Question / Help Dual vs single monitor setup & 1 more Q

ball2hi

ball2hi

Member
So, I've been thinking about getting a second monitor but would like to ask for some opinions on it first before I actually buy one, and in fact would love for someone to recommend a cheap monitor just to view applications and such on.

From what I heard, two monitors is what most streamers do. I also heard however that you can't "Full-screen" a game with two monitors without it taking up both monitors, and you have to do borderless mode but many games don't support borderless mode. Not to mention a lot of games (For some dumb reason) don't support increased monitor brightness if the game isn't full-screen. Last but not least, I heard Aero has issues with dual monitors, which would make window capture a pain for some of my applications.

I have been using Multichat for a long time in order to view stream chat while in-game (Using steam-overlay), but the lack of attention/updates from the author fixing certain critical issues makes using the program very inconsistent (The bot goes offline, names aren't showing up, web browser mode crashes, ect.) and I've been wondering if it's time to move onto a second monitor.

Are there any major issues I'd have to look out for with dual monitors? How huge is the performance hit? Ect.

EDIT: Instead of making a new thread, I thought I'd post here.
I use a HUD for my stream, so the game capture is slightly shrinked. Is there a way to dedicate more bitrate to the complicated scenes (IE, the game capture) and less to the non-complicated scenes (The HUD)? Was wondering if there was a way I can decrease blurriness during high motion some more.
 
UberDragon

UberDragon

Member
Re: Dual vs single monitor setup

I bought my second screen not too long ago. I can't really report any issues with full screen mode with multiple displays, I don't think many games use multiple screens for fullscreen by default, at least i can't think of any.

performance wise you should keep in mind that playing a game on one screen and watching a full hd video/stream on the other will likely not work that well if your hardware isn't the greatest. static and low motion applications however should not cause much trouble, unless your system is pretty weak.

Aero theme surely uses up additional resources - if you have the room of 2 screens i'd say you can usually have it disabled unless your really use lots of different window captures which you could not stand to ever have some other window overlapping it. sure you can keep it enabled, but at least i prefer the little bit of extra fps.

only negative thing i could report about having multiple screens is that you'll sometimes lose track of where your mouse is at when you're not used to the extra room.

and yes, for streaming it's definitely handy to have two screens. that's also the case for many other things.
 
dodgepong

dodgepong

Administrator
Community Helper
In my opinion, a second monitor is the #1 best thing a streamer can get to improve their streaming experience.

You can definitely play fullscreen games with them and read chat, and Aero is fine with 2 monitors. There's no performance degradation to speak of, either. There are no downsides to getting a second monitor, and a lot of upsides.

As for the second question x264 does what you are asking automatically. It's smart enough to see that the HUD is static and doesn't allocate as much bit rate to that portion of the screen unless it needs it.
 
ball2hi

ball2hi

Member
Alright, thank you very much you two. Convinced me to get another monitor. Issue being is Idk where I'm going to fit it on my desk. Time to reposition things. Now if only I could get my ISP to give consistent service. Is there a certain monitor you can recommend?

dodgepong said:
As for the second question x264 does what you are asking automatically. It's smart enough to see that the HUD is static and doesn't allocate as much bit rate to that portion of the screen unless it needs it.
Click to expand...
Alright, just making sure. Thank you very much.
 
FerretBomb

FerretBomb

Active Member
I'm still a fan of 'Famous Maker' monitors. Debranded HP gear at half the price.

You can most definitely run a game fullscreened on a single monitor, so long as you're using 'extend' mode for setup, and not a 'spanned' mode (like Eyefinity or NVSurround). It's just usually a pain in the ass to alt-tab in and out as the game has to de-fullscreen itself, then re-fullscreen when you swap back to it (such as to type a response in chat).

Aero impact is negligible on any system with enough power to really stream on. If turning Aero off makes any kind of noticeable difference in your casting performance, frankly, you have bigger problems. Leave it on. Don't use Monitor Capture. Game/Window capture are your friends. Likewise, driving multiple monitors is a non-issue for any modern graphics card. Maybe back in the day of a Rage128 or an old Monster3D it'd have caused a problem.
 
ball2hi

ball2hi

Member
Krazy said:
You won't get a monitor of any sort of quality without spending at least $150.
Click to expand...
Ah damn. Just making sure. Well then, i should probalby go with the one posted above since it's the cheapest right now with the discount, unless someone says otherwise. Want to buy it by tomorrow so it can arrive Mon/Tue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top