Widescreen Gaming Forum

I thought I'd start a thread about people's initial impressions of the TH2G. I guess I'll start with mine, both good and bad. :)

The Good:
1) Works as advertised right out of the box. Plug in 4 VGA cables and a small power brick and you're good to go.
2) Surprisingly enough the size of the thing cought me off guard. It's small. I donno what I was expecting, but it's smaller and less intrusive than I envisioned.
3) My favorite games, WoW and DAoC, work seamlessly with the TH2G. Just set 3840x1024 in the options menus, zoom out the camera a bit and you're good to go.

The Neutral:
1) They got a bit sneaky where they put the CD+manual in a CD sleeve in the box. It's wedged behind the packing cardboard. For about 10 minutes I was sure it didn't ship with a manual or a CD.
2) The Matrox Surround Gaming Utility looks like it might be useful in patching games for odd resolutions, yet I've not had to use it for anything.

The Bad:
1) The analog 60Hz is a little less sharp than I'm used to although I've not really noticed any 60Hz flicker in gaming yet.
2) Matrox PowerDesk-SE software bundled with the TH2G is not exactly that functional of a desktop management utility. It is definitely no nView or UltraMon. About all it's good for is making it so individual windows on the desktop snap to the monitor you're in while maximizing.
3) An attempt to run Guild Wars at 3840x1240 today resulted in a way distorted login screen and bugs that didn't allow me to click on any user interface parts or even exit without force quit. Matrox is kidding themselves if they are pushing GW as a triple-screen game. I couldn't get past login screen.
4) Although the TH2G is a specialty entheusiast part, I still think it's priced a good $100 more than it should be.

Hi Ghimpi,

GE works great in Triple Head mode. There is a bug I discovered which is being looked into. Open the Powerdesk SE and go to the Desktop Management section. Remove the check mark from Save-Restore Windows positions. GW and Factions will work great I promise ;)

Don't use the SGU from the CD there are not enough games in it. Use the version that is linked in the sticky at the top of this forum. It has about 135 games in it including WoW :-)

As for the rest I don't know what to tell you I guess the image quality will depend on what you are used to.

The Desktop Management feature works the same way it does as on the regular Parhelia cards not sure what you were expecting from it.

The Desktop Management feature works the same way it does as on the regular Parhelia cards not sure what you were expecting from it.

Most of my "The Bad" are subjective insight and mostly just initial personal impressions. None of them are really anything that would run me off from the product. Overall I'm having a lot of fun with TH2G + SLI. :)

Again, both Dark Age of Camelot and World of Warcraft work flawlessly. I'm sort of surprised DAoC is not mentioned as a compatable game on the Matrox site with how well it works. It's one of the top 5 MMOs and Matrox mentions EvE, GW, DDO, WoW and others.

The Desktop Management feature works the same way it does as on the regular Parhelia cards not sure what you were expecting from it.

Richie, I think some of the problem is that some people here are used to UltraMon and programs of that sort, and then they hook everything up to their TripleHead and say "what do you mean I can't flick windows to different screens at the touch of the button?" "Why can't I create a shortcut to always open AIM at a certain pixel position?" "Why don't my task bars behave like they did with UltraMon's smart taskbar?" etc.

I certainly don't intend to sound rude, but I think it's a valid complaint that people are spending $300 on hardware that can't do what $25 shareware (UltraMon) can do extremely well. And that means that some users lose funtionality when they go to their TripleHead2Go, and that shouldn't be the case.

It's fantastic for gaming; the best single piece of hardware I've ever seen. But in 2D it just plain stinks for productivity. A second 2D-only graphics card and UltraMon will get you much farther. At some point I may stop mentioning this. But for now I think it is good to stir up support so that Matrox hears from all of the people who think that the Desktop Management could be better.

Note that I never had a Parhelia. And perhaps the fact that the software is the same as for the Parhelia is the problem; after all, the Parhelia is 4 years old. :) I don't think UltraMon or even nView were very advanced back then; UltraMon may not have even existed.

Hi Ghimpi,

I understand, no need to explain yourself :-)

Did you try GW with the workaround I gave you?

As for DAoC this is going to sound real bad but, the game is not on the list because we cannot find it here anywhere to purchase. I made the mistake of buying The New Frontiers expansion pack thinking it came with the original but it did not. I am now trying to get a hold of the Epic Edition which is supposed to come with the all expansions and the original.

Hi Jkeefe,

I understand and I have mentioned this before, I guess I will have to mention it some more :-)

Hi Ghimpi,

I understand, no need to explain yourself :-)

Did you try GW with the workaround I gave you?

As for DAoC this is going to sound real bad but, the game is not on the list because we cannot find it here anywhere to purchase. I made the mistake of buying The New Frontiers expansion pack thinking it came with the original but it did not. I am now trying to get a hold of the Epic Edition which is supposed to come with the all expansions and the original.

Something still isn't quite right with GW. The cursor works fine now but the interface buttons within the full screen login are still not working. The username and password dialogue boxes work though. It's been awhile since I've played GW. I'm attempting to use a fresh install and applying the SGU patch to it.

With Mythic a lot of thier marketing and PR atm is focused on Warhammer: Age of Reckoning. Simpliest solution is to just snag the 14 day trial download at http://www.darkageofcamelot.com. :) It's the same client for all the versions and you can electronic upgrade to the x-packs too within account management if needed. No need to buy a box. You can merely upgrade the trial version. The SI and ToA expansions should also be free for download once the trial is installed. With all client versions the same atm, should be sufficient just to use the trial though. The trial client doesn't expire, it merely starts an initial billing period after the first 14 days.

Hi Ghimpi,

Ok sure I can try the trial version and see what I can make with it.

As for GW, The character buttons will be a bit large but should work none the less. I just tried it and all the menus are fine as well ???

Hi guys

Well I finally got my Triple Head System that I have been saving for..

3 x 19" Hyundai L90D+ Screens and it was worth the wait :D

Tomb Raider Anniversary is amazing using the FOV tool

Rfactor is incredible and I actually feel like I am doing 190mph in a F1 Racing car, my missus cacked herself when I let her have a race around Silverstone :lol:

Half Life 2 and Episode 1 look fantastic and I will be replaying these.

GRAW looks amazing...in fact all the games I have tried either worked straight away using the SGU or using the FOV fixes on this site :D

The screen bezels just blend in so you dont see them, I know people who have only seen the screenshots cant appreciate this but any critics out there need to try the TH2GO themselves as it is awesome

Thanks to Paddy for his assistance and screenshots which inspired me to get the TH2GO and 3 Screens !! :lol:

Hi guys

Well I finally got my Triple Head System that I have been saving for..

3 x 19" Hyundai L90D+ Screens and it was worth the wait :D

Tomb Raider Anniversary is amazing using the FOV tool

Rfactor is incredible and I actually feel like I am doing 190mph in a F1 Racing car, my missus cacked herself when I let her have a race around Silverstone :lol:

Half Life 2 and Episode 1 look fantastic and I will be replaying these.

GRAW looks amazing...in fact all the games I have tried either worked straight away using the SGU or using the FOV fixes on this site :D

The screen bezels just blend in so you dont see them, I know people who have only seen the screenshots cant appreciate this but any critics out there need to try the TH2GO themselves as it is awesome

Thanks to Paddy for his assistance and screenshots which inspired me to get the TH2GO and 3 Screens !! :lol:

......aw, now you're making me want TH2Go, lol :cry:

Pics baby! Pics!

i found it better just to turn off powerdesk altogether when playing gw

I was using UltarMon before I got my Triplehead2Go. I'm not missing it. The smart status bar function never worked properly and in the mean time, I got so organized that I don't have the need to move windows from one screen to another very often.

I mostly work on the central screen and have icons/widgets/status stuff on the left screen and my email client or other software working in the background on the right screen. The windows open where they've been the last time when they were closed, works like a charm.

Though I have one issue with Matrox Powerdesk with one local software but I'm in contact with their support and it seems it's their fault as they admitted they had issues with matrox drivers before.

I honestly prefer DVI...when that comes out it will be very cool.

Holding a TripleHead2Go Digital Edition in my hand right now. Looks nice. Will review ASAP.

Holding a TripleHead2Go Digital Edition in my hand right now. Looks nice. Will review ASAP.

GIMME!!!!! :( :( :(

Hi guys

Only just set this webspace up, I have took some pix with my Nokia Phone and recorded some Real Player movies as well :D

http://www.bensmith05.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/1.html

I will add more later gotta goto work now!!

Ben :D

and Ozzy looks on ............ 8)

Holding a TripleHead2Go Digital Edition in my hand right now. Looks nice. Will review ASAP.

oh thats nice...is it already out? where did you get it from?

thanks,

It's a review sample from Matrox. I just wanted to let the forum know they had sent me one, as it is a sign of the impending commercial release.