Ever since the advent of hardware 3D acceleration, it seems that all other features of video cards have taken a back seat to 3D performance. Looking at the most popular video cards out there now, one will note that essentially all of them feature 3D acceleration of some sort. The core three remaining manufacturers, ATI, NVIDIA, and Matrox, all promote products targeted at the gamer. Focusing on the gaming performance segment has left other markets untapped, specifically the workstation market. Typically, those wanting 2D video capability with limited 3D acceleration have turned to older products, with the sacrifice of not only 3D but 2D image quality and features set as well.

Of the three major consumer based video card manufacturers left in the market, only Matrox has continually attempted to target a larger market than just the hardcore gamer. Starting early on in the Matrox line, the company attempted to support both 3D acceleration as well as provide a powerful and feature filled 2D solution, a quality that has landed Matrox cards in many systems. The problem with Matrox cards have been their relatively poor 3D performance, keeping their cards almost exclusively in workstation systems.

Both NVIDIA and ATI saw the opportunity to mate high end 3D performance with a feature rich 2D environment, realizing that an even broader market share could be attacked with a card suitable for workstation as well as gaming systems. NVIDIA was first to bring out a direct competitor to the long line of Matrox DualHead, or dual display, video cards with their July 2000 release of the GeForce2 MX series cards. Tackling both the budget gaming market as well as the workstation platform, the GeForce2 MX featured both fast 3D acceleration as well as NVIDIA's dual monitor solution known as TwinView.

ATI followed NVIDIA's lead just earlier this week, in February of 2001, with the release of the Radeon VE. Another product not focused on the gaming market but rather the workstation one, the Radeon VE mated a budget version of ATI's Radeon core with their first stab at a dual monitor solution, developed with the help of long time dual display manufacturer Appian.

Now, with 3 very different and very powerful dual display cards out there on the market, the decision which one to get, if any, has just become exponentially more difficult. Today we take a look at ATI's, Matrox's, and NVIDIA's solutions for dual monitor setups and help you decide which one is best for you and what the best way to use the system is.

Why Budget Dual Displays

There is no question that the dual display idea, one that hopes to finally allow 3D gaming on a workstation system, is quickly being adopted. Judging by the cards, however, one may being to wonder why begin the release of a dual monitor solution at a low price? The answer is relatively easy to understand.

The first non-Matrox dual display card to hit the market was the GeForce2 MX, priced at the time around $140 with the dual display feature. The reason that this price point was hit was to compete directly with Matrox's G400 DualHead card, and the only way NVIDIA could meet this price was by using a budget version of the processor.

By attacking Matrox's market head on, NVIDIA was not only looking to take some of Matrox's business, they were also looking to test the water in the dual display market. Since no other dual display card out there currently offers more 3D performance than the GeForce2 MX, NVIDIA wanted to see just how many users TwinView could attract.

ATI, upon developing their multiple monitor solution, went about it the same way. When considering what to put in a dual display solution, ATI choose to incorporate a cheaper version of the core in order to get the card price down in the area that both NVIDIA as well as Matrox were hitting. By doing so, and actually producing a card that is even less expensive, ATI was able to test the selling point of a dual display capable video card.

The other main reason to introduce dual display functionality on budget video cards was to expand to markets both NVIDIA and ATI had previously not touched. The dual display consumer workstation market had consisted mainly of Matrox and other specialty manufacturers' products. Due to the lack of dual display functions on ATI and NVIDIA products, workstation owners looking to spend from $100 to $200 for a very good 2D video card were forced to turn away from ATI and NVIDIA.

Since people looking for the fastest 3D gaming card out there would end up buying the top of the line card from NVIDIA or ATI regardless of a dual display feature or not, initially incorporating dual display functions on high end video cards did not make sense. At the budget level, however, the dual display solution becomes a strong selling point, especially for workstation users who may have been considering a slower 3D accelerator card in order to gain dual display capabilities. By giving these users adequate 3D performance while at the same time giving them the dual display 2D solution they want, ATI and NVIDIA could expand their product lines to new levels.

With these facts in mind, ATI and NVIDIA's decision to enter the dual display market at the budget level makes sense. By not only grabbing some untouched market but also testing out dual display on the market, both ATI and NVIDIA choose to leave dual display capabilities off their upper end products and focus on the budget market for now. There is absolutely no question that in a matter of time dual display functionality will spread its way throughout the whole product line, from budget to high end. In fact, it is safe to assume that the next major video card releases from these manufacturers will include some sort of dual display capability now that the product has begun to run its course in the workstation market.

Using Dual Displays

There is no question that some view the idea of using two monitors as not only counterproductive, but also foolish. Why, some ask, would anyone want more than one monitor on an already cramped desk? Well, we wondered too, until we actually tried it. Using a dual monitor setup allowed for quite a few extremely useful features to be exploited, making us reluctant to stay away from the dual monitor configuration.

The purpose of dual display modes is to increase the desk space of 2D applications within Windows. There are a variety of ways in which the system can turn a normally productive machine into a productivity powerhouse. Let's take a look at some of the uses we found for a dual monitor setup.

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The first, and perhaps most trivial item function we found we could perform on a dual monitor setup is run two, full screen browser windows at once and still be able to see them both. All of us have been in situations where switching back and forth between two browser windows or the like has proved to be quite a chore. With a dual display setup, one can obviously have two full size windows open on each display. In the case above, as well as throughout this section, the screen resolution used on each monitor was 1024x768, for a total combined resolution of 2048x768.

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Also when playing with the browser window we were able to get the window to stretch the length of both monitors, providing one huge window. Although this may not be as useful in Internet Explorer, lets see what it can do for us in some other applications.

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Perhaps the most classic example when pointing to how a dual monitor setup can increase productivity comes from using Microsoft Excel or another similar program. When in any type of spreadsheet view, it is always useful to see all the data at once without having to scroll across a screen. In the example above, we have a spreadsheet open showing 21 variously sized columns as well as a graph. The extra desktop space brought about by a the dual monitor solution in this instance far outperforms a single 21" monitor. As anyone who works with Excel on a regular basis knows, the more you can see, the better.

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Another application where the dual display feature really comes in handy is in Microsoft Word or any other word processing program. With dual display enabled, it was easy to setup Word to display one page on each monitor. In the above picture, you will see that page one appears on the left and page two appears on the right.

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One of the most useful applications in which a dual monitor setup comes in very handy is Adobe Photoshop. Above you can see how easy it is to fit even extremely large images onto both screens.

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It was also easy to open two large pictures, one on each monitor. This provides a very easy way to work on multiple images as well as work with modified images while keeping the original open.

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Our favorite feature while in Adobe Photoshop was the ability to display the normal image on one monitor and a zoomed in version on a second monitor. The uses for this function are limitless, providing an easy way to alter pictures while viewing the result at the same time. Even those dabbling in photo editing can appreciate this feature, which has been loved for quite some time in the professional image editing world.

As you can see, using a dual monitor setup provides quite some advantages over a conventional single monitor solution. Apply a second monitor to nearly any application you currently use heavily, and the application instantly becomes more productive. Be it for business or pleasure, a dual monitor setup can be very useful.

Some Drawbacks

Despite all that using a second display has going for it, there are naturally some drawbacks to having two displays instead of one. On the most basic level is the issue of space. Naturally, two 15", 17" or 21" monitors are going to suck up a lot more desk space than a single one. Even the combined size of two relatively small 14" monitors often turns out to take up as much space or even more than a 21" single monitor.

Next on the list of drawbacks is the downside to applying a dual monitor solution to two different types of displays. Ideally, a dual setup should be run on identical displays, allowing not only images to appear the same but also minimizing the amount of space between the two monitors. In our tests we ended up using a 15" LCD display paired up with a 19" traditional CRT. This proved to be a mixed blessing; although we were able to take advantage of the features mentioned above, it was very difficult to get images to look the same on both monitors. In addition, the use of two different displays produced a desktop that was at two different levels. Although running individual applications in this setup did not provide a problem, as the application was typically maximized to a single monitor, when running an application in full screen mode where it spanned both monitors, the varying heights produced undesired results.

The reason that this is important is that many of the home users out there looking to configure a dual monitor setup are currently thinking about using a new, large display as the primary display and an older, smaller display as the secondary display. This does not produce any problems or provide any limitations for the most part, except when trying to view an image that is spanned across both monitors. The images of an application spanned in the previous section tend to be misleading, with the two screens not producing a clean seam.

Another downside is that current dual display setups are limited to 2D. In the case of the solutions out there now, only the primary display gets hardware 3D acceleration. This means that on the second display, no 3D can be outputted, limiting what you can do on the second display. The main limitation with this is that 3D games are currently off limits for dual display games. Although this may be a give in for many, considering very few cards have the fill rate to power two monitors at any reasonable resolution anyway, all those dreaming of dual monitor Quake III will just have to wait.

The final limitation deals with the operating system Windows 2000 itself and not the dual display technology. Windows 2000 has a limitation that prevents two separate monitors running off the same card from running at different resolutions. With identical monitors this is not a problem, but as you can imagine having an old 15" and a new 19" monitor would result in quite a problem when you are forced to run both screens at 800x600x32 so that you can see images on the 15" monitor.

That essentially covers the main limitations facing dual display solutions on the market today. Naturally, each product features problems, as well as nice features, of their own in an attempt to outshine their competitor. Let's see what is out there in terms of dual display video cards.

ATI Radeon VE

Drivers: 4.13.7075

Introduced at the beginning of this week, the third week in February 2001, the Radeon VE is ATI's first dual display card. Built in conjunction with a company that has been in the dual display market for some time, Appian, ATI calls their solution HydraVision.

Unlike what NVIDIA did in order to get their TwinView solution out on the market as fast as possible with the sacrifice of features and usability, ATI's partnership with Appian allowed ATI to produce a very refined and completely viable dual display solution.

As is typical with the solutions we are looking at today, Windows98 took care of the multiple monitor part for us, allowing an easy way to set the resolution and color depth for each individual display. You are really only limited to what the maximum resolution of your monitor is, as each monitor can run at a different resolution.

Enabling the second monitor on the Radeon VE card was the easiest out of all three cards tested, as the Radeon VE does not need to be rebooted when enabling or disabling any multiple monitor configuration. All one has to do is turn the second monitor on, and away she goes.

Also great was ATI's ability to run various displays at different refresh rates with ease. Other adapters required a bit of maneuvering to set each display to a different refresh rate, but ATI's Display Properties page took care of that problem. Also nice was the ability to switch which display was considered the "Primary" monitor and which was considered the "Secondary" monitor, not only changing which screen shows up on the right (the primary display) but also which monitor gets hardware acceleration.

Another nifty feature that the HydraVision software adds is a button that resides right next to the minimize button on the top of all windows. This button, the shaded in window, is set to maximize the current application to both screens. This feature is also something that other products have but ATI makes it easy to get to.

On the taskbar two new icons have been added to provide access to the more detailed dual monitor settings. The first icon, a rectangular ATI icon, houses the interface for the Desktop Manager utility.

Clicking on the configuration button brings up a slew of features that help configure the dual display setup to run optimally. Taken from our Radeon VE review, the Desktop Manager screen can be described as follows.

Clicking on the desktop manager configuration text brings up the configuration screen. Here you can access the advanced features of ATI's HydraVision software. The first upper left rectangle allows the user to select where on the extended desktop he or she would like dialogue boxes to be placed. For example, if you run an e-mail program in the background, you can have a new mail notification dialogue box sent to which ever screen you are currently using.

The box in the upper right of the screen allows the user to set the properties of the added maximize button, allowing choosing of what happens when the button is clicked.

Finally, the general tab allows the user to set applications to run in the location they were last run at (a very useful feature). Here one can also set the properties for individual applications, shown on the screen below.

The Individual Application Settings screen, which can be accessed both in the Desktop Manager utility as well as by clicking on the down arrow to the right of the maximize to both screens button, allows the user to set properties for each application. The screen is relatively self explanatory.

The hotkeys settings allow easy access to some of the more commonly used dual display features. The list above gives a glimpse of what each function does. For those wondering, the Zoom Display In feature actually changes the resolution of the monitor down, to a larger resolution, which the Zoom In on Monitor feature magnifies part of the screen.

The second added icon provides access to ATI's multiple desktop utility. This utility allows for numerous multiple desktops to be created, each of which can have its own name. This function is very useful when working in a workstation type environment where the desktop get crowded very quickly. Switching between desktops is easy and can actually be assigned to a hot key.

The Arrange MultiDesk utility shows both what is running on each desktop and also lets you set an application to be visible on each desktop. The multiple desktop feature seems quite independent from the dual display setup, meaning that we will hopefully see this utility come with non HydraVision cards as well.

Windows 2000 Support

The Radeon VE actually changes only very slightly when used in a multiple monitor setup in Windows 2000 instead of Windows 98.

Unlike Windows98, Windows 2000 handles multiple monitors a bit differently. Rather than be able to set the resolution of each monitor individually, Windows 2000 treats multiple displays like one giant screen. In the above example, one can see that rather than have two screens each at 1024x768, Windows 2000 detects one screen at 2048x768.

As a result of the Windows 2000 multiple monitor limitation, manufacturers are forced to implement their own version of a multiple monitor configuration. ATI's, shown above, allowed us to set the resolution of each individual monitor simply by clicking on the desired one, however this resolution must be the same as the other monitor. It also allowed for on the fly enabling and disabling of the displays.

With exception to the above, the Windows 2000 Radeon VE drivers were identical to their Windows 98 counterpart. In fact, the only difference we noted was a lack of the zoom functions available in Windows 98.

Matrox G450 DualHead

Drivers: 6.24.007

As we mentioned before, Matrox has been in the dual display business for quite some time now. Luckily for the user, this time has given Matrox the experience needed to produce a feature full and powerful DualHead support system.

When we first plugged in our G450 DualHead to both monitors, we were pleased to find that the card is setup to clone the display to both screen without the need for any software. This means that from the instant the card was in our system we were able to see a clone of the display on both monitors. This is handy for those out there looking for cloning support in DOS, as only the G450 DualHead can do this.

Setup of the card was similar to what we experienced with ATI, where Windows98 actually took over. All the core resolution settings for both monitors is done via the Display Properties page. The Matrox card did make us reboot, however, when enabling DualHead, something that the Radeon VE did not make us do.

Matrox's DualHead support is very feature rich. Lets see some of what they offer.

The DualHead configuration screen is really easy to use. Just selecting one of the features brings up many options on how the user would like to configure the display. The features on this screen of the software are very similar to what we saw in ATI's HydraVision software, but Matrox offers one thing that ATI does not: DVDMax. DVDMax gives the user the ability to play full screen DVD movies on the secondary display. This is perfect, of example, when using a television as a second monitor. In doing so, DVDMax allows for a full screen movie to be displayed on the TV while the primary monitor acts like your normal desktop. This is a feature that other companies have had problems implementing, but ATI promises will come to the Radeon VE soon.

DVDMax can be setup via the user's preferences, as the above screen clearly shows.

One of Matrox's taskbar resident programs is the QuickDesk. Here users can get access to a variety of the G450's functions, as well as options.

The Multi-Display Control screen allows the user to configure how he or she wants DualHead to react to applications. This program is very similar to ATI's Individual Application Settings utility. Once again, the descriptions given besides each checkbox prove to provide a good representation of what each feature does.

One great feature of the Matrox driver set is the ability to set desktop schemes. Accessible via the QuickDesk menu, desktop schemes can save information on multiple monitor configurations. This makes it easy to have preset configurations for many different setups. For example, one scheme could be a multi-display desktop at 2048x768x32 while another could be a clone desktop at 640x480x32. All that needs to be done to switch from one to the other is click the mouse: no reboot or configuration necessary.

Hotkeys similar to those found in the Radeon VE's drivers are also found in Matrox's driver package. Note that many of the functions that the Radeon VE covers are also covered by the G450.

The software also features a smooth zoom function that makes it so that when an image is zoomed on to a large extent, the pixels that are normally pronounced when in a high zoom mode are smoothed out. This results in a slightly blurry image and would not be the desired setting for graphic artists, it is a nice feature that makes zoomed images easier on those hard of seeing.

Like ATI, Matrox provides a way to set refresh rates of various monitors. Matrox takes it one step further, however, and allows the user to set specific details about the monitor in the drivers. Custom refresh rates and resolutions can be set via the Monitor Wizard, giving the utility the power that many workstation class machines need.

A second utility that Matrox throws into the G450 software package is their MultiDesk software. Just like ATI's version, the MultiDesk software allows the user to configure multiple desktops that are easily managed by the MultiDesk Manager (below). One very useful feature that the G450 features is the ability to view what applications are running on various desktops. By going to the "Programs" submenu of the MultiDesk menu, one can see the applications open on any desktop. Clicking on the eye icon next to the program list brings the program up on the primary display, making it easy to check out what is going on in every application.

Windows 2000 Support

We are pleased to say that the Matrox G450 drivers feature the same usability in Windows 2000 as they do in Windows98. No noticeable changes were visible when switching the operating system, with exception to the display being listed as one large display as opposed to two smaller ones.

The one problem that did arise from Matrox's lack of inclusion of a resolution selection utility was that we could not set individual displays to different resolutions. This could prove to be a problem in setups where the screen sizes are different. This problem plauges all other dual display solutions while in Windows 2000.

NVIDIA GeForce2 MX

Drivers: Detonator3 6.50

Originally faced with problems, NVIDIA's TwinView solution proved to be a very poor first attempt at a dual monitor solution. Out of the gate, NVIDIA lost quite a few supporters due to poor implementation of the TwinView feature. Luckily, NVIDIA has constantly been improving upon what TwinView can do, and it appears that they have made a lot of progress in the right direction.

Setup of the TwinView feature is easy, requiring only a click on the appropriate setup you want, be it clone, span, or disabled. The SYSTEM did require a reboot before enabling the functions.

The first thing that the user has to do before he or she is able to take full advantage of TwinView is to enable the QuickTweak taskbar icon, allowing access to the TwinView setup utilities.

The Desktop Display Manager utility is NVIDIA's TwinView configuration program.

The first screen of the Desktop Display Manager allows for configuration of individual applications. Applications can be set to run on a specific display or start in the last position. Note that NVIDIA does not offer a setting like Matrox and ATI do that allows for every application to start in its last position.

Under the global settings, the only truly useful feature is the top one which adds a quick way to set individual application settings via the top menu bar, as shown below.

This still requires the user to set preferences for each and every application he or she wishes to have run on a specific display, unlike ATI's and Matrox's global saving of positions.

One of the, if not the, most useful feature that TwinView provides is the ability to use the second display as a zoom simply by pressing a hot key. The zoom feature can be customized to a specific zoom amount and toggling between zoom mode and standard span or clone mode is as easy as hitting the hot key again. Below is an example of how the feature can be used in an application like Adobe Photoshop, where zooming in on one screen and keeping a 1x zoom on the other is invaluable.

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Windows 2000 Support

Like ATI, NVIDIA uses a separate display control panel to allow for the setting of TwinView settings. This software actually features the ability to switch the primary display, just as the ATI software allowed. Note that there is no way to set individual resolutions for each of the monitors. The vast majority of other features remain the same.

Summary

Multiple Monitor Comparison
	ATI Radeon VE	Matrox G450			NVIDIA GeForce2 MX
Maximize to both screens	Yes	Yes			No
Remember global application locations	Yes	Yes			No
DVD playback on second monitor	No	Yes			No
Zoom Feature	Yes	Yes			Yes
Zoom to second monitor	No	Yes			Yes
Reboot necessary to enable dual display (win98)	No	Yes			Yes
Multiple Desktop application	Yes	Yes			No
Support for different monitor resolutions in Windows 2000	No	No			No
Ease of use (1 best, 3 worst)	2	1			3

Conclusion

If you are concerned with nothing more than good multiple monitor support, now is as good of a time as any to get a dual display capable video card. With all three major manufacturers in the market, things just got very interesting for those with workstations looking for a bit of gaming performance.

Of the solutions out there now in their current form, the line between the ATI Radeon VE and the Matrox G450 DualHead is much narrower than the line between these cards and the GeForce2 MX. NVIDIA still has quite a bit to work on in order to make their TwinView solution up to snuff. Items such as global application memory, a multiple desktop utility, and more easily accessible functions need to be implemented before TwinView can be considered a serious competitor to ATI and Matrox.

The software solution by ATI as well as the solution by Matrox are very stable. Each has its strengths and weaknesses. Currently, however, the Matrox software seems to be a slight step above ATI's HydraVision. Things like DVDMax, advanced zooming functions, custom monitor configurations, and easily accessible schemes give the Matrox DualHead software a slight edge.

ATI does have many things going for it. For example, the ease of use of the HydraVision software paired up with the powerful application memory system, provide for quite a neat solution. In addition, recent discussions with ATI have revealed that they plan on upgrading the Appian software package in about two to three months, an upgrade that will undoubtedly make the distinction between Matrox's DualHead products and ATI's HydraVision products even more blurry.

With multiple monitor solutions finding their way into more and more cards, it is just a matter of time before whole product lines adopt to support this feature. Currently the dual display solutions are limited to budget 3D video cards, but in no time we can expect to see high performance dual head solutions. Until then, many will want to stay out of this market, just because it may prove better to wait for high end multiple monitor solutions that can keep up with the best cards in not only productivity but also 3D gaming. For those considering an upgrade or buying a new system with dual monitor support for use in a workstation only type environment, where 3D game performance is absolutely unnecessary, now is a great time to buy. With the Matrox G450 running at $123 and the Radeon VE at $99, the Matrox G450 is slightly more expensive, but also slightly better.