There is no way to span full screen applications ( like video games ) on multiple monitors, unless the game was specifically designed to work that way. Some games may work in windowed mode, at a custom resolution ( I managed to play Unreal Tournament 2004 on 4000x1024 , but that’s an exception ). Microsoft Flight Simulator X manages 3 monitors quite nicely, but it is one of the few applications that can.
Spanning videos is a different case entirely. You can do that by rendering with a software renderer ( which does not rely on the GPU’s to do the rendering, and thus uses the Windows API, which, of course, treats the 3 monitors as a whole desktop ) . VRM9 Renderless is an example. The problem is, I have an Intel Q6600 and running an HD movie on all the 3 screens is extremely choppy. So ,we’re not there yet.
I just wanted to stop by and say thanks for the help. Before I purchased my 6 monitor array from http://www.multiplexpc.com a few months ago I was lost trying to understand all the multi monitor talk. But now I’m on board and absolutely love it.
Wow…I use Ultramon at work and recently bought myself a license for home. Man, it’s probably one of my single favorite utilities ever for someone with more than a single monitor.
Little update: There’s a solution called ATI SurroundView that allows to have three (or four) monitors connected with no problem. The hardware requirements are:
A mainboard with SurroudView support and an integrated video card
A Radeon graphics card in PCI-E slot.
The point of SurroundView is the possibility of using both graphics cards at once (while usually you can only use either), which basically allows you to plug 2 monitors into onboard GPU and another 2 into the card.
I have bought a cheap Gigabyte mainboard when assembling my current PC and found this solution accidentally. Just recently I had the possibility to test it and it works flawlessly! I’m really thankful for AMD/ATI for making triple-head support work out-of-the-box for me, with the only work on my side required being a simple option in BIOS.
The most economical multi-monitor workspace today consists of three LCDs 22" to 24" in size.
Once the price of 30" displays falls enough, people can replace three 24" LCDs with two 30" monitors. The resolution will be about the same, but you’ll save about 20" in desk space.