View Full Version : Please clarify triple screen gaming.
GatorChamp
10-12-09, 10:07 AM
Spent a little time looking into this but could not get a clear answer on what I was looking for. :bang head Basically I want to know.
1) Can you game with triple screens in SLI/Crossfire
2)Iv read about this triplehead2go but dont quite fully understand it...from what i am taking away it takes two cards as well?
3)Finally is there a specific number of outputs your cards needs? My GTX260 has two...do I need to have a card with 4?
4) Finally from where I am. 1 GTX 260 what steps do I need to take in order to play on three screens....besides have three screens...
Thank you much!
thideras
10-12-09, 10:10 AM
1) You can with the upcoming release of new cards which has more than 2 outputs. I'm fairly sure that current cards can not span when using Crossfire/SLi
2) Basically, it makes Windows and your video card think it is a single monitor. It then breaks the signal into sections (one for each monitor). The only issue is it is resolution limited. So if you have large monitors, they won't be running at their full resolution.
3) The new ATI cards that have not been released yet will have 6 outputs per card, you would be able to span up to 6 monitors per card.
4) You won't really be able to with that card
Bottom line: Wait for the new ATI cards.
Steven-1979
10-12-09, 10:23 AM
How does the resolution work with this? Will a very wide screen resolution option show that takes advantage of all 3 monitors (ie - 1920 x 3600 or something)?
thideras
10-12-09, 10:33 AM
How does the resolution work with this? Will a very wide screen resolution option show that takes advantage of all 3 monitors (ie - 1920 x 3600 or something)?If you are referring to Windows, it just treats it like a single large monitor.
Example:
If you have 3 monitors at a resolution of 1920x1200 each, the "monitor" that Windows would see would be 1920x3600. be 5760x1200. (Thanks Sonny!)
thideras
10-12-09, 11:10 AM
Wouldnt it be 5760X1200?Wow, math fail. You are correct.
ratbuddy
10-12-09, 11:17 AM
If ya stacked em vertically it'd be 1920x3600 :beer:
1) Can you game with triple screens in SLI/Crossfire
Yes. You may or may not need additional hardware such as the Matrox TripleHead2Go, or replacing your GTX 260 with a Radeon 5870. Note that for EyeFinity on the Radeon, one of the monitors needs to have DisplayPort.
2)Iv read about this triplehead2go but dont quite fully understand it...from what i am taking away it takes two cards as well?
Are you talking about TripleHead2Go or EyeFinity? AFAIK you can use a single card.
3)Finally is there a specific number of outputs your cards needs? My GTX260 has two...do I need to have a card with 4?
No, TripleHead2Go digital version uses one Dual-Link DVI as input.
4) Finally from where I am. 1 GTX 260 what steps do I need to take in order to play on three screens....besides have three screens...
Matrox TripleHead2Go (http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/)
GatorChamp
10-12-09, 01:23 PM
Well that's not the best news in the world. Wonder where the lack of support for current generation cards went. They just believe no one would ever want to do it? I mean GTX 260 is a little of a year old and everything but its not like gaming on multiple screens is new. I dont really want to buy new cards. :mad:
Now looking at this.
Widescreen resolution support (16:9/16:10)
3 x 1280 x 768
3 x 1680 x 1050
3 x 1680 x 1050
This is from the website for the triplehead2go. Does that mean when I go into the game options the max rez I will be able to get is either 3840x2304 or 5040x3150? Are those good resolutions? they seem pretty high. I know its three screens.
But is this is this right way to go about it? Would it maybe just a better idea to get really nice 1080p tv, like a 42 in or something and stick with one screen? I hooked up to my dad's 47in Samsung 1080p 120hz tv on Saturday and i dont believe i have ever seen such a good picture from a computer.
I REALLY like the panoramic view...made me feel like i was there but it seems like such a pain in the ass. :bang head :bang head :bang head :bang head
ratbuddy
10-12-09, 01:23 PM
The only time I'd consider using the Matrox product is with 3 22" 1680x1050 screens. Any smaller and you'd probably be better off just getting a nice big single display, any bigger and you won't be running at the panels' native resolution.
edit: For 3 screens you only multiply one side of the resolution. You'd be looking at (1680*3)x1050, 5040x1050. Also, depending on the game, it's going to be stretching things on the edges wayyyyy out. Just my personal preference but I'd rather sit 3-4 feet from a single 42" 1080p screen than have 3 small monitors.
Steven-1979
10-12-09, 01:49 PM
Would games be able to take advantage of the 5760x1200 extra wide resolution? This really interests me. For instance, I'm into racing games / simulations. If I got 3 monitors, would I be able to have a main monitor infront of me, then the ones to the left and right at some angle so I can have a side window view as I'm driving? or do the games just not recognize a 5760 wide resolution?
Like in this image, have the front windshield be one monitor, the side window to the left be another, and the side window not shown be on the 3rd monitor:
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/813/813395/gran-turismo-5-images-20070816051503853.jpg
thideras
10-12-09, 01:53 PM
That purely depends on the game. Are they capable of it? Yup! Do most games? Probably not.
ratbuddy
10-12-09, 01:55 PM
Would games be able to take advantage of the 5760x1200 extra wide resolution? This really interests me. For instance, I'm into racing games / simulations. If I got 3 monitors, would I be able to have a main monitor infront of me, then the ones to the left and right at some angle so I can have a side window view as I'm driving? or do the games just not recognize a 5760 wide resolution?
Like in this image, have the front windshield be one monitor, the side window to the left be another, and the side window not shown be on the 3rd monitor:
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/813/813395/gran-turismo-5-images-20070816051503853.jpg
The game would have to support it. Otherwise, you'd be looking at going from a 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio to 48:9 or 48:10 (if I did that math right) which will depend heavily on the game's built in aspect ratio or multimonitor support. It could end up looking horrible, or beautiful. The answer is basically "it depends what game."
With Grid Dirt 2 being given away with 5870's, I'd imagine at least that one would have flawless built in support.
Khemikal
10-12-09, 03:20 PM
From my general reading about display walls, most Flight Simulators handle big display walls very well. They scale to double/triple wide screen setups pretty nicely. I've also seen some 2 high by 3 wide setups as well. As for other games I would tend to agree that since DIRT 2 is being shipped with the new 58xx cards it would play nicely with this kind of setup. I also seem to remember them demoing World of Warcraft in the 5870 videos running around the network. So I assume it will play nicely as well.
*edit* Thanks for pointing out I mentioned the wrong game :D
GatorChamp
10-12-09, 05:16 PM
I understand that there will be plenty of games that will not support this right now but its more of a looking to the future thing. I know when i was playing Crysis on the two screens (see other post) the amount of panoramic view that you had made you want to just stop and look around. I wonder if games like Bioshock 2 and CoD Modern Warfare 2 will take advantage. I would hope that at some point designers would take the time to put into games, some special options for people with multiple monitors. Like maybe SC 2 having the play screen on one and the HUD on another. Its a function I think would grow in popularity if effort was actually put into developing it. Reward the people who spend extra on crazy systems.
But what I am gathering from this i think i may just stay with a single screen for now. . . Because I would want three screens...24in being the smallest I would go.
jason4207
10-13-09, 09:13 AM
The game would have to support it. Otherwise, you'd be looking at going from a 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio to 48:9 or 48:10 (if I did that math right) which will depend heavily on the game's built in aspect ratio or multimonitor support. It could end up looking horrible, or beautiful. The answer is basically "it depends what game."
With Grid DIRT 2 being given away with 5870's, I'd imagine at least that one would have flawless built in support.
From my general reading about display walls, most Flight Simulators handle big display walls very well. They scale to double/triple wide screen setups pretty nicely. I've also seen some 2 high by 3 wide setups as well. As for other games I would tend to agree that since Grid DIRT 2 is being shipped with the new 58xx cards it would play nicely with this kind of setup. I also seem to remember them demoing World of Warcraft in the 5870 videos running around the network. So I assume it will play nicely as well.
Fixed! I wish GRID 2 was coming out soon! But I can't wait for DIRT 2 either!
I understand that there will be plenty of games that will not support this right now but its more of a looking to the future thing. I know when i was playing Crysis on the two screens (see other post) the amount of panoramic view that you had made you want to just stop and look around. I wonder if games like Bioshock 2 and CoD Modern Warfare 2 will take advantage. I would hope that at some point designers would take the time to put into games, some special options for people with multiple monitors. Like maybe SC 2 having the play screen on one and the HUD on another. Its a function I think would grow in popularity if effort was actually put into developing it. Reward the people who spend extra on crazy systems.
But what I am gathering from this i think i may just stay with a single screen for now. . . Because I would want three screens...24in being the smallest I would go.
ATI 5xxx series is the way to go if you want good multi-monitor support. I'd wait it out a few months, though, for better driver support and better prices. And see if nVidia answers back w/ their own version on eyefinity. I'm also considering a 3-monitor setup w/ 24" or 28" monitors...if only money grew on trees.
A lot of games can be hacked to run at certain resolutions that they do not natively support. You can also sometimes adjust the FOV to make it look better at ultra-wide rez. I've gotten a lot of older games that don't support 16:9 or 16:10 to run in widescreen mode with the option to set the resolution to whatever I want.
zangler
10-13-09, 05:27 PM
(these comments refer to eyfinity on the 58xx amd cards only...no experience with matrox)
most games actually support it, but not in a native sense which can lead to some weird stretching or zooming in some cases.
most support it because since windows is seeing it as one large monitor, you just select the res you want in the game.
the caveat to this is if the UI or something is not formatted for such a large screen, then it wont really be much benefit until designers take this into account.
bleah, why game with a huuuge monitor where every 1700 pixels there are 3-4 CM of . . .
nothing? i mean cm on, you can focus only on a small part of it anyway . . .
(i use the second monitor to check msn while i play XD )
thideras
10-15-09, 06:22 PM
bleah, why game with a huuuge monitor where every 1700 pixels there are 3-4 CM of . . .
nothing? i mean cm on, you can focus only on a small part of it anyway . . .Even with two monitors (gap right in the center), I prefer it for certain games (Black and White 2). Once I "get into the game", I don't even notice it and the area just looks amazing.
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