Dual Display monitors

Hello all.

As of right now, i'm currently buying a new computer, but I want to try something new, which is having dual display monitors.
How exactly does this work?
Is this some type of guide I can look up and see how it works?

Appreciate any help

 

By the way, it's gonna be running on Nvidia 7800 GT SLi's and an AMD Athlon 64 FX-57

 

Dual monitors is supported inherently by Windows. You just plug them in and you can clone your desktop onto the second monitor or you can extend the desktop onto your second one. The latter is probably what you'll want.

 

Ah, I see.

Is there any guide that shows how it works, etc?

 

How what works? in once instance you see a streched out desktop, on the other you see two desktops...thats about it.

 

Go to the "Help and Support Center" under the Windows start menu and search for "dual monitors". It looks like there are a few topics there that might explain it to you more thoroughly.

 

Would dual display work with s-video so i can watch movies on my tv?

 

Alright, so I looked at some help guides, etc.
I was wondering if 19" LCD screens would do just fine.

And a pretty stupid question here but...how exactly do you go back and forth between each screen? Do you press a key or something?

What I read in the guides was just how to set it up, get the optimal settings, etc, but it has never stated how to go back and forth.

Well, that's about it.

 

If you have both of the monitors plugged in, they are both on constantly. Like I said, there are 2 ways of doing it. You can clone your desktop, which means the same image is displayed on both monitors. Or, you can extend your desktop onto the second monitor, which means you can double your desktop space. I imagine this is what most home users would do.

If you do this, you don't have to 'switch back and forth'. They just work all the time.

And yes, 19" LCDs will work fine. You can have 2 monitors of completely different types and sizes. (i.e. you can have a 15"CRT and a 24" Widescreen LCD if you wanted) As long as your video card has the correct outputs. You should be ok with Dual 7800GTs. You should have 4 DVI inputs, although I don't know if you can use all four. You may only be able to use the 2 DVI outputs on the main card.

Also, about the S-Video, yes, you can use it as a second monitor. However, personally, I have had no luck getting video games/movies to play correctly over S-Video, but I never did much troubleshooting because I didn't really care.

 

Ah, ok, thank you for that help.
I will be using the secondary to extend my desktop, and i'm rethinking that I probably don't want to get an FX-57, and go over to a AMD 64 x2 model.
I guess i'll have to try out going dual core.