Matrox TripleHead2Go vs SLI/Crossfire

[OzDracula]

Hello me hearties. I have me two monitors at 1680x1050 16:10 and I'm considerin' buyin' a third 1920x1080 16:9.
Which is the best way to display games as single image or multiple images across the three monitors at full resolution.
(1680x1050 + 1920x1080 + 1680x1050)
Is thar a solution or do I have to use the same resolution across all three monitors?
(Matrox TripleHead2Go vs SLI/Crossfire)

Cheers maties,

Cap'n Eyepatch.

 

[noidea_77]

You will need the same resolution on all three for gaming.

 

[OzDracula]

Can SLI/Crossfire do the same things as the Matrox TripleHead2Go?

 

[Guest]

i have a read a ton of bad reviews for the triplehead2go and that would be a $100+ expenditure. i would just go sli or crossfire

 

[OzDracula]

The lack of a digital signal path was one of the main complaints with the original analogue version. The digital edition is somewhat better although still a long way from perfect. It does however allow for downloadable firmware updates. The latest of which now supports triple widescreen modes of 3x1680x1050, 3x1440x900 and 3x1366x768.

 

[AdioKIP]

SLI / Crossfire have nothing to do with displaying on multiple screens. They are simply terms for using more than one video card at a time. They add extra power, not extra screens. What you're thinking of are EyeFinity (ATI) and SurroundView (Nvidia). Either card that supports one of these two technologies will allow you to use all 3 monitors. ATI has been supporting EyeFinity since there 5xxx Series cards. Any recent ATI card should be capable of this, the more powerful the card the better. With more recent driver updates you can use monitors that are not the same resolution but the higher resolution monitor will drop down to match the other 2. For Nvidia. there latest 6xxx series cards support surround view allowing use of 3 or more monitors depending on the card. From what I've heard SurroundView isnt quit as good as EyeFinity yet. Personally I've been running EyeFinity for several years now and love it.

As far as TripleHeadToGo. AVOID it, its old tech. Triplehead was the way to go before the manufacturers started supporting the feature by default. Triplehead would connect to one input and basically allow that one input to output a high resolution which the triplehead than does the work of splitting between the screens. It doesnt allow as high of a resolution and tends to have a lot of issues from what I've heard. They were great back in the day when they were the only option but now with modern video cards supporting this feature by default the tripleheads should be considered a thing of the past.

There is also a 3rd solution available called SoftH. Great piece of software, but can be a PITA to get running properly. It would even allow your middle screen to be a different resolution than your other two. I believe it requires 2 video cards though unless something has changed in the years since I've used it.

To know which solution is best for you we would really need more information. What are your system specs, especially your video card?

 

[OzDracula]

Thanks for the info. SoftH doesn't seem to be supported any more.
I have a Gigabyte motherboard that supports Crossfire and SLI. I currently have two Samsung 226BW monitors. Was considering getting a larger centre monitor but I think I'll just get another one the same. The last one cost me $20, a few capacitors and 20 minutes with a soldering iron. =o)
Only the one video card at the moment. Gigabyte GTX 275 896MB.
I've had issues in the past with Radeon drivers so I avoid them like the plague.
The nVidia Surround seems to work the same way as AMD's solution except it uses DVI instead of Display Port. My monitors all have DVI so it seems to be the easier and cheaper solution for me. Maximum Resolution (Bezel Correction): 8192x1600.

 

[OzDracula]

Best answer selected by OzDracula.