Widescreen Gaming Forum

So,
Based on a few other posts, I tested out the following configuration:

1 x Nvidia 8600GT 256mb
2 x TH2G
3 x 1680x1050 22" LCDs
3 x 1280x1024 19" LCDs

Using the Nvidia control panel I set the 2 x DualLink DVI ports to Horizontal Span mode. Unfortunately this limits to the same resolution for both monitors, so I had to run the 1680x1054 monitors at 1280x1024.

So the results...
It works!

Now this is a wimpy card and system, so I only got about 6-7 FPS but still, it shows that you can run multiple TH2Gs on the same system.

If I had 3 more 22" monitors, i'm pretty confident I could have run 10080x1050 as it was offered to me in the games config as well as windows control panel :)

I took a couple of pictures and hopefully i'll be able to post them later.

there's a lot of strangeness when you try to run multiple th2gs but since this was my first foray, it could be my problem. I seemed to have issues getting 2 configured at the same time, so I ended up having boot with one, setup the 3x22s disconnect it from the PC (I plugged it into a USB power charger for my blackberry). After a reboot, I configured the other one with the 3x19s". Then after yet another reboot (of probabbly more then that) I was able to get both recognized, though at that point the matrox tool wouldn't even load (but the windows control panel saved me)

I'm looking for a new graphics card right now, I really wanted an ATI 4870, but it looks like I'm going to be stuck with a GTX 260 instead as I want to run the 22"s at 3x1680x1050.

Since I borrowed the second TH2G I'm not sure if i'll be able to test to see if I get a better framerate when I get a new card.

I think that you will push it to the new limit, the 8192x 8192 pixel limit, but we don't know if we don't try it out. Can you try vertical span, that you get horizontal 3x 1280 and vertical 2x 1024?

omg this is crazy! :shock: ... cant say anything else to that ^^

I think that you will push it to the new limit, the 8192x 8192 pixel limit, but we don't know if we don't try it out. Can you try vertical span, that you get horizontal 3x 1280 and vertical 2x 1024?

Yup... 3840x2048 works too! :)

Actually gives more of a 9-11fps on the same hardware.

unfortunately I don't have any way to really stack my monitors to make it look right, but it's pretty cool.

Dude that is... Sweet :D
Can you make some picture, it doesn't matter if it is a bit messy and not on top of each other. It's... :D

Dude that is... Sweet :D
Can you make some picture, it doesn't matter if it is a bit messy and not on top of each other. It's... :D

yup, I'll try to post a picture later tonight. I actually had a hard time taking a picture of all 6 monitors at once, so have one with the far end monitors partially cut off... then I took one and stitched it together with some panoramic software... some of the monitors are blurry, but still cool :) The pics right now are of 6 wide, if I have time later I'll do the horizontal one also.

How do I post the pics?

In the meantime, I just swapped out the 8600GT for an XLR8 8800GT... much better performance...

Remember, these were just quick tests using the built in FPS calculation moving around a little bit in the ettenmoors

7680x1024 ~29fps

3840x2048 ~35fps :) !!!


I thinik vertical stacking would probably be the way to go... almost bought 6 Samsung 2253LW (costco has them for $209 until the end of today)... but having the 60 second popup on 6 monitors seemed annyoing to me, plus that clear plastic bezel at the bottom would mean I couldn't get them all butted up together. Any reccomendations for some good small bezel monitors known to work at 57hz?

The other annoying thing is where the camera viewpoint is... you basically have a bezel cutting your character in half horizontally when you have the monitors stacked in a 3x2 grid... it would be really nice if you could bring the camera up higher so you could keep your character on the lower monitors but still get the amazing view.


One other question... how do I setup each TH2G to use the middle monitor (#2) when I'm in 1680x1050 mode? (or any single screen mode)

http://imageshack.us/ is a good place to store some pictures, for the other things I don't know

Please post PICS!!!!

Please post PICS!!!!

just haven't found time yet, need to find somewhere to host them (or more to the point look at hosting places I already know exist ;-) )... plus I'd really like to take better ones, but I'll try to get something up before the weekend, if not sooner)... they will be ugly though

As promised here's a quick picture of LOTRO running at 7680x1024.

Please ignore the stretching on the 22" monitors, as I said before, to run in span mode, all the monitors had to have the same resolution... so everything was run at 1280x1024.



I'll try to take some better pictures by the end of the weekend. I've got one that I stitched together using the microsoft panoramic software.

That is ... hmm I can't seem to find any words to describe that nice job.

That is ... hmm I can't seem to find any words to describe that nice job.

:)

I'm tempted to push my luck and do SoftTH since I have 2 more monitors and a second video card in another system... but I've never done softth before :)

OMFG, that is nice indeed :shock:

[quote]That is ... hmm I can't seem to find any words to describe that nice job.

:)

I'm tempted to push my luck and do SoftTH since I have 2 more monitors and a second video card in another system... but I've never done softth before :)

Actually, anybody know somewhere I can get 2 more TH2G digitals really cheap? I'd be willing to try to push this to a 12 monitor setup using a combination of Spanning and softth... I actually have enough monitors if I pull out the old school tube monitors :)

I'm looking into 2 DHTG horiz-spanned, how tempormental are the digital versions with 2 running? You mentioned you had to do some tricks to get 2 TH2G running together. I've got 4 245BW Samsungs, but not the DH2G boxes yet.

That's pretty hot. I <3 LOTRO.

Anyway, looks like you need to turn text scaling down some. Those letters are HUGE.

this is VERY COOL

but I find it IMPRACTICAL. as even on 3x24" I find it's almost too wide of a view already and I don't really notice the L and R edges.

if you have like 6 monitors in a row.. do u really notice beyond say 3 monitors?

and as for 2x TH2g one on top of each other. (3x monitor on top and 3x monitor below) wouldn't it be like a 16:9 aspect ratio?
in that case I would rather just get a 47" 1080p HDTV. it's less of a hassle to run/setup and will give faster fps.

the only practical reason I see for having that many monitor is if you are some kind of FSX freak or some kind of daytrader.


that being said .. it's expensive, hassle to run, impractical. but it's hell cool in a geek way just to see a game run on 6 monitors at once.

yes a Ferarri is impractical in terms of gas milage, passanger/cargo capacity but its awesome to have one.

It's sorta silly to claim impractical as a reason, when most surround gaming is impractical to begin with. It's done because it can be done. People like to push the limits. :wink:

7680x1024 ~29fps

3840x2048 ~35fps Smile !!!

Great performance!
Nobody benches that resolution! :roll:

and as for 2x TH2g one on top of each other. (3x monitor on top and 3x monitor below) wouldn't it be like a 16:9 aspect ratio?
in that case I would rather just get a 47" 1080p HDTV. it's less of a hassle to run/setup and will give faster fps.

No, it's still much wider than 16:9. It would actually be half of 5040 x 1050.

5040 / 1050 = 4.8
5040 / 2100 = 2.4
16 / 9 = 1.77777
16 / 10 = 1.6