Can I theoretically split my PC into two Gaming Machines?

[CMGCF_ELiTe]

Having multiple displays is great for gaming, production etc. But when it comes to multi user entertainment i feel as though it falls flat on it's face. No one wants to sit gaming at a screen while their friend sits idly by saying ''wow!...'' as you get killed for the tenth time. What I'm looking for is a way in which i can theoretically turn one pc into two. I'm looking for a setup where I could launch an instance of PubG on one monitor, while my friend does the same on the other (using different licenses of course). Perhaps the Pc would be sectioned off, dedicating certain USB ports to the ''seperate'' machines, as to allow a means of input control. My specs are as followed: i5 4690, gtx1070 and 8gb ram (low-medium setitngs on ''both rigs'' and i should be good.. right?''
Is what I'm looking for some form of virtual machine?
Help me and my friends stop being plebs who split ''after I die''.
Am I in luck??

 

[USAFRet]

The word you're looking for is "multiseat".

While this is possible, it is neither cheap or easy.
One of the basic things you'll need is two individual GPU's.

 

[jgustin7b]

I think I’ve seen a Linus Tech Tips vídeo doing something along those lines, but I myself dont know how to set it up.

 

[USAFRet]

Here's a possibility:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJYMCbIbPk

(remember, Linus has a whole staff and unlimited time to get this working)

 

[Solandri]

We used to do that with Linux. The X Window system (the most common GUI base in Linux) is based on a concept of virtualized displays. Which virtual display happens to be shown on a physical display is completely arbitrary. So you could create a dozen virtual desktops, and display them onto a dozen different monitors. And if you had a dozen mice and keyboards plugged in, a dozen different people could all use the same computer (the hard part ends up being keeping track of which keyboard and mouse goes with which display).

In fact one trick we'd do in the old days (single core processors) is to rig up two computers together. You would actually use your friend's computer, but your display would be controlled by X Window on your computer. And vice versa. The theory being that doing an operation on the computer imparted a processing load and a GUI load. By splitting up the tasks this way, one computer handled the processing load while the other computer handled the GUI load. And since each computer was able to use all its power on a single task, their response times were faster. You only experienced slowdowns when both you and your friend randomly did an operation at the exact same time. (Multi-core systems do this all the time now, by splitting up processing tasks between multiple CPU cores.)

Alas, Windows isn't designed to do this. In fact, it's explicitly designed to prevent you from doing this (unless you're running Windows Server). Microsoft wants you to pay a Windows license for every user of a Windows computer, not per computer. So if you login as one user, non-server versions of Windows will automatically log anyone else out. If you're using a Windows computer, and someone else remote desktops in to your computer logging in as a different user, you'll be automatically be logged out.

A game could bypass it by being able to run in two-player mode as a single user. Kinda like the old fighting games where you played on the left half of the keyboard while your friend played on the right half. The game could display two viewports in a single extra-wide window. Then you use Windows extend-a-desktop feature to split that window across two monitors, one viewport per monitor. Then the game could allow two game controllers to control the different viewpoints. But the game would have to be specifically coded to work this way. That wouldn't really be *that* much work - the split screen console games already do this, though on a single monitor. But it would have to be done by the programmers to add it as a feature of the game; it's not something the end user can put together.

 

[CMGCF_ELiTe]

Thanks! for that, I've been successful in the past with splitscreen games like Rocket League (just changed the ResX value in the games inis) and i managed to span it across both displays. Unfortunately most devs are steering away from split screen modes. Seems like Windows has fairly covered their ground. Thanks for the lengthy informative response!

We used to do that with Linux. The X Window system (the most common GUI base in Linux) is based on a concept of virtualized displays. Which virtual display happens to be shown on a physical display is completely arbitrary. So you could create a dozen virtual desktops, and display them onto a dozen different monitors. And if you had a dozen mice and keyboards plugged in, a dozen different people could all use the same computer (the hard part ends up being keeping track of which keyboard and mouse goes with which display).

In fact one trick we'd do in the old days (single core processors) is to rig up two computers together. You would actually use your friend's computer, but your display would be controlled by X Window on your computer. And vice versa. The theory being that doing an operation on the computer imparted a processing load and a GUI load. By splitting up the tasks this way, one computer handled the processing load while the other computer handled the GUI load. And since each computer was able to use all its power on a single task, their response times were faster. You only experienced slowdowns when both you and your friend randomly did an operation at the exact same time. (Multi-core systems do this all the time now, by splitting up processing tasks between multiple CPU cores.)

Alas, Windows isn't designed to do this. In fact, it's explicitly designed to prevent you from doing this (unless you're running Windows Server). Microsoft wants you to pay a Windows license for every user of a Windows computer, not per computer. So if you login as one user, non-server versions of Windows will automatically log anyone else out. If you're using a Windows computer, and someone else remote desktops in to your computer logging in as a different user, you'll be automatically be logged out.

A game could bypass it by being able to run in two-player mode as a single user. Kinda like the old fighting games where you played on the left half of the keyboard while your friend played on the right half. The game could display two viewports in a single extra-wide window. Then you use Windows extend-a-desktop feature to split that window across two monitors, one viewport per monitor. Then the game could allow two game controllers to control the different viewpoints. But the game would have to be specifically coded to work this way. That wouldn't really be *that* much work - the split screen console games already do this, though on a single monitor. But it would have to be done by the programmers to add it as a feature of the game; it's not something the end user can put together.

 

[CMGCF_ELiTe]

Here's a possibility:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJYMCbIbPk

(remember, Linus has a whole staff and unlimited time to get this working)

You were right buddy, it looks Like I'm going to need two extra gpus... Thanks!