Connecting a TV and regular monitor to my PC at the same time.

[yebiggah]

I'm wondering if if i do this, will my GPU be able to take it? Does it even affect it? Basicly, i'd connect both, and use my PC as my PC, and for movies and tv shows turn off the monitor and just set it up on the TV.

Can this work and will it? Does it just render 1 image and it doesn't matter if it sends it just to the monitor or just to the TV or both at the same time, like it wouldn't matter for speakers for example if there's 1 or 5. Or will it have to buffer 2 sets of the image and work twice as slow? Or will it only work on the one that is currently turned on, and is it possible to have a seamless transition between the two, without having to set things up on every switch between them?

 

[Math Geek]

won't be a problem at all. i have the same set-up as well. turn on the tv when i want to watch a movie and turn it off when i am not using it. both at the same time is no problem either. i often turn on a movie and then surf the web as i watch. no problems at all.

once both are connected you'll get the option to "extend" the desktop which will create a second desktop to work with or you can "duplicate" the monitor and show the same thing on both screens. obviously you'll want to extend it if you still want to use the pc as it's showing the movie. won't hurt the movie at all for you to be working on the other monitor as it plays.

only time multiple monitors will slow things down is in a game. but simple movie watching/streaming and other normal tasks won't even make the gpu break a sweat. hook em both up and enjoy your system to the fullest

as for sound, you can output the sound through hdmi to the tv and use the tv speakers or you can just let the sound come out your normal pc speakers. i don't bother going back and forth and just my pc speakers pull double duty.

 

[yebiggah]

Thanks! but that's what i was worried about as well. Will games work worse if the TV is connected? Will simply turning it off disconnect it from my PC or do i have to unplug it?

 

[Math Geek]

no you can game on one monitor and the other one won't effect it at all.

if you run it as dual monitors, as in having the game split across both at the same time, then it will slow down as you now have twice the pixels to draw every second. but on a single screen it won't matter at all. i have a game running on one screen and other stuff open on the second screen all the time. no biggie at all. folks like to keep chat programs or skype and browsers and so on open on a second screen. no problem there at all.

or turn the second screen off or open nothing on it amounts to the same thing. won't hurt the game on the other screen at all.