Computer Hope
Hardware => Hardware => Topic started by: Joshuashaw on December 23, 2008, 02:30:12 PM
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As I'm looking into top spec computers rigs at the mo as when I'm 18, I run into a bit of £££ from a compensation from a dogbite when I was younger and my savings that my granma has saved up for me, so about 12K in all. So I'm looking for nice PC set up, and was wondering as I'm doing a graphics and photography course and college and no matter what I go on to study at uni would probably do it for a hobby and have always wanted dual monitors as it'd make my job so much easier. What do other people use it for? It would help me out as I could look at a picture on one screen as a reference and then my own piece on a nother screen. Could anyone just shed light onto the matter in general, what people use them for, requirements and limitations?
Cheers
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Well you need to make sure the graphics card can support a dual monitor hook up.
They can be used for gaming, picture editing, theres just all kinds of stuff you can do with a dual monitor set up. Its almost like having to seperate computers in one.
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well, my cousin has a dual monitor setup for his meteorlogy job. and Dual Monitors are great for a wide variety of purposes, and in your case it probably would suit you well. the limitation are that it could decrease your proccessor speed some, but not alot to make a huge impact.
Requirement: You would need two graphics cards. and since your using it for photography, you wouldn't need the most expensive cards. a mid-range one would be good, with atleast 64MBs of graphics card memory on both cards(with VGA connectors in the very least). then of course you would need two monitors, with atleast VGA video connectors. and you are fine with a single proccessor, but its optional to trade it out with a dual core or quad core.
but believe me, i've done this with two 8MB graphics cards, and a Single core proccesor, and it worked fine(just check my specs). So you should be fine.
Hope this helped
,Nick(macdad-)
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Requirement: You would need two graphics cards. and since your using it for photography, you wouldn't need the most expensive cards. a mid-range one would be good, with atleast 64MBs of graphics card memory on both cards(with VGA connectors in the very least). then of course you would need two monitors, with atleast VGA video connectors. and you are fine with a single proccessor, but its optional to trade it out with a dual core or quad core.
,Nick(macdad-)
I never thought you needed two cards. I always figured one with to DVI ports would work. I haven't ever tried dual monitors i've only seen others with it done.
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It can be done with one card...ignore the above.
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It can be done with one card...ignore the above.
I thought that sounded wrong with needing 2 cards
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Requirement: You would need two graphics cards.
This is not true. Dual monitors can be setup with two video cards but many newer cards support two monitors, so you would only need one card in that case.
I've run dual monitors both ways, from a single card and from two cards (one AGP, one PCI). Either way can work fine but if you currently have, or will be buying, a card that will support two monitors, there's no need to buy a second card.
I currently run two monitors off a nVidia FX5500 card with 256MB of memory and one VGA port and one DVI port. Both monitors require a VGA connection. So, I use a DVI-to-VGA adapter to connect one monitor to the DVI port.
Of course, you'll probably be getting a much newer video card than mine, and you can easily find one that will support two monitors.
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huh...i didn't know you could do dual monitors with just one card.
but we should wait until he replies back, if he only has one connector on his current graphics card.
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As I'm looking into top spec computers rigs at the mo as when I'm 18, I run into a bit of £££ from a compensation from a dogbite when I was younger and my savings that my granma has saved up for me, so about 12K in all. So I'm looking for nice PC set up, and was wondering as I'm doing a graphics and photography course and college and no matter what I go on to study at uni would probably do it for a hobby and have always wanted dual monitors as it'd make my job so much easier.
I think he's planning on buying a new PC
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fool me once shame one you, fool me twice shame on me.
ignore the previous post of mine. :-X
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fool me once shame one you, fool me twice shame on me.
ignore the previous post of mine. :-X
It's ok everyone makes mistakes or else we wouldn't be on this website.
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I'm running dual monitors off a Radeon 9700 Pro :)
I also used to run to separate cards :)
Either way works except for that stupid boot thing where you HAD to boot from the PCI first or windows would not 'start' the PCI card >:(
Answering the question...
I use it for alot of things, mostly for displaying information, I find it helps ALOT in Photoshop CS3 when I can move all the toolboxes off to the right monitor so they aren't in the way.
I can play a movie on one while playing WoW on the other (this is good)
Keep Internet windows open on one, game on primary (this is handy for walk-throughs :P)
Also programs like Adobe Premiere CS3 you really need Dual monitors due to the sheer cluttered-ness of the program.
Limitations though..Sometimes games don't like dual-mons and the mouse can slide off onto the other and if you click, you end up back on your desktop with a minimized game. Some games do not allow them to be minimized and will immediately close while others may resume but the screen stays black, while some handle it very well. My solutuion was to make a hotkey for ATi Tray tools to turn on/off my 2nd monitor (control+alt+shift+tilde (~) ) And it works fine just as long as i do this BEFORE i start my game.
I know this also isn't really answering your question but:
You will want something like a ATi x800 Pro or a Nvidia 600GT
My reccommened list:
Intel E7300 (2.66GHZ Core 2 Duo CPU)
4GB DDR2 800mhz RAM
ASUS P5KPL-CM Motherboard (supports core quads for future)
ATi x800 Pro or a Nvidia 6600GT (Make sure the 6600gt is the PCI-e Version :) )
500W PSU
Nice case, Just because you can make sure it still has good cooling...something like a iCute or Raidmax case.
Windows XP
Unless you want games/super speed/be more higher range too..
Add:
Higher spec mobo ie ASUS M3N78 Pro
850W PSU
Geforce 8800GT (or higher if you really want it)
Note that these specs are taking into mind prices, and how long the items will stay current, plus the uses he stated he wanted.
Anything else I missed?
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... I'm doing a graphics and photography course and college and no matter what I go on to study at uni would probably do it for a hobby and have always wanted dual monitors as it'd make my job so much easier. What do other people use it for? ... Could anyone just shed light onto the matter in general, what people use them for, requirements and limitations?
Joshuashaw, you're monitoring this discussion, aren't you? No response from you yet. ???
Some of the ways people take advantage of multiple monitors have been mentioned in previous posts. In addition, almost anyone who normally keeps multiple applications open at the same time can benefit from multiple monitors. I often have Outlook Express, Firefox, and one or more components of MS Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc.) open. Having dual monitors just reduces or eliminates the need to flip back and forth between applications on one monitor. I'm sure many office workers could be a little more productive if they had dual monitors.
Both ATI and nVidia provide some enhanced features for multiple, i.e. two or more, monitors. For example, I could set my nVidia display settings to span two monitors, which makes Windows use the two monitors together as one very wide screen. So, if I wanted to view an Excel spreadsheet this way, the span setting would automatically accomplish that. However, enabling the Span mode is not necessary to do this; the alternative is to manually expand an Excel window across both monitors.
Besides numerous features provided an software from ATI and nVidia, other software for multiple monitors can be installed for additional features. For example, if you wanted to have a taskbar on each monitor just for the applications open on each monitor, you could get UltraMon (http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/).
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Yes, apologies for slow reply, I'll have to post a thread in the Antivirus/malware forum as it seems ever since I tried running a computer scan for malware using avast! Antivirus, my computer has been riddled with viruses, but this computer is definitely on it's last legs, not entirely sure if it can last another year til when I get some money to buy a new computer which is what I plan to do.
I'll no doubt keep with the latest console, as I love the playability of the console, you don't need to worry about the new game you just went out and bought messing up your system as I've had that problem with a few games, but to give all it's credit, the Dell 9100 which I got a good couple of years ago. Only had to format the full thing back to shop standards once, probably have to do it again after all these rabid viruses I have picked up for some reason but back to point.
I don't mind spending the extra £££ in terms of spending a good couple of grand on the PC, max £5K aslong as it lasts me. I would only use it for gaming when it's something specific to the PC or something that simply isn't as good on a console like Rollercoaster Tycoon or Sims or a FPS like Crysis but like I said it's not necessary to have over the top gaming spec as it'd predominantly used for design/illustration (Adobe Photoshop, Illustration) & for my music libary (80GBs).
I would use dual monitors for 1 film whilst on screen working on something in Microsoft Word or something in PS, but I definitely work tons better if I had dual monitors for PS when I could drag a image onto one screen whilst simultaneously replicating it on the other screen, if this makes any sense (artist study or colour study) but yeah I'd love to surf the net whilst watching a film on a different monitor.
As you can tell I'm not too computer smart, I know the basics from which sorts out the programmes I regularly deal with like PS & Illustrator & WMP (different file formats) but anymore than that, and I only know the basics in terms of computer specs etc so I would prob end up buying another desktop or paying someone to build one, although my step-dad is apparently fluent in computer language and could build one up if it is cheaper to my advance, I suppose I just need to look into the possibilties, after all I do have til December '09.
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I would prob end up buying another desktop or paying someone to build one, although my step-dad is apparently fluent in computer language and could build one up if it is cheaper to my advance, I suppose I just need to look into the possibilties, after all I do have til December '09.
It would be a lot cheaper to have someone build one for, and you would get exactly what you want into the pc if someone were to build it.
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I would prob end up buying another desktop or paying someone to build one, although my step-dad is apparently fluent in computer language and could build one up if it is cheaper to my advance, I suppose I just need to look into the possibilties, after all I do have til December '09.
It would be a lot cheaper to have someone build one for, and you would get exactly what you want into the pc if someone were to build it.
Thats true, I suppose I could build it to my specific needs in terms of what I'd use it for as for building my own spec, I wouldn't have a clue.