Pc Gamers.. simple questions about multiple monitors. Why use them?

[lightingbird]

Title says it all.

Recently I've been thinking of hooking up my gaming laptop to a docking station and buying a 40inch monitor or even a 23inch 3d monitor. Doing some research, I came across videos on youtube regarding curved monitors and multiple screens. I have been amazed. They looked really cool. Anyway, so I'm wondering. Besides it looking cool, why would a person play on three screens when they can just look at one? Wouldn't it be annoying to actually look to the left or right compared to just looking at one screen? Just wanted to get some opinions about this in case I'm missing out on something.

 

[omicron1]

Immersion. Peripheral vision.

You don't look at all three monitors - two of them just hold the "sides" of the world.

The end result is that you feel that much more like you're actually there.

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

What was said above, also I would imagine it'd be convenient just to not have to alt+tab out of crap if you don't need to.
I don't have multiple monitors but I am told once you get them, its impossible to go back to using one.

 

[BeerTent]

I've only seen one game that can handle multiple monitors, and yes, it had a hell of an advantage.

Anything else, having your GPU require to render information on the other is a needless framerate drain. Performance skyrocketed when school was done.

Multiple monitors are for work, or mixing leisure-work with play/TV (I've had Decker on one monitor, and my homework on the other. Homework on one, Avatar on the other when I had Strep.) Really, IMO, with a realistic budget gaming computer (2-4GB RAM, decent GPU, Dual Core CPU, 7yo old, $700 at the time. Still bragging about in 2011) Multiple monitors have no place on the gamers desktop unless your a graphics whore. And we all know graphics whores aren't there to enjoy the game for what it is.

Dual monitors are a work thing. IDE on one computer, plan on the other. Ticketing software on one, template, phone, and [REDACTED] on the other. Or even a computer game your working on one, while you've got Avatar on the other.

Man, I got a lot of TV I have to d- err... DVD's! Breaking Bad is on DVD, right!?

 

[lightingbird]

Would you need any special hardware to hook this up to a desktop or laptop? Im guessing a special docking station for a laptop.

 

[lightingbird]

I've only seen one game that can handle multiple monitors, and yes, it had a hell of an advantage.

Anything else, having your GPU require to render information on the other is a needless framerate drain. Performance skyrocketed when school was done.

Multiple monitors are for work, or mixing leisure-work with play/TV (I've had Decker on one monitor, and my homework on the other. Homework on one, Avatar on the other when I had Strep.) Really, IMO, with a realistic budget gaming computer (2-4GB RAM, decent GPU, Dual Core CPU, 7yo old, $700 at the time. Still bragging about in 2011) Multiple monitors have no place on the gamers desktop unless your a graphics whore. And we all know graphics whores aren't there to enjoy the game for what it is.

Dual monitors are a work thing. IDE on one computer, plan on the other. Ticketing software on one, template, phone, and [REDACTED] on the other. Or even a computer game your working on one, while you've got Avatar on the other.

Man, I got a lot of TV I have to d- err... DVD's! Breaking Bad is on DVD, right!?

I put this exact same post on 9 different forums and your the first person to say anything like this. In fact, most pc gamers are responding saying this makes for an amazing experience. Interesting.

 

[ThriKreen]

Most laptop GPUs should have the ability to span or clone to a secondary monitor, even if the secondary is hooked up via docking port.

For me, I have a 24" as my main, and a 20" set up in portrait mode for things like Photoshop palettes, chat windows, long document reading, or even having a web page up of a gamefaqs walkthrough as I play the game on the primary monitor. =D

More games are making use of multiple monitors. I believe Supreme Commander makes use of it, delegating the secondary for the mini-map and thus allowing the primary viewscreen to be less cluttered of obscuring overlays.

 

[ResonanceSD]

When gaming, immersion.

When not gaming. Put shit up on either side.

=D

 

[octafish]

What was said above, also I would imagine it'd be convenient just to not have to alt+tab out of crap if you don't need to.
I don't have multiple monitors but I am told once you get them, its impossible to go back to using one.

It is possible, but you do have lingering regrets. I used to use multiple monitors mainly for Photoshop, it was great having a monitor just for tools and only having to maintain colour calibration on one screem. Mind you these was back in the day when I was doing a lot of advertising work that required heavy PS sessions. It was so far back in the day I had 2 19" CRT monitors and an old 15" one for tools. Think of the real estate that took up. Now I make do with just a single 24" 1080p monitor, it isn't ideal but it will probably be fine until they make cheap 1440p IPS monitors that refresh at 120Hz.

 

[kebab4you]

Easier to keep tracks on things, I use one as my main monitor(gaming and if not gaming current thing I'm doing). And I keep offshoots program to the side which I don't need to see/read as often(skype,xfire,steam et.c).

 

[latiasracer]

It's usefull to keep other programs running, like task manager. For example, if a game freezes and you can't tab out - you can close it by using the task manager that's on the other screen. But that's just what i use it for, i should imagine theres much more....

 

[tthor]

Lol i have 2 monitors set up right now, and I can't tell you how fantastic it is! it allows for much easier multitasking, where I can have one window or program on one monitor, and another program on the other (rather than trying to organize 2 smaller windows on one monitor). Right now I am typing this reply on the escapist while on the other monitor i have My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic on full screen playing. Multiple monitors is fantastic for anyone who wants to multitask on the computer, and greatly improves productivity in most computer-related tasks. Once you start using dual monitors, you'll never want to go back

EDIT: tho i've never used multiple monitors for gaming; the only game I've ever seen that could even do that is Mount & Blade: Warband, and even then I didn't see a whole lot of point in using both monitors, especially since the monitors are different sizes as well as it just eating up a lot more computing power

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

I should have also added that I use 4 monitors at my work dispatching and it STILL feels like not enough. I'd kill for another 4.

 

[tthor]

I should have also added that I use 4 monitors at my work dispatching and it STILL feels like not enough. I'd kill for another 4.

lucky bastard.. I'd kill for just 3 x.x

 

[Dogstile]

You know, when gaming in large open world games I actually like pulling up backstory about a game as I play. It'd be brilliant if I didn't have to close out to do that.

Also, for working, an extra monitor would be great, one page that shows my assignment, the other page with it on. Would make it much less frustrating, always switching between them.

 

[Hamish Durie]

because I'll never 100% oblivion AND just cause 2 in this life time if I don't

 

[thom_cat_]

I have 2, when I game I only use one.
My regular computer usage could not function well with one screen.

Spoiler: MWRAWR

[http://img1.uploadscreenshot.com/images/orig/12/33705165118-orig.jpg]

On having 3: you have the main one rendering the usual amount of game, but the other two rendering your peripherals, so you just look at the main monitor, but you can see more out of the corners.

 

[ksn0va]

Downside is 90% of the time it's like looking through a fisheye lens.

 

[MrTub]

Downside is 90% of the time it's like looking through a fisheye lens.

Hmm? I have never noticed that except in MW2 since they do not support Surround (5760x1080)

but it's really nice in BC2. I have yet to try in bf3 since I've heard its a bit buggy.

Overall I kinda like it.

I do not think it's possible to use Eyefinity/Nvidia surround with a laptop since Im pretty sure the gpus doesn't support it. And even if they do it will lag like hell.

 

[VehemensDecor]

A bit of an obvious question xD

But basically, for those moment when you want to have two websites up, or two games up. For example, playing Skyrim while mining and Eve at the same time. Stuff like that, basically It's just convenient and makes multitasking much easier.

You don't need any special hardware, just a graphics card that can take it. Must modern ones can. Your card needs to have two display slots on it so you can plug in both monitors, or three if you have to, Personally, I only have two.