Do I need a second GPU?

[AlienALX]

OK guys so here's something completely left field. Something I am good at lol.

OK, so I bought a 7" touch screen. HDMI. I want to use something like Aida, or just HWMON on it vertically so I can see what's going on in game. However, I know that when I had multiple monitors before sometimes the secondary screen would go black. Which is obviously no good.

So, first question is, do I need another (crap) GPU to do this? and what sort of software works good for this? I want to know my GPU temps, speed, CPU usage etc.

Thanks guys

 

[tinytomlogan]

You can get USB screens.

 

[Warchild]

Didn't think you needed a second GPU.

Couldnt it be you had a black screen because you were running the games in full screen mode? Usually additional monitors would go black in full screen mode when not running any surround/spanning or eyefinity etc.

If its in windowed, then you can use 1 gpu and have all the stuff you want on your other screen. Try testing it out.

 

[S_I_N]

I use afterburner for that. Shows GPU load temp GPU mem usage cpu load temp and usage as well as fps in upper left corner of my screen.

 

[AlienALX]

Well I bought AIDA Extreme for £30. The screen only cost me £15. Started work on how I want it to look/what to display etc.

Obviously still got to add loads but it's slow going and I'm out of time for today. Will be cool when it's all done though

 

[MacLeod]

I have a 17" monitor that I use just for monitoring CPU and GPU temps and in some games it goes black too. Alt/Tab out to desktop then back to the game and the 2nd monitor should stay on. I have no idea why this works but it does at least on my rig.

 

[Dawelio]

I used to run both 3 monitors, 3+1 and then 1+1, never encountered the black screening which you guys are mentioning... And I've always run with a single GPU, never done SLI or Crossfire. All the panels were connected of the single GPU and then just configured in Windows how I wanted them setup correctly, for their respective location in real life.

 

[MacLeod]

Beats me man. It doesn't do it on all games, just a few. The second monitor will stay on but just be all black. For whatever reason, Atl/Tab'ing out of the game then back in fixes it. I'm currently replaying Mac Payne 3 and it does it on that.

 

[Wraith]

Try running your games in windowed full screen (boarderless) that should help.