Dual Monitor lag while playing game on one screen and playing video on the other

[Jonathan B]

I was recently able to start using two monitors on my computer. What started happening is that know when I play a game on one screen in full screen and a video playing on the other it starts to lag.

My specs are
700 watt thermaltake power supply
H81M-plus Mother board
MSI Geforce GTX 970 4GB
16GB RAM at 1600MHz
Windows 10 64 bit

I have checked my temps while doing this and this is what i got
CPU 60 - 65 degrees
GPU 63 degrees
Cpu usage at 70 90 percent
gpu usage at 50 to 80 percent (roughly)
GPU memory at around 1600GB
This was tested in Mad Max
Program used was MSI after burner

Though something about that gpu memory seemed odd to me I mean the game says the game requires at least 4gb of VRAM for max settings.

Before I had the dual monitor setup I had done a fresh install on the graphics driver because I had upgraded to windows 10 from windows 7.

 

[LogicalProcessing]

I was recently able to start using two monitors on my computer. What started happening is that know when I play a game on one screen in full screen and a video playing on the other it starts to lag.

My specs are
700 watt thermaltake power supply
H81M-plus Mother board
MSI Geforce GTX 970 4GB
16GB RAM at 1600MHz
Windows 10 64 bit

I have checked my temps while doing this and this is what i got
CPU 60 - 65 degrees
GPU 63 degrees
Cpu usage at 70 90 percent
gpu usage at 50 to 80 percent (roughly)
GPU memory at around 1600GB
This was tested in Mad Max
Program used was MSI after burner

Though something about that gpu memory seemed odd to me I mean the game says the game requires at least 4gb of VRAM for max settings.

Before I had the dual monitor setup I had done a fresh install on the graphics driver because I had upgraded to windows 10 from windows 7.

It would be your video card. Your video card might only be at 80 percent capacity, but how fast can your video card calculate, that is the real limiting factor. If it cannot process the video and the game, then it would start to lag a little bit. I had this problem way back in the day when I was first switching from 720 to 2k. Screen resolution is a killer, if you're playing on a 2k monitor for your game and watching at 1080x1920 on the other monitor then you'd be practically killing your graphics card to keep up.

What are your two screen resolutions set at?

 

[Jonathan B]

The one I played games on was set to 1680x1050@ 59 Hertz and the one that I was playing videos on was 1920x1080@ 60 Hertz.

 

[ffg7]

why is game monitor running at 59 hertz?

 

[LogicalProcessing]

why is game monitor running at 59 hertz?

European frequency most likely.

 

[LogicalProcessing]

The one I played games on was set to 1680x1050@ 59 Hertz and the one that I was playing videos on was 1920x1080@ 60 Hertz.

The problem could be a few things. The first one is the most obvious. If you run both your monitors at 60hz that should reduce if not eliminate the problem completely.

Another thing could be the cables, if you are using a Dual Link DVI for one monitor and a HDMI cable for the other, that will actually cause video lag. If you use a Dual Link DVI for one and a Single Link DVI cable for the other then you should be golden.

If you are running DVI cables for both monitors then it would most likely be contributed to the different hertz frequencies.

 

[ffg7]

59hz is not European frequency. http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2077753

 

[Jonathan B]

Could using a HDMI splitter work just as well as a Dual link DVI. Also When you say dual link DVI for one and single link DVI cable for the other, do you mean using the dual link DVI to connect both of them or do you mean connecting one using the single link and one using the dual link.

I tried changing the gaming monitors refresh rate and it gives me the option to change from 59 to 60 Hz but when I switch it and close the window it resets to 59Hz. If Im not mistaken that just means that the monitor doesn't support that refresh rate.

 

[LogicalProcessing]

59hz is not European frequency. http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2077753

My mistake.

 

[LogicalProcessing]

Could using a HDMI splitter work just as well as a Dual link DVI. Also When you say dual link DVI for one and single link DVI cable for the other, do you mean using the dual link DVI to connect both of them or do you mean connecting one using the single link and one using the dual link.

I tried changing the gaming monitors refresh rate and it gives me the option to change from 59 to 60 Hz but when I switch it and close the window it resets to 59Hz. If Im not mistaken that just means that the monitor doesn't support that refresh rate.

What is the brand and size of the monitor that is 59hz?

Here is a picture that explains the differences between a Dual Link and a Single Link : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File😀VI_Connector_Types-r.svg

 

[Jonathan B]

The brand is LG and it is a 24 inch monitor. Thanks for the explanation.

 

[LogicalProcessing]

The brand is LG and it is a 24 inch monitor. Thanks for the explanation.

Just looked through quite a few different articles. All of them explained that even though it is 1680x1050, it should still sit at 60hz, not 59hz.

In nvidia's control panel, you should be able to go down to the Display and change resolution, in there you'll be able to set it at 60hz.

People say all the time that the 1hz will not make a difference, but what actually happens is it might actually blur your screen or it can also cause lag if you're running one 60hz monitor and a 59hz monitor in a dual combination.

 

[Jonathan B]

Alright then I went into the Nvidia Control Panel and it says that both monitors are set at 60 Hz. That's weird cause in control panel / display settings it still says 59 Hz for the LG monitor.

 

[LogicalProcessing]

Alright then I went into the Nvidia Control Panel and it says that both monitors are set at 60 Hz. That's weird cause in control panel / display settings it still says 59 Hz for the LG monitor.

Hmm...well technically speaking, 60hz is actually 59.97hz, so windows could be rounding down.

Alright well if it is not that. Do you have Geforce Experience installed? If you do, remove it...that has been known to cause dual monitor lag on nvidia systems.

 

[Jonathan B]

That seems to have fixed the problem. If it does occur again then I will follow what you said about the dual and single link DVI. Thank you very much