Widescreen Gaming Forum

A friend of mine has the TH2G i think i am a convert, as luck would have it I am in the market to build a new computer with a moderate budget. I have been reading some posts here, and I am excited about trying to go down this path (budget and wife permitting)

I am looking at ~1600 for the system, which includes the new i7, 64 bit OS, 12GB RAM and the new nvida GTX285. (still in the works)

The displays are puplexing me, Obviously I am going to get the TH3G-digital i see it online for ~310.

I am thinking Hanns·G HW-191DPB which is 3x1440x900 one of the new modes listed on the matrox site. I am looking at them local so I can avoid NewEggs dead pixel policy for about 125 each.

This bring me to ~2300 for the lot, almost busting the budget.


Couple of questions for the community, do these look like acceptable monitors, I am not familiar with the brand.

Also is the 285 capable of handling the resolutions?

feel free to critique my logic, and parts... Great community here from the looks of it i look forward to joining the club.

I run a GTX280 and it is the same card that you plan on buying but with a larger die. I haven't run into any problems running my normal gamut of games. Can't really comment on the monitors as I don't have any experience with them.

Thanks, for your input, puts my mind at ease. I love the concept of of three screens, not only in games but the windows desktop in general.

yeah 3 screens are not just good at games. I've seen a few Hanns-G reviews and they are mostly postive, you are best to google like hell and go to sites you trust for reviews.
As to the 285 it will certainly handle most games at 5040 and decent settings...obviously not Crysis. I have 280's and they are great...hopefully with the die shrink you should be able to OC the 285 a fair bit , but I don't know

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Dipping bags at Mach1.9

Is 12 GB of ram not a bit over the top for only gaming? I should advise 4 or 6 GB :wink:

Is 12 GB of ram not a bit over the top for only gaming? I should advise 4 or 6 GB :wink:

I was thinking the same thing. Since you are going with a Core i7, just stick with 6GB DDR3 and save yourself a few hundred dollars for something else.

I have 280's and they are great...hopefully with the die shrink you should be able to OC the 285 a fair bit , but I don't know

It's about a 10-15% performanace overhead increase. The transition from 280 to 285 is not a very big step. It's the same chip with a 65nm to 55nm die shrink. Sort of comparable to when they did the G80 die shrink to the G92 as far as % performanace increase. If you have 280's I'd keep those and wait for the 300 series DX11 chip around winter holiday time.

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Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

Thanks I will look at the RAM in my build. I do not only do gaming, I do a good deal of Visio and Access work. Some of my diagrams are getting fairly big, which is why i think the triple screen is for me.

I suppose if i back down to 6gb i can afford bigger monitors, say go to the 20" in ones from Hanns-G, which in my thinking i can always up the RAM cheaper that replacing 3 monitors

I have been looking at my build again, and I was thinking about the Hanns-G 22" or this SCEPTER 22". Given that I am interested in the 285 I gave the Matrox site another look and I saw :

5040x1050 (3x 1680x1050) resolution is only available under Windows XP with Nvidia 200 series GPUs. Under Windows Vista the maximum supported resolution is 4320x900 (3x 1440x900).

So I have a question, to use the 22" at their optimal resolution I need to use XP, but why? is it possible that the Vista support will come or is it a hardware issue?

On a side note could I use the Win 7 Beta at the optimal resolution?

Edit:

My bad my question has already been asked

You can use Vista for 5040x1050, but it requires some tweaking. I ended up having to roll back to an earlier driver (178) to get it working on my system, but it wasn't too difficult to do. Some other people had to add the custom resolutions and find a driver that was working for them. Apparently the beta PD software works as well, but I haven't tested it yet.

There are ways to use Vista at the native resolutions, you will just have to (probably) spend some time getting it working.

Some of the threads:
[url]http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/9215]
[url]http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/9330]
[url]http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/9684]