Widescreen Gaming Forum

Evening lads...evening paddy....been viewing these forums for a good while now and i'm just about to take the plunge..i've noticed everyone has nvidia cards..well i have an x1800xt 512mb(for now) an iiyama Prolite E511S 20.1" (1600x1200)...thought about the best way of getting a TH2G...do i buy the second hand one of an auction site for a oner or buy new?..what is the warrenty on one of those? also was going to get two dell 1907fp to go either side of my iiyama...tell me...what do you think?

ati x1800 cards are limited to 3x SVGA = 2400 x 800 which is not satisfieing especially with such a big TFT .
But at this resolution your card will be fast enough. :)

Hello ... welcome to the WSGF ... 8)

Your biggest problem is your x1800xt ... the maximum resolution you can get with it and the TH2G is 2400 x 600 ... that isn't going to look so good ... :(
Ati (not Matrox) don't allow large enough resolutions with their cards ...
See this Matrox page ... very near the bottom it shows the available resolutions ... http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/support/th2go/compatibility.php

I have no idea what the warranty is on a TH2G ... just never thought about it ... :roll: :lol:
Buying from an auction site ... I wouldn't hold out having too much comeback if it didn't work ... but then again I know little about buying from such a site ...

I would also advise getting two monitors that are the same height as your current one ... (if the Dell's aren't)
Whilst this isn't necessary your TH experience will look and feel much better if they are the same height.

i'm waiting to see what the r600 has to offer that's why i'm hanging onto the x1800xt...funds are abit tight at the moment...talking to this guy who will do me his for a oner all in...got enough for 2 dells 1907fp (£300) and i can sort out the height problem with the iiyama for the time being...just wonder if it's the thumbs up to get me by

Oh it will get you by ... and certainly help you decide if Surround Gaming is for you ... before you spend some big money on a new system etc. ... :lol:

paddy are you on msn?...i could really do with chatting to you pal...i need some help here...my head is in bits with what to do lolololol

James, I hate to break it to ya, but ATI is _Not_ an option for triplehead gaming. You'll regret it bigtime, so dont waste your money. The max rez your card can display on each monitor is 800x600 (thus 2400x600 in surround-speak). Unless you enjoy playing games at such a low rez, plus the blurriness that LCD scaling will add to it, I'd say dont do it.

You sound like you're really excited about trying this, and you did right by asking around here. Sadly, you gotta make sure your rig is up to the task first. And that means, ditch the ATI and get some nvidia in there. Sure the R600 may change that, but its not out yet, and will be hella expensive. We could prolly help ya out more if you post your complete system specs... especially the motherboard (is it crossfire or SLI capable?).

Once your system is up to snuff, you gotta consider your display setup. Remember that 3840x1024 is the max rez for surround, so that 1600x1200 native of your LCD might be an issue... it has to scale down to 1280x1024. Can you stand that? Also, all 3 displays should be the same size, aspect ratio, and native rez. Those dells are 19" 1280x1024 native displays, which will NOT match up with your iiyama. Ideally, you'd want 3 monitors like the 1907fp.

As for buying a th2go used, I'd say go for it. The TH2go is just a few chips inside a little metal box, so its not like there's any wear-and-tear on a used one. When you say 'a oner,' does that mean 100 euro? If thats less than what they're going for retail, grab it. Just make sure you take into account any shipping, customs, tax etc. I bought my th2go from ebay, saved myself about $50 CAD compared to retail around here. The guy I bought from went out and got one of matrox's quadruple display cards, so he obviously had no interest in gaming, and the TH wasnt really a good solution for him. A niche product like the TH is hard to find in stores anyway, so if you can save a few bucks by ebaying (or whatever), thats just more cash you can spend on system. :)

DarKcyde..thanks for the heads up..decided to go for it...got 2 dell 1907fp for £130 each...brand new and decided to get a new TH2G for £165..the one on ebay was upto £120 and that was before shipping from Ireland second hand. As for my card..it'll do fine til i decide what do to about changing it. The iiyama should be fine but if not i can alway's drop my pals in the middle of the two dells (hyundai imagequest)....my spec??....A8NE Ultra, 2GB Geil, [email protected], as you know X1800xt 512mb...encased in al lovely lian li v1000 plus....running very cool...

ok lads...just a little update to let you know i'm trying to keep up with you all :lol: got my setup just about sorted...recieved my 2 dell 1907fp's to sit either side of my iiyama 20" and my triple head :wink: .....and there's a BFG 8800 GTS 640MB arriving on friday....what res do you think i'll be able to manage with that card? went for the 640mb instead of the 320mb because of the higher res i want

So how's it going James ?
I'm really busy at the moment and don't have much time to spend on the forum for a few weeks but I do look in from time to time ... let us know how you are doing ... 8)