Dual desktop ?

[Wack]

Hi All,

I have a question for you all.

I have an eyefinity setup with 2 Powercolour Eyefinity 6 edition 5870's, connected to 3 x 26" screens.
It works great. I primarily play BFBC2 and MW2 and plan to migrate to Black ops upon launch.

I have just purchased 2 additional 19" screens and wall mounted them on top of my 3 wide setup.
The idea was originally to connect my second PC to them to have the server manager and TS running on them but
I would prefer to run everything on my main rig.

My question is this:
Before I run out and buy 2 more active DVI-MiniDP adaptors at $100 a crack, I want to know:
Will I be able to setup 2 separate desktops ?
My original 3 x 26 and a second one of 2 x 19 and play a game like MW2 or BFBC2 on my main 3x26 while keeping the secondary
desktop (2 x 19") active and to see what is displayed on them (steam/server manager/TS/etc.) or will launching a game blank them out?
I could presumably use the ALT-ENTER combo to free the cursor to move up to the secondary desktop and click back into the windowed game to return to it ?

Thank you for your help.

[-Sn1PeR-]

I'm not sure what you mean by separate desktops.. but you should be able to configure them as extended monitors in addition to your eyefinity screens (which show up in windows as a single monitor). I am able to use 3x23in monitors in eyefinity and a 4th 28in powered off a separate card (old 8800GT) as an extended monitor). I can drag vnc sessions and leave them open on the 4th monitor while I game. The only issue I've had with this is that the location of the 4th monitor relative to the eyefinity setup sometimes gets lost on reboot and moves to the other side. I've also noticed hitching in GTA4 when the 4th monitor is connected (no idea why).

[Delphium]

Wack, yes you can use the extra monitors for things like TS and server monitoring etc on your 4th and 5th screens.
However note that some games when running in fullscreen mode will simply blank out any extra monitors.

For example I can play any of the source engine games on 3 screens, while playing movies and having things like TS, MSN, internet etc on my 4th and 5th screens, however if i play H.A.W.X. then my 4th and 5th screens are blanked out with a drak grey / almost black. So i can hear my film, I just cant see it untill I switch H.A.W.X to window mode.

So it really is hit and miss depending on the game in question.
You could try running the games you are interested in on a single monitor and see how they effect the other monitors before you invest in the extra dongles.

[suiken_2mieu]

+ 1 what delphium said.