Windows 7 and dual screen

[Los]

Windows xp and dual screen never really worked, if you attached 2 monitors to your pc you could hardly put to WoW windows up because on of the windows would be lagging and overall bad performing. The story was that vista was better at this, never tried it myself, and that you hardly had any lag using 1 gfx card and 2 monitors with WoW windows on both monitors.

My question was, if anybody has tried such a setup on the new Windows 7. I know its still beta release but I read such good things about it. So anybody using 1 pc, 1 gfx card on windows 7 with dual screen and good running wows on both?

[Selz]

It does work on XP, but better with vista. Yes windows 7 does support it and it works fine, remember windows 7 is actually just windows vista which has been top fixed for many issues and then a new layout
Microsoft is pretty much like Blizzard, releasing things that aint finish and then fix it from time to time :rolleyes:
There is missing one funktion the "show windows side by side" funktion, but if your useing keyclone that great software can do it for you :D

/Selz

[Lax]

Windows xp and dual screen never really worked, if you attached 2 monitors to your pc you could hardly put to WoW windows up because on of the windows would be lagging and overall bad performing. The story was that vista was better at this, never tried it myself, and that you hardly had any lag using 1 gfx card and 2 monitors with WoW windows on both monitors.

My question was, if anybody has tried such a setup on the new Windows 7. I know its still beta release but I read such good things about it. So anybody using 1 pc, 1 gfx card on windows 7 with dual screen and good running wows on both? With Windows XP, moving a 3d window to the other monitor on the same video card would cause it to be software rendered, rather than hardware rendered, unless you used NVIDIA dualview or something like that, or the ATI equivalent. Windows Vista allows movement to the other monitor on the same video card, but not on a different video card. Windows 7 behavior is the same as Vista in this respect. In my personal experience (which is the same as others' I've heard so far), I also get better performance multiboxing WoW with Windows 7 than either XP or Vista.

[Los]

Well I do know it didnt work in XP (too satisfaction), thats why since i went boxing i used 2 computers. Allthough one of those now seems as being 'too' much (not to mention the gf agro about the two computers). Also I really miss dragging around windows on two displays. So I guess Ill rearrange my computers, leave one of my two dual cores out (or go for a nice I7 setup, mmm).

tnx for the replys, good to hear that windows 7 beats xp in this aspect, time to upgrade!

[Xar]

With XP you have to use "span" mode, meaning you have one big desktop *across* 2 or more monitors. Using that mode in XP > Vista's crap of not having that mode. You had to have same size height monitors for it to look right if I remember correctly. Vista allowed mixed resolutions on two different monitors but when I used 2 video cards to try to use 3 monitors on Vista 64 Ultimate it would cause a condition like slow fps but wow always say 60 fps even though the images on the monitors were updated at what looked like 5fps. At the time I originally posted this others said they had similar problems but no one had a solution. One day I will get xp 64 and try it out but I've since given my two 8800 GTS's to my kids and have a single 285 on 2 monitors. Haven't tried w7 except in virtual box for taking a tour of w7 itself.

[Lax]

With XP you have to use "span" mode, meaning you have one big desktop *across* 2 or more monitors. Using that mode in XP > Vista's crap of not having that mode. You had to have same size height monitors for it to look right if I remember correctly. Vista allowed mixed resolutions on two different monitors but when I used 2 video cards to try to use 3 monitors on Vista 64 Ultimate it would cause a condition like slow fps but wow always say 60 fps even though the images on the monitors were updated at what looked like 5fps. At the time I originally posted this others said they had similar problems but no one had a solution. One day I will get xp 64 and try it out but I've since given my two 8800 GTS's to my kids and have a single 285 on 2 monitors. Haven't tried w7 except in virtual box for taking a tour of w7 itself.Right, "span" mode with special software, just to get hardware rendering on both screens. I'm not sure what you mean about Vista's "crap of not having that mode" -- it is native in Vista.

Any time you use multiple video cards, the 3d game windows are owned by one of those video cards, and the game decides which one it is at launch time (or, since you're planning to use Inner Space, Inner Space can override it for you). It can only be hardware rendered on its host video card, if you drag it to a monitor handled by a different one, it's going to be software rendered, and yes, it will look like 5 fps. This is the same on any operating system, it's a limitation of the 3d rendering pipeline. It can be worked around by the game reloading the 3d data on the other video card (which will take a few seconds at best, for games like these), but most games do not bother with this as it is not an issue for the general population.

To summarize, if you have multiple video cards, you're going to have to tell the game which one you want it rendering on or it's going to be slow if it is moved to your desired monitor from the other video card. If you have one video card and 2 monitors, and have Vista or Windows 7, then the windows can be dragged between the two without any extra configuration. If you are running Windows XP, dragging between monitors requires additional software for spanning (which works only on the same video card).

Hope that clears it up for you ;) I've explained this in a few different threads on the subject over the last few months.

[Deekhay]

Right, "span" mode with special software, just to get hardware rendering on both screens. I'm not sure what you mean about Vista's "crap of not having that mode" -- it is native in Vista.

Any time you use multiple video cards, the 3d game windows are owned by one of those video cards, and the game decides which one it is at launch time (or, since you're planning to use Inner Space, Inner Space can override it for you). It can only be hardware rendered on its host video card, if you drag it to a monitor handled by a different one, it's going to be software rendered, and yes, it will look like 5 fps. This is the same on any operating system, it's a limitation of the 3d rendering pipeline. It can be worked around by the game reloading the 3d data on the other video card (which will take a few seconds at best, for games like these), but most games do not bother with this as it is not an issue for the general population.

To summarize, if you have multiple video cards, you're going to have to tell the game which one you want it rendering on or it's going to be slow if it is moved to your desired monitor from the other video card. If you have one video card and 2 monitors, and have Vista or Windows 7, then the windows can be dragged between the two without any extra configuration. If you are running Windows XP, dragging between monitors requires additional software for spanning (which works only on the same video card).

Hope that clears it up for you ;) I've explained this in a few different threads on the subject over the last few months.I bought my system with two Nvidia 8800GT and since my initial setup (over one year ago) I've been using only one due to lack of performance as you mention. I never saw anyone explaining the why, only confirming the fact and I thank you for that.

You state at some point "you're going to have to tell the game which one you want it rendering". How do you do it? I use keyclone with its maximizer. If I plug card1 to monitor1 and card2 to monitor2 and launch applications with maximize, will it do the trick? I think that's the way I did it but not 100% sure.

Thank you.

[Lax]

It depends on the game. Most games simply use the primary display adapter because most people have 1 monitor on 1 video card. I'm not sure of a way to do it with WoW, and I don't think simply placing it on that screen with KeyClone + Maximizer is going to help -- I believe the game is still going to put it on the primary display. Some games will detect which monitor they're currently on when launched, and will use that display adapter, so for those games that may work fine (I can't name any off the top of my head). Personally I use Inner Space, which has the option of forcing the game to use a different display adapter, so for me it's a non-issue.

[dippy]

With Windows XP, moving a 3d window to the other monitor on the same video card would cause it to be software rendered, rather than hardware rendered, unless you used NVIDIA dualview or something like that, or the ATI equivalent. Windows Vista allows movement to the other monitor on the same video card, but not on a different video card. Windows 7 behavior is the same as Vista in this respect. In my personal experience (which is the same as others' I've heard so far), I also get better performance multiboxing WoW with Windows 7 than either XP or Vista.Windows 7 works great moving Warcraft between screens on different video cards. I have two cards (Nvidia 9800GT 512M and a much older Radeon X700). I use Octopus and it starts my 4 slaves on the main Nvidia card, and then moves the window onto the Radeon card.

The 4 slaves run perfectly well with the Radeon just showing the graphics (the 9800 does the gruntwork for all 5) and there is no slowdown at all.

David.

[falsfire3401]

I'm recently converted to Win7. I run one GFX card and two LCDs.

Previously on WinXP I had noticeable lag on both WOW Windows when one was on the 2nd LCD. On Win7 there's no lag.

WOW itself (even solo-boxing), I had to turn down some of the settings a teency bit to get the same framerates, I also noticed that oddly enough, I had to first login to a toon in Dalaran or another major city before my 'twins' out in the boonies would get decent framerates?!?

[ajn03001]

Falsfire, may I ask your system's specs? I'm very interested in running 2 accounts on dual monitors, and this threads been a nail hitter. I'm deciding if I should upgrade to make 2 accounts run maxed and smoothly but spending the least money possible.

[Xar]

Sorry, been a while since I've seen this thread so didn't see your reply Lax. What I mean is XP has a "span" mode where it makes one big desktop based on width of monitor 1 + width of monitor 2. So windows has just 1 huge virtual display, the taskbar spans across both monitors and it's highly annoying when alt-tabbing because the alt-tab box is right in between both monitors. The span mode works best with 2 monitors of the same resolution.

In XP dualview (as opposed to span), where each monitor can have it's own resolution, xp falls down and the framerates are horrible.

In Vista there is no span mode but dualview was fixed...until adding another of the same card and going to 3 monitors.

I believe someone said that they were able to run 3 monitors on 2 cards without lag but only when one card was from Nvidia and one from ATI.

[Tanntyn]

I have been running W7 from when they released the public beta and have had as many as 4 running at once. I have my graphics settings on "average" and get around 20 to 25 frames on the main and limit the background ones to 12. When I do not limit frames, I get between 60 and 80 with all the setting on max in Delaran with 2 copies going.

[zanthor]

Sorry, been a while since I've seen this thread so didn't see your reply Lax. What I mean is XP has a "span" mode where it makes one big desktop based on width of monitor 1 + width of monitor 2. So windows has just 1 huge virtual display, the taskbar spans across both monitors and it's highly annoying when alt-tabbing because the alt-tab box is right in between both monitors. The span mode works best with 2 monitors of the same resolution.

In XP dualview (as opposed to span), where each monitor can have it's own resolution, xp falls down and the framerates are horrible.

In Vista there is no span mode but dualview was fixed...until adding another of the same card and going to 3 monitors.

I believe someone said that they were able to run 3 monitors on 2 cards without lag but only when one card was from Nvidia and one from ATI.XP Dual View can be setup to look identical to having two monitors if you have appropriate software.

Vista does not span but dualview is fixed and supports 3d accelleration on both heads now.

You can run multiple cards just fine as long as you specify which card to utilize when you launch the game (IS does this or you can switch your "primary" video card in windows.)

[Drew]

I've been having pretty much perfect results using two monitors to dual-box under Windows 7.

Quick specs:
CPU E8400 @ stock 3.0GHz
8GB DDR2-800 RAM (just bumped up from 2GB 3 days ago)
Radeon 4870 512MB video card ('http://www.kuroutoshikou.com/modules/display/?iid=1291') (with spiffy, non-standard cooler)
2x 7200rpm SATA drives with a full WoW install on each one
Screens - 2 iiyama PLE1902WS screens at 1440x900 (2nd screen added 3 days ago)
HKN for passing keystrokes
standard keyboard
Logitech VX Nano 5 button mouse
Ergotron Neo-Flex™ Dual LCD Lift Stand ('http://www.ergotron.com/Products/tabid/65/PRDID/241/language/en-US/default.aspx') (arrived, yup - 3 days ago. :) )

http://www.wheresdrew.com/images/dualwide.jpg

If needed, I can rotate the screens 360 degrees. I have a HKN profile set for what I call "info mode."

http://www.wheresdrew.com/images/infomode.jpg

I haven't actually boxed with it like that yet, since I really enjoy having two full screens instead of cramming everything together on one monitor.

Even when I was running under Win7 with 2GB of RAM I didn't have any problems aside from the standard slowdown in Dalaran. Since adding the extra RAM, though, my framerates have gotten noticeably better, even after turning the details up much, much higher. (When I set my display options, I move the slider to Ultra, then turn shadow detail, ground clutter density and ground clutter radius all the way down. Every other effect is left at max.)

If you're still on the fence, I'd say take the leap and give Win7 a try. It's free right now, so if you don't like it it won't cost you anything but your time.

Me, I'll actually be buying a full, release version as soon as it's available. :)

[Deumus]

Thanks for this topic.

I recently upgrade my hardware to run 5 WoW at same time. After buying an Quad Core and Geforce GTX 260, i'm not happy with my FPS (~20) and don't know why this PC config not working properly.

I using Dualview!

I try to install Windows Seven and test if my FPS is better.

[Modes]

I had the same problem in XP until I switched to SPAN and it was like night and day. Went from like 5-7 FPS to 30+ sustainable over 4 additional WoWs. That system was running a Q6600 and 2 x 8800 GTXs.

I'm using Windows 7 now (starting new team, on new PC) and I'm pleased and not noticing the same issue. Long story short, shadows and SPAN vs. Dualview are your most likely culprits, seriously. It was really annoying switching modes every time, but it was absolutely, 100% worth the performance increase. It was not small.

[roflstomp]

well i am running windows 7 with 6 moniters and 3 card with 5 wows and a movie no problems i also made a post under screenshots and digi art of my new system if u wanta look kinda messy but need to tiddy it up

[Eggy]

So, how do you go about setting wow to load on different GPUs? I run a 295 and honestly I dont think it normaly takes advantage of the duel GPUs, or atleast not as much as it ought to, so I want to mess around with this abit, but I cant really find it in Inner Space...

[Lax]

So, how do you go about setting wow to load on different GPUs? I run a 295 and honestly I dont think it normaly takes advantage of the duel GPUs, or atleast not as much as it ought to, so I want to mess around with this abit, but I cant really find it in Inner Space...
The setting is in the IS configuration window, in the Game Configuration tab. Select the game from the drop-down, then there will be another drop-down for the game profile. In the game profile, there is a display selection drop-down that defaults to "Application controlled". It has options for selecting display 1-4.

You'd want to have a profile for the first GPU, and a profile for the second GPU, then select the different profiles per Character in ISBoxer. (Restart both IS and ISBoxer after creating new games and/or game profiles in IS, for it to show up in ISBoxer)

[Eggy]

Thanks Lax, doesn't seem to help with my gfx card though :(

[zanthor]

Utilizing my system (8800gt and 7600gt) on windows 7 I saw no performance hit for having windows move from monitor to monitor between cards...

http://dkpfiles.com/botbh/pics/7eVH1T8eGp6lSxzq.jpg

The left two monitors (22" and 28") are on the 8800gt, the right is on the 7600gt. I don't know if this is an nVidia driver that makes this work so smoothly or a Windows 7 feature...