Widescreen Gaming Forum

Dear Widescreeners,

my old rig died tonight so I need a replacement sooner than expected, this time with TH2G. Quick action is required, can't read thru all info stuff in time, so your help is much appreciated.

Main application: Fly Sims: FSX, Il-2, Lock-On, etc. Occasional shooter

The system in question:
Core i7-920, GeForce GTX260
3 x 19'' Samsung 943NW (1400 x 900 capable)
Vista Home Prem 64bit

do I get this right that the TH2G_digi would support that out of the box? A close enough Samsung is listed here and Vista seems running, limited to 1400 x 900.

If it meets specs, would the setup (drivers) etc painful or straightforward?

thx in advance!
Pinback

Should do, smooth as silk.
I wonder though, why associate a beefy rig with three low-res monitors ? :? Buy the best monitors you can, and if need be, run your games in lower-than-native resolutions. Seems so much wiser than going the other way out.
Other than that, well... 'quick action' is no reason for being under-educated :mrgreen: so you'd better build yourself a nice single-screen rig, then learn all there is to know about TripleHead, monitors and whatnot. Just my €0.02...

Yep should be good enough to run. At the moment there is all sorts of problems getting 5040x1050 to run an NVidia card in Vista (and Ati can't do it at all yet). So in some ways sticking with 3x1440x900 rather than 3x1680x1050 is good, i.e. no set up hassles at all (3x1440 runs at 60Hz so less of a worry about getting the right monitor as 5040 does 57Hz/55Hz). However I am with Scavv in that the thing one your rig that will last (i.e. you will use) the longest is your monitors. If you can afford it go for 3 larger ones, and run at a lesser res if getting 5040 is a problem. Matrox are onto the 5040 prob and (I hope!) it will get solved. However if money is a bit tighter.. your rig will be fine :)

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Dipping bags at Mach1.9

thx guys! Its not about the money, but a solid wall of 3 x 22'' is a bit overwhelming in my little studio.
Hope your "then learn all there is to know about TripleHead, monitors and whatnot" is provacative, I expect plug&play out of the box.
Or do you really suggest an extra single 24'' monitor for those non-sim hours?

regrads, P

I am afraid when you go extreme in anything tech, you just don't get plug and play out of the box. You have to be happy to fiddle and tweak- half the fun IMO. However IF you go 1440x900x3 you will get 'plug'n'play', as it stands at the moment. But if you look through all the threads here you will see that many games require a lot of effort to get working...........


BUT IT IS WORTH IT!

:triplewide

As to 'non sim hours' so do you mean you be playing games that are single screen only (like BF2) or just desktop usage. IMO having a 24 is great, but then I play a lot of BF :)

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Dipping bags at Mach1.9

... Mach, you scare the creeps outta me. My tweaking days are over, the little sim time I get from the family is so precious that I only want to start the engine and fly...
Non-sim time means shooters of the ArmaA-type and the tax-declaration :-(

But I havent given up yet, its too tempting.

just got an offer for an Acer AL1916Cs (4:3) with native 1280 x 1024 for €79
This would mean 3840 x 1024 which according to the Matrox Page is a kinda jack-of-all-trade resolution and positive in their Vista/GTX260 compat-check. That monitor is not listed in your Master list but seems pretty straightforward.
Old-school alternative would be a single 26''-wide, running in 1920 x 1200

What you mean?, thx for the patience
P

That monitor is not listed in your Master list

Of course it's not. 1280x1024 is as anti-widescreen as it gets :lol: The WSGF can't list each and every monitor known to work with TripleHead. They all do - only 3x 1680x1050 requires a 57Hz refresh rate that all panels can't do.
3840x1024 is ok but again, what's the point in buying that now ? A triple tallscreen purchase doesn't sound like a "wise buy" to me. 1280x1024 sucks for those games that don't work in TripleHead. Think about it, with the new firmware you don't have to choose between widescreen and TripleHead anymore :!:
I'm not saying you should go for the biggest panel size, but mind the aspect ratio and resolution. 1920x1200 and 1680x1050 panels can do 1440x900 if need be.

Old-school alternative would be a single 26''-wide, running in 1920 x 1200

Your definition of old-school is peculiar :shock: but that might be a good choice. You see, TripleHead is plug-n-play alright, but there are a couple issues, like 5040x1050@57Hz at the moment. And most importantlyn each game behaves differently in TripleHead. So you have to be on the lookout for info and updates (game patches, known driver-related issues, WSGF tricks...). Going for 3840x1024 thinking "it's the easy way, it will always work perfectly and I won't have to learn anything" is just completely off the point. That's not to say TripleHead is a end-user's nightmare ! However if you're looking for a "safe way", opt for plain widescreen instead. Then when you think you're ready for more, you can "triple the fun" later.

That's just the opinion of a guy who doesn't miss his 3840x1024 setup AT ALL ;)

As above, yes 3840 will always work but so will 1440x900x3!

So both are safe options, only the 5040 is the tweaky one. And as Scavv says you can run larger panels at lower res, I do and it is fine. This is better for single screen games (BTW ArmA is great in 5040!). So future proof wise 3 x 22 or 24 (or 26!) is great, even if you can't run them at 5040 at the moment they'll still look good at 1440 and (hopefullly) we will see Matrox give us plug'n'play 5040 in Vista/Win7 soon.

And in the future when we get a Display Port based TH2Go the whole max 5040 and running at 57Hz will be gone, and you'll be able to use your panels with DVI to DP converters at 5760x1200! I hope ;)

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Dipping bags at Mach1.9

... alright, I follow you guys: start off with a single 24'' (1920 x 1200), wait until the dust has settled, and we have 5760pix.

This is an attractive option (its german but you will understand the lingo), but people report problems with it in the FSX-forums:

http://www.ultraforce.de/product_info.php/info/p527_3x-TFT-22--Triple-Head2Go-Digital-Bundle.html

thx and good shootin

P