Multi-Monitor Gaming

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

Most games do not support multiple monitors. The exceptions I can think of are a few different flight sims and Supreme Commander. The rest do not support it. If you play games with them, the extra monitors will typically turn off.

There is a new product from Matrox, the DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go. I haven't looked into them much, but they are designed for what you are trying to do. The problem is you will come across many games that do not support the resolution required to use this thing with good quality. Assuming your monitors are 1680x1050, a game would have to support a 1050x5040 resolution. Many games will not support that, and lower resolutions will generally look pretty bad.

Also a comment on your system...If you can, I would retun the 8600GT's and get a single 8800GTS. It's only a little bit more and will give you MUCH better results. SLI is EXTREMELY overrated. It's really one of the last steps to do to get a performance boost out of your system (If you have an 8800GTX/Ultra already), or if you have an old system you want to keep going for a little while longer. You usually only get ~40% of the performance out of the second card, and that is IF the game even supports SLI, otherwise it will just use one card anyway. Most major games do support it, but you will run into the occasional one that doesn't, and if you play mid-range/indie titles, they are closer to 50/50. The 8800GTS is AMAZING bang-for-your-buck...trust me, you won't regret it.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

Are you looking for a VGA distribution device? If so, they are made. I actually traded someone stuff I did not need for a Key Digital KD-RBGDA8 (which I also don't need but at the time I thought I had a possibility of using for something - so if it something you can use let me know). It allows the hook-up of 8 monitors and has a pass-thru so you can keep hooking it to another unit and hook-up 8 more, etc. They have lots of similar devices available.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/reviews/parhelia/

Scroll Down to Surround Gaming some info about multiple monitor gaming is there. I am Planning on getting 3 Projectors and Use Falcon 4 (F-16 Flight Sim) Plus E-Dimensional 3D Glasses for a Real Virtual 3D Widescreen Effect !!

They also have a link to the Matrox Website which list about 150 Games for Surround gaming. here is a snippet of what he said in the above article:

"Surround gaming means playing games in TripleHead mode. Because the game sees only a single large monitor, and all 3 displays have hardware 3D acceleration (both OpenGL and Direct3D), any game that supports widescreen resolutions or has a windowed mode can be played in surround mode."

There are More and more games supporting Widescreen resolution. It is Probally gonna be the Future for Gaming as the LCD Widescreen monitor Prices are within reason.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

You will get better performance from a single more powerful card than dual less powerful cards. If you want to go with multi-monitors, go with the 640MB 8800GTS or the 8800GTX (depending on your budget, but the GTS should do fine.)

SLI sucks.

PS: I'd go with the Intel Core 2 line if I was you.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

Most videocards have just two outputs, so to get three one usually needs two cards - or something like an Nvidia Quadro with four outputs, of course.

I run on two old 6600GT's, works great for everything except gaming.

As has been pointed out, multiscreen gaming is still pretty much a no-go except on a few games who support it, and even there (for instance, with Supreme Commander) you may be limited, SupCom supports two screens, and they have to be connected to the primary graphics card.

The Matrox TripleHead2Go takes the signal from one graphics card out and splits it into three outputs for three screens, but it maxes out at 3 x (1280 x 1024).

Edit: forgot - with multimonitors, you need (not want, not might-be-nice-to-have, but need) UltraMon. It makes it easy to manage windows across the monitors and give advanced wallpaper support etc. Get it.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

Since we are talking gaming, video cards and monitors what is the best 20 or 21 inch monitor to get nowadays? Seems a daunting task to try and wade through all of the specs and info to figure it out.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

For gaming? Just look for something with at least a 1600x1200 pixel rating and under 5ms response time.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

22" monitors are the sweet spot right now. They are all 1680x1050 resolution. Standard aspect is phasing out, and most games are supporting widescreen now. You can get a 22" for just a little over $200.

Also Steve, what PSU did you order? Many people go WAY overboard on powesupply, and you often actually need less than what you think (I've seen a review of a 500W Antec powering a 8800GTX, Core 2 Extreme, and 4 HDD's). As long as you have a QUALITY power supply, 400W should power your system no problem.

Here is a quick lists of brands to avoid from OCForums:


If you see yours on the list, 500W would probably be the minimum you would want.

Really good brands in particular are: Antec, Enermax, Hiper, OCZ, and Xclio. I like Xclio in particular because they are priced very well, and they use the same OEM as Antec, which is often considered the best. Newegg has a 500W for $50. So if your PSU on the way from Newegg meets these guidelines, I wouldn't RMA it.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

It also depends on how many 12v rails you have and how many amps it puts out. I currently have a OCZ GameXStream 700Watt with Quad 12-volt rails that puts out 72 amps. May be a little overkill for my current setup (E6320, 7600GT, 320GB HD) but it gives me HUGE lee-way for upgradability.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

Seasonic (and Corsair 520 and 620, which are rebadged Sesonics) are also good. I got the 620 version from Corsair with modular cables, great PSU.

Then there's PC Power & Cooling, they have some great PSU's but can be pricey. Their 1KW model is pretty cool, but also $500 and massive overkill.

Personally I looked at http://www.silentpcreview.com for tips, as I didn't want a computer that sounded as if an Apache attack helicopter at low altitude was hovering over the house...

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

PC Power & Cooling are quite literally the most stable power supplies on the market, They're expensive for a reason. They're the best power supplies you can possibly get.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

Since when is Thermaltake a bad PSU?

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

If you read the posting at the bottom it explains. Not all of them are bad, but many can be. They apparently have 2+ manufacturers. The ones made by CWT are good, but the other ones are of poor quality or are questionable. So it's best not to risk it (uness you can find out somehow if it's a CWT one).

When you find a specific one or few you like, always hunt down a review anyway. Even the best manufacturers can kick out a bad model from time to time.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

You've wandered into the murky depths of the video overlay wilderness.

Using BSPlayer for instance you can choose how to render video. Switching to VMR9 as opposed to Overlay allowed me to play video across two screens, but with overlay just one at a time.

I won't pretend to be an expert on the topic, but most likely your problems are either driver related or renderer-related, probably the latter.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

I'd add some Coolermaster PSU's to that list, one of them set my motherboard on fire.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

There's also more stuff like this on the horizon:

"Aug 31, 2007 12:00

LG and DisplayLink Debut USB Connected Widescreen Monitor at IFA Berlin

BERLIN --(Business Wire)-- Aug. 31, 2007 DisplayLink Corp. and LG Electronics (LG) today announced European availability of the new FlatronWide L206WU Windows Vista-compatible USB computer monitor. The technology is being unveiled this week at the IFA tradeshow in Berlin in Hall 11.2, stand 101, from August 31st to September 5th, 2007 and will be available later this month.
From LG, a global leader in high performance liquid crystal display (LCD) technology, the FlatronWide L206WU is a 20-inch monitor that features high-performance HD graphics display over a standard USB 2.0 link. Enabled by the DisplayLink DL-160 network display chip, the monitor also offers wide-screen resolution (1680x1050) for full-screen display of rich graphics and playback of widescreen video.

With a multi-port USB hub built into the display, up to three LG FlatronWide monitors can be connected together to a single PC, while consuming only one USB 2.0 port on the computer. Future improvements will enable up to six monitors to be connected to a single PC over USB 2.0.

"LG is proving that multiple monitors can make a big difference in the computing experience of a PC user and that it doesn't have to be expensive or complicated," said Morris Lee, Global Monitor Marketing Team Leader for LG Electronics. "Being at IFA gives us a very high-profile European launching pad for this very unique product."

The DisplayLink DL-160 network display chip in the L206WU powers high-quality, fully interactive 32-bit true-color graphics with smooth DVD video playback across a USB link. DisplayLink is the first company to enable the 3D capabilities of the Windows Vista Aero interface for USB-connected displays with an unparalleled user experience.

"This new display represents a dramatic shift in how consumers can think of their PCs, because it is now easy and cost-effective to have the display space to truly take advantage of today's high-performance processors and applications," said Hamid Farzaneh, president and CEO of DisplayLink. "DisplayLink is dedicated to working with our partners like LG to deliver new display innovations to make this multi-monitor experience available to all PC users."

Pricing and Availability

Pricing and European availability and more details on the FlatronWide L206WU are available on the LG Web site at http://www.lge.com.

About DisplayLink Network Display Technology

DisplayLink technology is comprised of the DL-120 and DL-160 high-performance network display chips and Virtual Graphics Card (VGC) software that powers high-quality, fully interactive 32-bit true-color graphics with real-time video playback across a USB link. They are designed for monitor manufacturers, PC OEMs and PC accessory companies who want to develop easy to use high performance products such as USB-connected monitors, video-capable USB laptop docking stations, Skype video phones, picture frames and other devices. The company's lossless compression algorithm and adaptive graphics protocol can also transmit graphics over other standard network interfaces, including wireless USB, Ethernet or Wi-Fi.

About LG Electronics

LG Electronics, Inc. (KSE:06657.KS) is a global leader and technology innovator in consumer electronics, home appliances and mobile communications, employing more than 72,000 people working in over 120 operations including 80 subsidiaries around the world. Comprising four business units -- Mobile Communications, Digital Appliance, Digital Display and Digital Media with 2005 global consolidated sales of US $43.4 billion -- LG Electronics is the world's largest producer of CDMA handsets, residential air conditioners, plasma panels, optical storage products, DVD players and home theater systems. For more information please visit http://www.lge.com.

About DisplayLink

DisplayLink Corp. is a network display fabless chip company that is enabling seamless connections between computers and displays using standard wired or wireless networking protocols. The company's technology allows multiple monitors to seamlessly connect to a single PC and function independently to display different content. Founded in 2003, DisplayLink's institutional backers include Atlas Venture, Benchmark Capital and Esprit Capital. The company is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, with main R&D and product development activities in Cambridge, UK. More information can be found at http://www.displaylink.com.

"

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

It would probably have been better if you had just clipped an excerpt of that and then given a link... rather than copying the content verbatim.

Yeah, there are just two ways to get more screen real estate - buying increasingly expensive and massive displays or buying several cheaper ones. For most people the second option is more realistic.

I'm really thrilled with 4800x1200 pixels myself.

Just need to get my Ergotron triple display stand ordered to make it really perfect.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

Yeah, it's not free. However I'm finding that it would be really good if I could angle all three screens identically - right now, I have to tilt all three monitors back a tad to get the best image, and it looks less good than it could because obviously the upper corners of the monitors are no longer flush against each other now.

This is especially true as I run my leftmost monitor in portrait mode and use that for web surfing etc which works much better in that format.

Re: Multi-Monitor Gaming

4800x1200 here - which means I beat you slightly in overall pixel count.

I have a few wallpapers in that resolution but nothing that would fit your wiiiidescreen resolution.

One thing I did was download Fyre and used that to make some of my own. I had a lot of fun doing it - not every effort came out great, but you could get some really fun geometric shapes. I then used The Gimp to color it all up a bit.

http://fyre.navi.cx/