Curse

Kamatsu · May 12, 2010, 12:28 PM // 12:28

Hi,

Not sure if this belongs here or in a subforum. lol (10:30 and I'm tired... but would like to know.. so I'm posting).

Dual-screening takes "power" to do right?

Like we all see benchmark tests showing X card can do Y fps, etc. I'm assuming they are running that all single screen right? And I'm assuming that dual-screening would reduce the fps as the card would have to display and process images on both monitor's.. and thus would have less "power" or processing or whatever for each screen.. right?

So by running dual-screen, I'd be reducing the max possible fps possible? and possible cause issue's because my card had to process both my "gaming" on 1 monitor as well as what was being displayed on the other monitor?

Or am I a complete idiot and dual-screening has no or little effect on such? lol.

If I'm dualscreening and wanted to play something that might push my graphics card a bit.. would I be better off switching windows settings to single screen while doing this and then back to dual screen afterwords? Or would that make no/little difference?

Lourens · May 12, 2010, 12:44 PM // 12:44

you only get a higher resolution so if you turn down the res of the monitors it will be fine

Bill Clinton · May 12, 2010, 01:51 PM // 13:51

Its really not a big deal, honestly. My rig is stupidly average and I rarely see a difference of 1fps while dual screening.
Here, I just took a screeny right this second for you.

EDIT:
Nevermind, photobucket butchered the quality (its 90fps).

Quaker · May 12, 2010, 02:01 PM // 14:01

If you are simply showing the desktop on one screen, with a browser, msn, etc., then there won't be much of a performance hit since the desktop is basically static.
If you are wanting to play the game on dual screens (that is, GW spread over both screens), then that would equate to playing GW at a higher rez and would cause a performance hit.

Tharg · May 12, 2010, 02:10 PM // 14:10

it depends on your graphics card. I play 2 accounts at the same time on 2 monitors with 1680 x 1050 and 1,280 x 1,024 with the highest possible GW graphics options and I have no problem whatsoever. I use an 8800 GTX graphics card with 768 MB.

Elder III · May 12, 2010, 02:12 PM // 14:12

generally speaking the only noticeable performance hit (FPS wise) you will have is if you increase the resolution that you game at, whether that is a larger resolution on a single monitor or two of them is essentially irrelevant.

jonnieboi05 · May 12, 2010, 08:52 PM // 20:52

Hmm... I use dual monitors (my primary is a 28'' [1920x1200] and my secondary is a 19'' [1440x900]) and I literally run 8+ accounts at once.

The only time I will have any performance hit is when all the accounts zone at the same time. But that is because my hard drive/RAM is having to access files to 8+ different games (my loading time for all 8+ accounts is roughly 7-10 seconds total, whereas if only had 1 GW open it would take ~1-2 seconds tops). But, this performance hit is only when I am loading (I only have a flimsy 4gigs of RAM (force-decreased to ~3.3gigs. Yea...32-bit XP OS ftl...). When I have all of the accounts in an area I have zero lag between them on either monitor.

So, to answer your question, yes, there will be a communicative performance decrease with each account that you boot up when you get zoning. And no, if your PC is (for a lack of a better word) a beast, then you should not have any performance issues once the accounts are already in an area.

Hope this wasn't confusing, I don't know of a better way to explain it. >_>

Kamatsu · May 13, 2010, 06:12 AM // 06:12

Thanx for all the replies

GW I have no issue running on max settings in-game dual-screening with other stuff on my other monitor (irc, forums, etc.. no other games). I generally don't do much on other screen unless something inspires me, as I generally have GW set to "fullscreen", altho if I do want to do something.. I switch it to windowed and go for it (else GW minimizes).

One of the games I'm playing is Fallout 3, with a texture pack to increase the "looks" from the craptastic default to a lot better. Thing is, the maker of the texture pack states by default it is a "3gb" texture pack.. and it did make my game stutter a bit.. had to install a downgrade patch which makes the patch "2.2gb".. and was wondering if dual-screening was having effect on that.

I'd post on the forums there, but they are somewhat dead.. and I know & trust ppl here.. lolz (well, I know more of/about the ppl here than there..lol).

I'm also not sure what relevance the "size" of the texture packs has to do with things.. but I no longer get stuttering in F3.. so am happy. was just wondering if I'd gain anything significant by switching to single-screen over dual-screen.

Maybe I should save up and purchase more ram.. if it will help, here's my specs:

AMD Phenom II X4 965 @ 3.40 GHz (ie not O/C'ed yet..)
4 GB G.Skill DDR#-1333 7-7-7-7-21 ram
Sapphire Radeon HD5870 Vapor-X 1GB
Windows 7 64-bit
SamSung T3 1TB 7200 SATA2 HD

Truthfully I have no idea what fps I'm running in GW, or Fallout 3 (F3 is having mod issue's right now.. lolz). I'm tempted to d/l the free version of FRAPS and see.. although it supposedly reduces fps itself... *shrugs* I generally use V.Sync anyways as I find forcing fps to 60 is good.

oh, and my screen resolution:

Main screen: 1920*1050
Other screen: 1280*1024

Resolution I set for games: 1920*1050

Most of this infor should prolly have been posted in the OP.. but as I said, I was tired and just trying to get a feel for this. Thanx so far for the answers and help

Next step I think is test fps in GW & F3 with V.S off using the in-game counter's if possible..

gone · May 13, 2010, 07:09 AM // 07:09

http://www.tweakguides.com/Fallout3_1.html
nice read^

Not sure if there are any command lines for FO3 (for FPS) I use-
http://www.evga.com/PRecision/

it works with ATI cards as well. can toggle on screen display of fps/temps/etc etc...

can't remember if afterburner monitors FPS but here's a link for it-
http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/

-I remember people complaining that fraps was crashing FO3, not sure if it was a bug, if it was fixed...or if it was people's hardware/software.

Nerel · May 13, 2010, 08:22 AM // 08:22

Command line -perf displays FPS, Bytes/Sec etc in GW.

Elder III · May 13, 2010, 01:59 PM // 13:59

I have not played Fallout 3, but I'm a big fan of some of the other Bethesda Software games and the console command to show FPS in them is "tdt" - or you could probably google it in 5 seconds.

Anyhow, if you downloaded a higher resolution texture pack to the tune of 3GB I would expect that it would cause a significant performance decrease, whether you had one monitor or two. Anyone here recall Qarl's high rez textures for Oblivion??? I know that download killed my FPS (until I went Crossfire hehe).
For GW just look at the little green (or orange) button in the lowest right corner to see the FPS in game - also I generally find that games do better without VSync myself.
Hope that little ramble helped...

moriz · May 14, 2010, 02:51 AM // 02:51

are you talking about this texture pack, kamatsu?
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloa...e.php?id=12056

i've used it. it made FO3 look significantly better... but caused the game to crash once every 15 seconds. i'm also using FOOK2 RC 1.1, which is another ginormous mod that adds a ton of extra content to the game. needless to say, the combination of both is too much to handle.

if you are going to use that mod, you might want to use this also:
http://www.fallout3nexus.com/downloa...e.php?id=12031

it makes FO3 large address aware, which means that it can access more than 2gb of RAM if needed be.

Lord Sojar · May 14, 2010, 04:03 AM // 04:03

Any time you dual screen play, you are doubling the resolution width, which will obviously create a performance hit. I'd say if your GPU can't manage over 100FPS in GW1, I wouldn't try it. It will likely knock it down to below 60 if you are getting 100 or less.

Nerel · May 14, 2010, 07:13 AM // 07:13

Performance hit? what performance

On a more serious note, triple screening I can understand, but dual screening normally leaves you with the undesirable effect of having your character/POV/Crosshairs stuck right on the border between the two monitors, which isn't a fun way to play... I guess you could try to find a work around using a software solution like SoftTH as discussed here

Kamatsu · May 14, 2010, 07:57 AM // 07:57

Flubber - thats for the tweak link. I'll go through that at some point

I've already modified Fallout 3 to be able to use more then 2 GB of ram, as apparently it can only use 2 gb max.. and enabling it to be able to use more is good for it and stability.. even with only 4 GB ram.

Was wondering if getting 4 gb more ram (for total of 8 GB) would do much for me.. not just for Fallout 3, but for other stuff - like GW, keeping FF open, keeping e-mail open, etc..

Nerel - thanx for the command, I'll give that a whirl with V.S off when I have some time

Elder III - lolz, I remember that texture pack. It made Oblivion completely unplayable for me on just about any settings.. but i had a really, really crap computer at the time. lolz. Now that you mention it.. I want to install Oblivion and re-d/l Quarl's texture's and see how my comp handles that. lolz.

Hmm.. I've always though V.sync on lcd's was essential.. as they had iddue's with "tearing" that V.S solves.. as well as them trying to refresh faster than their refresh rate killed their lifespan. Admittidly i have no idea why I believe this.. or how true it is.

Moriz - thats the pack indeed. I've installed the "30% less bitmaps" or whatever it is.. the first suggested patch to help fps.. and reducing in-game down to 4 AA & 8 AF.. I'm having only minimal stuttering - but i'm a bit lost and confused when they talk about the original pack being 3 gb, the updated pack (what I have) is 2.2 gb, etc..

Fook 2 1.1 is an awesome mod.. just a pity it's bundled with Phalanx's companion mods.. and the game crash's if I install any other companion style mod (ie Caring and Sharing..)

and yes, i'm using that 2+ GB ram thingie already for F3

thanx for suggesting it tho

I guess in the end I really should try the fps with and without dual-screening and see how it goes.. in both GW and F3.

Thanx for all the advise/help/thoughts/etc so far

Elder III · May 14, 2010, 10:49 PM // 22:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by kamatsu

Elder III - lolz, I remember that texture pack. It made Oblivion completely unplayable for me on just about any settings.. but i had a really, really crap computer at the time. lolz. Now that you mention it.. I want to install Oblivion and re-d/l Quarl's texture's and see how my comp handles that. lolz.

I still mess around in Oblivion and I maintain 52 or better FPS with Qarl's Texture Pack and a couple dozen other mods - that's with 2 companions, in the Great Forest, during a Fight with a few bandits - normally it's 70-80 FPS outside. You should have no problem with your setup since it's more powerful than mine = 2x 4850s 4 GB RAM and a Phenom II 945 - all stock on Win 7.