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General: Matrox TripleHead2Go Review

StraddenStradden Managing EditorMember CommonPosts: 6,696
in News & Features Discussion

Carolyn Koh takes a look at Matrox's TripleHead2Go device that allows users to spread their computer screens over three different monitors, and how that technology can effect MMORPG gameplay.

What do you do after you've built yourself a screaming fast gaming rig that you dropped about $2,000 on? If you are like many gamers, you've already got a 17" or 19" LCD monitor with a wicked fast response time. So you lust after a 24" monitor, but that's... ouch... three times the price of the 19" monitor.

Then again, there's the really dreamy 30" screen, but you are entering the realm of diminishing returns and it's really hard to justify spending $1,500 on a monitor when the rest of your system cost you $2,000. What if I told you that you could get 51" - 57" of vivid eye-candy goodness for about $700? Would you do it?

When I was first asked about reviewing the Matrox TripleHead2Go, I was afraid that I would not have the hardware to properly review this neat little device. Where would I find three identical monitors? Would the screen size and refresh speeds have to be the same? The answer was that I didn't need three identical monitors.

I carted two 2004 vintage generic Dell 15" screens home from the office after work on Friday to supplement my 17" screen. Plugged them in, installed the software, followed instructions and... it worked. There was my windows desktop spread over three monitors.

Read Carolyn's whole review here.

Cheers,
Jon Wood
Managing Editor
MMORPG.com

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Comments

  • will200will200 Member Posts: 70
    Another paid-by-the reviewee biased reveiw from mmorpg.com!



    If one were to do a quick google search on this, they would be quick to note that these get bad reveiws.



    Just buy an extra wide-screen monitor and dual-screen. It costs the same as this. (Assuming you bought a new GPU in the last 3 years.)
  • SabbicatSabbicat Member UncommonPosts: 290
    Now I can set up my desk and pretend Im a computer geek and still be frugal.
  • HarafnirHarafnir Member UncommonPosts: 1,350
    Buying one next upgrade. This is somehtig I have longed for since the mid ninetees. Flight simulators and first person shooters will get a whole new dimension.

    "This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
    It should be thrown with great force"

  • HarafnirHarafnir Member UncommonPosts: 1,350
    Originally posted by will200

    Another paid-by-the reviewee biased reveiw from mmorpg.com!



    If one were to do a quick google search on this, they would be quick to note that these get bad reveiws.



    Just buy an extra wide-screen monitor and dual-screen. It costs the same as this. (Assuming you bought a new GPU in the last 3 years.)

     

    Review from Techgage: "All in all, gaming with TH2Go is pure bliss"

    Trustedreviews.com: "If you’re a multi-monitor fan and you have the space you have to consider this."

    Guru3d.com: "It's an absolutely marvellous experience and comes highly recommended."

     

    That was a quick google for me... Want me to continue? You see, that you bash things on auto does not mean you seem like you know things and is really smart.. you look like a clueless fool when you dont know what you are bashing... Biased review... This has gotten praise pretty much everywhere, needing only a few simple patches to be perfect.

    The only biased person here is you, that want to bash a good review with first hand experience, just because you dont know better, you have osme grudge against a site you visit (advice, get out then?) and your mommy did not hug you enough as a kid... two years ago.

    Stop the monkeypoo tossing please and grow up

    "This is not a game to be tossed aside lightly.
    It should be thrown with great force"

  • MyskMysk Member Posts: 982

    Glad to see a full review here of this product, and one that includes photos that I was unable to include in my own review.

    As some of you may remember I won the TripleHead2Go and a Viewsonic monitor from an MMORPG contest awhile back. Here's a shameless plug to that review (notice: It's LONG!): http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/98590.

    I sometimes look back on that and think, "Ya know, they were probably just wanting a Hey, this is cool! kind of response.." Heh. Oops.

    I thoroughly enjoy it and highly recommend it, and it's good to know that they have a DVI version coming out. If I were to have a wishlist item for the next version of the TripleHead2Go then it would be to support higher resolutions on each individual monitor. That only makes sense with monitors growing in size as they are.

    Anyway, it's late and I'm awfully darn tired. Just wanted to plug my old review and say that, no, I doubt Carolyn's review is a "paid advertisement". This thing really is an immersive, impressive piece of hardware.

    a quick edit to add that the "dual monitor" config that one obtains directly from their 3D card is considerably different from what the TripleHead2Go gives. See my original long review for more info on that. IIRC I touched on that subject.

    Good night!

    ~Mysk

  • EndemondiaEndemondia Member Posts: 231
    i play on a 200" projector cinema screen. the quality is as good as a monitor - just showing off lol
  • AenashiAenashi Member UncommonPosts: 52
    wow, how utterly useless this product is for 300 bucks.  And it can only do 1024 max height?    If you look at most gaming cards they already have 2 DVI and you can do a lot greater resolution.  You can also hook up 2 PCIE cards and not do SLI so you can do 4 monitors if you really wish.  Also it only have analog?  That thing doesnt even have DVI.



    i guess its ok for the average newb.
  • mbbladembblade Member Posts: 747

    i find this thing as p retty stupid, theres never a time where i would want 3 monitors to be displaying it likt e it would be. This displaying it over so many monitors has never inpressed me. Meh get a 32" LCDTV and be happy

  • AenashiAenashi Member UncommonPosts: 52
    Originally posted by mbblade


    i find this thing as p retty stupid, theres never a time where i would want 3 monitors to be displaying it likt e it would be. This displaying it over so many monitors has never inpressed me. Meh get a 32" LCDTV and be happy
    With a 32 LCDTV youw ill NOT get the resolution you would from 3 monitors.  You will only get the same as a 17 inch flat panel.  I laugh at anyone who buys a LCDTV to hook up to there computer just to play games on.  Its about the realestate space and the LCD TV's do NOT have it.
  • hogscraperhogscraper Member Posts: 322
    Have been running multidisplays since my fx5200 but I have always hated the strecthed thing over multiple monitors. The dead space in between is enough for me to hate it. Right now running 3 monitors but I treat them as seperate desktops. Run a dvd out to the 27", game on the 19" and a website for whatever on the 15".  Being able to read a scer calc while playing dark age is sweet and I can't see ever wanting to take away 2 desktops for one giant, split mess. I don't play flight sims, but have seen some setups like this that seemed perfect for the genre. Same with mechwarrior type games just not for me.
  • DajminDajmin Member Posts: 54

    I know some people who run multiple displays, and it's really useful for racing sims where you need the peripheral vision. But other than making you look like a sad monitor collector or someone with too much money, it's far from a 'must have' thing.
    The blind spots between monitors don't really make that much difference - your blind spot fills them in and remember there's not actually a space there in the game (so you couldn't miss an enemy or anything). And if you can afford to use LCDs or plasmas, the side bars aren't that big anyway.

  • ptsakirisptsakiris Member Posts: 25
    Originally posted by Taevil

    Originally posted by mbblade


    i find this thing as p retty stupid, theres never a time where i would want 3 monitors to be displaying it likt e it would be. This displaying it over so many monitors has never inpressed me. Meh get a 32" LCDTV and be happy
    With a 32 LCDTV youw ill NOT get the resolution you would from 3 monitors.  You will only get the same as a 17 inch flat panel.  I laugh at anyone who buys a LCDTV to hook up to there computer just to play games on.  Its about the realestate space and the LCD TV's do NOT have it.

    HD Ready TV (720p/1080i) do not support more than 17" monitor resolution. That's correct.



    But a PROPER HD TV (1080p) at 37" will cost you less than $1000 and have resolution 1920x1080.



    Tbh if I had £800/$1600 I would buy the 30" Dell monitor and be happy (2560x1600), insteed of paying £350 for 2 additional 19" plus £500 for the device.


  • NineSpineNineSpine Member Posts: 54
    The whole point of this device is peripheral vision. Suggesting that someone just get a normal large monitor is completely missing the point. I dont care if your monitor is 400 inches: if it doesnt have peripheral vision than it has nothing to do with this device.
  • GnabicusGnabicus Member Posts: 10

    Great Review Carolynn,...Spot On.....I've been using the TripleHead2Go since last October and couldn't be happier.

    Given that MMO's, are my Hobby of choice. It only made sense to jump in with both feet. At 3840x1024 resolution I've got a definite advantage over my group mates and enemies. I can see a MUCH wider field of view than they can.  Combined with a THX surround sound system....nothing sneaks up on me.

    I've played EVE-Online, LoTR (Beta)  and I'm currently playing Vanguard so I have to warn you...once you've played this way...you can't go back to a single 19" 20" or 21"screen ever again. It's just no fun.

     

    LoTR at 3840 x 1024

    The Home Setup - In the Daylight

    Eve Online

    EVE Online

    Vanguard zoomed in on one of my Characters

    A pic of my Half Ginat ShadowKnight zoomed all the way in.

    Vanguard zoomed out on the same character

    Vanguard, zoomed all the way out when viewing one my characters

  • MyskMysk Member Posts: 982

    Gnabicus, those are some great photos. :D That's the way to show it off right there, hehe.

    ~Mysk

  • xcheater13xcheater13 Member Posts: 11
     Looks very cool... could be the next revolution to gaming
  • KyleranKyleran Member LegendaryPosts: 44,071

    Notice....all of the people who have actually used this device have nothing but praise for it....

    vs the trolls who scoff at the silly "low-tech" solution for "noobs"

    I just hate useless trolls.....

     

    "True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde 

    "I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant

    Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm

    Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

    Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™

    "This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon






  • altairzqaltairzq Member Posts: 3,811
    I have it also, bought it when it released. Have to say it's great for Microsoft Flight Simulator and Half Life Source engine games. But for most 3D engines, you actually LOSE field of view instead of gaining it. That happens in WOW and Vanguard for instance. You gain a little on the sides and lose A LOT above and under your point of view, you won't see the sky unless you pan up and down all the time, claustrophobic it is. The net result is you see LESS, but bigger, and this is very annoying in buildings and dungeons, well everywhere in fact, but more bearable outdoors. I ended up playing WOW with one single monitor.



    There was a whole long thread in Matrox official suport forums about this matter, but Matrox decided to eliminate the forums.
  • mehhemmehhem Member Posts: 653
    This looks pretty cool.  I've already taken the dive and bought a dell 24 incher, but former monitors are in the basement and I'd be more than glad to hook those up when the new DVI comes out this spring.  Definitely putting it on my wishlist.
  • WolfClawsWolfClaws Member UncommonPosts: 638

    I am glad to see someone finally made something small and affordable for the common man to use in their homes.

     

    I will wait for the DVI version (this has to be around the corner) and I'll pick this up.  My 8800gtx has two DVI slots, but I won't get that 3 monitor support :P  Who knows, Hook up 6 monitors?  mwahahaha~!

  • RPG_AshRPG_Ash Member Posts: 11

    Originally posted by Gnabicus
    At 3840x1024 resolution I've got a definite advantage over my group mates and enemies. I can see a MUCH wider field of view than they can.

    WoW!

    Those pics are awesome. Do you have any videos of you in action playing any MMO's?

  • GnabicusGnabicus Member Posts: 10
    Originally posted by RPG_Ash


     

    Originally posted by Gnabicus

    At 3840x1024 resolution I've got a definite advantage over my group mates and enemies. I can see a MUCH wider field of view than they can.


     

    WoW!

    Those pics are awesome. Do you have any videos of you in action playing any MMO's?


    Not yet...I used Fraps playing EVE online...but the file sizes were HUGE.  I'll play around with it and see what I can get out of VanGuard.
  • SnippleSnipple Member Posts: 111
     Those pics of EVE are orgasmic! I am definitely getting one of those things
  • GnabicusGnabicus Member Posts: 10

    Via Engadget.com . . . Matrox just announced that a digital Triplehead2go is coming soon. 

     www.engadget.com/2007/03/07/matroxs-triplehead2go-digital-edition/

  • VroshnakVroshnak Member UncommonPosts: 38
    I just bought the analog one and now the digital one is out... oh well!



    Any recommendation on what monitors I should buy to go with it?  I'm using 2 old monitors at the moment that I'd just as soon replace.



    Also, how do I get Everquest 2 to run in 2400x600?  Which file do I have to edit?
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