Question: Multiple Monitors in WinXP

[work4rebates]

I currently have a GeForce 4 Ti4200 video card (AGP) and a 17" monitor. Today I bought a 20" monitor. I want to hook up both monitors under WinXP Pro, but I have some questions first.

My current video card does not have a second output (well, just SVideo). So I guess I'll need a second video card, a PCI one. I would like to, if possible, use the 20" as the primary display and have the 17" on the side. Any complications I should know about?

The main purpose would be to watch DVDs while I work (or play). I'm confused about whether or not PowerDVD or WinDVD will work full screen on the secondary display while the primary still shows the desktop. This is my biggest concern. Any idea?

If it is possible to use the two cards as I want to, what would be a sufficent second card? Hopefully something not too expensive. Maybe something from Newegg?

Hopefully someone can provide some direction. Thanks very much in advance.

 

[RemyCanad]

I at one time had two monitors hooked up to my machine. One card was an AGP Radeon and the second was a PCI stealth S540. It worked great I just put the second card in and XP did the rest. In the display properties you can select witch card is primary so that should be easy.

As for watching DVDs I think you can... I am not sure though. I think it might have to be played on the primary monitor. Hmm and you wan't to streatch your screen across them right?

I got rid of mine because I ran out of desk room. I should have it back though once I get two LCD 17 monitors.

I hope that helps some.

 

[RemyCanad]

Also that link to newegg didn't seem to work.

 

[Lord Evermore]

I believe that watching DVD's on the secondary monitor will work just fine with your setup. With some cards with two outputs, there are issues with video overlay only working on the primary port, but since you're going to run through an entirely different card, it should be fine. You should be able to just plug the card in and boot, install the drivers, and then go into the Display Properties and the Settings tab will show two monitors. Select the second monitor and check "Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor". You can also specify which monitor is your "primary" display, regardless of which monitor is the first display according to the BIOS. You can also arrange the location of the monitors by dragging them around; you can make the "common" edge be any side of each one, and make them uneven so that only a small part of each screen is common, to avoid accidentally going to the other screen.

You may need to change the option in the CMOS setup for which display is the primary, AGP or PCI. Some boards won't boot properly if you have both and select AGP as primary. This will only matter when you're in pure DOS mode (and perhaps in Linux before display drivers are loaded up), and before you reach the WinXP desktop. After that, WinXP's selection of which monitor is primary will take over.

Of course, you would want the 20" connected to the better video card, which is probably going to be the Ti4200. You probably would be best off with an ATi card like a 7000 or higher, since that would be cheap but also have some hardware DVD decoding functions. MWave and Newegg both have ATi brand 7000's for about 50 dollars, slightly cheaper for other brands with ATi chips. You don't need to get a very high-end card, since you're only going to be displaying basic stuff on the second screen. Heck, even an original Radeon 32MB card would be enough. The 7000 is essentially the same as the original Radeon. Even the old Rage cards technically have some DVD acceleration capability.

 

[BigDog1]

I agree with about everything Lord Evermore said.

I have 2 each 19" monitors on my WinXP platform, being driven from a Matrox G450 dual head video card. As soon as I put the card in and booted, Windows XP recognized that I had two monitors and correctly identified them. It let me drag icons for monitor 1 and 2 into an orientation that was the same as my physical monitors. I am surfing and emailing on monitor1 and watching a DVD on monitor 2 right now -- it is nice. I can also run any program on either screen (like email on one and browser on the other). PowerDVD and WinDVD both work fine.

A couple of years ago I had a similar setup at work, but with two video cards like you are describing (AGP and PCI). No problems -- everything ran just as I described above with the dual head card.

I agree a good card for monitor 2 would be an ATI 7000 or similar. You can pick them up new on eBay for less than $50 in the PCI version, and many also have TV out (most likely they will either display on a monitor or the TV and not both, OR they will put the same image on both). ATI cards have hardware DVD acceleration (which really helps), and cards back to the ATI Rage Furry Pro had that (if I remember correctly).

You shouldn't have any problem -- Windows does a good job with dual monitors.

BigDog1

 

[NeuralChaos]

The thing I found most annoying when I finally got dual monitors is that I couldn't play one monitor full screen while working with the other(divx movies that is, I never tried a DVD player since I don't got a DVD-Rom!). BUT! I -finally- found a player that would allow me to play in full screen whilst working on my other. Windows media player 9. It's a bloated as heck program, but that one feature is worth it.

Oh yea, and check out www.ultramon.com for an awesome Dual-monitor utility. Trial version.

Have fun!.

 

[RemyCanad]

As evermore stated a original radeon would work just fine. I am still running on one! Its the 32meg DDR version and I can even play UT2003 with some ok graphics settings!:Q