ATI Radeon HD 5450 Dual Monitors HDMI & VGA Resolution Problems

HI. I have a Samsung HD monitor and a VGA SuncMaster Samsung monitor. The HD monitor is what I use on my desktop all the time. I am wanting to have dual monitors to use on occasion and use both these at the same time with a mirror image. The graphic card ATI Radeon HD 5450 has a place for my HD and VGA slots. Win 7 recognizes both monitors, BUT my HD monitors resolution is not HD anymore but the VGA monitor is good.

How do I get the settings to be the same as it is on my HD monitor and then display the mirror image to the VGA monitor????

Thanks so much, Tammy

Are you sure what you want is to DUPLICATE the contents of both monitors (referred to as "clone mode")? You want to show the identical desktop content on both monitors identically and simultaneously?

Or do you want to EXTEND the Windows desktop to run horizontally across both monitors, so that your Windows desktop is pretty much "double wide"? This allows you to drag windows onto one or the other monitor, and open up independent program windows on either monitor to meet your needs (e.g. to look at two open program windows independently presented on each of your monitors).

If you run the dual-monitor setup in EXTEND mode (with one of the monitors called "primary" monitor for Windows and the other monitor known as the "extend/secondary" monitor) then each monitor can be configured to run at its own native/optimal resolution, independent of what the other is configured at. So if you have a CRT (typically 4:3 or so) it can run at say 1280x1024 or 1600x1200 or 1440x900 or something like that, while your flatscreen/TV (typically 16x9 or 16x10) can run at say 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 or 1680x1050 or something like that. So you'd get FULL use of both monitors at their native/optimal resolutions, and maximum width of the effective combined Windows desktop.

If instead you do really want to run the two monitors in "clone mode", then you only have a Windows desktop that is the smaller of the two monitors. And you will be running the larger monitor at the resolution of the smaller monitor, which is exactly what is meant by "clone mode" aka DUPLICATE. Furthermore, if the pixel height of the 16x9 monitor is not large enough to accept the pixel height of the 4:3 monitor, then the resolution Windows decides on has to be reduced so as to be a compatible resolution acceptable to both monitors. So if the 4:3 monitor can run at 1600x1200 but the 16:9 monitor is say 1920x1080, you cannot run 1600x1200 as the DUPLICATE resolution, since 1200 vertical cannot be displayed on the 1080 vertical monitor. So Windows will probably show 1440x1080 or maybe 1440x900 as the maximum possible resolution, again so that it is compatible with simultaneous DUPLICATE display onto both screens.

Bottom line: if you have two different shaped monitors, with two different resolutions, and you want to utilize "clone mode", then you will only be able to select a maximum resolution that is compatible with BOTH screens at the same time. That's what DUPLICATE means, and the same resolution output will be sent to both screens. So inevitably the larger screen will look odd or distorted or will have black bars on left and right so as to retain the same aspect ratio as is showing on the smaller screen, or else it will be "zoomed/distorted" horizontally to fill the entire larger screen width but really only the desktop width appearing on the smaller screen will be what is shown.

Now, what do you really want to do?

Thank you for responding dsperber

The reason why I want both screens to show the same thing is because while I work on one screen, the client is watching and making suggestions while looking at the other screen. Its easier for the client to see another screen and have a work area instead of both of us trying to work and look at one screen and no room to work at the desk.

If I understand correctly, the EXTEND method wouldn't work for me this way. Where the client and I see the same thing on the screen at the same time.

Please advise and thank you again.

tammy1999 said:

The reason why I want both screens to show the same thing is because while I work on one screen, the client is watching and making suggestions while looking at the other screen. Its easier for the client to see another screen and have a work area instead of both of us trying to work and look at one screen and no room to work at the desk.

I understand.

I have a similar situation involving a bridge club, where the director sits at a desk with a 19" 4:3 1280x1024 monitor in front of him while a second 22" 16x9 monitor is mounted on a wall for the players to look at while the director scores the match. The setup is also CLONE mode, to duplicate the output on both monitors simultaneously.

However the constraints and results are exactly as I described, due to the mismatched sizes and native resolutions of the two monitors. The 22" monitor is not really a monster, and if the resolution chosen is too small for the 19" desktop monitor then the duplicate resolution sent to the 22" LCD is simply visibly too small to read. So 1280x1024 was selected for the desktop, which is the "primary" monitor in the CLONE arrangement.

This 1280x1024 is then also sent to the CLONE, which "distorts" it to use up all of the entire 16x9 screen shape real estate (because 1280x1024 is not normally a 16x9 resolution), but in effect this is like a ZOOM mode. So it actually makes the characters appear LARGER than they would otherwise appear if some 16x9 native resolution be in use (as it would be in EXTEND mode).

So this sort of satisfies the goal of allowing the players to not hover over the director at the desk where the smaller 19" CRT monitor lives, while still being able to see the scores on the wall-mounted LCD. And the 1280x1024 CLONE display provides "acceptable" size, clarity, visibility and readability.

So when you try whatever you try, you may want to experiment a bit to see exactly the results of what you've done. But no question you're right, that CLONE mode is what you want for the situation you describe. But the fact that your two monitors have different shapes is going to have consequences. Though it might not have been in your plans, having BOTH monitors have the same 16x9 or 16x10 shape and capable of accepting the same much more appropriate common native resolution for CLONE mode using rectangular screens... well, buying a new modern rectangular monitor for your second duplicate may be a good idea.

So your case is reversed from the bridge center story. Your primary desktop screen is the rectangular one, and the second intended CLONE is the older 4:3. You're just going to have to see for yourself what it looks like, and whether the constraints forced because of the two different screen shapes and native resolutions is acceptable, or whether just picking up an inexpensive second rectangular monitor might not be the best thing for your business situation use.

If I understand correctly, the EXTEND method wouldn't work for me this way. Where the client and I see the same thing on the screen at the same time.

Right. Not for the situation you're describing.


Ok. You'll just have to look at the CLONE results and decide for yourself.

Now just some questions. Are you running with the latest v13.9 Catalyst driver suite?

Also, can you provide the model numbers of both of your monitors?


Here is the example of how to set up CLONE mode, from the bridge club, using v13.9 "legacy" (since the ATI graphics card in the Compaq machine is an older HD3* model, which uses the "legacy" drivers). Again, remember the primary monitor here is the rectangular one, the setup for you should be the same... once both monitors are plugged into your HD5450.

(1) Windows desktop properties -> screen resolution



(2) Catalyst Control Center setup:

I played around with the settings for both monitors using the Catalyst control. The second square monitor shows up fine. My HD monitor is just using a setting where there is no HD. It works well for what we will use it for. Until we start looking at pictures and they just aren't as good when the two monitors are working together. But I can deal with that for now. Thanks so much for your help. Its so appreciated.

I'm not updated to v13.9 Catalyst driver suite. Actually I couldn't find a download for it but I am also on Win 7. My HD monitor is a Samsung S23B550v 23" and the square monitor is a Samsung Sync Master 915a

tammy1999 said:

I'm not updated to v13.9 Catalyst driver suite. Actually I couldn't find a download for it but I am also on Win 7.

Here is the location for the latest Catalyst driver suite for your HD5450. Actually, I was incorrect thinking 13.9 was the latest one. Turns out they've come out with 13.12. Anyway, that's the standard AMD driver download site.

If you didn't notice it, there's another related CLONE-mode thread going on right now (that I'm also participating in), which is kind of the reverse of yours (i.e. more similar to my bridge club story). In this case there's a 4:3 primary monitor running 1600x1200, and a secondary 16x9 HDTV used as a CLONE. Lots of issues again because of the mis-matched screen shapes and resolutions. You might find that discussion interesting.

My HD monitor is a Samsung S23B550v 23" and the square monitor is a Samsung Sync Master 915a

I played around with the settings for both monitors using the Catalyst control. The second square monitor shows up fine. My HD monitor is just using a setting where there is no HD. It works well for what we will use it for. Until we start looking at pictures and they just aren't as good when the two monitors are working together. But I can deal with that for now.

Yes. My guess is that when you specify CLONE mode (i.e. "duplicate"), Windows and the video drivers decide what acceptable resolutions are, based on what the two displays reported they could accept during the "handshake" with the PC

Since your Sync Master 915a can only accept 1280x1024, I'm fairly sure that's what you're also seeing on your S23B550v when you run CLONE mode. I would think that since the HD monitor is 1920x1080, that you probably have black bars on left and right of the 16x9 screen, with the 1280x1024 image in the center. There's probably a very small black bar on top and bottom of the centered image as well, since 1080 is slightly larger than 1024 in the vertical dimension.

Yes? Or, am I wrong about what things look like on the S23B550v? Can you maybe take a photo of what's on both screens and post it here? I'm just curious.

Also, what does the Windows desktop properties window (like the one I posted earlier) show is your 1/2 resolution? Is it 1280x1024 as I suspect?

Hi there,

Reading the above, I think your problem could be solved with "Scaling".

There is a help-message saying though that it is not always working on the secundary display, but give it a try, I would say!

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If you want to run 2 monitors showing the same screens, but in different resolutions, here's how to:
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1. Open AMD Catalyst Control Center (mine is version 14.4, but I used it 12 already)
2. Go to "My Digital Flat-Panels" (Menu-item)
3. Choose "Properties (Digital Flat-Panel) (sub-menu item)
4. Select the display that you want to configure (select one of your two monitors from drop-down menu)
5. Enable GPU scaling (place check mark)
6. Choose "Scale image to full panel size" (place sub check mark (round circle))
7. Press "Apply" (green button down right)

From that moment on, the Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) of your videocard will scale both monitors to their maximum resolution.

The help-message when hovering above the text "Scale image to full panel size" says that it is not always available on the secundary display. But I hope it works in your setup.

In "Scaling Options", you could finetune with "Underscan":

1. Go to "My Digital Flat-Panels" (Menu-item)
2. Choose "Scaling Options (Digital Flat-Panel)" (sub-menu item)
3. Select the display that you want to configure (only monitors that have scaling turned on will appear in drop-down-list)
4. Finetune within Scaling Options (slider, 0% means maximum size)
5. Press "Apply" if you want to fix a setting other than 0% underscan (green button down right)

Although this thread is now more than 170 days old, I hope you both get notified of my post, and can experiment with your setup.

Let me know what comes out!

With kind Regards,

Erik-Jan.