3 22" monitors with DualHead2GO

ithrial · Post by **ithrial** » 17 Mar 2008, 22:26

Im currently acquiring my surround gaming setup. My Question is this. Is it possible to hook up 2 22" widescreen monitors to the DualHead2GO Digital edition to run at 1680X1050 ( which is less than the 1920X1200), attach the third 22" montior to the second dual link dvi port and then span them all together via the NVIdia settings. ive ran World of warcraft across a 22" and a 19" widescreen using NVidia's monitor span settings (the screen was off centered). Matrox mentions being able to get three monitors like this in the mac portion of their website

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/products/mac/home.php
(See bottom of page)

Ive done my math and I think it will work
Max resolution per Dual Link DVI = 2560x1600 = 4,096,000 Pixels
8800 GTS has dual Dual link DVI - 4,096,000 x2 = 8,192,000 pixels
Three 22" monitors native res (two via DH2GO Digital one on card) 3x1680x1050 = 5,292,000 Pixels
8192000>5292000

Any help would be appreciated

JKeefe · Post by **JKeefe** » 18 Mar 2008, 16:40

The math works, but I'm not sure if it will work in games. The two "monitors" should probably be the same resolution to avoid problems.

Why not just get the TripleHead2Go? Trying to save $100?

ithrial · Post by **ithrial** » 18 Mar 2008, 18:42

I thought about that, but the TripleHead2Go has a max three monitor resolution of 1280x1024x3. I could always just lower my three 22" monitors to a lower widescreen resolution, but I didnt wanna have to compromise that. ive thought about doing the SoftTH software and getting a PNY Quadro 256mb video card that they make in a PCIe x1 ( since my mobo only has one x16 slot) but I cant get a straight answer as to if anyone has actually got wow to work with softTH

JKeefe · Post by **JKeefe** » 18 Mar 2008, 20:44

Oh, I see what you're trying to do - 5040x1080.

I've never seen a clear answer as to how PCI 1x cards perform as secondary SoftTH GPUs either.

ithrial · Post by **ithrial** » 18 Mar 2008, 21:42

5040x1050 is exactly it...should have just said that before...sorry for the blabbering on. Ive seen videos and read reviews of people having it work with PCI graphics cards so I dont see why it shouldnt with with a PCIe x1. The throughput of the channel is greater than PCI (from what research ive done). I just cant find any settings for SoftTH for WOW...or more or less I dont know how to configure the file accordingly...I'll probably just say screw it and run the 3 22" screens at 1200x800 or something like that until I upgrade to a PC with multiple PCIe x16 slots...

Any other thoughts would be awsome...

Still going to try the x1 just for research...I'll post how it works if I can get it to work

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 19 Mar 2008, 01:05

you reminded me of an adapter I saw recently from startech:
http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemDetail.aspx?productid=PEX1TO16&c=CA

PCI-Express x1 to Low Profile x16 Slot Extension Adapter, it lets you use a low profile x16 video card in any x1 slot, of course this is just physical and bandwidth surely remains 1x, but those types of cards shouldn't be limited by it, especially when in softth all rendering is made on the primary x16 native card.

ithrial · Post by **ithrial** » 19 Mar 2008, 01:41

Thats got to be one of the sexiest things ive ever seen...wish I knew about that before I bought an x1 card. I found a PNY Quadro x1 card for around $80 bucks...theoretically it should work since its just pushing out the rendered image of the 8800GTS that I have via SoftTH. if it doesnt work as well, I'll pick that up and try the 8600GT that i have lying around...thanks

Mesh · Post by **Mesh** » 19 Mar 2008, 02:23

hope you noticed the 'low profile' part, it'll only work with half height cards, the ones that usually come with a 2nd bracket to mount em in half height slots.

ithrial · Post by **ithrial** » 19 Mar 2008, 03:05

Ya I saw...they usually come with a fill panel adapter that allows them to fix in full heigh slots...at least thats what most graphics cards that small I ve seen come with

Vroshnak · Post by **Vroshnak** » 23 Mar 2008, 02:49

Did this work?

I'd like to get 5040x1050. Could I use my analog TripleHead2Go as a DualHead2Go getting 3360x1050 and then use SoftTH to add another 1680x1050 monitor? I'm about to have a 8800GTX card.

ithrial · Post by **ithrial** » 23 Mar 2008, 08:30

So I got my PCIe x1 Videocard and it works!!!!!

Right now im running two 22" monitors on the sides and one 19" monitor in the center at 1280x1024 x3...got to run at the native resolution of the center primary monitor...getting 60+fps in instances and 30 FPS in Shatt City ( But everyones performance tanks in SHatt)

Primary GPU is 8800GTS 512mb...PCIe x1 GPU is PNY Quadro NVS 285...Works just fine with NVidia Control Panel

Note: Wow does crash when you try to run the game in window mode at this resolution so you have to run it full screen...no second monitor for thottbot or anything like that...luckily have second computer for that...also when you minize the game, it crashes too...havent figured that out...Use move anything and other various addons to get your UI to look right...

ithrial · Post by **ithrial** » 23 Mar 2008, 11:06

Did this work?

I'd like to get 5040x1050. Could I use my analog TripleHead2Go as a DualHead2Go getting 3360x1050 and then use SoftTH to add another 1680x1050 monitor? I'm about to have a 8800GTX card.

From the research and testing that ive done, you have to have that second GPU in the box to display the third monitor...it wont even start WoW without a third monitor being detected.

Also the TH2G tricks the computer to see two monitors as one big monitor...ie 3380x1050 would be one monitor and 1680x1050 would be the second. with SoftTH, your main monitor has to be centered at a regular resolution. with 3380x1050 as your main monitor, it would theoretically rendor that times three (which would be bad ass). My suggestion, if your getting a 8800GTX, try the softTH with another add-in card.

If youve got an extra x16 slot on your mobo, you can use any card of the same time...nvidia with nvidia...if you dont, you can either find an x1 card (like i did) and go that route...the x1 card just displays, the 8800GTX renders...or you can get the adapter that was linked a few posts up that allows an x16 card to fit in an x1 slot. Thats alot cheaper than finding an x1 card...

Hope this helps

Vroshnak · Post by **Vroshnak** » 25 Mar 2008, 15:29

My suggestion, if your getting a 8800GTX, try the softTH with another add-in card.

From what I understand, to get 5040x1050 I have to have two graphics cards. Unfortunately I don't have a second PCI card. How cheap of a card could I get to be the second card? (I have plenty of slots on my motherboard, just not extra video cards.)

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130158

with 3380x1050 as your main monitor, it would theoretically rendor that times three (which would be bad ass)

So it would be outputting 10140x1050? That sounds like it could cause problems. Does that actually display 5040x1050 and just leave the rest unshown?

ithrial · Post by **ithrial** » 25 Mar 2008, 16:39

Well technically you could run to walmart and get one of their PCI bus GPUs. But you wanna get the best bandwidth for the card that views the third monitor. Since you have three PCIe x16 slots we have a couple of options. If you want, you could get another 8800GTX and run those SLI and then get a third card...say an 8400GS (bout $50-75) and use that to display the third monitor, while the two 8800GTX cards render the total 5040x1050 display. Thats the 2nd best option. In the ideal world, you'll have three of the same cards and just use SLI for two. Third option, being that the 8800GTX is a beefcake card, you could just pick up the 8400GTS...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150241

The softTH folks tested their software with an 8800GTS and an 8400GTS so it will work just fine...

Vroshnak · Post by **Vroshnak** » 25 Mar 2008, 19:21

So at this point I wouldn't need my analog TripleHead2Go anymore, right?

ithrial · Post by **ithrial** » 25 Mar 2008, 22:06

lol technically no you wouldnt. Like I posted earlier though, It takes some work to get wow to run at that resolution using the config file that comes with SoftTH. took me a couple of hours. Also theres no running wow in window mode (even maximized) over the triple monitors or it will crash. Infact you cant even minimize the game or it will crash so it is a hit and miss type thing. I dont mind because I have a second computer for thottbot and any other apps I need. the triplehead to go will give you a higher FPS I think cause even though its rendering that much space, its not having to compensate for a foreign file in the wow folder and outputting it through a second GPU...Either way works...I just use the SoftTH because I want that much screen and didnt wanna fork out 300 on the TH2G when I could just get a second GPU and lower a very few settings to get 50-60FPS over three monitors (except in shatt city)

JKeefe · Post by **JKeefe** » 25 Mar 2008, 22:39

So it would be outputting 10140x1050? That sounds like it could cause problems.

A resolution that high is currently technically impossible (not too mention the strain it would put on hardware). The highest resolution an 8800-series or 3800-series GPU can render is 8192x8192.

ithrial · Post by **ithrial** » 26 Mar 2008, 06:56

so if the highest resolution is 8192x8192 in the 8800 series card, 5040x1050 should be a walk in the park...if a guy can get his 30" monitor and two 20" monitors @ 4860 x 1600 this should be easy...depending on the card and the config file

xnemorax · Post by **xnemorax** » 26 Mar 2008, 14:53

ithrial-

I PM'd you. When you got wow to work, you were JUST using SoftTH with two different Video Cards right? I am honestly not understanding what I am doing wrong. I have a certain setting that will work it other games, but not wow. Could you possibly paste your config file for SoftTH .. AND.. the config file from World of Warcraft in the WTF folder.

Please and Thanks! =)

JKeefe · Post by **JKeefe** » 26 Mar 2008, 15:55

so if the highest resolution is 8192x8192 in the 8800 series card, 5040x1050 should be a walk in the park...if a guy can get his 30" monitor and two 20" monitors @ 4860 x 1600 this should be easy...depending on the card and the config file

It's "easy" using SoftTH, but the initial discussion here was to learn if it can be done using a single dual-output GPU and a DualHead2Go, together driving three 22" widescreen monitors. If it works well this is a superior solution to using SoftTH, because there is no overhead from transmitting a portion of the image over the PCI-E bus.

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