FastBikerBoy

Beagle

FastBikerBoy


I use triple monitors. Two 22" side by side for the main view and another one above my keyboards as I can't be bothered to turn my head anymore.  

I really want to do that as well.  currently my video card only supports 2 monitors, but I would love to add another so I can put a screen in front of my keyboards.

If you already have the monitor the expense isn't that great. I have two ATI 5450 cards. One is in the PCIe x16 slot, the other in one of the x8 slots (IIRC).
 
You will need two cards that can use the same driver though. I tried it with two different cards and it was a nightmare although there are some on the web claim it can be done I never got it working, not under windows 7. It seems to me that XP actually had better support for two graphics cards as I ran two different ones under that OS.
 
My MB supports crossfire natively but I believe the cards can be linked with a cable if your MB doesn't. Crossfire is the ATi term I have no idea what NVidea call theirs.
 
It's a nice luxury but I still haven't found any way of extending a desktop across two and cloning the desktop onto the other one. There are workarounds and I'm using DisplayFusionPro which can mirror a monitor or window to the third one but to be honest it's a bit kludgey. I trialled one of the other alternatives and it wasn't much better.
 
Now I just have a keyboard shortcut set up to switch windows between monitors so just do that as required. It is a handy extravagance though.

thanks for the info, Karl!

hgj1357

Kev999

hgj1357

Sonar 8 wasn't great for separating windows and workflow onto different monitors.

Not sure why you think that.  I use Sonar 7 and there is plenty of scope for separating different windows.  I have 4 screens and I tend to keep Track View and Piano Roll View permanently open on two of them while the other two get used for different things at different times, e.g. Plugin GUIs, Synth Rack, Console View, Staff View, Tempo View, Help File, Sonar Manual (definitely a good use of screen area).  If I had 6 screens I could easily fill them.

In 8 the console window and track window both have to remain inside the main sonar window. THe only way to get them in separate monitors is to stretch the main sonar window accross two monitors which I didn't want to do.  I agree that VST GUIs can be all over and that is really nice. 

I haven't used 8 since the X series started but IIRC you just need to "enable floating" from the Windows Window menu (top left corner). You should then be able to move any window out of the main Sonar view.
 
IMHO V8.5 and earlier needed dual monitors whereas the X series doesn't simply because of the multidock and........(drum roll)..... screensets.

I use 3 monitors and and really like it.  One monitor is an old TV that only gets Picture played back on it.  I think i'm going to need to replace it in the near future because it is not hi def and I can't take total advantage or a 3 monitor system,  but for now the system works.  

My  main monitor is track view and the 2nd bounces back and forth between Staff View and Console View....which brings to mind Screensets.  The OP should know Screensets make X1/X2 really a lot of fun and navigating monitors very efficient.

BUT BE forewarned...jumping from Sonar 8 to Sonar X is not too easy.  There will be growing pains and a somewhat steep re-learning curve.  But Prochannel and Screensets should make it worth it for you in the long run.  I really have benefited from both.

....now if only Staff view could step up a notch I would be in heaven.       

I'm running 2 different cards, with no issue, not by plan, rather to reuse what I already have rather than buying another card, after I added the 3rd monitor. Check my system spec below.

Just a thought.  I found that I could buy 32" HDTV's for around $199 each.

I picked up a couple of them,and they work GREAT - I then returned a bad 512 GB solid-state drive and took the refund store card and bout a 46" HDTV, which is now my main monitor.

Check out the prices of HDTV displays,and you will find great prices on really big displays.

Bob Bone

wkith skylight you need as much screen real estate as possible - the more monitors the merrier! :)

tomixornot


I'm running 2 different cards, with no issue, not by plan, rather to reuse what I already have rather than buying another card, after I added the 3rd monitor. Check my system spec below.

That's interesting. I tried with two different ATi cards under Win 7 and it just wouldn't play. If I installed one the other just refused to install. Uninstall it and the other would install okay, they just wouldn't install together.
 
I read a whole bunch of posts while I was trying - some from people such as yourself saying yeah it's easy put them in and they just work and others like myself who couldn't get it to work for love nor money.
 
I guess like many things PC related hardware combinations have much to do with it. I gave up in the end and bought two cards that could run the same driver which seemed to be the common 'fix'
 
I wonder whether the two different card manufacturers are something to so with it? I was running two different manufacturers cards on XP and that just worked.
 
Anyway - have you found any way of extending the desktop across two of them and having a cloned desktop on the other except for the mirroring technique used by most of the graphic manager utilities?
 
That works but it displays the stretched monitors at their combined resolution which obviously doesn't work very well on a single monitor.

hi karl - are they the same model video cards? is there a limitation on the mobo maybe?

They are now and they work, but previously they were same manufacturer different cards. A 5450 and another  ATi card the type of which escapes me now.

IIRC I couldn't get it working on my previous ASUS MB or my current Gigabyte P67A.

By the looks of it tomixornot has two different manufacturer's cards running together including one that I was trying with (the 5450).

I now have two of those and they work fine together.

Computers eh? 

i suspect that maybe for 2 modern cards they both need, if not to be the same model, at least to both support the crossfire/sli dual-card gamer thingy?