Red vs Green vs Blue V2

There are a few ways to go about getting a Triple Screen setup now. AMD has Eyefinity for the red team, Nvidia Surround is available for the green team, and Matrox has the Triplehead2Go for the blue team.

In the first version of this article, we compared Eyefinity 2.0, which had just been released, to Nvidia Surround using the 290 series drivers, and to the Matrox Triplehead2Go digital edition. In this version, we still use Eyefinity 2.0 as the benchmark, but we now have a new style active adapter with no USB needed for the DisplayPort monitor. We will compare this with Nvidia's new 301 series Nvidia Surround drivers, and also add the DisplayPort Edition Triplehead2Go alongside the Digital Edition.

I must make special thanks to SkipClarke for providing the new hardware to test, including the TH2G DP Edition, the cables, and the DP active adapters.

I am only testing the 3x1L configurations in this article. I am also looking at the mid-range type systems, as I can’t afford the very latest video cards. Both video cards I have chosen for AMD and Nvidia are considered excellent value cards in their range. However, this comparison isn’t so much about ultimate performance as it is about how easy each system is to live with and what features each setup offers. This article does not cover the specifics of how to setup each system, but rather evaluates the pros and cons of each system to use.

Soft TH and MView were considered for comparison, but Soft TH doesn't support DirectX11 and I don't have access to an MView box, so this comparison goes on without them. If anyone has an MView box to review, I am willing to take the time to do this.

If you don't care about the finer details of my testing and explanations on each issue, just head straight to the Conclusion where I will summarize what I find. However, there are so many interesting things I found along the way, so for those that like to know the strengths and weaknesses of each setup, read on.

Be aware that there are major changes on every single page of this article compared to the first version, so be sure to read it carefully if you are considering your next purchase, even if you have read Version 1 which can be found here.