TripleHead2Go Digital Widescreen Gaming....or not?

Comments

• Cleffy Member RarePosts: 6,414

  May 2009

  I like this technology.  It actually works very simply.  It adjusts the FOV value in 3D games to near 90.  The only problem are anti-hack measures will detect this as a cheat most likely.
• Sir_Drip Member Posts: 133

  May 2009

  Originally posted by Cleffy
  
  
  I like this technology.  It actually works very simply.  It adjusts the FOV value in 3D games to near 90.  The only problem are anti-hack measures will detect this as a cheat most likely.
  

  
  
   

  Yea...With punkbuster...However this company (Matrox and others) have cleared this with punkbuster.

  Example: COD4/ CODWAW is not supported so you couldnt play it in widescreen mode without it being streached.  It looked like shit because circles look like ovals ect....Shortly after someone wrote a program called "Widescreen fixer" to make games that wasnt supported work including old games like BF2. Before the fix it would take the image from the center screen and streach it across 3  Thus ovals and looking like shit and you would not get punkbuster errors. With the fix, it keep the image to the center screen and added the extra FOV to the 2 side screens. But at any rate, it has been pasted by punkbuster so now its ok to use.

  This widescreen fixer can also be used for single display users as well. Example...BF2 has a ingame max resolution of 1280x1024 within their list. So if you had a 22" or above display you had to use this resolution (1280x1024) and dosent look as good as if you were to use the native resolution of a 22' 1680x1050. With the fix... it added extra support from 1680x1050 all the way up to 5040x1050 with the larger FOV for those resolutions. Also when useing the fixer you will notice that the ingame will now have the extra resolution within it's list. This has been pasted by punkbuster and is safe to use.

  Frontlines Fuel of War. This game is not supported and is streached across 3 screens. Frontlines dosent use punkbuster so you can go and edid you INF. or INI. files and add the FOV values to get the image to look right and fit the 3 screens. The only problems Ive had was  that when patching. You have to set the FOV to stock settings before installing the patch, or it wouldnt patch. After installing you would go back and reinstall the FOV values.

  You can go to the link and see what games are supported and that list is kinda old and needs updated.

  Some games that is supported that I play , that are not on that list.

  Fallout 3, Grid, Burnout Paradice city, Battlestations Pacific (3 days new), Far Cry 2, HAWX, Weapons of Fate......

  
• starscream76 Member Posts: 25

  May 2009

  I have had the Matrox Triple head 2 Go for over a year now with 3 Samsung 21 " monitors mounted on an Ergotron stand. I can definately say it would be impossible to go back to playing on a single screen after getting used to playing on my setup. You are pushing alot of pixels, so I highly recommend a good video card (I have geforce 8800 GTX) and 4 gigs or RAM. I will list some of the good and the bad I have noticed with it. All in all though, it makes gaming a much more immersive experience.

  The Good:

  -Just about every game that has come out in the past 5 years is playable with a 4080 x 768 resolution.

  -Being able to adjust your UI and have plenty of open space for all your windows in game is very nice

  -Even if you hate every game I have listed below, when you pan out and are flying or on high elevation it looks incredible

  -The matrox software allows you to open widnows on desktop and have it snap to the borders of any one of the three monitors or you can spread it across all three

  -Matrox has good customer service, they can even do remote desktop if you have trouble getting their software installed.

  -wow factor, anyone who sees your setup will be totally impressed

  -Winamp with Milkdrop visualization is awesome to watch

  -List of MMO's that I have played with no problems with the Matrox Triple head 2 Go

           -WoW

           -Lineage2 (for some reason the different in game windows don't remember their position when you log out, annoying but not a deal breaker)

           -WAR

           -EvE

           -LoTR

  The Bad:

  -it ain't cheap, I already had a Samsung 21" monitor so basically the cost to buy the two extra monitors, the stand and the triple head 2 go comes out to be about $1300-1500 U.S. dollars.

  -Older games wont play with the high resolutions. If you get nostalgic and like to play Diablo 2 or any old Warcraft games, it will play but just on the far left screen and the other two will just go black.

  -Noticed that in Fallout 3 when you interact with the computer terminals, the button to exit out of the interface UI is off the screen due to the resolution. So you have to save, exit, go to a one screen resolution, load the game, do the computer thing, save, change back to the full 3 screens resolution and continue. A pain in the ass for sure.

  -A similar issue with the new Warhammer 40K rts when trying to pick units before each mission

   

  *If anyone has a Matrox unit or is thinking about getting one and has questions, I will be happy to lend any adivce I have on it that isnt in this post.
• Sir_Drip Member Posts: 133

  May 2009

  Originally posted by starscream76
  
  
  I have had the Matrox Triple head 2 Go for over a year now with 3 Samsung 21 " monitors mounted on an Ergotron stand. I can definately say it would be impossible to go back to playing on a single screen after getting used to playing on my setup. You are pushing alot of pixels, so I highly recommend a good video card (I have geforce 8800 GTX) and 4 gigs or RAM. I will list some of the good and the bad I have noticed with it. All in all though, it makes gaming a much more immersive experience.
  The Good:
  -Just about every game that has come out in the past 5 years is playable with a 4080 x 768 resolution.
  -Being able to adjust your UI and have plenty of open space for all your windows in game is very nice
  -Even if you hate every game I have listed below, when you pan out and are flying or on high elevation it looks incredible
  -The matrox software allows you to open widnows on desktop and have it snap to the borders of any one of the three monitors or you can spread it across all three
  -Matrox has good customer service, they can even do remote desktop if you have trouble getting their software installed.
  -wow factor, anyone who sees your setup will be totally impressed
  -Winamp with Milkdrop visualization is awesome to watch
  -List of MMO's that I have played with no problems with the Matrox Triple head 2 Go
           -WoW
           -Lineage2 (for some reason the different in game windows don't remember their position when you log out, annoying but not a deal breaker)
           -WAR
           -EvE
           -LoTR
  The Bad:
  -it ain't cheap, I already had a Samsung 21" monitor so basically the cost to buy the two extra monitors, the stand and the triple head 2 go comes out to be about $1300-1500 U.S. dollars.
  -Older games wont play with the high resolutions. If you get nostalgic and like to play Diablo 2 or any old Warcraft games, it will play but just on the far left screen and the other two will just go black.
  -Noticed that in Fallout 3 when you interact with the computer terminals, the button to exit out of the interface UI is off the screen due to the resolution. So you have to save, exit, go to a one screen resolution, load the game, do the computer thing, save, change back to the full 3 screens resolution and continue. A pain in the ass for sure.
  -A similar issue with the new Warhammer 40K rts when trying to pick units before each mission
   
  *If anyone has a Matrox unit or is thinking about getting one and has questions, I will be happy to lend any adivce I have on it that isnt in this post.
  

  
  
   

  Thanks for your input...

  Older games wont play with the high resolutions. If you get nostalgic and like to play Diablo 2 or any old Warcraft games, it will play but just on the far left screen and the other two will just go black.

  I have a fix for this. When I play Crysis and FarCry 2 I have to play them on one display (Defalt ...left screen). This is not because those games arn't supported, It has to do with hardware limits, My GFX cards cant do it with good frame rates. This is a fix to set the center display as the primary display and not the left one.

  XP:

  Right click on desktop/ properties/settings...Move the resolution slider to Native resolution of your center display 1280x1024 or 1680x1050). then click apply. Now you should see the desktop on the left screen and the other 2 should be black.

   Right click your Matrox Power desk-se icon in you task bar. in the drop down...Click  Matrox GXM setup. On the popup screen you should see "Swap Displays" you will click that tab one time and it will move the desktop to the center screen and the left and right screen should be black.. Not done yet!   With the power desk still open....ckick on the display setup tab. you should see a list of resolution to the left. Click your resolution in that list then click the "Save current display setup" tab. One more step.....Back to the Matrox power desk main...Click on "Edit Mode List"  Click "Single" under filters, pick your aspect ratio and you should see your resolution in the list. 1680x 1050 is under the wide list, 1280x1024 is under standard list I beleave. Once you have found your resolution in the list...Click on it and send it to the box on the right with the arrow tab then hit apply.  Now your done.

  Now.....the center display is the defalt, and when not using the supper wide resoluions, everything will be diplayed on the center screen.

  Noticed that in Fallout 3 when you interact with the computer terminals, the button to exit out of the interface UI is off the screen due to the resolution. So you have to save, exit, go to a one screen resolution, load the game, do the computer thing, save, change back to the full 3 screens resolution and continue. A pain in the ass for sure.

  Try this

  Right click on desktop/ properties/settings...Move the resolution slider to Native resolution of your center display 1280x1024 or 1680x1050). then click apply.  It should be defalted to the center screen now:). Now start the game (fallout 3). In the video options pick your widescreen resolution. Tell me if that fixed it.

   

  it ain't cheap, I already had a Samsung 21" monitor so basically the cost to buy the two extra monitors, the stand and the triple head 2 go comes out to be about $1300-1500 U.S. dollars.

  My 3 screens and the Matrox box of gold ;0  Cost me $750.00 bucks USD. Not great but not bad!

  
• Sir_Drip Member Posts: 133

  May 2009

  This is a list of 22" displays that have the smallest bezels that support 5040x1050 @57 Hz (the max resolution possable)

  ViewSonic VA2226w

  Viewsonic VX2235wm

  Viewsonic VX2240w

  Viewsonic VX2262wm

  The VX2262wm being the cheeapest @ $170.00 per display at Newegg. Comes out to being $820.00 roughly for the displays and the Matrox box of gold ;o.

  Note: ATI cards do not support the max resolution of 5040x1050 at this time. Nor will it work with crossfire.

  I use 2 highly OC'ed 9800 GTX's (SLI)but  would not use anything below 2 GTX 260' for First Person Shooters..