Ok so I have two monitors running dual display mode, 1 monitor runs the games while the other runs applications/other programs etc, now this is all well and good, and when I pause my game I can easily move the mouse from primary to the secondary, but when I click on an application it still minimises the game. How I can I prevent this?

I thought a "always on top" program would help out, so I set firefox on monitor 2 to always on top, paused the game on no 1, click onto the website on number 2... minimised the game again.

Even tried making the monitors in span mode instead of dualdisplay, which jsut led to the secondary monitor being disabled when I ran a game.

I'm going to invest in a MatroxTripleHeadToGo adpater, so I can finally get my 3rd monitor working properly, any advice on this adaptor would good as its new to me, and indeed so is 3 monitors in general.

The triplehead won't fix that problem. The only way I got what your after is abit pricey for some, but being that your tempted to get a triplehead it just might be worth it to you.

What I had was 2)PC's, 1)KVM, 2)19" Monitors

PC1 is "my computer" PC2 is a "slave"

Monitor 1 to PC1
Monitor 2 to KVM to PC1/PC2

Free program called Synergy links the 2 PC's together mouse and keyboard wise based on the monitor layout you setup (not limited to 2 pc's either)

The KVM is mostly to save the hastle of changing cords if you want to use the dual monitors on PC1 often like I did.

Say you are playing Hitman, and you want to reply to someone on MSN, you just move to the other screen, and the game pauses for you, still in fullscreen. And the best part, it's not taking any resources from your game to do it, hell you can watch a map compile while playing your game...

Would it work with 2 mid/high video cards (4 possible monitors output) and a VM (virtual machine) ?

Probably not as smooth as the above setup, but if it worked, a whole lot cheaper :)

The short answer is no...

A second video card would solve the single GPU issue (aka when you have a media player half on each screen, one half would be black) but even that is an IF setup properly, and still wouldn't change how a fullscreen game (an overlay) would behave, and that's only if your using a dualview vs span. At that point the only other possiblilty you have to get what your after, and this is where you get a semi-yes, is if the game supports a "window mode" such as like Q4, it won't minimize because it's not fullscreen to start...

Bottomline - Games are written from the start, to be fullscreen applications. Some may have better compatability to your specific wants, but only as a byproduct...

PleaseMYOB writes...That's really the answer right there. The game has almost everything to do with it. I never noticed any mention of which game was being tested here.

DirectX is evil :)
(not really evil I guess.... but it tends to play by its own rules)

My setup::

3 19" widescreen monitors
2* LTD edition NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX (4 vga outputs)
dual pent4 CPU 3.60 (but i have an upgrade cpu waiting to be installed)

The tripleheadtogo matrox system will make my Armed Assualt game go across my three monitors, so then I wont need this, but for games that I will have just on one screen this is still somthing I am interested in. I do have a KVM switch and a second PC right next to me, but I really don't want to be running two PCs all the time, just be a waste of power and money.

With dual screens I tend to compile on one monitor and do mapping etc and the other I have a film going or music and chat programs, what setups do you guys have? Be interested to know how you get the full use out of more than 2 monitors.


edited on May. 28, 2008 09:30 am by techno2sl

I just have a dual vid card and the integrated.
I just run the nView utility that came with the nvidea card, which works fine for most applications. I'm not running the beefiest of systems proc wise, so I shut off unnecessary crap when gaming anyway. CoD runs on my primary monitor, and other apps run fine on my other 2, but the game changes the resolution for all 3 monitors to what I have set in game for options, which is way lower than my normal desktop res... making the other apps basically useless while gaming anyway. ;-)

techno2sl writes...

@ $0.12 a kilowatt (which is my high usage price, $0.08 is my low) w/250watt powersupply, running 4 hours a day (under full load, which is pretty rare to max out your powersupply) comes out about $3.60 for the month. Now if you plan to run it 24/7 with a 750watt supply playing crysis the entire time, sure it's gonna be like $65, just be sensable about it.

PleaseMYOB writes...Is that why my power bill is so high? Geez... I thought it was the heating and air.