I have just installed a new 120Hz 27" monitor, and am loving it (the resolution is 1080, probably the largest size monitor that 1080 looks OK on, but I can live with that). I'm wondering what to do with my older 60Hz monitor (resolution is 1020, as I recall). I assume that I can not run dual monitors with different refresh rates from the same video card, am I correct? If so, would a second video card work to use my older monitor- and if so, with the second video card what are the limitations for WideView, etc.? What could I use my second video card/monitor for, from an FSX perspective? I'm not talking about SLI, as I have some older video cards here that I have used before that might work. All of my video cards are nVidia, my current primary card (now running the new monitor) is a GTX460 (1GB). Thanks, Bruce.

There is nothing stopping you using different refresh rates on different monitors on the same graphics card, I'm not sure where you got this idea from. Maybe it's only an issue when you want to span one window across two displays, but no OS since XP supports spanning now anyway so it may be a moot point anyway.

nVidia's control panel allows the extension of the desktop across 2 monitors, even if they are different resolutions, refresh rates etc. They can run fully independent

Thanks Andy and NGX, I knew that I could use monitors of different resolutions, just assumed that different refresh rates would be an issue, glad to know that it appears that it will not be a problem. Thanks for the info. Just about to try 3D on my new primary monitor, it's a Samsung SA950, and offers several ways to use 3D, including a 2D -> 3D mode, frame sequential, side-by-side, etc. I think my NV card limits me to side-by-side, not sure- I am about to find out. Also- for anyone reading this post- setting the NV card to do 120 Hz and disabling vSync in fsx.cfg, I am getting some of the smoothest pictures in FSX yet that I have seen on this PC. An occasional stutter as everything tries to catch up with itself, I guess. Thanks again, Bruce.

nVidia's control panel allows the extension of the desktop across 2 monitors, even if they are different resolutions, refresh rates etc. They can run fully independent

Ditto for ATI/AMD.Cheers,- jahman.

Thanks jahman, What would really interest me is what people running FSX on Win 7 (64) use their second monitor for? Looking at NGX's post it is possible to extend the desktop across any two monitors, although I'm not sure what that would look like with totally disparate monitors if I was to try and run the VC over both of them...... Maybe unlocking a new 2D view and moving it to the second monitor might be cool, but I'm guessing there is a performance penalty? Thanks, Bruce.

You can't run one view across two screens that's called spanning and as I said XP was the last OS to support that. Extending the desktop will allow you to have FSX run in windowed mode on one monitor and you could undock 2d gauges and put those on the second monitor and you can run separate programs on the second screen at the same time as well if you want. For example on my second screen I have an undocked moving map gauge from FS Flight keeper the FMC from the aircraft I'm flying if it has one and Aivlasofts EFB as well, my second monitor just happens to be a touch screen too so I can press the buttons on the FMC too with my fingers rather than using a mouse, but that's a different story.If you really want to do spanning across two screens then you would need two identical resolution/size monitors and a DH2GO (dual head 2 go) that would allow you to have the VC across two screens.Just in the last couple of days I've taken things further and I've now have a second GPU installed as well. The primary card is a GTX 580 running a 1920x1200 screen which I have my main VC view on, the second display port on the 580 has my VRInsight CDU2 on it. The second GPU a GTX285 is now running my 21.5" touch screen monitor which has a resolution of 1920x1080. The frame rate is not really any different that running just the 580 on it's own with nothing but the main VC display connected. Your results may vary though because frame rate is dependent on how much spare capacity the CPU has left over to run the two graphics cards and it seems my i7 2600k at 4.6Ghz has no problems running my GPU configuration. I've still got another port free on the 285 as well and I may try plugging my VRi GPS5 in to it as well and see how it copes, I've not really got room for it all on my desk though :)

You can't run one view across two screens that's called spanning and as I said XP was the last OS to support that. Extending the desktop will allow you to have FSX run in windowed mode on one monitor and you could undock 2d gauges and put those on the second monitor and you can run separate programs on the second screen at the same time as well if you want.

I have no problem spanning a (non-maximized) window accross two different-sized monitors (1920 x 1200, 1280 x 1024) in Vista-64. Cheers, - jahman.

Thanks, much appreciated. Bruce.

Here's another cool video of an X-15 at Edwards AFB in the "vintage reel" style of the NASA Dryden FRC clips. Not much scenery on the ground to speak of, but then again the Mojave desert floor doesn't have much either in the RW. Note the camera angles. Great sound track too (Elvis "Hound Dog" and Joe Satriani "Why"). Cheers, - jahman.