| Page 1 of 1 |
Ankh
Posts: 23355
Location: Trelleborg
|
 Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 16:06 Post subject: Matrox Tripplehead2Go |
|
 |
So, I bought 3x22" monitors today....and i've had my eyes on this lil gadget for awhile (Subject one). Question is now - is it the best/only one avaible atm or are there others?
shitloads of new stuff in my pc. Cant keep track of it all.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 16:14 Post subject: |
|
|
regular th2go features only vga connections
you'll have to get the digital edition for dvi
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/TH2Go_FAQ
there's a few other options for triple screen gaming but it's probably the most compatible
i personally use softth for my needs as i also have non-matching screen resolutions but it usually takes some configuring to get it fully functional
th2go should be fairly plug&go, though overly expensive for it's purpose in my opinino
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ankh
Posts: 23355
Location: Trelleborg
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 17:32 Post subject: |
|
|
I think the best thing available for that are the Radeons with Eyefinity support. Seems to have a better feature set and better resolution support. More expensive though (for gaming at least), but if you are going for this kind of a system it's worth looking into.
At least one screen will need the Display Port though, or you'll need an adapter.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TSR69
Banned
Posts: 14962
Location: Republic of the Seven United Provinces
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 17:42 Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Werelds
Special Little Man
Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 19:10 Post subject: |
|
|
That's old (came out like Feb or March), better to wait for the new cards. They won't need you to use a DP->DVI convertor anymore, and they've got a couple of extra benefits 
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ankh
Posts: 23355
Location: Trelleborg
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 20:29 Post subject: |
|
|
Anyway, Im using gtx260 and I don't plan on changing card as it works great for me. So thats why I need the Matrox Tripplehead2Go
shitloads of new stuff in my pc. Cant keep track of it all.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Werelds
Special Little Man
Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 20:43 Post subject: |
|
|
Then why make it so hard on yourself, if you've got a decent enough PSU you can pick up a second hand 260 for around 100, or even get a brandnew one for about 170-180. Stuff that in next to your existing 260, and you can use NVIDIA's Surround instead. That's still cheaper than the TripleHead2Go, and it gives you the extra performance you'll need to really use that resolution for gaming.
I definitely wouldn't run 3 monitors using a 280 euro gadget off a single GTX 260 at least, I can't imagine that being a particularly smooth experience 
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 21:20 Post subject: |
|
|
are you planning on gaming on the resolution of the 3 monitors? I can't see a gtx 260 being able to handle that
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ankh
Posts: 23355
Location: Trelleborg
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Werelds
Special Little Man
Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 21:50 Post subject: |
|
|
Even less reason to buy a gadget that costs 280 euros then, since every card from both NVIDIA and ATI will have support for multiple monitors natively by that time. At the moment NVIDIA is behind because they need multiple cards to make it work, but they'll have fixed that by that time. ATI already support up to 3 monitors per card on every 5xxx card that's useful for gaming. There's even the 5870 Eyefinity 6 linked above which can do 6 monitors off a single card.
The TH2GO is only useful for people who have a relatively old system that needs to drive three monitors for purposes other than gaming. For other users it really is way too expensive at 280 euros. Hell, for 280 euros you can just buy a 5850 and get better performance out of it and still get the triple monitor support :/
As far as performance goes: your 260 won't handle a title like Metro, Crysis or even BF:BC2 at that resolution. A title like GRID (and thus Dirt2; GRID performance is not impacted by Eyefinity in any way on my 5870) will probably work just fine, but even with my 5870 there are limits as to what I can run off of it. I was planning to do a Crysis bench run in a few minutes anyway, I'll enable Eyefinity and test it through that as well, so I'll give you some numbers.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ankh
Posts: 23355
Location: Trelleborg
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ankh
Posts: 23355
Location: Trelleborg
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 22:05 Post subject: |
|
|
Btw - I forgot to ask. So if I should by a XFX Radeon HD 5870 2GB EYEFINITY 6 or similar - it has enough ports for more than 2 monitors?
(I might aswell liste to you lot abit - so feel free to suggest similar solutions. Not getting the Matrox Tripplehead2Go yet anyway as I cannot afford it..so feel free to suggest similar things. And as I said, ive got a 2gb gtx260 card atm which imo works great. No problems with any games)
shitloads of new stuff in my pc. Cant keep track of it all.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ankh
Posts: 23355
Location: Trelleborg
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 22:18 Post subject: |
|
|
Yeah I noticed, but when I checked a picture of one it had just 2 DVI ports? (but tons of others).
So let me see if I got this straight - if I buy one that says "supports 3 monitors" (or more) i can use all ports on it and get a game to spread over all monitors no problem? (I mean, its not like its now that I can select either clone or just another screen to use...right?).
If so, please suggest cards so I know what to save for (in similar range of the TH2G ofc)
shitloads of new stuff in my pc. Cant keep track of it all.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ankh
Posts: 23355
Location: Trelleborg
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Werelds
Special Little Man
Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 22:36 Post subject: |
|
|
Well, not running it at the proper resolution will make it look shit, you kind of want all 3 monitors to run at their native resolution
When do you want this setup?
Reason I'm asking is because ATI are releasing the HD6 series in october, november and december, meaning prices of current cards will drop. I think it's wisest for you to just wait for that to happen, either that or you pick up a second GTX 260
As far as ports go, all HD5 cards come with 4 ports: 2 DVI, 1 HDMI and 1 DisplayPort. You can use 3 out of 4, but there's a little catch: one of the 3 HAS to be the DisplayPort. That's not much of an issue, just means you have to buy a 20 euro DP->HDMI/DVI adapter which came out like a week ago if your monitor doesn't have a DP. The only exception is the 5870 Eyefinity 6, which comes with 6 DisplayPorts. Once you enable it, you won't have "clone" or "extend" anymore, your 3 monitors will be seen as a single monitor, so every game SHOULD support it - if they support the resolution. Most games do, just some old ones don't.
Edit: I only mentioned ATI above btw, with their DP limitation. NVIDIA's limitation is that you need 2 cards in SLI to do it.
Now, I'll give you some performance numbers anyway, so you get an idea of how things would run on your card; note, I've got a 22" 1080p monitor, and a 20" 1680x1050 monitor, so my resolution is actually not even 2/3rds of what you would have. Ignore the spoiler if you really don't care about performance numbers.
 Spoiler: | Specs: E8400 @ stock (3 GHz), 4 GB DDR2-800, 5870 1GB @ stock clocks (disabled my OC for this), running Win7 x64 and Catalyst 10.6.
I'll spare you the full timedemo data, here's the summaries:
| Quote: | DirectX 9.0c GAMER 3X @ Map: frost @ 0 1920 x 1080 AA 4xx
==> Framerate [ Min: 27.54 Max: 57.45 Avg: 44.35 ]
DirectX 10 GAMER 3X @ Map: frost @ 0 1920 x 1080 AA 4xx
==> Framerate [ Min: 25.48 Max: 55.89 Avg: 41.62 ]
DirectX 9.0c GAMER 3X @ Map: frost @ 0 3360 x 1050 AA 4xx
==> Framerate [ Min: 20.37 Max: 38.04 Avg: 32.53 ]
DirectX 10 GAMER 3X @ Map: frost @ 0 3360 x 1050 AA 4xx
==> Framerate [ Min: 10.54 Max: 39.55 Avg: 30.95 ] |
Even if you ran it at 3x1680x1050 or something like that, your 260 would struggle badly, considering my 5870 is pretty much exactly twice as fast; also note how I ran with GAMER shaders, not even enthusiast, and only 4xAA (4xAA has virtually no performance impact, any higher and it takes a major nosedive). |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ankh
Posts: 23355
Location: Trelleborg
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TSR69
Banned
Posts: 14962
Location: Republic of the Seven United Provinces
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Werelds
Special Little Man
Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 22:49 Post subject: |
|
|
@Ankh
I can tell you when the new cards come
It's still unknown how good or bad they are and when EXACTLY they are launched, but if the rumours are correct:
- 6750/6770 in October; 6770 being as fast as a 5870, but priced at or under the $200 mark
- 6850/6870 in November; 6870 being as fast as 5970, priced at the $300 mark
- 6970 (dual-gpu) in December; being so fast that you can run 2 copies of the crappy console ports we get at the same time 
If the above things are correct, I would suggest getting the 6770, but we really don't know how fast these things are going to be. All performance estimates are exactly that: estimates, based on GPU-Z data from leaked screenshots.
Even if the above is not correct, the 5870 should drop way below the $300 mark, which would make it an excellent choice, since it still handles every game out there without problems
Can you hold out for another 6-8 weeks? 
Edit @iconized:
No, that's 6 DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapters
This one is what one would get now. Priced at $29.99 I believe
Last edited by Werelds on Sat, 4th Sep 2010 22:54; edited 2 times in total
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Sat, 4th Sep 2010 22:53 Post subject: |
|
|
| Ankh wrote: | Yeah I noticed, but when I checked a picture of one it had just 2 DVI ports? (but tons of others).
So let me see if I got this straight - if I buy one that says "supports 3 monitors" (or more) i can use all ports on it and get a game to spread over all monitors no problem? (I mean, its not like its now that I can select either clone or just another screen to use...right?).
If so, please suggest cards so I know what to save for (in similar range of the TH2G ofc) |
the six screen version comes with 6 display ports and obviously you'll need monitors that support that or adapters |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ankh
Posts: 23355
Location: Trelleborg
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Werelds
Special Little Man
Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
|
| Posted: Wed, 29th Sep 2010 14:19 Post subject: |
|
|
Got the DP adapters as well or do your monitors support DP?
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
| Posted: Fri, 1st Oct 2010 00:58 Post subject: |
|
|
| pwerelds wrote: | @Ankh
I can tell you when the new cards come
It's still unknown how good or bad they are and when EXACTLY they are launched, but if the rumours are correct:
- 6750/6770 in October; 6770 being as fast as a 5870, but priced at or under the $200 mark
- 6850/6870 in November; 6870 being as fast as 5970, priced at the $300 mark
- 6970 (dual-gpu) in December; being so fast that you can run 2 copies of the crappy console ports we get at the same time
If the above things are correct, I would suggest getting the 6770, but we really don't know how fast these things are going to be. All performance estimates are exactly that: estimates, based on GPU-Z data from leaked screenshots.
Even if the above is not correct, the 5870 should drop way below the $300 mark, which would make it an excellent choice, since it still handles every game out there without problems
Can you hold out for another 6-8 weeks?
Edit @iconized:
No, that's 6 DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapters
This one is what one would get now. Priced at $29.99 I believe |
There has been no reliable benchmark at all from these new radeons, and i can say for sure that "IF" 6870 would match 5970 performance, it sure would not cost 300 dollars lol. This is complete bullshit. From what i have heard and saw from interwebz, 6xxx series is just refreshed 5xxx series with less power consumption and little more peformance to their counterparts.
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Werelds
Special Little Man
Posts: 15098
Location: 0100111001001100
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
TSR69
Banned
Posts: 14962
Location: Republic of the Seven United Provinces
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Ankh
Posts: 23355
Location: Trelleborg
|
| Posted: Fri, 1st Oct 2010 17:02 Post subject: |
|
|
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Page 1 of 1 |
All times are GMT + 1 Hour |
