The troubles of dual monitors

[aplefka]

So last night I finally got a dual monitor setup. Now the problem I have is that I need to be able to change the refresh rates so that they're different. Supposedly both monitors should run fine on 85Hz but they don't, there's a lot of shaking on one of them. So I set that to be my secondary display but whenever I change it to 60Hz the other one changes too. How can I do this? I'm gonna download the latest Cats to see if maybe that'll help.

9800 Pro is the card I have if it helps.

 

[aplefka]

I love how when I need help and post in GH, no one helps, but if I need help and post in OT everyone does.

The new Cats did nothing at all, infact they made more problems. I had it setup so that my 19" (the shittier of the two) was my secondary and my 17" was my primary. Installing the new Catalyst drivers switched that back around, and now I can't figure out how to make my 17" the primary, because when I do so in Catalyst it just identifies it as one, but still doesn't put my desktop icons or start menu over there. In addition to that, I also can't stretch out my monitor horizontally all the way. It's maxed in the settings.

 

[BigfootsMonk]

Originally posted by: aplefka
I love how when I need help and post in GH, no one helps, but if I need help and post in OT everyone does.

That's not very nice!

 

[aplefka]

The truth hurts I guess. I find it sadly ironic though, that the only times I post stuff where I need help, I have to post in the wrong forum to get the help I need. So far I've solved the problem of not being able to stretch it far enough myself, but I still can't figure out how to make my 17" my primary display.

 

[TJones2]

Start with the bios and make sure that the card you want primary is the one set as the primary monitor. You can also switch primary and secondary in Display Properties by moving the "monitors" around (grab it with your mouse and move it). I'm going from memory here, since I haven't had dual displays in a while.

 

[cy7878]

ATI Catalyst doesn't like to have 2 different setups. Even though the company website satets that it will support, my experience is that it is unstable and will revert back to "same" settings after a restart. I had to keep resetting the setting, but now I just used 2 of the same LCD panels....

 

[JonnyBlaze]

shhh, rule number 1

 

[aplefka]

Well I got it all figured out yesterday before seeing any of these replies but now I have a new question. For some reason, I notice a huge system slowdown now when I'm running both monitors. I've got a P4 2.8C, 9800 Pro, 1.5 gigs RAM. Everything runs substantially slower and it didn't do it until I got the second monitor up and running.

 

[aplefka]

I don't even know why I post in GH, who cares if I get a 1-week ban for posting in the wrong forum as long as my fvcking question gets answered.

 

[LED]

Try This
aplefka
You start your rant 20 mins after you post? :disgust:...well damn let me drop everything in real life so I can try and answer your post :roll:

 

[aplefka]

Originally posted by: LED
Try This
aplefka
You start your rant 20 mins after you post? :disgust:...well damn let me drop everything in real life so I can try and answer your post :roll:

No, but I wait 30 minutes almost every time and see nothing. Yet I post in OT and get replies right away. I'm not saying people like you who help are the ones to blame, it's people who just come here for OT and don't offer anything to the community.

 

[imported_bum]

30 minutes? ...I'd guess most of the quick replies in OT aren't even that helpful, anyway. And if you are in that much of a hurry, stuff like this can easily be found with a search engine in less time.

 

[So]

Originally posted by: aplefka
Well I got it all figured out yesterday before seeing any of these replies but now I have a new question. For some reason, I notice a huge system slowdown now when I'm running both monitors. I've got a P4 2.8C, 9800 Pro, 1.5 gigs RAM. Everything runs substantially slower and it didn't do it until I got the second monitor up and running.

Well, for me, back when I had a 9600Pro, I too got HUGE performance hits when doing 3D on one monitor, and leaving the second one on (both on the desktop wasn't a problem thoguh, so I am unsure of your situation) my solution was to install UltraMon and assign a hotkey to turn off the second monitor, so when I would game it would run at a decent framerate.

When I switched to an nvidia card, the problem disappeared. I hate to sound like an nvidia fanboi, but my 6800GT seems to handle dualies MUCH better than my 9600Pro did.

 

[simms]

Originally posted by: aplefka

Originally posted by: LED
Try This
aplefka
You start your rant 20 mins after you post? :disgust:...well damn let me drop everything in real life so I can try and answer your post :roll:

No, but I wait 30 minutes almost every time and see nothing. Yet I post in OT and get replies right away. I'm not saying people like you who help are the ones to blame, it's people who just come here for OT and don't offer anything to the community.

I'm in the ATOT crew and you KNOW we would just WRONG FORUM you or OMFG WTFBBQ it over here anyways. :thumbsup: for posting in the right forum, don't give up buddy.

 

[Chaotic42]

I have to say that I'm unhappy with my Radeon 9700/Radeon 7000 setup and how they handle multiple displays. Every time Windows boots up, it either forgets the refresh rates or the monitor placement or the screen size.

It's a mess.

 

[Dman877]

To the OP:

We don't get paid to answer your questions and only waiting 20 minutes (the difference between your first and second post) is being unreasonably impatient so calm down.

As to your problem, dual monitor setups suck. I have many, many experiences with both nvidia and ati in dual monitor setups and with very few exceptions, dual monitoring is simply more hassle then it's worth. Next time you upgrade your comp, just keep the old parts and make a second box.

 

[cbehnken]

Running an x800XL with dual monitors and a Rage 128 running a third with no issues. Are you changing the settings in the CCC? I am also using 3 different refresh/resolution settings and it doesn't hurt a thing.

 

[nweaver]

There should be some 3rd party config utilities. I use the Nvidia ones, they work great.