Matrox TripleHead2Go
Carolyn Koh takes a look at Matrox's TripleHead2Go device that allows users to spread their computer screens over three different monitors.
Hardware Reviews By Carolyn Koh on February 19, 2007
Matrox TripleHead2Go Continued (page 2 of 2)
System Requirements: Single VGA or DVI-I output connector Microsoft Windows 2000, XP, XP x64bit, Vista™, and MAC OS X v10.4 Two / Three Monitors The above are the requirements. Whether your system can push that many pixels with acceptable performance for gaming is another thing altogether.
Supported Display Modes: 1920 x 480 (triple 640 x 480), 2400 x 600, 3072 x 768 or 3840 x 1024 resolution 2560 x 1024 (dual 1280 x 1024), 3360 x 1050 (dual 1680 x 1050), 3072 x 768 (triple 1024 x 768) at 75Hz and 85Hz for CRTs and 3840 x 720 with the expander tool.
A wealth of information is available on the Matrox site http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/products/th2go/home.php including a full page showing the maximum resolutions achievable by your particular GPU. http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/support/th2go/compatibility.php.
The Gaming Experience
There's just one word. Sweet! After using the SGU to create a new config file, I launched them and there was World of Warcraft and Dungeons and Dragons Online spread out in glorious 2400 x 600 pixel goodness.
EverQuest2 wasn't in the Matrox list of supported games, http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/products/th2go/gaming/list.php but I gave it a shot anyway and it worked! It would only support a resolution of 2400 x 600 through the Preferences/Display Settings but that was still 47" of screen.
;)
;)
Vanguard: Saga of Heroes has built in screen resolution support of up to 3840 x 1024 so that was simply a matter of selecting the resolution I wanted (and my monitors supported) in game options.
;)
Encouraged by that, I had to try it with the granddaddy of 3-D MMORPGs, EverQuest by manually editing the configuration file. Sadly, it didn't get as far as 2400, but 1440 x 600 wasn't to be sneezed at.
What did three screens give me in an MMORPG? Peripheral vision baybee! A way to see mobs and the hordes of unfriendlies that seem to always lurk outside of your normal view and blind-side you just when you least need for it to happen.
Now that I knew for sure, I returned the Dell monitors to the office and began switching out other old monitors I had: An old Viewsonic15" LCD with bad pixels that had been banished into the basement, an older monitor on the file server, the one on the kitchen computer. I won't say that they all worked as well, but they worked as long as I went down to the lowest common denominator, which was 800 x 600 on the oldest monitor I had.
I spent the rest of the week playing different games - both MMORPG and single-player. One issue I encountered was that although the lovely wide-screen configuration worked well within the game, the splash screens and character creation screens of some (older) games could present problems as they distorted across three monitors. Some of the Free-to-play MMOGs do not support wide-screen video configurations but that was not entirely unexpected.
Having a panoramic view like this took a little getting used to. At first I was a little disoriented, especially in cities when the textures of buildings and streets rushed by at a stomach churning rate. The breaks in the visual panorama created by the monitor frames also seemed a little distracting. Once I adjusted the side screens by angling them inward, however, they became the peripheral vision that has been lacking in games, and the black bars of the monitor frames slipped away from notice.
;)
The only niggle I have is that the device is an analog device. Digital I/O (DVI-I) is common in today's video devices, and DVI is an interface standard that is designed to maximize the visual quality of digital display devices such as flat panel LCD screens. However, as can be seen by the announcement that its little brother, the Digital version DualHead2Go will be released in March of 2007, Matrox is moving in that direction.
Apart from gaming, I greatly enjoyed multitasking on the three screen spread. A game is updating on the left screen, I'm writing this on the center, and a web browser and email/ IM on the right as I check facts and download product photographs. So if you need a more reasons to justify this purchase... there you go. Efficiency and productivity. No more windows layering on top of each other, shrinking windows or alt-tabbing.
;)
For most, this upgrade would be the cost of the unit ($299) plus 2 monitors to supplement what they already have. Conservatively, therefore, a $700 output could provide you 57" (3 x 19") of visual real estate, compared to the $1,500 you'd need to drop for a 30" monitor.
Conclusion
The limited view of an MMOG world always made me feel as if I were looking at the world with blinkers on, and over the years, I had gone to the "behind the shoulder" camera view for wider field of vision and hence better awareness of my surroundings
The Matrox TripleHead2Go brought back the immersion of the first person camera view for me. My gaming experience improved as I enjoyed a surround view of the game worlds. This is the ultimate gamer eye-candy upgrade. Go for it.
Review System Specs: CPU: AMD X2 4600+ Motherboard: Asus M2N32 Deluxe - nVidia nForce 590 SLI chipset RAM: 2G Mushkin DDR2-800 RAM (4-4-3-10) Video: Dual nVidia 7900GS in SLI mode
Monitors: Samsung 710N-2 17" Native Resolution: 1280 x 1024 Response Time: 8ms
Dual Dell E153FP 15" Native Resolution: 1024 x 768 Response Time: 25ms
If one were to do a quick google search on this, they would be quick to note that these get bad reveiws.
Just buy an extra wide-screen monitor and dual-screen. It costs the same as this. (Assuming you bought a new GPU in the last 3 years.)
Review from Techgage: "All in all, gaming with TH2Go is pure bliss"
Trustedreviews.com: "If you’re a multi-monitor fan and you have the space you have to consider this."
Guru3d.com: "It's an absolutely marvellous experience and comes highly recommended."
That was a quick google for me... Want me to continue? You see, that you bash things on auto does not mean you seem like you know things and is really smart.. you look like a clueless fool when you dont know what you are bashing... Biased review... This has gotten praise pretty much everywhere, needing only a few simple patches to be perfect.
The only biased person here is you, that want to bash a good review with first hand experience, just because you dont know better, you have osme grudge against a site you visit (advice, get out then?) and your mommy did not hug you enough as a kid... two years ago.
Stop the monkeypoo tossing please and grow up
Glad to see a full review here of this product, and one that includes photos that I was unable to include in my own review.
As some of you may remember I won the TripleHead2Go and a Viewsonic monitor from an MMORPG contest awhile back. Here's a shameless plug to that review (notice: It's LONG!): http://www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/98590.
I sometimes look back on that and think, "Ya know, they were probably just wanting a Hey, this is cool! kind of response.." Heh. Oops.
I thoroughly enjoy it and highly recommend it, and it's good to know that they have a DVI version coming out. If I were to have a wishlist item for the next version of the TripleHead2Go then it would be to support higher resolutions on each individual monitor. That only makes sense with monitors growing in size as they are.
Anyway, it's late and I'm awfully darn tired. Just wanted to plug my old review and say that, no, I doubt Carolyn's review is a "paid advertisement". This thing really is an immersive, impressive piece of hardware.
a quick edit to add that the "dual monitor" config that one obtains directly from their 3D card is considerably different from what the TripleHead2Go gives. See my original long review for more info on that. IIRC I touched on that subject.
Good night!
~Mysk
i guess its ok for the average newb.
i find this thing as p retty stupid, theres never a time where i would want 3 monitors to be displaying it likt e it would be. This displaying it over so many monitors has never inpressed me. Meh get a 32" LCDTV and be happy
With a 32 LCDTV youw ill NOT get the resolution you would from 3 monitors. You will only get the same as a 17 inch flat panel. I laugh at anyone who buys a LCDTV to hook up to there computer just to play games on. Its about the realestate space and the LCD TV's do NOT have it.
I know some people who run multiple displays, and it's really useful for racing sims where you need the peripheral vision. But other than making you look like a sad monitor collector or someone with too much money, it's far from a 'must have' thing.
The blind spots between monitors don't really make that much difference - your blind spot fills them in and remember there's not actually a space there in the game (so you couldn't miss an enemy or anything). And if you can afford to use LCDs or plasmas, the side bars aren't that big anyway.
HD Ready TV (720p/1080i) do not support more than 17" monitor resolution. That's correct.
But a PROPER HD TV (1080p) at 37" will cost you less than $1000 and have resolution 1920x1080.
Tbh if I had £800/$1600 I would buy the 30" Dell monitor and be happy (2560x1600), insteed of paying £350 for 2 additional 19" plus £500 for the device.
Great Review Carolynn,...Spot On.....I've been using the TripleHead2Go since last October and couldn't be happier.
Given that MMO's, are my Hobby of choice. It only made sense to jump in with both feet. At 3840x1024 resolution I've got a definite advantage over my group mates and enemies. I can see a MUCH wider field of view than they can. Combined with a THX surround sound system....nothing sneaks up on me.
I've played EVE-Online, LoTR (Beta) and I'm currently playing Vanguard so I have to warn you...once you've played this way...you can't go back to a single 19" 20" or 21"screen ever again. It's just no fun.
Vanguard zoomed in on one of my Characters
Vanguard zoomed out on the same character
Gnabicus, those are some great photos. :D That's the way to show it off right there, hehe.
~Mysk
Notice....all of the people who have actually used this device have nothing but praise for it....
vs the trolls who scoff at the silly "low-tech" solution for "noobs"
I just hate useless trolls.....
There was a whole long thread in Matrox official suport forums about this matter, but Matrox decided to eliminate the forums.
I am glad to see someone finally made something small and affordable for the common man to use in their homes.
I will wait for the DVI version (this has to be around the corner) and I'll pick this up. My 8800gtx has two DVI slots, but I won't get that 3 monitor support :P Who knows, Hook up 6 monitors? mwahahaha~!
WoW!
Those pics are awesome. Do you have any videos of you in action playing any MMO's?
Not yet...I used Fraps playing EVE online...but the file sizes were HUGE. I'll play around with it and see what I can get out of VanGuard.
Via Engadget.com . . . Matrox just announced that a digital Triplehead2go is coming soon.
www.engadget.com/2007/03/07/matroxs-triplehead2go-digital-edition/
Any recommendation on what monitors I should buy to go with it? I'm using 2 old monitors at the moment that I'd just as soon replace.
Also, how do I get Everquest 2 to run in 2400x600? Which file do I have to edit?
Normally the game will allow you to adjust the resolution somewhere in the Video settings menu.
As for which monitor...your simply looking for the lowest MS response time with the highest contrast ratio and the smallest bevel/bezel. I'm currently using the Acer AL1950 monitors which have a 2ms response but I find the bevel/bezel a bit wide and the contrast a bit lower than I'd prefer. If I had it to do over again I'd concentrate on the contrast a bit more.
Hmm I knew I was looking for small response time in a monitor. Sigh, when I got to NewEgg they have so many it's hard to choose.
Well, I can't say I like playing Everquest in 2400x600 mode. It doesn't let you zoom out enough and you have almost no vertical perception.
If you buy this thing, make sure you have a nvidia card. You can achieve much better than 2400x600 with a nvidia card.
I'm returning my ATI X1600Pro tonight and getting an NVIDIA so I can try EQ2 in 3360x1050. That should be much better.
Well, a few graphics cards later and I'm almost set up. I initially had a Radeon 9600SE which doesn't like the TH2G. I got a X1600Pro which lets you get 2400x600 which turns out to be CRUMMY... so in reality I'd say for a gamer that the TH2G does NOT support ATI cards.
I returned the card and got a GeForce6200OC, which is simply not enough horsepower to run EQ2 in 3840x1024, though I did get a peek at it. I returned that card and got the AGP version of the GeForce7800GS.
NOW I'm cooking with gas. EQ2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 both give me great wide displays with fluid movement even on high settings. It's so immersive!
I'm using three 22" widescreen monitors by CHIMEI. So we are talking REALLY wide. I can't wait to go home and play with this setup some more!