Which Is Better for Dual Displays?

[mtan002 0]

If you want to have dual displays, which is a better option:1. A good video card with dual output or2. Two video cards (AGP and PCI)I would think the two cards option is better in terms of frame rate. What is your experience?CheersM TanYSCBP4 2.4C@3.06/1G memory/Radeon9600XT

[Guest panda234]

Don't know if anyone would have experience with both, unless they are a dual monitor junky, hehe, but I would think the high end ATI cards with dual outputs should be handle it ok. Thoughts?billg

[Guest Herrie]

I had good experience with rather middle of the road dual head cards: in my former PC a GeForce 5200, and since a year in my new PC a GF 5900 XT. Both run with a 128 MB chip. In combination with a 3,0 MHZ processor and 1024 MB RAM the system manages 25-35 fps with both screens open (a moving map or the Garmin on the second screen).Herrie

[Guest TELCO1]

>If you want to have dual displays, which is a better option:>>1. A good video card with dual output or>2. Two video cards (AGP and PCI)>>I would think the two cards option is better in terms of frame>rate. What is your experience?I run two monitors off my ATI 9200 and works just fine. I've never tried dual cards. I've also never paid attention to frame rates as a measurement of performance regarding any addon...be it hardware or software. If FS is running smooth visually, then that's all I'm concerned about. I would have to suugest that cost would have to be a consideration as well the setup and the management of two sets of video drivers. The only change I would consider making is networking two PC's together (with two monitors)and using WideFS. This would split the processing load and probably improve the performance. But again, I don't think I would gain enough to justify the cost to set it up. I do use two sound cards however. My FS sounds are our of one, and all other sounds are out of the other connected to a headset, ie: voice communication on Vatsim. IMHO, I would keep it simple by using one high end card.....assuming you have the computing power.Lawrie

[oqvist 11]

I don

[rhodges 6]

M Tan:A long time ago I used a Diamond AGP card for one monitor, and a Diamond PCI card for another. I upgraded to a Matrox dual channel and frankly, I noticed little difference in performance. (Also tried an ancient Nvidia MX card which was the pits).The situation today is however, most high end cards will have dual channel capability anyway, so if you are running only two monitors you will already have that capability with no need for the second video card. However, you can add a PCI card along with a third monitor (or a fourth, fifth etc. as long as you have enough slots and power).Apples to apples I noticed little difference, but a whale of a difference on the primary monitor just because the newer dual channel (9800Pro) was superior to anything I know of in single channel (All in wonder would probably be an exception to this). My conclusion is that two cards with equal specs to a dual channel card are about equal, but it may be difficult to find the two combinations with equal performance cards (hope that makes sense).This does bring up one interesting question I have never seen addressed: Are there any dual channel PCI cards?Good luck:RTH

[Guest B52Drivr]

Hello All, On my main unit, P4 3.2 OC'd to 3.35 I run a ATI 9800 pro and two monitors off of it. One 23in SGI and a 17" View sonic. No problems.On my second unit, which is networked to the first, P4 1.8 oc'd to 2.2 I have a GeForce 4600 Ti running two 17" view sonics. I also have another card, PCI running in the computer which runs a 15" view sonic that I use for FSNav.No problems at all on any and it does exactly what I want running Windows XP.BestClayhttp://www.dreamfleet2000.com/gfx/images/F...ers/Dopke01.jpgClayton T. Dopke (Clay)Major, USAF (retired)"Drac"

[Guest N12345]

I've run it both ways.I have an AGP XFX 6600GT and a PCI Radeon 7000. Both have dual outputs. My 6600GT alone ran FS9 on monitor 1 and FSNav on monitor 2 (everything full screen) with no problems, using the nVidia n-view (I think it was) software, with a slight 5-10 fps hit in frame rate over just running my main FS9 display off the 6600GT.My current method, which I prefer, is running just my main FS9 display off the 6600GT and the "FSNav & other" display off the Radeon 7000. This seems to be best for performance as it allows the 6600GT to focus on just FS9 and the Radeon 7000 is plenty of power for simple 2D apps like FSNav. The drivers installed and play well together, no issues there. This is with WinXP Pro. For this setup, I use XP's multiple monitor system and not the nVidida software. This is what I would recommend, and you can buy a 64 MB PCI card for your 2D needs for practically nothing now. Also, in my BIOS (P4P800 mobo) I just set it so that the AGP card has priority over the PCI card.

[Guest KFD]

Clay,I also use a TI4600 with dual monitors but I have never managed to get to use both together with FS9. I'd love to gave the panel on one and a map on the other but the system seems to try to share whatever screen I have between the 2. I've tried just about everything. How do you do it?KevUK

[Guest kittie]

I run 3 monitors with 2 computers (2x20' &1x17"). Yes this geekette needs to get out more! :-wave . On my first computer (P4 1.5) I run a agp and a pci (gforce 2 agp and ati9200 pci). This one is not for flight sim. The second computer (amd 64) I run with an X800 pro, that supplies two monitors. I share the middle monitor with both computers and have a hot key to switch computers. I'm noticing that when I run fs9 in a window config. for online flying I can take a huge drop in frames when I push the gps over to the second monitor(90-100fps to 50-60fps). I am running a lot of stuff on the gaming computer (everything to go online). This all sits in the second monitor and is open. I think I'm going to one day try putting in a second pci card to the amd64 computer just to see what I get, but I don't think it will keep up to the X800. I'm hoping to soon run a lot of the online stuff on my first computer just to relieve the load but when your get such high rates, there's no motivation to change.HuggsKittiex:)~ The Flight system is: AMD 64 3500+ 939 ASUS A8V Deluxe with wifi GCorsair TwinX1024 3200 XL Pro 2 36gig W.D. Raptor drives in Raid256 X800 ProSound Blaster Audigy 2 ZSWindow xp homeAntec True power 550wThermaltake Premier V5000A caseCH USB Yoke and Rudder Pedals

[Guest B52Drivr]

Kev,I have XP, the dual monitors on the Ti4600 I use both outlets on that card, and I go to control panel, display and activate the second monitor. When in FS, (this is the networded system), sim is set to window large screen and I just unlock second window and slide it over to the other monitor. When asking XP to activate my 2nd monitor, I do not clone it, just carry the desktop to it.try that, if I've forgotten anything, let me know and I'll do it totally by the numbers again tonight and write it all down.Clay

[Guest KFD]

Clay,Thanks - I'll try that and let you know. Kev

[btrjet 0]

Hi Par,>>I don

[mtan002 0]

Thanks for all the comments made so far.I started to wonder about the 2-card option when I got very poor frame rate on hooking 2 montiors to the 9600XT. Something like 5 fps! And the picture on my second montior is blury. My son had a look at my setup yesterday and told me I should chnage my connection. I had a 17" LCD onto the VGA output and a 15" CRT onto the DVI port via a VGA adapter. My son told me I should swap them around. I did and I get a much better result - about 20+. In a single monitor, I locked down at 32 and I usually got very close to the target.With 2 monitors on the 9600XT resolved, I might leave it for a while and see how I go. The one reservation I had with a PCI card today is that it is useless once I move to a newer motherboard which supports PCI express only.M TanYSCB2.04C@3.06 + 1G memory + 9600XT