Greetings, comrades! It has been many years since I began dicking with stuff and have always wanted a second monitor to assist me in my biblical multitasking workload. Alas, only recently have I acquired the desk space to finally acquire one. And so, I would like to inquire about monitors, as I have not bought a monitor since this 24" samsung I acquired a long (half a decade) time ago. Very nice monitor, but also very expensive, and don't believe they are available anymore.

Quick notes -

* I'll be buying from ncix.com.
* Color quality is a must. Doesn't need to be super latency-free; ideally I'll have it off unless working, and certainly not use it for gaming. Only stuff like 3d modeling, watching videos, etc. Ghosting and angle-shadowing mangley stuff is all a big no-no.
* At least 20", and a 16:10 resolution (everything I encode is 1920x1200, fuck the system).
* Under $500 total + shipping, this is my maximum credit card limit and there's absolutely no way to get around it. It is physically impossible to me to go to a retail. There is a small possibility I can steal a credit card with a higher buyout but they already tried to hang me so let's not try it.
* Should be able to elevate decently high when I need to access stuff behind it.
* Not mandatory, but if it doesn't produce that much heat it will be great because I live in a furnace. Like-wise, heat tolerance is a big deal. We're talking 110f with max humidity for months at a time.
* HDMI. My current serial port (the one this monitor is using) is not even fully bolted into the card anymore, and I think it's the only one. So, let's try to use HDMI. I think the card has HDMI. We'll find out! ^_^!

Quick questions -

- I can just turn off the monitor when I don't want to spare the GPU power, right?
- How exactly does the cursor work between two monitors? How do I transition between two? Furthermore, how do I get applications going between them? e.g, swap.avi in the secondary and Hello Kitty Island Adventure on the main?
- Are there any potential problems or considerations?
- How will fraps/other video hooking shit respond to two monitors?

Since graphics cards have many processing units responsible for different tasks I don't believe you're losing processing power when using 2 monitors. At least I didn't notice any frame rate drops when I was using 2 monitors.

The desktop transition is seamless. When using 2 monitors with 1900x1200 it will act like 1 3800x1200 desktop. You can even move/resize windows so the left half will be shown on one side while the right side is shown on the other monitor.
Not sure if the graphics drivers have other modes if you want to restrict your mouse to the "active" monitor and have a hotkey for swapping or something. Or there might be programs that do that for you.

Seamless mouse transition means that docking/autohide (start menu, trillian messenger, etc.) on the right side of your left monitor will be problematic. Reorganizing the workspace should do the trick though.

I'm not using fraps, but "other shit" responded pretty kindly to 2 monitors. Most modern programs I used offered special options to customize multi monitor usage.

"I can just turn off the monitor when I don't want to spare the GPU power, right?"

Extra monitors has a negligible effect on GPU load.

If you are using multiple monitors, install something like UltraMon.

Alright. I think I'm following.

I'm going to assume that without any specific mention of brands or models or such, that there really isn't anything particularly big to avoid? (edit: dicks)

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jun 10 2012, 5:47 pm by IskatuMesk.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=52561

But if you need 2 of them... That's going to be way over $500.

Even for TN panels, 1920x1200 has a huge premium over 1920x1080.

I don't need two, just the one, I'll be keeping my current monitor for the main. And, yeah, 1920x1200 seems to be rather scarce.

You sure about that? Normally you can pay 'extra' on your card so that instead of sitting at a $0 balance, you're at -$200 or whatever. Then you would be able to spend $700 on it: using up the $200 you already put onto it + the usual $500 credit limit.

You should check with your bank whether you can do that or not.

Can't do that with this card. Tried it before.

Which of course means you'll be buying from anywhere.
IPS then.
You're going to pay a 20% surcharge for the extra pixels.
you can buy a stand to do this.
LEDs are cool, CCFL are not.
Post the card. It likely has a display port, not HDMI.
If by turn off, you mean right click on the desktop and select "don't use this monitor", then yes. If you just click the button on the monitor, then no, obviously that wouldn't work.
swap.avi? Really? I definitely heed the warnings... In any case, if you're running a game in exclusive mode, the other monitor is unaffected, unless it's compatibility mode (SC kills your 2nd monitor).
Your first monitor is likely to be of shitty quality, and the color difference will be substantial. I've got a TN on the left and an IPS on the right. I never knew how bad TN was until I saw how good IPS is.
Fraps doesn't record the desktop, it records the game output. If you use something that records the entire desktop it will record the 3840x1200 deal.

Honestly, I think you should import a 27" 2560x1440 from korea for $350. Make sure you set the resolution to 1920x1200 for your silly aspect ratio.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Jun 12 2012, 3:09 am by rockz.

Link to said $350 2560x1440 please. The cheapest I found was a Hazro 27" monitor that was 500 GBP. I would greatly appreciate the savings.

Balooskatoomesk, I want you to know that I support your support of the 16:10 aspect ratio. I have 1920x1200 on my laptop, it pwnz n00b-azz 1920x1080.

Yeah, I've definitely been hearing that there's a big difference between TN and IPS. If it comes down to it I can just use this current monitor for the secondary.

2560x1440monitor.com (not active? idk)
http://forums.redflagdeals.com/merged-various-korean-branded-27-2560x1440-s-ips-lcds-280-450-us-shipped-ebay-1146004/19/#post14498585
It's awfully sketchy, but if you do some research I'm sure you find something acceptable.