Widescreen Gaming Forum

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8404684&productCategoryId=abcat0509000&type=product&tab=1&id=1180743546134

please let me know, i just placed my order for the triplehead2go digital now i need some monitors to go with it. please let me know what you guys think of this envision one here in the link, thanks in advance

Not really since it's 1680x1050 native resolution so you'll get scaling issues.

The TH2Go is designed around 5:4 monitors, namely 1280x1024 resolution native. Other resolutions are supported but with certain limitations.

If you are looking to buy three monitors for a new TH2Go setup then you should ideally look for 5:4 or 4:3 based screens. I.e. 17" or 19" 1280x1024 or, if you want a larger image, 20" 1600x1200 screens that scale well.

Anything widescreen is going to suffer from scaling and/or distortion issues. Depends if that bothers you though.

I have the analog TH2Go and three 22" widescreen 1680x1050 monitors.

This is my personal opinion, of course:
* In game, you don't notice the stretching much if at all.
* You notice the stretching most when looking at photographs.

So if I'm not playing a full screen game, I usually have TripleHead2Go on, but I switch the input of the middle monitor from analog to digital and run it at 1680x1050. This means the middle monitor of the TripleHead2Go signal is invisible, but that's OK for desktop use.

If the game doesn't support TH2Go, I play it in 1680x1050. If it does, I use TH2Go.

I don't feel like it's a hassle, but of course I've already spent the money. If they release a TH2Go that supports three 22" widescreen monitors, I'd buy it immediately.

Best of luck making your buying decisions!

I've been told by Matrox that the current Digital TripleHead2Go device is currently capable of supporting a resolution that is 5040 pixels wide, which is triple 1680. That means that the box itself and the dual-link DVI connection can handle triple 1680x1050. Matrox should release updates software that allows this mode for use with nVidia 8000-series GPUs.

i wish you would've posted a little sooner, i could've gotten the 22" monitor then, however i'm happy with the monitors that i picked up, i got 3 of theses already

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8273085&type=product&id=1170290765589

now i'm waiting for the matrox to arrive so i can experience this setup. it looks killer sitting here in front of me, i can't wait to see how this affects my gaming, i will definitely be way more immersed while playing, these 3 screens seem to be very nice so i don't think i'll mind 1 bit that they're only 19". thanks again for all the help here

I said "Matrox should", not "Matrox will" or "Matrox is going to". They need some persuasion. From us.

hey its no problem, however, do you think these monitors will work really good with triple head 2 go digital edition, the monitors are digital, just wondering you opinions on these monitors that i picked up already, thanks in advance

Jkeefe... 2 things..

1st is ... Would it be better to get a petition of guys(and gals) to send to matrox?

2nd. If not-- where or how is the best way to let matrox know we would like the wide screen resolution to be included in the next update from them..

Is there a owners forum?

I have a th2gd sitting here and am just about to start putting things together.. But i would much rather get 3 wide screens then go 1280x1024 on 19"ers....

NJracer... I have seen those monitors and they do look nice.. I talked to one of the guys at bestbuy and he said the thing to do is buy ONE warrenty for one of the monitors.. Then if any of the 3 break down you can just use that warrenty on it... Thought that was a pretty good idea..

Im sure you can just go into your local Bestbuy and say you purchased the monitor on the web and you would like to get a warrenty for it... Im sure it wont cost much considering the lcd's are only 250...

Did they confirm that 3 x 1680 wide also means 1050 vertical - or could it be that the vertical would have to be compromised.

3 x 1680 x 1050 would be 5292000 pixels. Can an 8800GTX support that amount or dual link dvi for that matter given that a 30" panel at 2560x1600 is 4096000 pixels...?

That I know of 2560x1600 / 4096000 is the max a dual-link can push. From what I gather the max 16:9 res. that can fit in triple head is about 1558x876. Theoretically though it should be possible to encode a full 1920x1200x3 signal through the dual-link port compressed just slightly to fit, of course it would be unreadable to anything but the matrox. And the question remains if it could be done without too much delay.

Response from Matrox:

In regards to your question, Dual-link DVI displays offer a maximum resolution of 2560x1600 – this is correct, but the maximum pixel clock supported by the dual-link DVI output could, in theory, enable the triple 1680x1050 resolution. Matrox has no plans to enable this mode because the GPUs that are available on the market are not able to drive a windows desktop at this resolution and this mode has not been tested on TripleHead2Go Digital Edition.

Disappointing. We know games can be driven at this resolution, but Matrox says they won't do it because Windows won't do a 5040x1050 desktop. So, use one resolution for games and another for the desktop - is that so hard?

Actually, aren't there dx9 limits too like a max of 4096 width or such ?

The 4096-pixel limit exists because of DX9 hardware, but apparently not because of DX9 itself. Thus, 5040 resolutions are possible on nVidia 8000-series hardware even in a DX9 application.

Some time ago I played with a prog. that lets you stretch any window to any size you want (I forget the name) I could not make a 3d window wider than 4096, and that was on these 8800s. While it did let me set the size, the 3d stopped working (hall of mirrors effect) when it got over that size. By the way, anyone know a good ressource/howto to adding fresnel lenses in front of a TH2G setup to minimize bezels?

The 4096-pixel limit exists because of DX9 hardware, but apparently not because of DX9 itself. Thus, 5040 resolutions are possible on nVidia 8000-series hardware even in a DX9 application.

Where did you get that information?

On the WSGF boards, by reading this site carefully. For example, if you click here you will see GTR2, a DX9 game, running at 4960x1600 using SoftTH. The center screen is at 2560x1600, while the side screens are 1200x1600 in portrait orientation. 4960>4096 by quite a bit.

OK, but is not possible with one hw accelerated display like TH2Go uses it?

It is possible. Look again at the email I posted from Matrox: the maximum pixel clock supported by the dual-link DVI output could, in theory, enable the triple 1680x1050 resolution. If 5040x1050 can be pushed through one dual-link DVI cable, then the Matrox hardware can split it into 3. Furthermore, Matrox goes on to state Matrox has no plans to enable this mode, implying that it is possible for the hardware to accept it.

Then they state that the mode will not be enabled because the GPUs that are available on the market are not able to drive a windows desktop at this resolution. So Matrox is saying that the hardware can handle the resolution. We know certain games can handle the resolution. But Windows can't, so we don't get the option. I see no reason to assume a user will be running the same desktop resolution as that which is used for gaming.

We are not talking about the same thing but you did come up with something new for me (the question or triple 1680 is irrelevant for matrox because of the DVI limitation).



But as I said SoftTH is limited by the problem with the hw acceleration that runs on two chips and over the pciex bus.