Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?

Post by **skipclarke** » 16 Aug 2006, 15:02

To make a long story short, I've got a little extra cash to spend this month, and I'd like to upgrade my several year old 15 inch LCD that has a 16 MS respones time, and 1024x768 max resolution. My system isn't amazing by any stretch of the imagination, so I don't think I would fully enjoy a surround game, if I'm lagging too hard, would my system actually be able to play most games with high settings on that high of a resolution?

AMD Athalon 64 3800+
2 Gigs of Corsair DDR ram, (Dual channel)
7600GS video card (Bottle neck :-( )

If I'd lag a lot, or take a huge slowdown on performance, I think I'd just go to a 21~ widescreen monitor and save the 400-500$~ I save.

What do you guys think?

insan!ty · Post by **insan!ty** » 16 Aug 2006, 15:19

On what high of a resolution? If you want a 20" widescreen (1680x1050) I'm not sure if a 7600GS would hold up with higher settings, or so I was told. Depends on what games you play, I'm sure WoW would look great! Probably won't be able to handle Oblivion at a high res.. but then again, not many can... :?

EDIT: Oh, you were talking about TripleHead2Go!!! Hmm.. like I said above, maybe WoW would play well but probably not newer more demanding games. I still think it'd be a gamble to go 1680x1050 witha 7600 GS let alone TripleHead2Go!

Post by **skipclarke** » 16 Aug 2006, 15:40

Damn, because I'm not buying a high end card now, I'm holding out for the Dx10 cards.

I can handle 1024x768 max everything full AA and AF on Fear, Prey, HL2 and such without lagging all that bad. Fear gets me the lowest frame-rates, but it's just ridiculously demanding.

I'm thinking of using it for games like CS, CS:S, DOD:S, WOW, Fear Multiplayer (It's going to be free in a little bit, so more of my friends will be playing it), and thats really it for games I play regularily.

I'm trying to talk myself out of spending that much cash by saying my card can't handle it, but I so would love to be able to enjoy it.

edit: (3 19 inch LCD's is do-able?)

insan!ty · Post by **insan!ty** » 16 Aug 2006, 15:49

Damn, because I'm not buying a high end card now, I'm holding out for the Dx10 cards.

I can handle 1024x768 max everything full AA and AF on Fear, Prey, HL2 and such without lagging all that bad. Fear gets me the lowest frame-rates, but it's just ridiculously demanding.

I'm thinking of using it for games like CS, CS:S, DOD:S, WOW, Fear Multiplayer (It's going to be free in a little bit, so more of my friends will be playing it), and thats really it for games I play regularily.

I'm trying to talk myself out of spending that much cash by saying my card can't handle it, but I so would love to be able to enjoy it.

edit: (3 19 inch LCD's is do-able?)

3 19" LCD monitors have a native resolution of 3840x1024 (or something close to that). That gives you 3,145,728 more pixels than 1024x768. That means your graphic card needs to render exactly that many pixels more, a lot huh? I dought CSS and Fear would be playable at that resolution on a 7600 GS. If you really don't want to upgrade your graphic card than don't bother upgrading your monitor.. it would be a waste of money and a performance drop.

I was used to playing at 1024x768 on my CRT with a smooth framerate, once I moved up to LCD at 1280x1024 some of my games became less playable. It was very annoying. I think if you got TripleHead2Go you'd just be pissed at your graphic card for its lack of being able to do justice to the monitor(s). That's how I see it anyway :D

JKeefe · Post by **JKeefe** » 16 Aug 2006, 21:21

Yeah, with the vid card I'd stay away from the TripleHead2Go. For now; get yourself three nice monitors and a T2G down the road. It's worth it.

Post by **skipclarke** » 16 Aug 2006, 23:51

Since I work for an electronics store, I can get a massive discount through ATi on an x1900xtx card, but my current mobo doesn't support SLI :-(.

This is going to be way more expensive then I initially thought, it's going to cost over $1,100 and it just keeps rising now :-( :-(.

insan!ty · Post by **insan!ty** » 16 Aug 2006, 23:55

Since I work for an electronics store, I can get a massive discount through ATi on an x1900xtx card, but my current mobo doesn't support SLI :-(.

This is going to be way more expensive then I initially thought, it's going to cost over $1,100 and it just keeps rising now :-( :-(.

What does the X1900XTX have to do with SLI?

Post by **skipclarke** » 17 Aug 2006, 00:16

Doesn't it have dual GPU's on it, running in SLI? Can I run it in a non-sli compatible mobo? I haven't really read up on it.

Also-- Would three of these be fine? http://www.officedepot.com/textSearch.do?uniqueSearchFlag=true&Ntt=113062

If so I'm definitely doing this, if not then :-( *I can get the rebates sent to family members houses, so one per household isn't a concern*

8 MS Response time, and the sides (bezels?) look pretty small, this might happen after all.

Tucson · Post by **Tucson** » 17 Aug 2006, 00:54

DX10 won't see the light of day for at least 9 months. That should not be what's holding you back.

The 7600GS is far from ideal, but you can run at 3x[1024x768] until you figure out your nexy best move. 1600x1200 is about 80% of that. Try playing at 1600x1200 with extra eye candy than you normally need and you'll see approx. how your rig will handle.

Also consider that many pro gamers play at low res for the lowest latency possible. If its good enough for the pros, a little jaggies won't hurt you.

P.S. Is your mobo pci-e or agp?

Post by **skipclarke** » 17 Aug 2006, 01:25

It's Pci-Ex, I really would like to do this, but I'm not sure if I could even get all the rebates, since I would order all three from the same credit card, I don't think I'd get the proper rebates.

(I can't test my rig on 1600x1200, because my only monitor supports 1024x768 as it's max.)

Tucson · Post by **Tucson** » 17 Aug 2006, 04:04

Yeah surround gaming isn't for the faint of heart. I started building my solution in march i think. It's finally just about finished and it's just a stop-gap even.

Basically i put all my money in my screens. They're going to last much longer than my cards and its also the direct interface between you and the computer. With that in mind I opted to not cheap out. My hope is that it will last long enough until SED screens hit the market.

You could always implement CRT until you work up the cash. Another thought is maybe you get 2 more 10x7 LCDs. That way you don't suffer from interpolation and your will be more apt to handle it until you commit to a DX10 system. Course then you'll want to upgrade to 3x12x10 so maybe thats not the best idea.

Thoughts?

EDIT: Just came back from newegg. They've got 17" 12x10 LCDs for $150 each. I'm willing to bet that's as cheap as your rebate plan. Thing about brick-and-mortar stores is they're prices start a lot higher. Often even with the rebate the total cost is going to be the same as a substitute online. Is this true in your case?

JKeefe · Post by **JKeefe** » 17 Aug 2006, 05:39

Doesn't it have dual GPU's on it, running in SLI? Can I run it in a non-sli compatible mobo? I haven't really read up on it.

1. SLI is an nVidia technology only. The ATI equivalent is called Crossfire.

2. The X1900XTX does not require Crossfire or a special motherboard.

3. An X1900XTX is an excellent choice for a single card to drive a TripleHead2Go.

Tucson · Post by **Tucson** » 17 Aug 2006, 06:19

OMG stay as far away from ATI as you can if you are serious about surround gaming. They are severly crippled when run in triplehead and basically do not work.

Repeat after me, nVidia, nVidia, nVidia.

brogs · Post by **brogs** » 17 Aug 2006, 12:00

Ati just doesn t support higher resolutions....was running 800 pro just fine with my triplehead2go except only at 2400 x 600.....tried contacted Ati on the matter but didn t get anywhere....so i now have 7900 gt and it works great too, but now have higher resolutions....

JKeefe · Post by **JKeefe** » 17 Aug 2006, 14:30

Oh, geez, I completely forgot about ATI's resolution limits. Sorry 'bout that. I'm a moron.

Yeah, stay away from ATI for triplehead gaming.

brogs · Post by **brogs** » 17 Aug 2006, 22:44

hey Jkeefe...Your just a few exits on rt. 78 from me...... i m exit 24 oldwick....

escrotumus · Post by **escrotumus** » 19 Aug 2006, 21:58

Your pc wont even think about handling the triplehead at 3840x1024. The cpu is borderline and the video card...forget about it. Higher end amd/pentium and 7900gt MINIMUM if youre serious about playable frame rates. I have a P4 3.6 HT with 7900gt O/C and 2gb ddr2 ram. Most games run great on my system in 3840x1024. FEAR is the only one that i have to run in 3072x768 and it runs ultra smooth at that setting. Its a slideshow at 3840x1024 though. Ill either be inheriting an FX-62 system or buying a conroe system around the time that vista and dx10 come out as most of the upcoming dx10 games im sure will not run at 3840x1024 on this system. Triplehead is not for midrange systems.

Tucson · Post by **Tucson** » 20 Aug 2006, 00:36

Triplehead is not for midrange systems

This is why I like these forums. Both widescreen and surround gaming take a certain amount of know-how and dedication. I think for this reason these forums tend to be on average more well behaved and insightful.

Your cpu is fine. TH needs GPU power. Sell that 7600GS once you get your mons figured out and reinvest. GL.

brogs · Post by **brogs** » 20 Aug 2006, 01:46

yeah Tucson is right...your cpu is fine for now(i have same cpui so i know) but its my overclocked 7900 gt that keeps me gaming at a decent level...(eye candy] Now i m more into sim racing (nascar racing 2003 papy) than fps but i still do my share of both....we all can t throw down 300 twinkies each for th2go, cpu, gpu....with wife and 3 kids thats a hard thing in a month..... :wink:

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