Widescreen Gaming Forum

Ok, so I have used both the Matrox Triplehead2go and the Radeon Eyefinity setup both for a little while now. I am wondering what people who have used both think?

My two setups were the TH2G Digital with a GTX275 and the Radeon 5850 with the Apple DP->Mini DP->DVI adapter.

Triplehead2go +
* Very stable. Worked every time for me
* Bezel management - it's everything in flight sims

Triplehead2go -
* Some people have major issues getting it to work at 5040x1050
* Expensive, requires the splitter and a heavy duty card, double cost of Eyefinity
* Future proofing looks dim, as 16:10 monitors give way to 16:9
* Requires 57Hz monitors

Eyefinity +
* Cheaper than Triplehead2go for more performance
* Can use on a larger range of monitors
* Works ok most of the time

Eyefinity -
* Unstable. Sometimes my PC starts with different monitor configurations for no reason, DP monitor blinks at times, was a nightmare to get working right. Can't demo to customers as it's embarassing when it starts up all screwed up, no faith in the system yet. Ok for home when you can keep the shame to yourself
* ATI drivers don't seem as good as Nvidias to me. Lack of PhysX, more problems in games that the Nvidia + TH2G setup didn't have
* Requires ridiculously expensive DP to DVI adapters
* No bezel management


For a few flight simulators I am building for some older friends, I am almost certainly going to go with the TH2G. These poor guys wouldn't know what to do if the PC started up with monitors all over the place. Also bezel management right here, right now, is worth alot. Unsure how long it will take to appear on the Eyefinity. The downside is in a few years time, buying 16:10 monitors will be almost impossible, it seems. 16:9 'Full HD' seems to be taking over. Unless the TH2G can adapt to these monitors, it'll be an expensive brick.

I don't know why so many people have so much trouble getting the TH2G to work at 5040 with all the latest drivers. I definitely don't think anyone is doing anything wrong, it's a mystery to me and concerns me buying more that they may not work for me like my first one did, although I'll configure them on this PC and move them to other machines, like the first one did successfully.

Eyefinity has the advantage of becoming more stable, user friendly, and options like bezel management should appear (or bezel-less monitors will become the norm).

I think I'll keep the 5850 in my PC as I can handle the instability and lack of bezel management for now, but I am not sure I could recommend it to anyone who wasn't computer savvy at the moment...

Of course, my opinions are based on my experiences and if there's one thing that this forum shows, it's how that varies greatly from person to person!

How has everyone else found them?

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Nice but you used lack of Physx as an argument against eyefinity?

I dont see what that has to do with anything. If you really want Physx you can get a Nvidia card and use it as a PPU while the ATI card drives the eyefinity.

Nice but you used lack of Physx as an argument against eyefinity?

I dont see what that has to do with anything. If you really want Physx you can get a Nvidia card and use it as a PPU while the ATI card drives the eyefinity.

PhysX dosnt work out of the box with 2 cards blended ati/nvidia.
currently you need to patch and fix which not that many can or likes to do.

eyefinity, will have the same as Matrox, and will work better out of the box as drivers improve and Bezel stuff is worked on.
You now get the 5970, that runs everything using 30inch screens and solutions matrox would even dream about.

You get a card, that does 5teraflops, that runs 3 screens and I bet a lot of those flying sims people, will get that card.
I post my eyefinity experience once my last screen arrives.

one must remember the triplehead2go also work at 58Hz and 59Hz. I havn't found anyone running the triplehead2go at 59Hz and having compatability issues. But you do make a valid point in saying that 16:10 monitors are becoming non-existent. I've sent an email to support and they say that they wont add a resolution without significant demand. The demand came when they stopped making 16:10 monitors. Give us 3x1600x900, I'm done playing at 3x1360x768 (But cant afford to upgrade at this time to Eyefinity and Hate SoftTH).

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Nice but you used lack of Physx as an argument against eyefinity?

I dont see what that has to do with anything. If you really want Physx you can get a Nvidia card and use it as a PPU while the ATI card drives the eyefinity.

this was definitely working on windows 7 (since seven supports multiple gfx drivers/gfx cards) however NVIDIA disabled this functionnality
I don't know if one can enable it back...

[quote]Nice but you used lack of Physx as an argument against eyefinity?

I dont see what that has to do with anything. If you really want Physx you can get a Nvidia card and use it as a PPU while the ATI card drives the eyefinity.

this was definitely working on windows 7 (since seven supports multiple gfx drivers/gfx cards) however NVIDIA disabled this functionnality
I don't know if one can enable it back...

Just load an old nv driver. Tada!

Or there's someone on the web with "fixed" new drivers.

Either way...

Nice but you used lack of Physx as an argument against eyefinity?

I dont see what that has to do with anything. If you really want Physx you can get a Nvidia card and use it as a PPU while the ATI card drives the eyefinity.

Despite the stuffing around required to get it to work, it adds two more negatives to the Eyefinity case:
1. More cost in buying an extra video card, if you don't happen to have one laying around.
2. You need a motherboard with multiple PCI-e slots, if yours doesn't happen to have one.

For me to do this, suddenly the cost goes up a fair bit.

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PhysX dosnt work out of the box with 2 cards blended ati/nvidia.
currently you need to patch and fix which not that many can or likes to do.

The patch is a small software patch it is easy to install. You saying someone who goes to all the trouble of using triple monitors and all the fov hacks and configuration needed for games isn't going to want to use a software patch for Physx?

Despite the stuffing around required to get it to work, it adds two more negatives to the Eyefinity case:
1. More cost in buying an extra video card, if you don't happen to have one laying around.
2. You need a motherboard with multiple PCI-e slots, if yours doesn't happen to have one.

For me to do this, suddenly the cost goes up a fair bit.

What I meant is that Physx shouldn't be used as an argument against eyefinity because this isn't a Nvidia vs ATI discussion.

Triplehead2go isn't a Nvidia technlogy.

Also you can get a PCI Physx PPU. A PCI-e 1x or 4x Nvidia GPU for Physx. All motherboards have spare PCI-e slots except maybe micro atx versions. The cost increase would be minimal.

well im planning on going 5870 or 5970 with some big screens later this or early next year. currently im reselling my screens (already sold my th2g and 2 screens - 1 to go) and getting info about what screens im going for. 23-24", DP and small bezels is my main focus right now. about physx, im planning on keeping my 8800gtx and use it dedicated for it - either with older driver or the physx fix (already got win7 pro with student license).

What I meant is that Physx shouldn't be used as an argument against eyefinity because this isn't a Nvidia vs ATI discussion.

I don't see how this is true. I consider it part of the argument for or against Eyefinity vs Triplehead2Go, because it's going to affect the total cost of the setup for the same visual result.

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