Section 6 – FAQ/Debugging
How does multi-display affect my graphical power for gaming?
There are a couple of configurations for which this question comes up.
1. Adding a monitor to the same card, running game on one monitor
As you may know, when you play games, your desktop is still in the background whether it’s a single display or multi-display system. By adding an extra monitor to the same video card, the only burden you add to your system, is a bigger desktop. Luckily, the desktop requires very little graphical power to run, therefore
your gaming performance is approximately the same .
2. Running a game in span mode (running game on two or more monitors, see
section 3 - Multi-display modes, Dualhead and Quadhead)
Your gaming performance is equivalent to running your game on a single monitor with a very wide resolution.*
*This information is unverified, but will be confirmed/updated in the next few revisions.
3. Running game on one card with one monitor, while secondary monitors active on a different video card
Similarly to the first case, the only added burden is running the extra desktops. But in this case the extra desktop is run on a secondary card, minimizing - the very little - graphical power needed by the primary graphics card to run the extra desktop. So
your gaming performance is approximately the same .
Do all full-screen programs open in the primary monitor by default?
No, but most games will (see
Tips/Tricks in section 5 to run games in specified monitor.) Most application with a full-screen mode will display the full-screen depending one which screen the interface program is located. For example, if you were playing a video in full-screen on a monitor, you can move the video to another monitor by exiting full-screen, moving the interface to the other monitor, and re-initialize full-screen.
How do I set my wallpaper and screensaver?
Wallpaper: See
Tips/Tricks in Section 5
Screensaver: Unfortunately, there isn’t a way to configure screensavers unless they were specifically programmed to. Screensaver either support multi-displays or don’t. Screensaver that were program to run in only one monitor usually only launch in the primary monitor and leave the other monitors open for attack! Luckily, most of windows’ default screensaver support multi-display monitors and span (Span as in stretches on it’s own across all monitors without needing to be in Span
Mode) across all monitors.
Ultramon has a screensaver manager with which you can set different screen savers to run on your monitors, or simply run one screen and disable secondary screens.