Must I buy a Matrox Box to use 2 or 3 Monitors in a game?

Flo_Oeko · Post by **Flo_Oeko** » 11 Jan 2009, 18:56

Hello,

I have a question about multi-heading. I have a Powercolor 3870x2 gddr4 with 3 dvi outputs so is my question how i can use may two or three monitors in a game. They worked at Windows with the following resolution:1280x1024@60hz. At World in Conflict I can play with two monitors, because in the grafics options is a dual screen mode. But what is with other games. I know that i can scratch games if they windowed with ultra mon but that didnÂ´t looks so good.Also can anybody help me? And sorry for my realy realy bad englsih.

Post by **MobsterOO7** » 11 Jan 2009, 19:20

There is a way to do it without a TH2GO box, it is called SoftTH. Basically its a software version of the TH2GO (its also free). I'm not sure if it will work when you're using one card with three ports though. I have only heard of instances where its used in setups using two cards. Also keep in mind that while SoftTH may be free, your frames per second in game will take a noticable hit.

Flo_Oeko · Post by **Flo_Oeko** » 11 Jan 2009, 20:27

Thanks for your fast answer. I will check it out in the next minutes. And with the fps that not a so big prblem its a 3870X2 not a normal. At World in Conflict I have all on the highest option and 4x AA by 2560x1024 allways 30 fps, cause Limiter so it must be work :P

Post by **MobsterOO7** » 11 Jan 2009, 20:42

There is also some configuration involved for each game with SoftTH. I haven't taken an in depth look at it, but it seems fairly involved.

Vroshnak · Post by **Vroshnak** » 21 Jan 2009, 17:39

I like SoftTH so much I sold my TripleHead2Go (granted it was the analog version). TripleHead2Go doesn't support three 1680x1050 monitors at 60Hz, and SoftTH does.

You do have to put in a second video card but it can be a piece of crud (8400GS, for example).

The drawbacks are that it does take tweaking a configuration file to make it work, it doesn't support every game (neither does the TH2Go) and it doesn't support DX10 (yet).

geniv2 · Post by **geniv2** » 24 Jan 2009, 06:34

I like SoftTH so much I sold my TripleHead2Go (granted it was the analog version). TripleHead2Go doesn't support three 1680x1050 monitors at 60Hz, and SoftTH does.

You do have to put in a second video card but it can be a piece of crud (8400GS, for example).

The drawbacks are that it does take tweaking a configuration file to make it work, it doesn't support every game (neither does the TH2Go) and it doesn't support DX10 (yet).

you forgot to mention that:

- it is only 16 bit color
- doesn't support SLI or Crossfire
- takes a big performance hit. in 3D fps games
- lag on the L and R screen by 0.3 seconds. making FPS games unplayable and "looks/feel wierd".
- takes up an extra expansion slot.

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 24 Jan 2009, 09:10

- it is only 16 bit color
haven't looked at the config file yet huh?
- doesn't support SLI or Crossfire
3 cards, 2 in sli + third crapper works.
- takes a big performance hit. in 3D fps games
th2g doesn't?
- lag on the L and R screen by 0.3 seconds. making FPS games unplayable and "looks/feel wierd".
your eyes aren't superhuman, and your peripheral vision doesn't exceed the norms.
- takes up an extra expansion slot.
now you're just being picky.

I don't personally like softth, but I hate people that create false arguments.

Vroshnak · Post by **Vroshnak** » 25 Jan 2009, 01:01

Thanks mesh, you said it all.

MrCrowley · Post by **MrCrowley** » 26 Jan 2009, 11:55

- it is only 16 bit color
haven't looked at the config file yet huh?
- doesn't support SLI or Crossfire
3 cards, 2 in sli + third crapper works.
- takes a big performance hit. in 3D fps games
th2g doesn't?
- lag on the L and R screen by 0.3 seconds. making FPS games unplayable and "looks/feel wierd".
your eyes aren't superhuman, and your peripheral vision doesn't exceed the norms.
- takes up an extra expansion slot.
now you're just being picky.

- SLI/CF in softth just Â´worksÂ´, but performance is worst than with only one gpu. One working gpu + a cheap one alone will give more frames than two of the same in sli + a cheap one.
- Softth takes a considerable performance hit above the th2go hit, because th2go hit is only about resolution and fov, but softth takes also pcie bandwidth hit and cpu hit. Left/Right mons can be put in 16bits color (and lower resolution) to minimize this additional hit, but still it exists.

Vroshnak · Post by **Vroshnak** » 26 Jan 2009, 17:55

- SLI/CF in softth just Â´worksÂ´, but performance is worst than with only one gpu. One working gpu + a cheap one alone will give more frames than two of the same in sli + a cheap one.
- Softth takes a considerable performance hit above the th2go hit, because th2go hit is only about resolution and fov, but softth takes also pcie bandwidth hit and cpu hit. Left/Right mons can be put in 16bits color (and lower resolution) to minimize this additional hit, but still it exists.

Is it really worse? I've tried both, didn't notice much difference.

As far as the performance hit, it runs great on my rig. Whatever hit I'm experiening isn't worth a $300 box to fix.

MrCrowley · Post by **MrCrowley** » 26 Jan 2009, 21:38

Is it really worse? I've tried both, didn't notice much difference.

As far as the performance hit, it runs great on my rig. Whatever hit I'm experiening isn't worth a $300 box to fix.

You arenÂ´t telling what games and resolutions are you playing great with softth, and also you donÂ´t say what is Â´greatÂ´ for you. Softth is great for old / low-medium demanding games (or sims), plus you can use any resolution, but is not so good for high demanding games (or with lots of AA), when even no surround resolutions donÂ´t run very good. Is not coincidence softth has many options relatives to reduce pcie bandwidth and cpu hit. And th2go is a lot more compatible than softth. And even when you change resolution and/or color depth of outer monitors, graphic card is still working at full res and color depth, so image quality is another sort of concern (not a big problem, but it would be better if not neccessary).

And a BIG limitation of softth is the inability of using SLI/CF, whenever could be potentially the best playground for multigpu systems.

If just now I have to tone down game settings with my 8800ultra and th2go to maintain 50+ fps. With softth only can be worst.

IÂ´m a th2go user, but soon a softth user too (cannot use native res in th2go just now), so I donÂ´t consider myself biased to matrox thing. IÂ´m planning to use both depending on game/compatibility and resolution/quality, even using softth to play non-surround resolutions in three mons (vertically) in games with bad fov support.

Both th2go and softth have their proper use, plus softth is free. But if you want to play a lot of recent games at very high settings & resolution & fps, th2go is the way to go. Else, if you play only a few games, and not very demanding, softth is probably a better choice.

neosin · Post by **neosin** » 05 Feb 2009, 09:22

um... I think everyone is forgetting the most important thing?

GAME COMPATIBILITY???

As far as i know, more and new games these days are th2g compatible and i've been very happy with the amount of new games that i can play at 5040x1050 :P

From what i've read, softh is a bitch to set up and that's if the game configs can be modded at all...

At the end of the day, if u choose softh ur probably gonna be whining on the softh forums about this and that not working properly lol!

Vroshnak · Post by **Vroshnak** » 05 Feb 2009, 15:26

Game compatibility? What can you run on a TH2Go that I can't run on SoftTH? I'm not trying trying to be rude, I just don't know of any games like that.

With SoftTH, you don't actually edit the game's config files. To make SoftTH work you modify SoftTH's config files and then drop a copy of the files into the game's root directory. For the most part, once you find settings that work you don't have to change them again for other games.

Lately, I've been using SoftTH for Team Fortress 2 (actually any HL2 game) and Warhammer Online. But in total I have probably used it with about 20 games. I used to own an analog TH2Go but I sold it (and never got paid but that's a different story). Maybe one day I'll dish out the hundreds of dollars for a digital one, but I haven't found the game where I need to do that yet.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 05 Feb 2009, 15:43

SoftTH is ok, but it's by no means ideal and where it needs to be as far as functionality. It needs to just sit as a control panel on the desktop bar with menus to enable and disable it globally and also support everything globally. There is no move towards that type of functionality with SoftTH.

Also, there is minor render lag, but no enough to bother 90% of the people using it. The down side is you need to have one beast of a main card to do SoftTH right. That means something like a GTX 285 or the upcoming GT212 GPU or in Q4 GT300. The second card doesn't matter much though at least.

SoftTH. for the most part, rubs me the wrong way. The developer will not work with other people on the project and it's done with only his interests in mind. It's just incidental he lets us use it. I do not recommend perpetuating the use of SoftTH because of the developer.

I would actually PAY someone to make a good open source project to replace SoftTH that fix the issues I mentioned above in the first paragraph.

neosin · Post by **neosin** » 05 Feb 2009, 15:44

Game compatibility? What can you run on a TH2Go that I can't run on SoftTH? I'm not trying trying to be rude, I just don't know of any games like that.

With SoftTH, you don't actually edit the game's config files. To make SoftTH work you modify SoftTH's config files and then drop a copy of the files into the game's root directory. For the most part, once you find settings that work you don't have to change them again for other games.

Lately, I've been using SoftTH for Team Fortress 2 (actually any HL2 game) and Warhammer Online. But in total I have probably used it with about 20 games. I used to own an analog TH2Go but I sold it (and never got paid but that's a different story). Maybe one day I'll dish out the hundreds of dollars for a digital one, but I haven't found the game where I need to do that yet.

hmmm, says it has issues with certain games and it can't run flight sim x, i mean i my opinion, if it can't do flight sim x then it can't do alot of things :P

+ that is one very very short list below ?

i don't c some games lik gta4, dead space, stalker 2, mirrors edge...just to name a few

Compatibility and performance
While SoftTH can theoretically be compatible with any Direct3D 8 or Direct3D 9 game, some features used by games could not be yet suppoted or they can use special features which are incompatible with SoftTH. A common problem is also that the game cannot handle the aspect ratio, which results in a stretched image.

Examples of SoftTH compatibility with some games tested:

Working correctly:

Live for Speed S2
Operation Flashpoint
Lock On Modern Air Combat
Richard Burns Rally
* Needs forceHorizontalFOV set to 1
Elder Scrolls 4 - Oblivion
rFactor
X3 Reunion
GTR 2
GT Legends
Test Drive Unlimited
* Enable hooks and doScaleMouseCoordinates to fix cursor clipping
Armed Assault
Trackmania series
BMW M3 Challenge
Nascar Racing 2003
The Witcher
Company of Heroes
Call of Duty 2
Call of Duty 4
GTR Evolution
Team Fortress 2
Fallout 3
Not working:

IL-2 Sturmovik
- Doesn't work (OpenGL game, with dx8wrapper sets incorrect videomode)
Microsoft Flight Simulator X
- Frame rendered only on left monitor, mouse not working correctly :P :P :P

1078f3ba · Post by **1078f3ba** » 05 Feb 2009, 20:56

Interesting. From simply a logical standpoint, anytime one uses software to do the work dedicated hardware is capable of doing, you will take a performance hit.

This is a link that I found here in these forums. Looks to me like there is definitely lag on the peripheral monitors. Granted, the sheer number of them probably accentuates the lag, but it's definitely there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn9-y-wOFiA

Vroshnak · Post by **Vroshnak** » 06 Feb 2009, 15:49

I have to agree that SoftTH's developer is very unresponsive, and that the forum he put on his website is pretty bad. We can't even get him to sticky a list of working games, and when someone posts a solution to make a certain game work it is very hard to search the forums to find it, so people ask the same questions over and over. The list of working/not working games posted earlier is not updated much, if at all.

My main card is a 8800GTX and the performance hit, or lag on side monitors, is not noticable to me.

Obviously TH2Go has better performance and support... but SoftTH is still a strong possibility to anyone getting into a multimonitor setup because it's completely free. I think maybe people are exaggerating its weaknesses because they are trying to justify their TH2Go purchase.

Heck, if nothing better comes along in a year I'll probably buy a digital TH2Go. I'm hoping another solution will come along by then... like better videocard support for multimonitor setups, or a better software app.

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