Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: 33Vortex on January 22, 2010, 04:43:38 AM
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Ok here's my problem. The Matrox triplehead does not support 3 displays at 1920x1200 resolution afaik, so what options are there?
I've seen software solutions that is compatible with various games but it seems they can't fully take advantage of a SLI setup. I have 2 x GTX280 cards in SLI and it would be a shame if that computing power went to waste.
Since my 30" 2560x1600 panel broke and Samsung can neither repair nor replace it within their own warranty I'm looking at getting 3x24" panels instead, but need to know how to set it up before spending. Anyone got experience with multi-monitor setups beyond the specs of the matrox hardware, and if it's capable of taking advantage of SLI/Crossfire?
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I use 3 24" monitors in AH using softTH. I have two ati 4850's pushing it.
no sli/crossfire but it works great. Wraith_TMS helped me set it up by supplying info and the original AH config file.
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Or you can use ATI's new Eyeinfinity configuration with thier new cards. It does not require any software. It does require monitiors with a "display port" connector. I think they support up to 6 monitors now.
Side note: I thought Matrox had released an update to theTriplehead2Go to support the higher resolutions.
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Eagler: Can SoftTH make us of two gfx cards though?
Skuzzy: There maximum resolution listed on Matrox' site is 3x1680x1050 or 2x1920x1200. If Matrox indeed do support 3x1920x1200 I think that's the route I'll go. But do they??? :headscratch:
Edit: I see I'm starting to spell like an american now as well... :uhoh
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I'm just wondering why 1920x1200 is such a significant spec... :headscratch:
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As long as you can hook three monitors up to the two cards I do not see why they would not work.
I run the 3 monitors at 1920 x 1200 each I think. Let me double check when I get home.
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I'm just wondering why 1920x1200 is such a significant spec... :headscratch:
It is the default res for the two ASUS 23.5" monitors I have. The center 24" Dell goes 1920 x 1280 but I lower that one to match the other two.
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I'm just wondering why 1920x1200 is such a significant spec... :headscratch:
1920x1200 is the standard resolution for 24" 16:10 panels today, and some 26-27" panels too. Although they are moving toward the cinema aspect of 16:9 with the HD standard. I don't like how they push the HD standard into PC monitors, it's a ripoff. The 30" panels at 2560x1600 is such a small market it's probably not even profitable, which must be why most manufacturers are not making them anymore. They're just pushing for the HD standard for profits and people don't seem to know any better.
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Ah, so you're worried about running the monitors in "native resolution"...I wouldn't sweat it...that resolution is simply the "max spec" and it's not necessary to run at that level as long as when you run the lower levels you don't push the refresh rates too high.
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Native resolution has nothing to do with it, it's simply a matter of getting the most out of the setup. And if you lower the resolution the image will lose quality because the pixels aren't working optimally. When lowering the res the pixels will group up and form bigger pixels together, which will significantly lower image quality. So you shouldn't run a panel at less than optimal resolution if you can avoid it.
I'm wondering about your setup though Eagler. Are you using SoftTH on two cards but not running them in SLI/Crossfire mode?
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I'm wondering about your setup though Eagler. Are you using SoftTH on two cards but not running them in SLI/Crossfire mode?
that is correct
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Is it capable of taking advantage of the power in both cards, or does it rely on just one???
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NVidia's newer drivers have an option with monitor setup to horizontally spread the desktop across my 2 monitors. I'd imagine the same works with 2 vid cards and 3 monitors (2 are just not helpful for gaming).
I don't always do this. I'll give an example, though. When I don't do it, AH Film viewer has to be on my primary display. If I stretch it onto the secondary or move it there, it'll chug and slow down. If I use the nvidia settings to create 1 big desktop, it does something different with the way the video card processes things, and I can run across both monitors (in AH Film viewer) without the stutters. It does impact fps, though, the larger I make it.
Might try doing that before going for any expensive alternative. It's free (built-in).
EDIT: I looked it up. Right click desktop, "NVIDIA control manager" which I have in advanced mode, "display" tab on the side, "set up multiple displays" sub-section, and it's the option that says "As one large horizontal desktop"
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Krusty anyone who's poked around Windows settings should know about that basic stuff. Thanks for trying to help though. :aok
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Not sure if you can use crossfire - think you'd need 3 slots if they were individual cards are a double for the Xfire in one slot and another card in the 2nd slot.
I have AH setup at 6010 x 1080 (not 1200 like i thought). The extra width is for the monitor bezels.
My cpu is an E8400 stock with 4 gb of ram.
Here's the main site .. it is free .. check out its forum:
http://www.kegetys.net/SoftTH/ (http://www.kegetys.net/SoftTH/)
It isn't perfect but it's allot of fun. Don't think I could go back to one monitor.
(http://www.pogbird.com/X45/3mons1.jpg)
(http://www.pogbird.com/X45/3mons2.jpg)
(http://www.pogbird.com/X45/3mons3.jpg)
(http://www.pogbird.com/X45/3mons4.jpg)
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Very pretty, what's your view angle for that setup?
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I have it set to auto
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Ok, thanks for your help Eagler! :aok Now I'm waiting for the hardware to arrive. Going to set up the three panels on three desk stands with swing arms for easy adjustment. It will require some drilling work on the table though. Will try to get some pics up when it's done, hope to have it done within next week.
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Krusty anyone who's poked around Windows settings should know about that basic stuff. Thanks for trying to help though. :aok
I've never had 3 monitors or a system powerful enough to run a game across them.
Care to share/enlighten as to why folks go for the matrox solution, and other software solutions, instead of using the built-in?
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Simply put, because windows view the three monitors as three different monitors. So you need a hardware or software solution to override that and have the OS think that the three screens are actually one big screen.
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Ah, I see.
Windows itself views them as separate, but by going in through the nvidia drivers screen, it does something different. Windows treats it as a single monitor somehow. The task bar starts on one screen with the Start Button, stretches all the way over to the opposite side of the other screen and ends with the systray/clock.
That's the only reason I mention it, somehow nvidia makes windows thing it's running as a single display (at least, seems that way to me, I don't really know).
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Ok, nVidia must have updated their driver features since last I checked on the multi-monitor setup, which admittedly was a few years ago now. It'll be interesting to see how this work out. :)
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Had somebody PM me, so thought I'd put this here too (in case any others are wondering)
Here's where I find the setting (screenshot)
http://www.nakatomitower.com/shots/nvidia.jpg
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Isn't that feature for a maximum of two displays and can't be used with SLI enabled???
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don't see how you can use two monitors in AH as it seems the gun sight would be in the crack in between the two monitors.
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Precisely the reason I don't game that way. Never had 3 monitors myself, I imagine something should be possible, but I was just giving an idea/starting-point. I leave it up to others to test/experiment.
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i'm running 3 acer 223w's on sli and it works great. the only thing i don't understand is why the two side views are so different than the middle. other games don't do that. it's one single screen of which my setting is 3840x800. interesting idea to set the width a little wider for bezel. but do i have something not right to have the side monitors view zoomed in more than the middle?
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I have 1 GTX280 running 3 Samsung Syncmaster 2443BWX's, with a resolution of 5040 x 1050, it takes off about an inch on each side but the display is great!!! The monitors look peiced together because the camera takes 3 shots for panoramic mode
(http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm188/denniswilha/Pics268.jpg)
(http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm188/denniswilha/ahss8.jpg)
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denniswilha: That's exactly what I'm using now. Do you use the SoftTH setup or the Matrox? I can't get the matrox triplehead working in the 1920x1200 native resolution, so imho it's a piece of ****.
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I use the Matrox PowerDesk Software, it only goes to 5040x1050. But with the textures all maxed, the picture is great, I have the anti-aliasing set to app controlled and the slider in game to 3/4. The resolution is great and not grainy at all. the only reason I have an inch missing on the sides is because of the Bezel Management {for GXM}. It pulls the image behind the bezels of the monitor so it appears the mouse passes behind the bezels not just jumping to each screen. The Bezel Management puts a huge X across all 3 monitors and allows you to align the lines so they appear to pass behind the bezels and align the monitors and picture perfectly.
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denniswilha: That's exactly what I'm using now. Do you use the SoftTH setup or the Matrox? I can't get the matrox triplehead working in the 1920x1200 native resolution, so imho it's a piece of ****.
Be sure you are using Dual Link DVI Cables, the Single Link DVI cables will not support the Higher Resolutions. I think I had to spend an extra $150 for 4 Dual Link DVI cables, I didn't know there was such a difference between Dual Link DVI and Single Link.
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Your monitors have DVI? Mine are VGA so I have to use adapters from the triplehead dvi outputs. Between the triplehead and PC I used a dual DVI though. That might be the bottleneck, but are you sure that the triplehead will support 3 monitors at 1920x1200 resolution? After all the trouble I've gone through since the 30" screen broke down I'm not going to send these 3 monitors back, probably too late for that now anyway.
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Go check out this:
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/resolution/digital/resolutions.html
It looks like it will support 2 @1920x1200 or 3 @1280x1024 and it specifies you will only get that resolution with Dual Link DVI, I don't think its gonna happen with VGA. I think you will have to use the analog edition, the digital addition will only work with DVI.
http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/guide.html
Even at the 1280x1024 x 3 i'm getting a resolution at 5040x1050 in the game, and the picture is great, its not all garbled or grainy like you think, the pixels are small and smooth. I guess to answer your question NO, I don't even get the option for that Resolution
Ijust recently upgraded to an i5 750 and went down in video to a GTX250, still runs the same.
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Well, I think I'll settle for the SoftTH setup for now, it still runs ok and I get 5960x1200 resolution out of it even if it only uses one of my cards. Sending back the matrox triplehead and get another 30" display sometime later. Have other priorities currently so it'll have to wait. What I miss the most is to be able to record with fraps directly when playing AH and get the cockpit perspective while playing. Won't be making any of those kind of films for a while.
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Tell ya what you might try, I'm using the matrox software and it only displays the 5040 res. you might just install drivers to use the matrox and try using your softTH software and see if you can pull up the higher resolutions. I might even give that a try, i then could get even more pixels.
Good luck.
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Higher resolutions is no problem with the SoftTH, using both cards is. SoftTH can't make use of SLI/Crossfire but can do any resolution whereas Matrox Triplehead can make use of my SLI setup but not show the higher resolutions.
:mad:
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33Vortex
by using 3 identical monitors do they lineup perfectly? What about stretching, do you see any in the side monitors?
My monitors perspectives are not the same.
The middle monitor a dell 2407wfp is 16:10 1920 x 1200 where the two sides ASUS VH242H are 16:9 max res 1920x1080.
My sides do not line up exactly and i do get some stretch/magnification on the side monitors. Matching colors exactly is another trick I have not figured out entirely.
Can you posts some shots of your setup?
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The color issue was a bit of a hassle to set up. Using SoftTH I've had no problems lining up the monitors. About the stretching, it's normal in AH as the camera perspective is programmed that way. I get the same stretched out perspective on the outer monitors. It's ok though as they're really only for peripheral vision and not to be looked directly at.
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I'm seriously thinking about going for an eyefinity setup down the road. I've seen a resolution of 7680x1600 and it left me absolutely speechless. But each monitor cost him £1,100.00 x 3 + £1,000.00 worth of graphics cards...
Eyefinity/TH2G is the future, I can't wait to be a part of it.
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Yeah it'll cost a pretty penny but I'm with ya on that one. You can only get the 7680x1600 resolution if you're using the 30" 2560x1600 panels, which are impressive by themselves.
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If you angle your outer monitors correctly, the distortion/stretching should not be noticeable.
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anyone thinking vaguely about doing this should just jump - it's awesome and very easy to set up.
just do what I did and steal the kids monitor