Triple Monitor Setup

PurplePuppet

PurplePuppet

PurplePuppet

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Poole, Dorset.
I`m thinking about getting 2 of these for a trple monitor setup to go with my already Dell Ultrasharp 2407WFP 24" Monitor...
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-020-DE&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

Would I be able to run all monitors on 1920x1200 res with my setup
or what res would be suitable to run on each individual monitor.
I`m new to this adding extra monitor setup, so any info would be great.

Specs
Quad Q9550 'Yorkfield' OC@ 3.8
Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5
2x HIS ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2
Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 Intel X48 DDR2 Mobo
Vista Ultimate x64 SP1
Thermaltake ToughPower 1200W Modular Power Supply
1x Samsung SpinPoint F1 750GB SATA-II 32MB,
5x Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA-II 32MB,
 
Not sure about widescreen resolutions etc but i'm in the process of buying one of these for my triple 19" monitor setup http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/ there's also a compatibility tool on the website that gives you the res info you need, If your setup is for surround gaming like mine then this is the very thing as it runs from only 1 DVI gpu output and fools your pc into thinking its 1 single large screen i'l have a res of 3840x1024 on my 19". oh and I think you will need the digital edition to run widescreen resolutions. The biggest benefit is the fact that you should get close to the same fps performance as if with 1 monitor, I found with running dual sceen from 2 dvi outs om my 4870 is that the performance gets worse with every new window open. the other thing is that with ATI cards spanning across 2 screens doesn't seem to work for games. ATI hydravision has been useless in my experience. I think Nvidia are one step ahead in the surround gaming dept. The other thing you may want to consider is an ergotron triple monitor stand this ensures correct alignment of your screens and I just bought the DS100 triple stand.
 
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If you want want 3 x 24" screens for desktop work you need any 2 graphics cards (one must have 2 DVI/VGAports) or 1x Dualhead(or greater)2go unit and any graphics card with 2 DVI ports. You will now typically be gaming on just the one monitor (or 2 if you use the DualHead2go option - but gaming on 2 screens is tough and you loose the Crosshair

Now if you want to game on 3 monitors, you have 2 different options. 1 is software based using SofthTH (free!), your main graphics card renders all 3 screen but you need a cheapie 2 direct 3D card to output to the 3rd screen. Good points of SoftTH option is you can use the full res of your 24" screens and is cheap. Bad points are relatively poor games compatibility (about 20-25 ganes work well and some kind soul has to write a program for the game to work with SofthTH), lower FPS, does not work with games in DX10 mode, and no SLi or Crossfire support. 2nd option is the one I use which is a hardware solution using the TripleHead2go graphics expansion box. This 'sits' between your 3 monitors and your graphics card and 'tricks' windows into thinking that you only have 1 monitor ablit a very wide one with a resolution of up to 5040x1050. Only 1 DVI port on your graphics card is used. As its a hardware solution, there are no drivers to set up and worry about. Now the good thing about this that most recent FPS, driving, Flight Sims, WOW etc support these ultra wide resolutions natively (these are the type of games that really benifit from ultra wide res) So when you go to games setup menu, under the graphics settings you will find a range of resolutions to choose all the way up to 5040x1050. For games that dont, Matrox provides updates and program that patches them. There are over 300 games that work at the moment. Downsides of TH2Go are the initial hardware cost (about £220 at the moment for the digital version), the maximum supported resolution at the moment is 3x 1680x1050 (this res does not work with ATi cards, though most other popular ones like 3x1280x1024 do) and all 3 monitors must be running the same resolution.
 
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Also a point to note you can run all 3 screens from your 4870x2's but you need to disable crossfire, which is probs why people are recomending tripplehead2go

if you are not going to use the screens for gaming then that might be fine.
 
sorry about the trident/c.logic thing:D was my attempt at humour;)

but really if i had a 3rd 30" as i have 2 already what wiould the scope be for playing games in? seeing as the triple2go wouldnt support the 2560x res x 3.

would i have drive the 3 at 1680?
 
The res on the TripleHead2Go Digital was recently increased from 3840x1024 to 5040x1050 and there is scope for the res to be increased further but if u were to use it now you would be limited to this lower res.

Would u actually be able to see the 2nd and 3rd screens either side of the middle 30" in an action packed FPS?!
 
Thanks for your expert help guys, but I went for only 1 monitor due to space really...so I got this instead:-
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-024-DE&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=
Pic!!!

P2140118.jpg


New Monitor Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP 24" on left
other monitor Dell 2407WFP UltraSharp 24
Both running at 1920x1200
Sorry about pic..not great.
 
PurplePuppet said:
Thanks for your expert help guys, but I went for only 1 monitor due to space really...so I got this instead:-
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-024-DE&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=
Pic!!!

P2140118.jpg


New Monitor Dell Ultrasharp 2408WFP 24" on left
other monitor Dell 2407WFP UltraSharp 24
Both running at 1920x1200
Sorry about pic..not great.
Click to expand...
I've got a 2407WFP and wanted to get another one. Sadly, OCUK dont stock them any more but stock the 2408WFP. Is there much quality or contrast difference?
 
creed said:
The res on the TripleHead2Go Digital was recently increased from 3840x1024 to 5040x1050 and there is scope for the res to be increased further but if u were to use it now you would be limited to this lower res.

Would u actually be able to see the 2nd and 3rd screens either side of the middle 30" in an action packed FPS?!
Click to expand...

My setup is only 3X19" on triplehead2go and it looks great I think your right 3x30" would be a bit pointless and expensive you'd be better off with a projector, plus in some games namely Crysis the FPS takes quite a hit when played over 3 screens and to make it playable i have to sacrifice some high graphics settings!! however most other games it makes no difference.
 
Farore said:
I've got a 2407WFP and wanted to get another one. Sadly, OCUK dont stock them any more but stock the 2408WFP. Is there much quality or contrast difference?
Click to expand...

Also, want to know if the monitors are the same dimensions so they dont look wierd when stood side by side? Might sell my current monitor and buy 2 of the newer ones...
 
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