multi-display dilema 2x 8800GTs or TH2Go?

[mirc36]

I have been searching everywhere for an straight answer to my question but nothing really affirmative has turned up. Here is my question:

I am into flight simulation (FSX) and would like to set up a 3 monitor (22-24 inches) display to be viewed in both span mode or independent screen shots. Here is my system: ASUS P5Q PRO motherboard, [email protected] GHZ, 1x EVGA 8800GT (non-superclocked), 4gb RAM, 750W PC Power, 640gb Seagate HD.

I have considered the much talked about Matrox Triplehead2Go Digital but before I invest $400 CDN, I would like to know if a better alternative would be to add a second 8800GT GPU instead (half the cost of TH2Go). I know that the TH2Go has limited resolution to the equivalent to the size of a 19" monitor. I would like a larger set up and wonde if 2 8800GTs would outperform the TH2Go if they would run together at all. I know what you may be thinking about SLI and CrossFire but it's not an option for me as my MB supports CrossFire and the 8800gt supports SLI. So the two cards would run separately.

1. Besides the extra juice that the 2nd 8800GT will demand from my Power supply, is a 2 video card set up possible and performant for gaming. I have heard that the second card is only used as an output and really a waste of money. Is that true? Will it work in both span mode as well as for separate displays?

2. I have verified with ASUS support and they confirmed that two cards will work as the TH2Go with better resolution. Can anybody confirm this?

3. Is this the only alternative to TH2Go if at all? Remember, Gaming is the purpose.

Thanks for your help.

[DMB2000uk]

Currently nvidia does not support gaming stretched over multiple monitors, with single or dual cards (sli or not).

Did the asus support talk about gaming or just regular windows use? As they are only right when it comes to windows use.

It looks like you'll have to go with the triplehead2go, and so the max you will be able to use is 3 monitors running at 1680x1050 each, but being only on a single 8800GT will mean that when you try to play at your 5040x1050 resolution, you will be pushing over 20% more pixels than a 30" 2560x1600 screen! Which is going to make everything but the oldest of games unplayable due to the lack of fps on the 8800GT. You will also have to be on vista as I'm pretty sure xp and dx9 are limited to screens with a maximum of 4000px wide.

If you are serious about going with three large displays like that you really will need a very powerful SLI/CrossFire setup (And on top of that a triplehead2go digital unit). Be aware that you will only be able to play games at a refresh rate of 57Hz at this huge resolution, as you are maxxing out the DVI cables bandwidth, so if you can't change/hack it to 57hz, you won't be able to play it at the full 5040x1050 resolution (if at all).

You should talk to mumm, as they have recently set up a triple screen system like you want to so might be able to give you some advice, you can see there screen thread here:
http://forums.legitreviews.com/about15991.html

Dan

[mirc36]

Dan, thanks for your reply. It's the most complete one I have read to date. I will have to look into which ATI card is best for FSX in crossfire and evaluate if it's worth the investment. (tom's Hardware is pretty good with that). Then it's a matter of running on 57mhz and how easy it is to set that up.

Thanks again for your help.

[mirc36]

I think I will end up going with the Triplehead2go Digital version. Nvidia support confirms that Vista is no good for span display and even if I were to go with XP I would not be able to span more than 2 monitors. Check out the email I received from Nvidia customer care:

Please be informed the Span Mode is disabled within the Vista Compatible driver and this is due to the core changes in the Vista Operating system. For this reason, you will not be able to configure the two monitors in stretch mode as one screen. Again, I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Please visit the below link for more information:

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/n...p?p_faqid=2026

Yes, you can go for the Windows XP Platform as the Windows XP compatible driver supports the Span Mode. However, please note that as we said earlier when connecting three monitors using 2 GeForce 8800 GT graphics cards you can configure different display modes like Dual, Clone or Span under Windows XP Platform only on the first two monitors connected to the first GeForce 8800 GT cards. The third monitor connected to the second GeForce card will act as an Extended Desktop.

Therefore, I am sorry however; you will not be able to stretch displays as one large display to three monitors connected to two different graphics cards.

Regarding the second graphics card - Please note that you can go for any low-end graphics card like GeForce 6 or 7 series card or low end card in GeForce 8 series, to connect the third monitor which will act as an extended desktop, provided you need to have unified display driver installed supporting both the graphics cards.

[DMB2000uk]

Decided what resolution monitors and graphics card you will end up getting yet? (just interested in how beefy your machine will be )

Dan

[mirc36]

I am going to stick with the EVGA 8800gt with the TH2GO for now. The biggest I will go for is 3x 22" monitors. From what I have read from other FSX simmers, this set up should work reasonably well. I am looking at a combined resolution of 5040x1050 of which Nvidia seems to agree that the 8800gt can handle. I am really disapointed that Microsoft can't get Vista to support span display.

[martini161]

it may be able to do that, but dont expect to get decent FPS in anything/

[mirc36]

Dan suggested that I get a crossfire set up with 2 x ATI GPUs. If I am not mistaken, according to most users and TomsHardware charts, Nvidia cards are much better than ATI for FSX. I have a 8800gt on an Asus P5Q pro MB. My PC is only 1 month old. I can consider selling my 8800gt for a crossfire ATI set up but I am not convinced that ATI crossfire will prevail for FSX. Otherwise, I would have to change my MB for a SLI opportunity. Is there a better Nvidia single card that can outperform the 8800gt in a 3 display x 1680x1050 set up? Always keep in mind that it is mainly for flight simulator X from Microsoft. I understand that other games may favor ATI but FSX seems to be unique in it's graphic demands. Martini, what would you do if you were in my shoes.
thanks

[martini161]

if you really want to get good FPS at that high a resolution, you could do two things: if you really want to stick to nvidia: a 9800gx2 is probably your only option with that board. for ati: either a 4870x2 or two 4870's in crossfire would do you good.

[mirc36]

Thanks your advice, Martini. I will see what I can afford.

[Mumm]

1. Besides the extra juice that the 2nd 8800GT will demand from my Power supply, is a 2 video card set up possible and performant for gaming. I have heard that the second card is only used as an output and really a waste of money. Is that true? Will it work in both span mode as well as for separate displays?

2. I have verified with ASUS support and they confirmed that two cards will work as the TH2Go with better resolution. Can anybody confirm this?

3. Is this the only alternative to TH2Go if at all? Remember, Gaming is the purpose.

1. You are thinking of SoftTH. Its a software based solution to multimonitor gaming. In it the second card is only use as a hardware connection and nothing is processed. Thats why they say that. It can work. I've tried it but its not a very reliable set up. The ease of set up is not one of its better qualities. And it wont work for all games.Over all Id say it performace is worst of the batch.

2. TH2Go can and would make use of SLI or Crossfire. As much as I like ASUS I would direct more questions to the forum Matrox reccomends: http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wi ... /Main_Page

3. If FSX is the primary reason you are looking for multi monitor support you do have another option. FSX supports native multi monitors. As in you dont need anything extra to use extra screens. Few games support this but FSX does.

[mirc36]

What would be a better card for my setup? Remember the sole purpose: FSX.

Nvidia: GTX260, GTX280, 9800GX2
or
ATI: 4870x2

For FSX, probably due to some driver issues that may have already been addressed, the ATI power horse 4870x2 may not be the fastest but will definitely help at a resolution of 5040x1050 (3x22"monitor display). The only thing, though is that TH2Go may not support ATI for 5040x1050 res. Any suggestions on what card would be best for my setup? thanks

My current setup:
ASUS P5Q Pro; Q6600 @ 3.0ghz, 4gb or RAM Corsair 800mhz, 750W PC power and cooling, 8800gt 512, wd640gb HD, Vista 64, display 3 x 22" Acer x223w, TripleHead2Go Digital.

[martini161]

i would go with the x2 because you can upgrade to quad crossfire if necesary on your board

[mirc36]

Thanks for your reply, Martini. I am not sure what your experience with FSX is but as you may know, FSX has some unusual charateristics. I have read that some older cards actually perform better than the newer ones for this particular game. Also, are you aware if the drivers have been improved for the ATI 4870x2 so it can run better with FSX? I am leaning towards the ATI card because it's benefits will surely be seen on the higher resolution that I need. However, according to Tomshardware ( I assume it's a reliable site ), it is a slower card (30fps vs the Nvidia 40fps) for FSX. Like everyone else, I am shopping for the best value for FSX on highest resolution of 5040x1050. Thanks again for your help.

[martini161]

dont know about fsx specifically, but in the future, if you want more and you go with a x2 you can add another one

[designlogicsolutions]

Hi mirc36,

I have been running triplehead2go digital for a couple of years and I love it. I am currently running vista 64bit with 3 x 22" at 5040x1050 on a gforce gtx 260 card. I love FSX and it runs well on the highest settings at 5040x1050. There are a couple of things you should be aware of though. First, I am quite certain that the ATI cards will not run at 5040 x 1050 with triplehead2go. Please see their compatibility list http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/suppo ... solutions/. Secondly, I have found that a lot of monitors do not like to run at 5040 x 1050 57hz. I previously was running 3 samsung t220s with vista 32bit but now in vista 64bit the monitors would display for 1 minute saying that it was not the native resolution and then go black. I tried a couple of other monitors and now am running 3 acer p221w which are working well with some slight annoyances but having that much real estate is worth it.

Have fun flying.

Tyler

[cosmapa]

To digitalogicsolutions:

I am having a strange problem with 3 x Acer P221w monitors on tan TH2Go.

At 3 x 1650 x 1050, each monitor only displays the first 1280 x 768 pixels. In other words, the PC seems to output the full 5040 x 1050 pixel (as verified through the display properties) but the screens show a total of 3840 x 1024 pixels. When moving the mouse across the 3 screens, the pointer disapears for a while between screens.

I called Matrox tech support and they claim that the Acer monitors are reportedly having problems with 57Hz.

Yet, you report having good success with them.

I also find it kind of strange that 57Hz would cause a only 1280 x 1024 pixels to show out of 1650 x 1050 received. My experience with frequency problems is that the display would not sync at all. Not drop pixels.

Can you please confirm this is the case and give me a clue, if you have any, as to what could be the problem.

Thanks
Cosma

[designlogicsolutions]

Hi cosmapa,

I'm sure you have already checked this but, did you try exiting out of Matrox PowerDesk application altogether to make sure there is not any kind of bezel management causing a problem? If you switch your resolution to 3840 x 1024 does it show you all of the pixels in between the monitors? Are you running the gtx 260 video card as well or some other nvidia card?

Thanks Tyler

[cosmapa]

Tyler,

Yes, I can see all the pixels when at 3840 x 1024.

I can see them too when at 4320 x 900. In that case, the monitors are automatically switched to 1440 x 900.

The problem is at 5040 x 1050. The monitors then switch to 1280 x 1024 (I see this in the monitor's info menu) and the pixels beyond that resolution are lost.

The graphics card is an Nvidia GT8800. I'm quite sure that this part is OK since I see in the display setting that the card is set for the full resolution at the expected 57Hz.

The Bezel management is off.

I take it that you confirm your P221w not having this problem. Let me know if you have any other idea.

Thanks for taking the time to help.
Cosma

[designlogicsolutions]

Hi Cosma

I wish I had a solution for you. I can however verify that things are running well for me with the following specs:

• 3 x acer p221w at 5040 x 1050
• EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16
• Vista Ultimate 64bit SP1
• 6 gb memory
• Intel Core i7 920 @ 2.67ghz
• TripleHead2Go Digital
• Maxtor powerDesk 11.10.500.11

The only issue I am having is with frequency. In order for all three monitor to work I need to turn them on, change my resolution to 3840 x 1024 then switch to 5040 x 1050. Other than that pain everything works well. I hope the specs can help you and Matrox track down what the problem is. Please let me know if you have any other questions. Have a great day.

Tyler