Widescreen Gaming Forum

Thanks njracer.

I mostly play MMO, RTS and FPS style games but from what I have read over the past week when it comes to TH2G flight sims and racing games are a must. I will definitely check out the titles you listed above. The blue tiger setup looks like a perfect gift for your average racing fan :D .

After hearing the feedback on this site, i may call and upgrade the GT to at least a GTS 640 OC. I think it's an additional $170 but it sounds like it may be worth the money.

Hello ... welcome to the forum ... :D

I ended up getting 3x

SAMSUNG 226BW Black 22" 2 ms (GTG) DVI Widescreen LCD Monitor's

hmmmm .... you do know using the TH2GD you are gonna have to run those 22" monitors at 3 x 1280X800 to get a desktop image that isn't distorted.

More info about the TH2G ... Widescreens & Available Resolutions here ... http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10112

hey, i saw a few benchmarks where running 2 8800gt's in sli will give you better fps with 2560x1600 res. if i was you i'd just get another 8800gt, would be cheaper and seems to do the job. 2 8800gt's outperform 1 8800gtx at high resolutions, the top graph shows 1 8800gt and the lower shows a single 8800gt compared to 2 8800gt's in sli

also there are a few more comparisons on the other pages of the review, check it out

http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/468/9

i didn't see that you didn't get your card yet, idk then its up to you, look at the benchmarks anyway, seems like 1 8800gt is equal or better then 1 8800gts at 2560x1600 res under xp, however if you run vista and dx10 the gts outperforms the gt. idk, i'm sure other's have a different view, check out the benchmarks, this is solely what i'm going off of, just trying to throw some info at you to possible make the better choice, again idk if 8800gt would be, but according to this review it would. i'd check around more and ask more to get a better idea

hmmmm .... you do know using the TH2GD you are gonna have to run those 22" monitors at 3 x 1280X800 to get a desktop image that isn't distorted.

Yes, I was aware of this.

Since I am a noob when it comes to surround gaming and in particular wide screen surround gaming, can someone who has seen both tell me if there is a noticable difference between running 3x 1280x800 vs 1280x1024? Here is where my lack of knowledge comes in. Part of the reason i bought 3x wide screen 22" is that i somehow felt that a firmware update or something would eventually allow for higher than 3840x800 for wide screens. Then my purchase pays off.

3 x 22" wide screens ended up costing me around $800 which is very close to what 3x 4:3 19" would cost. I paid the extra for what i felt were better monitors but i hope that 3840x800 doesnt dissapoint. Im a little bit worried that going from 1600x1200 to 3840x800 may look pixelated.

Apologies for any spelling/grammar errors. English was not my strong suit and i dont have word on this PC :D .

Also, thank you for all the comments so far. This has turned out to be a great site and friendly community.

Cheers,

Matt

It may well look fine and you may find your are happy with it ... :D
I just thought I'd point out the resolution as it would be too low for me.

You say you are used to a 19" ... I don't know for sure but I would have thought a 22" widescreen would be a similar height.
Try 1280x800 (or the nearest you can) on your current monitor ... imagine that on a 22" widescreen ... see if you are happy with the lower res.

8800GT isn't ideal for the very resolution of TH. It'll run but you really want more memory and bit-depth than the 8800GT provides.

It's cheap enough though. So it might be a resonable compromise.

What if i were to purchase a second GT in the future and go sli? Do you feel that this would be a better solution than say a single GTX? Also, do you think the 600w PS will be enough to go dual GT's?

Thanks for the replies so far : )

I use 2x8800GTS 640MB for my rig, it works great. I am guessing 8800GT will work as well since afaik it has specs similar to an 8800GTS if not better.

Quick Update.

I went over to a friends house that has Call of Duty 4 and a 22" monitor. I played at 1280x800 then max resolution then back, etc... I did a lot of visual comparisons with objects in the distance and close up objects. Obviously the max res looks better but to my amazement it wasnt a show stopper like i thought it would. Granted my buddy has a nice system with a 8800 Ultra.

This leads me to my next update which is the PC i ordered. I made two adjustments to my order. First, i went with the 8800 Ultra instead of the GT and second i moved from a dual core to quad core processor.

I decided to go with the 8800 Ultra because if i am going to run at 1280x800 on three monitors, i will need to have most everything maxed (depending on game) including if available anti aliasing. This should give me the most out of what i consider the not so desirable resolution of 3840x800 as opposed to 3840x1024. When investing just over 3k for this setup, the video card is definately not somewhere i want to skimp.

Now its just a waiting game. All hardware to include the matrox should be here by Friday. I will have to post some photos of the three "22 widescreens running at 3840x800. I was also planning to delve into the SoftTH configurations and try to run at native rez on all monitors as another member has done.

BTW, i will be running Vista 64-bit

That's awesome, you sure are going to have a fun and i'm sure at times frustrating day putting all that together...

once it's all together and running smoothly though wow, that'll be killer to play on :D

it'll be like an early xmas day for ya ;)

There's a GTS update coming this month that should give the ultra a run its money.

Since you already bought the monitors, I'd say don't worry about the distortion.

Please see my (and others) responses here concerneing widescreen monitors with TH2Go. I have three widescreen monitors (1680x1050) with my TH2G (usually running at 3840x1024) and I like it fine.

[url]http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/8171]

[url]http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/8252]

[url]http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/7557]