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Sanity check on new installation
https://www.wsgf.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=15757		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  ibaker [ 01 May 2008, 10:22 ]
Post subject:  Sanity check on new installation
Hi All
This is my first post as I have just entered the world of widescreen gaming. I will mostly be using MS Flightsim X and have just constructed a new system for this. It contains:
1 x Gigabyte GA-EX38T-DQ6
1 x Intel E8500 Core 2 Duo Processor
4 x Corsair DDR3 XMS3 DHX 1333MHz 1gig Ram blocks
1 x XFX GeForce 9800 GX2 1.0GB DDR3 Black Edition
5 x Western Digital 320Gb 7,200rpm 16Mb buffer SATA11 hard Drives in RAID0
1 x Antec 850W TruePower Quattro Power Supply
3 x Samsung 226BW 22" wide screen LCD's
1 x Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital edition to drive the monitors
1 x Saitek Cyborg Evo Force Feedback Joystick
1 x Saitek Pro Flight Yoke System
1 x Saitek Pro Flight Rudder Pedals
1 x Saitek Eclipse 2 Keyboard
1 x Saitek GM3200 Laser Mouse
1 x Logitech Z5400 5.1 Dolby/THX Sound System
1 x XFX X-Gear Gaming Rumble (vibration) Headset
1 x Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit

I am unsure on whether I have set up the widescreen the best with a default install and a resolution of 3840x1024 - gee I miss my native resolution on these monitors but with this res being the best the TH2G can do I wonder whether it is worth having 3 or just use 2 monitors?

Also, are there any tricks that I can do to improve my setup? Being a real world recreational pilot I always missed not being able to just quickly glance out the side windows to line up my turns and I was hoping the TH2G would fix that. I opened 3 windows in Flightsim, had the left view on the left screen, main windscreen in the middle screen and the right view on the right screen but my frame rates plunged into the depths of darkness so I gave that up and now just use the panorama view which doesn't really suit my needs.

Anyway, just want to say it's great to find your site and I know going by the world of content here I will be learning a lot - thanks!
Author:  scavvenjahh [ 01 May 2008, 10:41 ]
Post subject:  Sanity check on new installation
Erm, Matrox's TH2G was not designed to drive widescreen monitors. :oops: Not only will you get a blurred image (because you can't have 3x 16801050), it'll be pretty messed up too (stretching, black bars everywhere ? I'm not sure).

Maybe you should go for an additional, cheap PCI video card and use the free SoftTH instead. I doubt the dual-screen solution would be ideal here, unless you can have one main screen with centered view and an additional side screen with radars, dials and whatnot in FlightSimX...

Welcome to the [sometimes confusing, but nonetheless so exciting] world of wide-widescreen gaming anyway :)
Author:  Tyinsar [ 01 May 2008, 18:52 ]
Post subject:  Sanity check on new installation
I second the thought about NOT using widescreen monitors with the TH2G. I even tried it with a 4:3 20" just to see how it scaled but nothing really beats a monitor at it's native resolution.

I wonder if you could use the TH2G on 2 widescreens and setup the third through SoftTH. (I don't use SoftTH so I really don't know what it can and can't do)
Author:  Paddy the Wak [ 01 May 2008, 19:28 ]
Post subject:  Sanity check on new installation
Hey welcome to the forum ... 8)

I don't know for sure but running the game in 3 windows ... I would think ... would slow it down quite a bit.
I would suggest trying the game at 3840x1024 full screen not windowed ... this will of course be stretched on your widecreens.
Three 16:10 widescreens ... as the guys say and as you have found ... are not ideal for surround gaming at the moment due to the lack of available resolutions.
I have every faith in Matrox and that sooner or later they will have a unit or software upgrade that will do more widescreen resolutions.

Take a look at TrackIR ... for more immersion in flight sims ... they say it is really good for looking around your cockpit etc.
TrackIR link ... http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/
Author:  JKeefe [ 01 May 2008, 20:03 ]
Post subject:  Sanity check on new installation
You can run the Digital TripleHead2Go at 1280x800 so the image doesn't stretch, but it will still not be at the native resolution of each screen.

Have you considered purchasing 3 19" monitors each with a 1280x1024 native resolution? This really is the best setup to use with the TripleHead2Go and provides a very immersive gaming experience. 3 x 1280x1024 is also plenty of desktop space.


You say you "always missed not being able to just quickly glance out the side windows to line up my turns", and this is exactly what TrackIR is for. Click on Paddy's link to see it in action. Of course triplehead and TrackIR work perfectly well together and this is the ultimate solution.
Author:  ibaker [ 01 May 2008, 23:22 ]
Post subject:  Sanity check on new installation
I have a TrackIR sitting in the cupboard somewhere but when I got it I found it very hard to master - perhaps I should give it another go.

So, it seems that I am better to "sell off" the samsungs and get 3 x 4:3 screens but I think i will need to check first about the loading placed on the hardware and FSX in terms of Frame rates.

Thanks for the welcome and for the comments so far :D
Author:  Vroshnak [ 02 May 2008, 15:05 ]
Post subject:  Sanity check on new installation
If you keep the widescreen monitors, SoftTH is becoming a better option with each new version, and it's free. 5040x1050 is a pretty awesome resolution. However it doesn't yet work with DirectX10, and how well it works varies per game.
Author:  JKeefe [ 02 May 2008, 15:23 ]
Post subject:  Sanity check on new installation
I wasn't reading carefully and didn't realize you already owned that system.

Since you are already in possession of the three 22" monitors, I would explore SoftTH.
Author:  ibaker [ 02 May 2008, 19:26 ]
Post subject:  Sanity check on new installation
Thanks all - looked at SoftTH but unfortunately it doesn't work with Flight Sim X - had my hopes up there for a minute :lol:
Author:  Tyinsar [ 02 May 2008, 23:06 ]
Post subject:  Sanity check on new installation
Thanks all - looked at SoftTH but unfortunately it doesn't work with Flight Sim X - had my hopes up there for a minute :lol:
That's a shame. Thanks for the heads up on that though.
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