For an immersive and fulfilling gaming experience, a single monitor is no longer enough for many gamers. While a dual monitor setup can provide more screen real estate, better multitasking, and more field of view, making it popular among the gaming community. The process of setting this up can seem like a daunting task due to compatibility, cable management, and other factors, especially for new gamers.
Maximizing Your Gaming Experience: Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up Dual Monitors
Before we start discussing the guide, ensure that your GPU supports multiple outputs; they should also be of the same size, resolution, and refresh rate to avoid any issues with scaling or performance while gaming.
You can choose from many orientations for your dual display setup, which will depend entirely on your personal preference and type of usage. For an immersive gaming experience, you can have them side-by-side to expand your field of view, but these are commonly used to keep an eye on different software like Discord, OBS, and Spotify while gaming.
Step 1: Selecting proper monitors
There are many monitors in the market, but the ones you're going with will depend on your setup and type of usage. If you're going to use your dual display setup for multitasking while gaming, you can go for different resolutions and also combine a flat and a curved one. But for sole gaming purposes, you'll need two of the same size, resolution, and refresh rate for a flawless viewing experience.
Also, check for the ports on your displays and the GPU to connect them directly; otherwise, you'll need an adapter.
Step 2: Setting up the displays
Once your displays are mounted, it's time to set them up. It's as easy as plugging an HDMI or Display cable into your monitor and GPU. After that, you'll need to make some changes to your "Display settings."
First, right-click on your desktop and select "Display settings." A dialog box showing your displays as 1 and 2 will open; you can choose your primary and secondary displays by clicking on them.
Step 3: Setting up display style
After setting up your primary and secondary displays, the next step is to change the display style, which you can find in the dropdown menu. Choose "Extend these displays" from the dropdown menu, as it will help you the most in multitasking while gaming.
In conclusion, a dual-display setup can provide many benefits, like a wider field of view and increased multitasking ability. With proper hardware, software, and configuration, you can easily set up your system and take your gaming experience to another level.