Dual Monitors help!

[JakeG92]

I currently have a 21.5" monitor that is connected to my nVidia GTX [strike]600Ti[/strike] 660Ti graphics card via HDMI cable. When playing PC games, I like to have something else on in the background... a TV show or a movie or even YouTube. Right now, I have a TV just above my monitor and would like to have that as a second monitor.

My card only has a single HDMI-port, but my motherboard does have an on-board one.

So, how can I have my graphics card display games on my monitor and my regular desktop on my TV from my motherboard?

Cheers guys,

-Jake! 😀

 

[Avocade]

Your GPU has no DVI, or Vga?

 

[JakeG92]

It does have a VGA cable... wait, can VGA output at 1080p?

 

[Jake Lloyd]

A 600Ti should have two DVI ports... Plug DVI into monitor, HDMI into TV.

Edit: Yes a VGA supports 1080p if you wanted to use that instead of the DVI.

 

[JakeG92]

Oops, I keep writing about my old GFX card... it's a 660Ti card.

 

[Avocade]

It does have a VGA cable... wait, can VGA output at 1080p?

A660ti has dvi I'd use the two dvis as your primaries for both monitors or 1hdmi and 1dvi

 

[skit75]

It does have a VGA cable... wait, can VGA output at 1080p?

The VGA cable will do 1920x1080p. As I understand it, the cable and connector are not the limiting factor in transmitting that resolution through the cable, it has more to do with your video card. It can even produce images beyond that resolution but cable length comes into play as you increase resolution. This is an analog signal and the quality of the shielding can have an effect. You are not going very far and a good quality 6 foot cable should do just fine.

 

[Jake Lloyd]

The card change doesn't matter, A 660 still has 1 VGA, 1 DVI-I, 1 DVI-D, and 1 HDMI and can support up to 4 displays. If your monitor has a DVI input, and i'm sure it does, then use that. You can use VGA and get a good picture just as skit said if that's your only option though, no problem. Use the HDMI to your TV and open up the nVidia control panel and set up multiple displays however you want.

 

[JakeG92]

My card does have a 3rd port that I have no clue what it is... http://i.imgur.com/IroLa1v.jpg It's the one above the vent and next to the HDMI-port.

 

[skit75]

that is a Display Port interface for a 3rd or 4th monitor

 

[Jake Lloyd]

Yeah sorry, just looked up that card. So it has DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI and that 4th is the display port so you'd have to get a DSP to VGA adapter, pretty easy to find. Like I said though, use the DVI to your monitor.

 

[JakeG92]

Could I use this? http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000GDI6FC/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 My TV is fairly old so it only has HDMI and Scart and my monitor only has HDMI and VGA... would the DVI to HDMI work for what I want? 😀

 

[Jake Lloyd]

Yeah you can go DVI to HDMI or DVI to VGA.