Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition - Gaming

[fueled168]

Does TripleHead2go works on window 7? Please reply, thank you.

[superrantam]

@fueled168

Yes it works on Windows 7. I've had any issues since i moved to that OS (x64 version in my case)

Regards

[macfanofgi]

this seems to do what surround and eyefinity do

[PASZCZORSKI]

TrckIR 4 or 5?

[superrantam]

@PASZCZORSKI

When i recorded the video i had Track IR 4. Now I use Track IR 5 and is even better. Smoother. But v4 is a great piece of hardware anyway :)

[Brikes93]

triplehead is 4 shooters just shit, because of the ends of the 3 screens!

[jonnythecroww]

@Brikes93 your having a giraffe,,, for shooters its amazing i couldnt go back to a shitty single screen now on cs

[tashilove2009]

hey wat is the moniter that u hav used?

[superrantam]

@tashilove2009

3 x Benq FP93GX 19'' TFT - 2 ms (refresh rate)

Cheers

[chino555]

hey bro am really interested in getting a TripleHead2Go Digital Edition but i have a 22 inch 1920x1080 and there do you think if id try to link 3 of this id get all 3 moniters running in full 1980x1080 or would i have to lower them to 1600x900 i was just wondering if u can help me bro=(

[superrantam]

Hi,

i think TH2Go released a firmware to support HD monitors as yours. But would be better if you confirm that at matrox website or at wide screen gaming forums.

Regards

[idiottom351]

the max resolution you can get with the triplehead2go is 5040 x 1050 (3 x 1680 x 1050)

[chrisah1000hot]

@idiottom351  i can get 5760x1080 (3x 1920x1080) but it crashes some times :(

[Dorisequador]

wow man what a gaming experience by Matrox...incredable

If they could only copy the Voodoo2 with the Pharhilia trip GPU with shared memory for the best gaming experience to date. But unfortuinately they do not try..

[DrikkelStyler91]

OMG WHATS A GAMING CENTER!!!

sry for my Enlish im bad in english^^

[riceb0ii]

hey there, i got the triplehead digital edition but i cant seem to get it higher res on window 7, i only get 2400X600 which is real shiet! is it my graphics card or just window 7 and theres no drivers

[superrantam]

Got Windows 7 x64 and TH2Go works as good as ever for desktop applications and games. The default resolution in my case is 3840x1024 (using 3x19" TFTs).

Check your GPU's latest drivers, and the latest software Matrox has released for Windows 7. All should work fine with that.

Cheers

[00Delaney00]

check your monitors, depends on what refresh rate they will work at. I have asus whcih run at 60hrz, in powerdesk it will show you the different sizes you can use. Also change between 6x9 or 4x3 sizes to pick the four you want to show up when picking the size of your screen. wide screen gaming forum can help you with a lot of problems you may run into with matrox.

[vawriss3]

Bioshock 1.1 update lets you do this you should buy it

[NamesED]

get the alienware one, its actually curved

[superrantam]

Got THG2Go before Alienware's was released.

Anyway i consider THG2Go more versatile, as i can use the kind of monitors i want, and if eventually i have to use some of them in other computer at home i can still do that :)

Alienware's looks great anyway.

[roshawn1111]

shit is overpriced

[thelasthallow]

BLEH look at the screne stretching. it looks terrible.

ill stick to my 1 wide screne monitor until they come out with a real game that takes advantage of this rather than stretching the image.

[superrantam]

As i wrote before, when i recorded that video most of the games were not properly configured, as i did it minutes after i installed TH2Go for first time.

I'm sure your widescreen will look good, but I'm sure you're far of getting those 3840 pixels you get from side to side with THG2Go (more now as it supports 3 widescreens).

Think a bit about it, and you'll realize that you can't blame the streching to THG2Go, but to the game itself, not being properly configured :)

Regards

[jonnythecroww]

Have same 3 screen setup and could never go back to single screen now,, improves ANY game - must have for any serious gamer - great vid as well,, have some footage posted myself =)

[superrantam]

Totally agree :)

And it also improves productivity a lot with applications (Photoshop, modelling software, audio sequencers, etc)

A must have, even more today, as TFTs are so cheap :)

[cjellwood]

the input on the digital edition isDVI-i but are the outputs VGA?? My screens only have vga connector but the card is DVI-i

[superrantam]

No, input is available as DVI-I or VGA, but the outputs for the screens are DVI-I. I guess you can get an adaptor for the screens :)

[SuperTechReviews]

has he got bezel managment turned on?

[superrantam]

No, bezel management is disabled (I prefer it like that), despite is available.

[InvertedApache]

a 7900 is like 50 odd gb/sec a respectable bandwith get over it

[superrantam]

I changed that GPU (as well as the computer) long time a go...

[InvertedApache]

what are your specs now if u dont mind me asking

[superrantam]

Intel 6600 Quadcore

4GB RAM

XFX nVidia 8800GT AlphaDog Ed.

2.5 TB Hard disk space

But that video was recorded with the old specs you can see in the description of this video.

[InvertedApache]

nice setup :P :P :P

[superrantam]

Yep, sure! With the bigger resolutions now triple head supports having 3x22" will be even better :)

Cheers

[Guybrush1816351]

Btw, thanks again for getting me infected :)

i think i should be upgrading my tripplehead setup from 3 x 17" to 3 x 22" :) there were some great new year deals :)

[superrantam]

Yep, think so.. But is that relevant? :)

[koko56]

What mouse do you have in that video.. ?

[superrantam]

Mouse? A microsoft laser mouse.

Cheers

[koko56]

MS Laser Mouse 6000?

[aeltani]

Matrox refers to them as Graphics eXpansion Modules (GXMs). GXMs arent design to replace your PCs existing graphics card, your card will still handle all the graphics rendering, all TripleHead2Go does is add support for three displays to your existing card. Once everythings hooked up to your PC, TripleHead2Go looks like one really big 3840x1024 monitor to your PC, no custom graphics driver is needed to get it to work.

[aeltani]

Hey superrantam

So to make this work you need the matrox graphic card and the application that goes with it?

Is there other brands than matrox that does this?

Thanks

[superrantam]

THG2Go is an external device that must be connected to a graphic card (not matrox) and the three monitors in order to work.

You'll find the list of supported graphic cards at matrox's site. Most of the nVidia/ATI cards are supported, so you shouldn't have any problem unless yours is old.

As far as I know there aren't other hardware solutions available offering these features. There're software solutions to do it also, but you will need aditional GPUs.

[aeltani]

Thanks. ;)

[Borges1091]

How the hell do you run fear at 3000x whatever max detail with a 7900gs..i have an 8500gt and i can barely run crap at normal 1680x1050

[eskimo810]

cause 8500gt is much worse than a 7900gs

[Borges1091]

Is it really that much worse lol..i know 8500gt's suck balls, worst 8 series and the 6800gt kicks its ass but i had a 7600gs and just saw gs so didnt think it was much better. But yeah it looks good

[eskimo810]

the number (7900) and especially the second number (7*00) means more than the suffix (GS or GT or GTX or GTS)

[Borges1091]

I know that, but from a 7600gs I wouldn't have imagined a 7900 was that much cleaner

[buytime]

lol I had a 8600GT run it fine at 1680x1050 lol.....on a 22" wide Samsung 226BW LCD.

[FRGR8]

WOW......great set-up:)

[happytodd]

Damn I kinda wish I didnt buy my newest laptop, But im still glad I did. Now I just needa wait 2 more years to afford another 2 more monitors :(

[superrantam]

It works like a single monitor with 3840x1024 (but it allows other res.) If you're running a game in full screen mode you'll only see that game. If you run it on windomed mode you can have it running on the middle screen (for example), having vegas,msn,etc on the other screens. THG2allows to maximize screens just on 1 of the screens or using 3.Of course you can adjust the window's size manually also. For Vegas or PS I use 3 usually,but I can do it smaller and have space for other applys. Regards

[CustomBuild]

HI i was hoping you could answer a few questions for me please. With the matrox triple head2go can you use software like ultramon or does it treat it like one big screen with a huge windows toolbar across the bottom? Can i have a full screen of sony vegas a game and msn on separate monitor all running at the same time and me dragging the mouse to different screens to use different applications or would it want to use all three screens for just one application like sony vegas and msn?

[StillAliveNKillin]

what kind of ltd screen are you using?

[superrantam]

3 x Benq FP93GX 19'' TFT - 2 ms (refresh rate)

Regards

[superrantam]

Sorry, don't know really, check at Matrox's and at widescreengaming forums. But I guess it'll work. I guess the only limit (apart of resolution and Hz) is that TH2G only has one input port.

[haiku214]

Hi. Can you use SLI/CrossfireX on the Triplehead2go? Thanks!

[Y2Krashman]

Well logically. I've bought a TH2G but haven't received it. Apparently you only can use the two outputs on the primary card, whether you have 2, 3 or even 4(!) cards bridged. I'd hazard that the TH2G would be 3 times intensive on your graphics card; compared to a single output. But SLI would compensate for that to a degree. Hope that helps!

[26dragon93]

Whats the difference between the Digital 1 and the normral 1?

[superrantam]

Basically the interface to connect the monitors. Instead of the 9 pin analog VGA connector you have three DVI to connect your three monitors. More info at Matrox's website.

[SPLITZRZR]

thanks bro your a big help. god bless

[themangodess]

Oh my god you fucking religion fags need to stop blessing everyone here

[Y2Krashman]

I am so blessed by invisible alien guys in the sky, that I feel like I just sneezed a thousand times.

[SPLITZRZR]

thanks for your help!Do you think a 30 inch and two 22 inch monitors on the sides are too wide. what do u think.You think it will still look good. when do u think this tripple head to go will be obsolete.

[superrantam]

Actually I think it won't be obsolete easily, unless Matrox release a new devide which supports bigger resolutions, to be used mainly with bigger TFTs. Anyway I think it's maximum resolution (3840x1024) it's more than enough :)

Anyway you know how this tech market work: from time to time new devices with new improvements are released.

But I have to say I'm more than happy with TH2Go, couldn't live without it now ;)

[SPLITZRZR]

can u watch a movie on all 3 screens will a tv tuner work on all tree screens>?

[superrantam]

Yep, you can see videos on the 3 screens (movies, game intro videos, etc). The problem is that movies aren't so wide usually to use all the 3 screens, just only the middle and a portion of the lateral ones :)

[SPLITZRZR]

would you be willing to make a video on how a movie looks on 3 screens im on a low budget guy i was gonna get a school loan to buy this tripple head to go i dont know if its worth it. please help me deside is gaming experiance alot better.thanks

[superrantam]

Well, for gaming as well for any other PC task (video or graphic editing, browsing the web, working with files) the THG2Go the experience and productivity is MUCH better. I guess you think it's not cheap, but believe me, you won't regret if you get it ;)

If you only want to use it to see movies I think a big widescreen monitor or TFT TV would be better, as movies aren't so wide to use 100% of the space provided by the three screens. Usually only 1/3 of the lateral monitors are used in movies

[Gidien2000]

Holy Jesus, Triple Head 2 Go and A TrackIR 4, damn thats what I wanted to get!, I just can't afford it :)

[hanzocloud]

wat monitor brand and model are they?

i got 3 asus monitors and they dont fit good next to each other bcoz the monitors are all tilted to one side a bit

[superrantam]

3xBenq FP93GX 19'' TFT - 2 ms (refresh rate)

Hope you can fix that tilt problem. Try putting a piece of cardboard under each monitor to compensate it :)

[1yakko1]

vista is great. no probs for me.

[superrantam]

Don't see the point of that comment, but... Anyway, I got a powerful new PC just a couple of months a go. And believe me, not because the previous one coulnd't handle THG2Go or because someone said me I should update my computer ;)

[anozwe123]

do they take much power? i mean how much is your power bill affected by 3 monitors like this?

[superrantam]

Don't know, never took a look to how this affects my power bill :)

But probably you won't appreciate a lot of difference on the bill, as TFT monitors usually don't need a lot of power to run, if you compare it with other electric gizmos of your house.

Otherwise my girlfriend had already killed me x-D

[Bowyerma]

LCD monitors use a very small amount of power compared to CRT monitors, I believe it is something around 50-20 watts each if i'm not mistaken.

[Nrgodzilla]

i ll be hounest my set up is:

CPU duo E6600 @ 2.40 o/c to 3.6 (may i say no probs)

8800 GTX 768mb memory

Gell pc6400 stock speed 800mhz

with vista i ve got to say it s rubbish (maybe i ve got it set up wrong) but gone back to XP DX9 loads better more stable yea the eye candy is better but the stability is shit. gonna keep hold off vista till microsoft sort it out. but the matrox thing is brilliant!!!!!!

[zeldadude]

"stability is shit" how? no one else is having any problems. the problem is on your end, not vista's. Vista has been fine for a while now, people just won't give the whole "vista sux" thing up.

[hbeezey]

vista sucks

[zeldadude]

prove it.

[hbeezey]

everyone knows vista sucks. Stability is shit, incompatibility with almost everything software/hardware. Go start some blog if your pro vista, so you can have your limited followers join and you guys can gossip on how vista is so good.

[zeldadude]

no, everyone listens to everyone else saying vista sucks, not because they've actually experienced it. Sorry I don't just go with what everyone else is saying. Idiots say vista sucks, not well informed people who know anything. Stop spreading this bullshit.

[hbeezey]

vista sucks. I dont have vista, for many reasons. Try installing all the software from an xp hard drive, to a vista.. not gonna happen. Friend had to stop using vista, cause he kept getting corrupt file errors, why? Cause it has to be VISTA compatible, and guess what, not everything is vista compatible. Its just a marketing scheme to make people buy new software and hardware, ie.. vista sucks

[zeldadude]

whatever you say. everything regarding vista sucking is second hand knowledge. come back when you have some actual first hand experience with it. maybe your friend should stop using shitty old hardcore and/or programs.

[zeldadude]

hardware* not hardcore

[Fetus133]

The only reason everyone knows vista sucks is because we are always told that it does. I run Vista and have had no real problems with compatibility, all my games,apps and cards work well. . . Plus, anyone who has experienced DX10 at decent FPS will say it is worth it. . .

[zeldadude]

Well said.

[Nrgodzilla]

I would say it s "shit" as such i had no end off probs with it, for intance i kept trying to update windows and i downloaded a file but it would say "this file is not for your system", When clearly it was i was running x64 i ll leave it a while wait for a few more updates but when it was running yea it was good (like any operating system i suppose! Any way does anyone knoe where i can get some Fresnel lens s for my matrox??????

[tollev365]

Does this expansion module increase graphics and make them better.

[superrantam]

What do you mean? If you're asking if it increase graphic quality the answer is no.

It's not a GPU, it just will let you reach a resolution of 3840x1240 and split that image on the three monitors.

So you still need a graphic card to move that amount of graphics. A mid-range GPU can do that work very well. The one I used for that video was a nVidia 7900 GS and as you can see it does it very well (the computer was an athlon 64 3200+ with 1GB RAM, so it wasn't a high-end pc, as you can see)

[aeltani]

"The one I used for that video was a nVidia 7900 GS"

I don't understand so the matrox is not a graphic card?

[cindelvac]

the matrox multiscreen, suport the inter cospit view for il2? or only external view?

[superrantam]

Yep you can use the internal view, but I think it's better to run IL2 in one screen mode. The problem is that you can't modify in IL2 the FOV of that internal view, so yo just see part of the cockpit, so your view will look as it had applied some kind of zoom. But this problem is due a limitation in IL2, not in triplehead. Anyway, may be Matrox support will get a fix for that in the future, as they got for other games either

[cindelvac]

with freetrak i have this problem too?

[superrantam]

Probably yes. I'm using TrackIR and that doesn't solve the problem either. Keep in mind that these devices which simulate the headmovement doesn't affect the FOV that much.

[cindelvac]

Can You show me a video with this problem? I am from to Argentina, my English language is very bad and I do not understand well what you say.

Muchas gracias. :)

[ermax]

Ok.. so you say this rig makes the resolution 3840x1024. So what resolution is your 7900GS set at? Because I would think a 7900GS at 3840x1024 would have a very low frame rate.

[ermax]

Never mind. I figured it out. Reading around it looks like you would run 1280x1024 and the Triple Head will take that image and stretch it across all three monitors. So without changing the FOV this will not give you any extra peripheral view. I would love to see this rig in person.

[ermax]

Ok.. more reading. I am wrong. You do set your video board to run 3840x1024. How in the world can a 7900GS handle this sort of resolution without a FPS hit? I have a 7900GS and run rFactor at 1440x900 with VSync on at 60 and never ever ever ever drop below 60fps. Ever.

[ermax]

Ok.. I am getting the picture finally. Still think it would drop the frame rate though.

rFactor has an option for the TH2Go that changes the geomitry of the picture. See some pics of this option turned on and off. Note the shap of the wall with this option on Vs. off. Now I am thinking about getting one. :)

tinyurl . com / yvrrev

[Guybrush1816351]

i noticed in lfs that i went from 120 fps to 100

with an 8800gtx

halflife2/team fortress went from 120 (with everything on extremely uselessly high) to 40

[Fragmeister1983]

I love extremely uselessly high

[superrantam]

Well I see you finally found by yourself how it works :)

Your SO will have some new resolutions available, including 3840x1024, and I'd say that's the most optimized resolution for TH2Go.

Of course using that resolution will have an impact in FPS, but it depends a lot on the GPU, computer, and game settings you're using.

This video was recorded with a 7900GS, with most of these games set in their max settings (no AA used usually), and as you can see they run quite smoothly.

[Guybrush1816351]

Do you use Dual link dvi cables for your monitors :O?

i cant get the digital thing to work, works great with a vga cable,

i only have one dual link dvi cable the other two are single link :o

does that matter?

[superrantam]

Yep, I use dual link DVI cables to connect these three Benq FP93GX monitors, as they have a DVI input, as well as an analogue input. Of course, the digital ed. of TripleHead have 3 DVI outputs.

I had to disable the 'AMA' property inside monitors' menu to get them working correctly. Don't know if other monitors not made by Benq have that property, but once AMA was deactivated they worked fine.

[Drechu88]

Sorry for asking a stupid question, but what exactly is that FOV and how does it look like and work? is it some kind of a pad (like Playstation)?

[superrantam]

FOV = Field of view. So it's similar to the angle of view.

That was my first test with the triplehead, but now I use a smaller FOV. That means I have less lateral view and I'm closer to the dashboard, but that lets me see better what's happening in front of the car, so it's good. And of course I can always turn the head to look what's comming from the sides :)

[Drechu88]

thanks :) but how do you control it? i mean turning the head...

[superrantam]

I'm using TrackIR4 Pro. Check this site:

w w w .naturalpoint. com/trackir/02-products/produc­t-TrackIR-4-PRO. html

[haiku214]

What monitors are you using?

[superrantam]

This is the stuff I used during the recording of this video: 3xBenq FP93GX 19'' TFT - 2 ms (refresh rate) Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition TrackIR 4 Pro + TrackClip Logitech G25 Wheel My CPU: MSI K8T Neo (MS-6702) Motherboard AMD Athlon 64 3200+ 1 GB DDR 3200 Gainward nVidia 7900 GS Sounblaster X-Fi 2 x Seagate Barracuda SATAII 500 GB 7200 RPM TV card

[haiku214]

What monitors are you using?

[queenfan66]

I am going to buy a macbook and it has integrated graphics and if I buy this will it be like having a dedicated graphics card? would it make games run faster?

[superrantam]

No. This is not a graphic card. You need a graphic card to generate the graphics. This simply let you to connect 3 monitors to that GPU, increasing the resolution up to 3840x1024.

[crashboss]

I don't have to do this in the virtual world...

[superrantam]

Sorry, but i don't understand you...

[superrantam]

Basically is the same than the analog ed. but it allows you to plug your monitors' DVI interfaces directly :)

More information at Matrox . com

[gazket]

video on the 2 side screens look stretched.I never seen a mirror double in lenght when I look at it and cars as long as busses on the side screens .

[superrantam]

Please, not that I just run the games without changing the FOV or do some tweaks. So for example GTR2 doesn't look at its best. I just wanted to show how it can improve the gaming experience.

After changing the FOV it looks much better :)

[MetalGrand23]

whats the difference inbetween the digital edition and the regular?

[Xyklor]

Digital=The Obvious DVI connection+Bezel Management Software that lines up the picture to compensate for your monitors bezel gaps.

Analog=no features like the Digital. People use large Fresnel lenses to compensate for bezels.(you can still do this with the digital in combination with the software)

[Alexrcpilot]

oops! Digital! THIS is something new! Last time I went to Matrox website they still hadn't released anything like this. I love DVI interface! Real cool video man!

[superrantam]

You're right. I just installed it and recorded some games, but I need to tweak the games' settings a bit yet.

Anyway, some people out there would say that probably you'd get more fun playing in a backseat than in driver's ;-)

[RaveAgainst]

Grats on a great gaming experience! I use triplehead2go also. I would move your fov forward to see out the front window more if I were you. You are practically sitting in the backseat lol. No need for trackir in the backseat. Your computer runs well. Have fun!