Help for multi-monitor setup

[harpatin]

If You are going to build multi-monitor setup here you will get help!
http://www.realtimesoft.com/multimon/guide/

Regards

Timo

[BHawthorne]

imho, http://www.widescreengamingforum.com is the most complete source for multi-monitor questions. While the link above is ok, some of the information is outdated and inaccurate.

[mounty]

Hi,

This question has probably been asked before, but here goes anyway as I'm not sure just what can be done. I'm thinking of using a TH2GO and three 22" or 24" widescreen monitors for the outside views. If I use widescreen monitors, will the image get stretched or will it appear "normal?" If it will appear stretched is there a way to resize the images so that they do not appear stretched, and add a further window to either side - something like an O/H panel?

I don't have the room for a projector so I'm looking at ways to have a larger outside view. I have also though of using a 27" single monitor as that would give me a larger view and cost less than the TH2GO and 3 monitors.

Any thoughts about a larger image would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Rob

[roymar]

A lot will depend on what cockpit setup you have and how close you are to the monitors.
I have tried a single large LCD monitor (37 inch), the picture was "stretched" which was acceptable for visual flying 2000 feet and above altitude but below, and on the ground, the images were unreal.
I am now running three 19 inch LCDs mounted on a common stand connected through the Matrox triplehead DIGITAL version and am totally enamoured with the results.
The two outside monitors are angled about 15 degrees to the center monitor and the reason I emphasized DIGITAL Matrox is that this system has a bezel management control (The VGA version does'nt) which allows one to adjust the "outside monitor images" exactly to compensate for the monitor frame gaps.
This gives my B737 cockpit a 3D viewing impression of the scenery, particularily impressive while taxiing, of one view broken by two window posts, all with perfect resolution!

Roy

[manhattan]

A lot will depend on what cockpit setup you have and how close you are to the monitors.
I have tried a single large LCD monitor (37 inch), the picture was "stretched" which was acceptable for visual flying 2000 feet and above altitude but below, and on the ground, the images were unreal.
I am now running three 19 inch LCDs mounted on a common stand connected through the Matrox triplehead DIGITAL version and am totally enamoured with the results.
The two outside monitors are angled about 15 degrees to the center monitor and the reason I emphasized DIGITAL Matrox is that this system has a bezel management control (The VGA version does'nt) which allows one to adjust the "outside monitor images" exactly to compensate for the monitor frame gaps.
This gives my B737 cockpit a 3D viewing impression of the scenery, particularily impressive while taxiing, of one view broken by two window posts, all with perfect resolution!

Roy

Hi.

I have asked elsewhere in the forum, but wondered if you had considered 2x3togo units from one powerfull graphics card? this would then allow side views as well! Alternatively. what about 1x3togo (front view) plus 1x2togo (side views?)

TONY

[BHawthorne]

Hi,

This question has probably been asked before, but here goes anyway as I'm not sure just what can be done. I'm thinking of using a TH2GO and three 22" or 24" widescreen monitors for the outside views. If I use widescreen monitors, will the image get stretched or will it appear "normal?" If it will appear stretched is there a way to resize the images so that they do not appear stretched, and add a further window to either side - something like an O/H panel?

I don't have the room for a projector so I'm looking at ways to have a larger outside view. I have also though of using a 27" single monitor as that would give me a larger view and cost less than the TH2GO and 3 monitors.

Any thoughts about a larger image would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Rob

Keep in mind that you're losing a ton of pixels going 3 24" and TH2G. TH2G maxes out at 3840x1024, but using widescreen you'd have to use 3840x768. Considering 24" and larger screens push 1920(x3)x1200 I would not suggest 24" + TH2G unless you are willing to not reach the full native resolution of the monitors.

Everyone has room for a projector if it's short throw or uses mirrors. :)

[BHawthorne]

Hi.

I have asked elsewhere in the forum, but wondered if you had considered 2x3togo units from one powerfull graphics card? this would then allow side views as well! Alternatively. what about 1x3togo (front view) plus 1x2togo (side views?)

TONY

In the case of MSFS I'd suggest a second video card over adding a DH2G box to that configuration. It would stress the first video card less and achieve the same outcome with better FPS.

[manhattan]

In the case of MSFS I'd suggest a second video card over adding a DH2G box to that configuration. It would stress the first video card less and achieve the same outcome with better FPS.

Sorry to go on about it, but for outside views, would I need a powerful PCI card as the extra card? I have tried using 32 and 64mg PCI cards, but the main front view loses frame rates when the extra side view is dragged onto a monitor? Can you suggest a suitable card? I am also using Matrox 4 head for my instruments.


TONY

[BHawthorne]

Sorry to go on about it, but for outside views, would I need a powerful PCI card as the extra card? I have tried using 32 and 64mg PCI cards, but the main front view loses frame rates when the extra side view is dragged onto a monitor? Can you suggest a suitable card? I am also using Matrox 4 head for my instruments.


TONY

I was for granted that you'd be using a PCIe motherboard with more than 1 PCIe 16x slot. Any use of old PCI cards for external views are going to be limited because they simply can't handle the frame rates needed. To go multi-monitor beyond 3 displays, you really need to look into getting a SLI motherboard or something like one with multiple PCIe 16x slots.

[Trevor Hale]

Hi.

I have asked elsewhere in the forum, but wondered if you had considered 2x3togo units from one powerfull graphics card? this would then allow side views as well! Alternatively. what about 1x3togo (front view) plus 1x2togo (side views?)

TONY

Hi Tony,

I don't think anyone here has found a need to go this route, You should email Matrox and see what they have to say about this.

Trev

[andarlite]

I was for granted that you'd be using a PCIe motherboard with more than 1 PCIe 16x slot. Any use of old PCI cards for external views are going to be limited because they simply can't handle the frame rates needed. To go multi-monitor beyond 3 displays, you really need to look into getting a SLI motherboard or something like one with multiple PCIe 16x slots.

My motherboard has a 2nd PCI-E slot but it's only x4. At some point I will probably upgrade from my current 790GS to a 8800GT or the new 9800 series. If I use the 7900GS in the x4 slot, do you think it will be able to handle the frame rates?

Thanks,
Henry

[BHawthorne]

My motherboard has a 2nd PCI-E slot but it's only x4. At some point I will probably upgrade from my current 790GS to a 8800GT or the new 9800 series. If I use the 7900GS in the x4 slot, do you think it will be able to handle the frame rates?

Thanks,
Henry

Yep, it should. The 7900 is still a quite solid card. By 4x, you mean 16x slot/4x electrical right?

I use my 7800GTXKO as my third card in my 790FX computer. It runs the 5-6th monitors when needed. It's perfectly capable of taking over one of the main 8800GT card's exterior rendering if anything bad goes on with one of the 2 8800GTs in the system.

[manhattan]

I was for granted that you'd be using a PCIe motherboard with more than 1 PCIe 16x slot. Any use of old PCI cards for external views are going to be limited because they simply can't handle the frame rates needed. To go multi-monitor beyond 3 displays, you really need to look into getting a SLI motherboard or something like one with multiple PCIe 16x slots.

Hi Brad.

Thanks for your comments. I am not really a computer builder, but would like to obtain a more suitable motherboard that would allow me to use a dual head or two single head cards for left and right outside views as well as a 3togo for forward views - plus 2d cards for instruments. Can I build such a beast? Can you recommend mother board, processor and cards to me?

Sorry for the tall order - hope you can help me and no doubt others reading my requirments.

TONY

[Matt Olieman]

Brad is a world of information to this subject, I certainly would appreciate the info too. As I'm building a "MEAN" machine :)

Tony you're needs are somewhat different then mine, but many builders use the same concept. One computer for all :)

Mine is, "ONE" computer for my FSMS (FS9 or FSX) front outside view only using Triplehead2Go (3 projectors). I want to be able to use full scenery, get high frame rates. Or at least the best I can get :)

Brad, I consider you the expert, when it comes to this, and you're comments here, have always been well respected. I look forward toward your response. :) :) :)

Matt O.

[BHawthorne]

My general recommendation for motherboards right now would be to go with a nForce 780i or 790i based motherboard. 780i is for DDR2 memory and the 790i is an update and uses DDR3 memory. DDR3 memory is ungodly expensive at the moment. I'd only suggest the 790i if you can find a deal on DDR3. Both have very comparable capabilities though. They are the tri-SLI motherboards, so that means you have 3 slots capable of running PCIe video cards in. You might not need all 3 of the 16x slots, but they're handy for future expansion needs for things like raid cards.

It's what I'd be using right now if I didn't get greedy for that 4th PCIe slot the AMD 790FX motherboards have. In hindsight the 790FX was a mistake purchase. I traded off performance and overclocking overhead for just 1 more PCIe slot.

[manhattan]

My general recommendation for motherboards right now would be to go with a nForce 780i or 790i based motherboard. 780i is for DDR2 memory and the 790i is an update and uses DDR3 memory. DDR3 memory is ungodly expensive at the moment. I'd only suggest the 790i if you can find a deal on DDR3. Both have very comparable capabilities though. They are the tri-SLI motherboards, so that means you have 3 slots capable of running PCIe video cards in. You might not need all 3 of the 16x slots, but they're handy for future expansion needs for things like raid cards.

It's what I'd be using right now if I didn't get greedy for that 4th PCIe slot the AMD 790FX motherboards have. In hindsight the 790FX was a mistake purchase. I traded off performance and overclocking overhead for just 1 more PCIe slot.

Hi Brad.

Many thanks for the info. Not being too bright with PC construction, what processor would you recommend to install with the motherboard? In my current setup, I have a 2.7g processor, with 2g ddr ram. Would this type of power be sufficient for the new machine? Do you feel that PCie can handle an outside view OK?

Sorry for even more questions - I am hoping to build a more efficient computer that will handle extra views with reasonable frame rates.

TONY (novice pc builder!)

[BHawthorne]

Hi Brad.

Many thanks for the info. Not being too bright with PC construction, what processor would you recommend to install with the motherboard? In my current setup, I have a 2.7g processor, with 2g ddr ram. Would this type of power be sufficient for the new machine? Do you feel that PCie can handle an outside view OK?

Sorry for even more questions - I am hoping to build a more efficient computer that will handle extra views with reasonable frame rates.

TONY (novice pc builder!)

No worries, it's one of the reasons why this forum exists. :)

The 780i/790i motherboards use the LGA 775 socket type. It fits a wide range of Intel processors. Quad-Core, Core 2 Extreme, Core 2 Duo, etc. It's flexiable enough to where you can get an economy processor at first then upgrade to the top quad core later on when you have more budget.

For example, it'll work with any of the following processors:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2%2050001157%2040000343%201051707842&bop=And&Order=PRICE

My personal suggestion would be to get a Q6600 quad-core. They're a good price and have lots of performance overhead and overclockability.