Video RAM Management On Dual Monitors

Hi all,
here's what I'd like to do: I have a 12" Powerbook G4 with 32MB VRAM running OSX Tiger. I want to run a 19" Sony VGA monitor off of the Powerbook. I have all the proper connections to do this but the issue doesn't really lie there, the real issue is as follows.
Once I connect the second monitor my VRAM is automatically split into 16MB VRAM for the built in lap top screen and 16MB VRAM for the Sony monitor. This unfortunatly brings down the performance of the video card affecting the quality of my video gaming experience.
Here are the questions: If I close the laptop does the VRAM revert back to a full 32MB VRAM for the Sony monitor? Is there any way to allocate all 32MB VRAM to only one of the displays without having to actually disconnect the Sony monitor from the Powerbook?
Any feedback will be greatly appreciated!
Thank you.

CMD F1 will toggle between mirror mode and extended desktop mode.

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Need help with dual monitor setup for KDE 3.5.5.

Here's my hardware:
NEC MultiSync LCD 1530V: 1024x768 (analog)
Samsung SyncMaster 941BW: 1440x900 (digital)
nVidia Dual head AGP video card.
The dual monitor works under dual-boot Windows, boot up and pure Linux console. I've googled around for help, changed my xorg.conf file accordingly to some sites, but it wasn't much help.
Here's my working xorg.conf:
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "Simple Layout"
Screen "Screen 1" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse1" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard1" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
Section "Files"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Type1"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "dbe" # Double buffer extension
SubSection "extmod"
Option "omit xfree86-dga" # don't initialise the DGA extension
EndSubSection
Load "freetype"
Load "glx"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard1"
Driver "kbd"
Option "AutoRepeat" "500 30"
Option "XkbRules" "xorg"
Option "XkbModel" "pc101"
Option "XkbLayout" "us"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse1"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "Auto" # Auto detect
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "NEC LCD1530V"
HorizSync 31.5 - 48.5
VertRefresh 50.0 - 70.0
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "Standard VGA"
Driver "vga"
VendorName "Unknown"
BoardName "Unknown"
EndSection
Section "Device"
Identifier "NVIDIA GeForce"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "NVIDIA GeForce"
Monitor "NEC LCD1530V"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Using this xorg.conf file, only my NEC LCD analog monitor could display KDE while the Samsung digital can't.
Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help guys, I'm halfway there.
The second monitor shows the KDE desktop, but it isn't exactly what I expected. Right now, both monitors display at 1024x768 (each) or 2048x768 (total). The larger monitor stretches and distorts the display of 1024x768 to its natural resolution at 1440x900 and it isn't what I wanted. Other than that, the dual desktop setup behaves what I expected to.
Here's a snippet of my xorg.conf that currently works:
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "NEC LCD1530V"
HorizSync 31.5 - 48.5
VertRefresh 50.0 - 70.0
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Samsung SyncMaster"
HorizSync 31.5 - 60
VertRefresh 60.0 - 70.0
EndSection
Section "Device"
#VideoRam 131072
# Insert Clocks lines here if appropriate
Identifier "NVIDIA GeForce"
Driver "nvidia"
Option "NoLogo" "true"
Option "TwinView" "true"
Option "TwinViewOrientation" "LeftOf"
Option "SecondMonitorHorizSync" "30-50"
Option "SecondMonitorVertRefresh" "60"
# Option "MetaModes" "1440x900, 1440x900; 1024x768, 1024x768"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 1"
Device "NVIDIA GeForce"
Monitor "NEC LCD1530V"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen 2"
Device "NVIDIA GeForce"
Monitor "Samsung SyncMaster"
DefaultDepth 24
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
Modes "1440x900"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Anyone have an idea?
EDIT: Oh snaps. I just did a pacman -Syu and it upgraded Arch Linux to 0.8 and the 2nd monitor stopped working.

Help needed to connect dual monitors.

Hi everyone. Here's my problem, I bought two Samsung SyncMaster 913v LCD TFT Displays.
Both of these displays (since they aren't the digital LCD) connect the same way my old Sony Trinitron MultiscanG400 display connected, which I believe is the VGA connection or SVGA or whatever... I'm not smart enough to look into the difference.
Anyway, I have the right Graphics/Video card to run dual monitors. I'm using the GeForce 2 TwinView and it has the required 64mb VRam.
My problem is that there is only one port on the back for monitors. I believe the connection type next to it is an old pre-usb printer/scanner type of connector, LPT1 or whatever those are called.
So do I need an adapter/connector to hook up both of my monitors to use it as a dual display? If not, what do I need to do?
Thanks.

Hi,
To clarify the last post by PB PM. Your present card meets those requirements.
The GF2 Twinview card is sufficient. It has two outlets, one is VGA the other is ADC (Apple Display Connector). You will need a ADC to VGA Adapter, they cost @ $25-30. Hook one monitor to the existing VGA outlet, the other to the adapter on the ADC outlet.
One example is here: http://eshop.macsales.com/item/AddLogix/MCAADCVGA/
You can google for other prices.
After the monitors are connected you may need to go to Displays Pref's and set it for dual monitors in Mirror or Span modes.
Regards,
Dave

Dual-monitor color management?

So I've got a dual-monitor setup running OS 10.7 on a Mac Pro, and color management in Bridge CS5.1 on my second screen is a mess. Both monitors have been individually calibrated with a Pantone Huey Pro (not perfect, but generally pretty consistent across screens).
Viewing an image in Bridge on my first screen, I have no problem. But the same image, when viewed on my second screen, appears heavily oversaturated. When I open the image in Photoshop or Preview, the color is accurate and is consistent across both screens. The below image illustrates the problem: the colors shown correctly in Photoshop (foreground) and incorrectly in Bridge (background). The Creative Suite color settings in Bridge show the settings as "synchronized" with the "North American General Purpose 2" default.
I'm sort of out of my depth here when it comes to color management. Do I have something set wrong? Is this a Lion-related bug? Any help would be appreciated.

The way I have it set up is this: I have two synchronized windows, one on each of my two displays. In one I have a content panel, metadata, collections, etc. In the second window I just have a preview panel, supplying me with a full-screen (almost) preview of any thumbnail I select from the content panel in the other window.
Content (assuming thumbnails as well) panel preview on one display and the Preview panel preview on the other display are both being generated by one application and that is Bridge. Like I said above, I don't think, in fact I'm almost certain this is impossible for Bridge to pull off because of the dual matrices (mathematical formulas) written into each custom display profile that occupy the same video chip to calculate and control hue/saturation appearance in color managed images. Think of the complexity involved. Now Adobe is known for creating workflow miracles with their programming but I doubt they'ld be able to pull that off with Bridge.
Photoshop can pull this off having one image on one display and dragging to the other where it makes the adjustment on the fly. I've seen the quick shift that occurs doing this. But I don't think Bridge can do this because of it's caching structure. I hope an Adobe employee chimes in to correct me.
Now this dovetails into your mentioning forcing a display into the sRGB space during calibration and profiling of each display. This is not what happens doing a hardware calibration. I'm assuming you pick your target Luminance (120 cd/m2 +/-), Gamma (2.2. gamma-usually native) and Color Temp (6500K). It doesn't matter if you did anyway, but what the hardware calibrator does is measure each display's RGB colorant and density range and write the data into the final profile that allows applications like Colorsync Utility to display a 3D gamut model and color managed applications like Photoshop to show colors as intended.
Your display may be close to sRGB but never exact to it because sRGB is a synthetic (made up) color space. Your display has physical anomalies that must be measured and written into the profile to properly display the intended appearance of color referencing the CIELAB color space which is based on human vision. Everything about computerized color in a color managed workflow is based on mapping color to display properly according to gamut size. A computer is a dumb machine and has to be told everything using math. You actually do have to draw it a map to follow.
Bridge's Preview pane looking different may be either referencing the other display profile or is stuck referencing the other and what's happening is the equivalent of Assigning one of the display profiles to the Preview like you can do to an image in Photoshop. Try it. Take your image and convert to one of your display profiles and assign the other display profile to it. Check if you see a slight shift. If Bridge's main Preview pane is stuck showing pixels mapped to (synthetic) sRGB then the same assigning of the display profile effect takes place.
And/or the thumbnails aren't color managed and the Preview pane is and maybe a bit of the above is compounding things. If you aren't confused now can you imagine trying to mathematically write the thumbnail previews on one display and the main Preview on the other both controlled by one application on top of caching and managing a large image database?
Keep the Preview pane and Content pane on one display. Edit your images in Photoshop/ACR/Lightroom on the primary display.
The Color Settings where you select North American Prepress...Web...General Purpose...etc. only applies to how images are handled and previewed that don't have an embedded profile. Are your jpeg images embedded with a profile? If so then this is not the issue. This doesn't apply to Raw captures because their previews are generated by the default Adobe Camera Raw settings.
Omke, no more Version Cue? That's welcome news!

HELP! I have a dual monitor setup and can't use any of them for video??

1)I have a GeForce4 MX 64MB VRAM card installed.
2) the back is dual monitor capable, meaning it has 2 vga (CRT) ports, one on the right and an another adapted plug with a vga port on the end. ( i have no idea which type it was originaly.)
3) I have a big dell LCD
THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED:
the adapter plug ripped off, reveal copper thread things and is now unusable. Although saddened, I was not worried because I don't use a dual monitor anyway and I switched to the other port. BUT THE VIDEO DOESNT WORK ON THAT PORT. I can't figure it out it just doesnt load any video?
the truth is i would rather have a dvi cable set up because i assume its better.
thank you for the help,
I need it

oops! whatever it was I reinstalled OS and it left

Video resolution and dual monitor assistance

Trying to set up a show running on a windows XP Pro PC with dual monitor (ATI HD3870 card) so that videos run using Windows Media Player (or maybe something else if needed?) on the second monitor (actually a large projector).
The videos are synchronised to DMX lighting using software so can't just be run from a DVD.
All the videos have been developed using HDV anamorphic PAL 25fps footage but are rendered out using Premiere CS3 at 1280 x 720 (to keep 16:9 ratio at the highest resolution the projector/card (plus VGA extender cable) can handle.
The videos can be launched quite happily on a single monitor system at this resolution and in any format (WMV, AVI, etc). The videos are launched via software using DirectShow (this is 3rd party software). BUT, when outputting to the second monitor the video playback doesn't work at any resolution above 720 x 576. It works fine at 720 x 576, but obviously when projected the image is way smaller than we need.
Note that Windows Media Player will play higher resolution files on the dual monitor but not in full screen mode.
So, the question is where does the problem lie and how can we fix it? Can Windows Media Player not run higher resolutions in dual monitor mode? Do we need a specific graphics card to handle this? Is Windows XP an issue? (PS we had the PC running Vista previously but found that the TMM module in Vista was affecting the screen resolution settings). Do we need to render out of Premiere in some specific way? Has anyone got any experience of something similar?
Thanks!

Thanks guys. There's no issue with playing the video when launching it direct in Windows Media Player. Its just when launched from the DirectShow API. We've now got a 3rd party looking at that API and have a temporary fix.
So for future reference there are no specific problems with the rendering, codecs or resolutions, but there may be an issue with applications that launch high res media on to a 2nd monitor with the DirectShow API.
thanks

NF750 with Dual Monitors using Internal Video issue

I'm currently trying to get this motherboard to output using both the builtin DVI, and HDMI for a dual monitor setup.
Unfortunately what is happening is, first, while in windows with current output to DVI, connecting the HDMI, the monitor is not detected. When booting up with the HDMI it will be detected as long as the DVI is not plugged in. If both are plugged in, neither will show a screen.
Has anyone else had this issue and managed to fix it?
I have also updated to the latest nforce drivers, and bios.
Thanks for the help

I don't believe its possible to use both digital outputs (DVI and HDMI) simultaneously.

How do I manage Video Ram size

Hello,
I would like to ask how do I adjust the size of video ram in OSX and windowsXP. I have read someone's post saying that it is not user changeable in OSX. if it is not changeable, when will it changeable to a larger size? How about in windowsXP? Is it also unchangeable?
Thanks a lot,

You are aware that video RAM is a physical factor while "OS X" or "Windows XP" are software operating systems. The system you use plays no role in how large your video RAM is. If you want to adjust your video RAM usage, go to the monitor control panel and change the resolution and color depht.
If, on the other hand, what you were trying to say was that some laptops that run on Windows allow you to upgrade them with physical video RAM, I guess it must be so. The Macbook doesn't allow this and uses shares video RAM which, to my understanding, means that it uses a part of the main RAM for video.

Dual monitors, ICC profiles, color management...problems

Problem:
An image displayed in Safari and then pulled off the web into Photoshop shifts colors noticeably. This is esp. apparent in a side-by-side comparison on the same monitor with the Safari window open next to the Photoshop file window…they look very different.
Possible clues?
When I drag an image in Photoshop from one monitor to the other it shifts color after I release the mouse. In my two-monitor setup one is a large LCD (that's the "main" one) and the other is a MacBook Pro laptop. Even though they both have ICC profiles the laptop is slightly more saturated than the LCD…and Photoshop seems to mirror this but exaggerate it. For example: I pull the same image pulled off the web into two separate Photoshop files and then I display one on each screen: the one on the laptop will be /much/ more saturated than the one on the LCD.
In the end, if I have 4 windows open of the exact same image (2 on each screen: one in Photoshop and one in Safari) I am looking at 4 differently colored images - with the Photoshop images appearing even more exaggeratedly different than anything.
Obviously I understand that the two monitors will never look identical, but Photoshop seems to be imposing some extra color management on my files that makes it impossible to use with my previously very helpful dual-monitor setup.
Specs:
- Dual monitor setup: both are calibrated using an i1Display 2 from x-rite and have their own different profiles (this is new as of this week)
- Mac OS 10.6.6 (w/all current updates)
- Photoshop CS3 10.0.1 (w/all current updates) :: Edit>Color Settings : set to North America General Purpose 2
Help?

Just read this entire thread and wanted to leave a few comments and qualifications, first a couple of FACTS for all to consider.
1) I am not "new" to color management - in fact I am quite experienced in color management at a commercial level since the days of film back when getting "accurate color" was actually difficult. At this point it should be easy if the involved software is working correctly and impossible if it is not.
2) I have the top of the line color management solution provided by one of the top players in the color management market and am using it properly as verified by their technicians.
3) I am running 10.6 on my main computers. Mac Pro, 2 27inch iMac sandy bridge quad cores, and am using mac cinema displays (new ones) on all of them.
Now the rant - I have been trying to run down this or a similar and related issue for over a year. If you happen to be experiencing the same issue as I am, which I will summarize as trying to get 2 displays to display anywhere near the same color (even identical monitors) do not bother upgrading to CS5 as I am using CS5 as well as a bunch of other tools (Aperture, LR, etc, etc) - this is BROKEN and all I can get from any of the vendors involved is finger pointing from one to the other. Each of them wants to blame the other vendor for not doing something correctly but NONE of them can actually give me any details as to what exactly is the problem.
At this point in time I am holding the color management vendor I use to create the profiles responsible - the reason that I am doing that has nothing to do with what exactly the technical problem is. It s purely because they claim that the product is compatible with OS 10.6 and they claim that their software does EXACTLY what I want = mach two monitors. Now we all know that different monitors have slightly different gamuts but at the end of the day if two identical colors fall within the gamut of both monitors they should display the same. They don't. I have worked with my color management vendor for 6 months on this, they agree that it is not working properly, they blame apple but they cannot tell me exactly what the issue is.
If a company advertises and sells a product they claim to be compatible with a particular brand and version of hardware and software and they claim that it will manage color consistency across multiple monitors (even on differing machines) then I believe they are ultimately accountable for ensuring it actually works and resolving the issue - whatever it is, if it fails to function properly.
RB

Bug - Color Management Photoshop 11 and OS X 10.6 Dual Monitors

I need to know if it's just me, or others are seeing this.
Color management doesn't seem to work properly on dual monitors (MBP + Dell 2408) with Photoshop 11/CS4 and 10.6.
Each of my monitors is independently calibrated and all other apps work fine. For reference Lightroom 2.4/Preview 5.0/FireFox 3.5.2 all render properly across both monitors. Under 10.5 Preview 4.X did not render properly across two monitors, I was so happy in 10.6 it finally did, but PS is WAY more important so I'm kinda bummed.
Anyway, this seems to only happen on the 2nd monitor. If I move the menu bar (Prefs/Displays/Arrangement) to the external monitor making it primary monitor then it works for that monitor, but no longer for the laptop display. Photoshop render images on the 2nd monitor way washed out, but normally on the primary.
Photoshop 11.0.1 worked fine for me on dual monitors under 10.5.

So if you've read the links above regarding the "default monitor" issue, people have suggested that a potential workaround is to go to System Preferences>Displays>Arrangement>drag the menu bar from the first diplay to the second
Essentially you make your secondary monitor the default display.
For me what this does to PS is that it now displays the matching colors to Lr in the secondary display (which is now the default display with the menu bar at the top), BUT! when I drag the PS window back into my MacBook display it appears OVERLY saturated...
Strangely Lr appears the same in both windows, AND MORE IMPORTANTLY with the same colors, saturation, brightness, just as it did before I made my Dell 2405FPW the default display. Basically, Lr hasn't shifted in color from display to display or even from display to display after making the secondary monitor my new default display. It has retained the same integrity of colors through all these changes.
Which begs the question, if Lr can't handle dual displays and always uses the color profile of the display it begins in (starts running in), then why does it never shift in color and still look exactly the same after I've made my Dell 2405FPW my primary display?
And actually, if you look really really carefully, Lr DOES produce a color shift between displays as you drag it from one screen to the next. It's extremely fast and happens pretty much as you get 0.5 to 1 inch of the window into the secondary display. It's subtle on my monitor too, which leads me to believe that it performs this color correction properly, quickly, and seamlessly.
What if, my Photoshop 10.0 (old version of CS3) is not registering and understanding the secondary display's color profile correctly? What if it really is PS's fault because everything else looks right? Maybe the issue I'm having is different from what others are experiencing, after all we're in 10.6 now and most of these issues were reported in 10.4 and 10.5? I should probably upgrade my PS CS3 and see what happens?
jb, what version of PS do you have?

Cheapest video card for dual monitors on a G4 Sawtooth

Hi guys,
What would be my cheapest alternative to get a dual monitor (extended desktop) environnement with my G4 Sawtooth. This is an AGP G4.
Can I get a cheap video card with one outlet and then plus each monitor in one card (ie: 1 in the new card and 1 in the old one) ?
Or do I need to buy a card that supports 2 monitors?
I would like to spend as little as possible. I currently have the ATI 16 mb card that came with the system and I run both OS 9.2.2 and OS 10.3.9
Thans for your advice,
xenakis

Yesterday I installed a nVidia GeForce4 MX AGP out of a 2002 Quicksilver tower into my own AGP Sawtooth.
It has VGA and ADC connections and can apparently support two monitors at the same time.
My second vidio card is a MPDD card, but I may pull that now that I have a dual-monitor card. Sonnet sells something similar. They have blue & yellow connectors. These things are not high performance but they are OK to use with just about every monitor on the planet and any MacOS from 7.1 to 10.5 and beyond.
Cheap on eBay. Probably you could be even cheaper and pick up a 16-meg PCI card out of a B&W G3 tower.

HP Zbook dual monitors issue - Intel HD Graphics Family ! in Device Manager

I have upgraded to Windows 10 x64 last week and I was using dual monitors. I discovered one of the monitor has stopped working and when I chekced in the device manager, one of the 2 display adaptors has got an exclaimation mark beside it and says: Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43) I have tried uninstall and installing it to no avail. Anyone has the same issue? Is this a driver issue? Thank you.

it's as below: 17th July 2015 10.18.15.4256:

USEING DUAL MONITORS ON MSI DKA790 GX PLATINUM WITH INTERGRATED VIDEO

I know that you can use VGA + dvi-d port or vga + hdmi port together.But manual shows note : dvi-d connector does not support d-sub to dvi-d converter and i haven't seen a hdmi to vga converter that is not 200 Plus Dollars. Is There An easy way to get dual monitor support on the cheap? Or is It Just Easier to add another video card?

Your going to want to just buy a video card. If you are some one who is a game you will want to go with a higher end card for instance I will use the Nvidia 8000 series. The 8200 and 8400 are lower end processors for that card while the more expenseive 8600 and 8800 are the higher end cards. Make sure they support dual out put. Make sure you have a good power supply for any of the high end cards. Some of there demands can exceed 200 watts. Most dual monitor cards will have the two DVI poets and one S-video. they will also come with adapters for HDMI and component id they support it. I do a dual monitor display and love it. way better than the splitters. anyways hope this helps.

Dual Monitors Windows 7 Problems

Ok, this problem is getting really annoying and I think its a problem with windows 7 itself and not my computer.
Basically I have a dual monitor setup with the left hand monitor as my secondary and right hand monitor as my primary. Whenever I have an application with any graphics on it at all such as a progress bar on my left hand monitor moving windows around becomes laggy and juddery, yet this doesn't happen when the graphical app is on my primary monitor!
My system Specs:
ASUS Striker Extreme MOBO
OCZ 850W gameXtreme
Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz CPU
4GB (4x1GB) OCZ DDR2 1066MHz RAM
Nvidia 8800GTX
Sound blaster x-fi Xtreme Gamer (older PCI version)
3 x 80GB HD for system drive in RAID 0
1 x 500GB and 1 x 250GB drives for storage
Monitors are 1680 x 1050 res
Windows 7 Exp Index:
CPU: 5.9
Memory: 5.9
Graphics: 6.8
Gaming Graphics: 6.8
Primary HD: 5.9
What iv tried:
Updating to latest drivers
Upgraded system memory from 2GB to 4GB
Installing 64-bit version
removing sound card and re-installing windows from scratch
upgraded my PSU
Thanks for your help!

(Latest update) This is the best I can do to alleviate the problem, and does reduce its severity immensely, but I found myself still noticing some slight playback glitches in videos on my second monitor which probably also translate to anything else with movement. I have tested with a panning scene in one of my videos and there is a subtle micro-stutter on my second monitor which I can find no way to fix. This doesn't occur if outputting to a single display, one or the other, nor does it occur when playing the video on my primary monitor in a dual-monitor configuration. Note that when I say "primary monitor", I am not referring to the monitor Windows has marked as primary, but my actual monitor rather than TV. In a dual-monitor configuration, this micro-stutter will only occur when playing video on my right monitor (TV), regardless of settings or which ports the monitors are connected to on the GPU. The micro-stutter occurs with no relation to the activity on the other screen, as it can be completely still. I can confirm the micro-stutter does not occur at all with Desktop Window Manager (Aero) disabled. In short, this is a nightmare.
(Note that this micro-stutter is equally replicable in the 182.50 (WDDM1.1-less) driver, meaning there is no way to solve it other than disabling Aero or outputting to a single monitor.)
I think I've solved the problem.. for me, anyway. I've divided this into short answer and "long answer", which is closer to a stream of consciousness in some ways, as I found out about Force10Level9 as I was writing.
The short version:
I've found some registry keys which seem to have fixed the problem for me. I haven't experienced any side effects, but use the tweaks at your own risk!
I don't know exactly what they do. This comes from a lot of.. experimentation. I believe FrameRateMin tells the Desktop Window Manager that it's crucial to try to keep the framerate at or above the value specified (more details below), and Force10Level9 sounds like it forces DWM to use DirectX 9. I'm fairly certain about the former, not as certain about the latter, but together they do wonders.
You can view the fix below. You can then save it as a .reg file and import it into your registry. Restart the Desktop Window Manager service or reboot to see the changes.
Fix: http://pastebin.com/FFDbubw9
Undo: http://pastebin.com/zA8CJY06
(P.S. Just ran a FurMark test between fix applied and no fix. No difference in performance, with an inactive secondary monitor. I also noticed no difference in Physical Memory usage as reported by Task Manager. YMMV, let me know if you have any side effects.)
(P.P.S. The screen fade that happens when you log in/out is just as choppy as before (or if it wasn't choppy for you, that shouldn't have changed). Oh well, how often do we see that thing, anyway? :))
By the way, it appears 10Level9 is Windows 7's emulation platform for running DX10 on DX9 hardware. It's reported to be at least a 0.5x performance hit, so it's surprising that it actually makes Aero run better. If this article is anything to go by, Force10Level9 makes Aero run exactly the same as it does with older WDDM 1.0-only drivers like 182.50: http://www.techarp.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=637&pgno=1
The long version:
Well... I was able to do one more thing.
There is an undocumented registry key which allows you to fine-tune the Desktop Window Manager's scheduling. Unfortunately, all of its values seem to be defunct in the final version of Windows 7 we all use today... except one: FrameRateMin.
From what I gather, the Desktop Window Manager (Aero) carefully monitors the framerate it is able to achieve, and when it can't measure up to its own expectations, it will perform a "step down", or framerate reduction, and maintain this lower framerate for a given period of time (at one time specifiable with a registry value) before trying again at maximum speed.
I presume it does all this to keep things looking "smooth".
The problem is, in most cases, it doesn't help, and actually prolongs the stuttering duration. By "in most cases", I mean in every case it's happened in my personal usage of my Windows 7 computers.
So what helped me was setting this FrameRateMin value to 60. That way, the Desktop Window Manager considers anything under 60fps to be unacceptable and will not remain at a lower framerate for purposes of perceived smoothness. Thus, the stuttering will take up as little time as possible, making it nearly unnoticeable most of the time.
Keep in mind DWM shouldn't be having performance problems to begin with, but apparently in some cases, like with my particular hardware (desktop and laptop) and the latest NVIDIA drivers, it does.
Down to brass tacks. The registry key is HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM\Schedule. The value is FrameRateMin, a DWORD representing the minimum framerate DWM will consider as acceptable. I set it to 60, but you can set it to whatever you want.
To repeat, this WILL NOT prevent Aero from ever getting below the framerate you specify; it simply prevents Aero from retaining a lower framerate after a stutter in order to give the illusion of smoothness (an illusion which fails).
I imagine the main reason it fails so spectacularly in my usage is because I watch a lot of videos which play back at 24fps. Such a framerate plays back terribly with a 30Hz refresh rate, which is what Aero would reduce itself to for extended lengths of time. Now, performance hiccups are minimal, but sadly still existent.
So this isn't a solution, but it does help. I am still uncertain of where the problem lies, considering GPU-Z shows graphics card loads to be as low as always when it's happening.
Oh, and I found one more registry value. This one is far more important. :) It solves the problem for me entirely, from what I can tell.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Avalon.Graphics
add the DWORD value Force10Level9 with a value of 1.
I haven't noticed any side effects, just smooth performance.
Apply these tweaks at your own risk!

[SOLVED] Dual monitors and raid - linux newb

Hi
I'm raginaot and I'll probably be asking a lot of dumb questions here in the near future
I just decided to say goodbye to windows for a while. Been wasting too much time gaming and it was either - switch to linux or - sell my computer and move to the desert. I'm gonna try the former first and see how it goes.
I managed to install arch and get gnome up and running with the help of the most awesome linux install guide I have ever seen and I installed the xf86-video-ati driver package but I'm having trouble getting it to recognise my 2 monitors.
I'll list my hardware specs before I go any further:
CPU: i7 920
RAM: 12GB (3x4) Mushkin Silverline 1333MHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte EX58-UD3R (rev 1.6)
GPU: ATI HD5870 1GB
Souncard: Auzentech X-fi forte
Monitors: Samsung 2693HM and Samsung 226BW
now the monitors seem to be stuck in mirrored mode, both showing the same image at 1280*1024 resolution
when I try to set them both to on and their native resolutions (1920*1200 and 1680*1050) in the display settings I get a message that says:
"the selected configuration for displays could not be applied
required virtual size does not fit available size: requested=(3600, 1200), minimum=(320, 200), maximum=(1920, 1920"
But when I unplug the 22" display, I can set the 26" to native res just fine and vice versa.
Now to the second issue...
I have 2 1TB drives in raid0, but in fdisk -l they appear as 2 seperate 1TB drives instead of 1 big 2TB like they're supposed to (see output below).
I guess I have to mount them in some special way, but I have no idea how. The raid worked right away in linux mint.
fdisk wrote:
Disk /dev/sdb: 1000.2 GB, 1000203804160 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x1c7fba32
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 * 1 13 102400 7 HPFS/NTFS
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2 13 34421 276377600 7 HPFS/NTFS
/dev/sdb3 34421 243202 1677035520 7 HPFS/NTFS
Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 121601 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xb876c595
Disk /dev/sdc doesn't contain a valid partition table
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by raginaot (2010-11-24 03:29:46)

Bregol wrote:
Glad you were able to figure out the RAID part - I can't really help you with that. As far as the dual monitor setup, I would suspect that you will need to do some stuff with the xorg config to get it working. I would say that xorg.log would be the first thing to look at - to see what is limiting the modes available to X. Maybe post the xorg.log and your x configuration
My post in this thread might give a bit of background on how X comes up with what resolutions it lets you choose.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=101547
thanks
I pasted the xorg logs here: Xorg log 0: http://pastebin.com/tHPqWVaw and Xorg log 1: http://pastebin.com/nPhdpCE0
and here is the xorg.conf in /etc/X11 (hope that's the right file..)
Section "ServerLayout"
Identifier "X.org Configured"
Screen 0 "Screen0" 0 0
InputDevice "Mouse0" "CorePointer"
InputDevice "Keyboard0" "CoreKeyboard"
EndSection
Section "Files"
ModulePath "/usr/lib/xorg/modules"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/misc/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/TTF/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/OTF/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/Type1/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/100dpi/"
FontPath "/usr/share/fonts/75dpi/"
EndSection
Section "Module"
Load "record"
Load "glx"
Load "extmod"
Load "dri"
Load "dri2"
Load "dbe"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Keyboard0"
Driver "kbd"
EndSection
Section "InputDevice"
Identifier "Mouse0"
Driver "mouse"
Option "Protocol" "auto"
Option "Device" "/dev/input/mice"
Option "ZAxisMapping" "4 5 6 7"
EndSection
Section "Monitor"
#DisplaySize 470 300 # mm
Identifier "Monitor0"
VendorName "SAM"
ModelName "SyncMaster"
HorizSync 30.0 - 81.0
VertRefresh 56.0 - 75.0
Option "DPMS"
EndSection
Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: : integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz",
### <percent>: "<f>%"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "NoAccel" # [<bool>]
#Option "SWcursor" # [<bool>]
#Option "Dac6Bit" # [<bool>]
#Option "Dac8Bit" # [<bool>]
#Option "BusType" # [<str>]
#Option "CPPIOMode" # [<bool>]
#Option "CPusecTimeout" # 
#Option "AGPMode" # 
#Option "AGPFastWrite" # [<bool>]
#Option "AGPSize" # 
#Option "GARTSize" # 
#Option "RingSize" # 
#Option "BufferSize" # 
#Option "EnableDepthMoves" # [<bool>]
#Option "EnablePageFlip" # [<bool>]
#Option "NoBackBuffer" # [<bool>]
#Option "DMAForXv" # [<bool>]
#Option "FBTexPercent" # 
#Option "DepthBits" # 
#Option "PCIAPERSize" # 
#Option "AccelDFS" # [<bool>]
#Option "IgnoreEDID" # [<bool>]
#Option "CustomEDID" # [<str>]
#Option "DisplayPriority" # [<str>]
#Option "PanelSize" # [<str>]
#Option "ForceMinDotClock" # <freq>
#Option "ColorTiling" # [<bool>]
#Option "VideoKey" # 
#Option "RageTheatreCrystal" # 
#Option "RageTheatreTunerPort" # 
#Option "RageTheatreCompositePort" # 
#Option "RageTheatreSVideoPort" # 
#Option "TunerType" # 
#Option "RageTheatreMicrocPath" # <str>
#Option "RageTheatreMicrocType" # <str>
#Option "ScalerWidth" # 
#Option "RenderAccel" # [<bool>]
#Option "SubPixelOrder" # [<str>]
#Option "ClockGating" # [<bool>]
#Option "VGAAccess" # [<bool>]
#Option "ReverseDDC" # [<bool>]
#Option "LVDSProbePLL" # [<bool>]
#Option "AccelMethod" # <str>
#Option "DRI" # [<bool>]
#Option "ConnectorTable" # <str>
#Option "DefaultConnectorTable" # [<bool>]
#Option "DefaultTMDSPLL" # [<bool>]
#Option "TVDACLoadDetect" # [<bool>]
#Option "ForceTVOut" # [<bool>]
#Option "TVStandard" # <str>
#Option "IgnoreLidStatus" # [<bool>]
#Option "DefaultTVDACAdj" # [<bool>]
#Option "Int10" # [<bool>]
#Option "EXAVSync" # [<bool>]
#Option "ATOMTVOut" # [<bool>]
#Option "R4xxATOM" # [<bool>]
#Option "ForceLowPowerMode" # [<bool>]
#Option "DynamicPM" # [<bool>]
#Option "NewPLL" # [<bool>]
#Option "ZaphodHeads" # <str>
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "radeon"
BusID "PCI:3:0:0"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen0"
Device "Card0"
Monitor "Monitor0"
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 1
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 4
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 8
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 15
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 16
EndSubSection
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
EndSubSection
EndSection
Not sure what to look for here...
The "#DisplaySize 470 300" line looks like something.
I only have the 26" screen plugged in at the moment, if that matters. Does the xorg log change it self when I plug in another screen?

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