recognises the card and installs the driver successfully however in the device manager it says that the second card “Cannot Start”.
    Both systems are XP. In one system I was running a AGP and a PCI together and the second had two PCI cards.
    What am I doing wrong?

    6. Posted by Faye  on  12/01  at  01:13 PM

  6. I have a Dell C600 laptop loaded with Windows XP. My video card is an ATI 128 Motiilty AGP 2X card (I think). It says in the display settings that it supports Mulitple monitors, but in the same display tab, I don’t see the option for extending the desktop to another monitor. Am I missing some hardware or driver? It’s driving me crazy big surprise

    Can anyone help this hapless newbie? Would be eternally grateful.  snake

    7. Posted by michael  on  02/13  at  02:38 PM

  7. when i try to run a full screen program (game) my second monitor is disabled. is there any way to get around this?

    8. Posted by Raul  on  07/28  at  11:59 AM

  8. I have two 19” LCD, and I would like to know all the options to work with AutoCad or Catia v.5. Is it possible to work in one monitor in 2D and having at the same time on the other screen in 3D working on the same drawing?

    I cannot get around it. Thanks in advance

    9. Posted by sagar  on  07/29  at  05:48 AM

  9. hey does anyone have an answer to callks question..
    i was wondering the same can two mouse and keyboard be connected ...
    each screen has his own set of mouse and key board..
    if possible let me know…

    10. Posted by Real estates  on  11/21  at  11:30 PM

  10. Sometimes i have to work on designing and in this case Dual monitor display is especially important but i didn’t know how do to this.

    11. Posted by ch00ch00nz  on  01/02  at  01:11 AM

  11. is it possible to have an agp card and integrated graphics controller running two monitors at the same time? tnx

    12. Posted by John  on  01/16  at  12:04 PM

  12. I have a second monitor hooked up to my laptop and is sitting higher than my laptop. Is there a way to have the curser move items/files up and down instead of moving items from left to right as it is set-up now? In other words, I want to drag the files up and down not back and forth. I don’t see any place to change the orientation of the curser direction.
    I’d appreciate any help.

    Thanks,

    13. Posted by Alam  on  02/05  at  09:46 PM

  13. I have a dual monitor setup connected to a 7900 gt pci-e, it’s pretty sweet.

    14. Posted by Carlie  on  02/22  at  02:43 AM

  14. Wonderful variety of computer monitor are available at TigerDirect store at reasonable price…

    15. Posted by Graeme  on  05/27  at  08:02 PM

  15. 1 have a 24” screen and a 22” screen running at different resolutions and refresh rates off the one Nvidia 8800GTX card.  The 22” keeps blacking out every 20 seconds.  why?

    16. Posted by Perry  on  07/12  at  04:52 PM

  16. I set up a secondary monitor to my laptop. At first they just showed the same exact thing, but then after 30 minutes of tooling around I finally got them to be separate. Now I was hoping someone could help me change them around. My laptop is the primary monitor, but I want it the other way round. Can somebody help me?

    17. Posted by Graeme  on  07/14  at  04:48 PM

  17. I had a problem running a 22 inch monitor at 1680 by 1050 resolution and a 24 inch monitor at 1920 by 1200 resolution from the one video card.  The 22 inch screen would go black every minute or so and then refresh.  I solved the problem by simply getting DVI-D cables that had all the pins (Unlike my previous DVI-I cables.

    18. Posted by becky  on  07/30  at  06:47 AM

  18. Does anyone have an answer for jason s?  I’ve also been trying to figure out how to get my second monitor to mirror instead of extend.  Can anyone help?

    19. Posted by david  on  08/01  at  06:58 AM

  19. I’m not exactly sure. If I had to venture a guess I’d have to say the card can’t handle the the output of to very high resolutions. Try dropping the res’s on the 2 monitors to get a total of the maximum output of the card. As far as getting the monitor to mirror instead of extend there should be a setting in the nVidia control panel. You have to enable multiple monitors. Then the settings should be able to be accessed and changed.

    20. Posted by madeline  on  08/19  at  10:00 AM

  20. So, can I set up a second monitor in another room without it being physically connected to the desktop?  Dell says I can with what they are selling me, but it boggles my mind.  Of course, I don’t believe in faxes either.

    21. Posted by Dave  on  08/20  at  12:27 PM

  21. I don’t think that’s possible Madeline. This thread is about hooking 2 monitors to the same system and enabling SLI without the 2nd monitor going black. nVidia will have a driver to support this next month. ( That’s the rumor anyway. )

    22. Posted by Jason Piper  on  08/27  at  09:53 AM

  22. Do i have to have a new video card to run two monitors off my computer, isn’t there a cable i can buy that will do the same thing?

    23. Posted by Harold Feldman  on  09/12  at  08:32 AM

  23. My Sony VAIO has two monitor ports, something I didn’t realize until I decided to use an unused monitor (same as the one I’m using)!! I did check the display settings (from Properties) and apparently my OS XP Home can handle more than one monitor!

    Once the hardware installed and I access the 2nd monitor properties what comes next?

    Harold Feldman at

    24. Posted by Richard Krell  on  11/06  at  02:44 PM

  24. I found the article very informative but I am looking for another answer.

    I have a dual monitor setup but do a lot of work utilizing terminal services.  I would like to find an article or some answer on how I can take advantage of the two monitors while using terminal service.

    If you can help or point me in another direction I would greatly appriciate it.

    25. Posted by JimmyG  on  11/07  at  11:54 AM

  25. Need to get directions to a source.  A dual screen set up where my screen is primary ... the other screen is a student.  I need to be able to either have different information on both screens. Example a reading problem on sttudent screen… at some point have the answer explanation on both screens.

    I am not a computer Tech… a teacher.

    Trying to improve

    26. Posted by James Weckman  on  11/12  at  10:24 AM

  26. I had a user that when she put board Video-338PCI-DVI in would not reboot machine. They told me to put the card in, and start up the pc.  Using f8, then go into safe mode.  After this go to device manager/display adapter and I should see the driver for my pc.  Select it and disable it and then restart the computer.

    27. Posted by Thomas  on  03/04  at  09:32 AM

  27. I am running dual screens.  My prob is that I want to run ms powerpoint presentation on screen 2 while running sound ware on screen one.  I can do everything but make the presentation show up on the expanded screen.  No matter which screen I have powerpoint on, when I press the presentation button, the presentation shows up on my main laptop screen.  Is there any help out there?

    28. Posted by carmen  on  07/30  at  02:18 AM

  28. i JUST SET UP TWO MONITORS...HOW DO I MOVE THE CUSOR FROM ONE MONITOR TO THE NEXT?  THANKS

    29. Posted by David  on  08/04  at  06:23 PM

  29. The curser will go off the screen in one direction or another. Try left then up then right while holding an open windows. You should be able to configure the way it goes somewhere in your display addvanced options depending on you graphics software.

    30. Posted by Michael Lee Cavin  on  08/20  at  04:53 PM

  30. I have installed a matrox g450 dual head one monitor has a blue cast the other yellow cast you might say warm and cold if i hot switch the cables the warm and cold swiches this conferms the problem to be in the display adapter or driver
    can any one help

    Thank ahead time

    31. Page 1 of 1 pages

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