Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hi

I'm going to replace my 'box' that I use to drive multiple monitors for, primarily, MS Flightsim FSX. I''m able to drive seven screens, using a combination of TH2go D and DH2go D.

Currently: C2D [email protected] / 8800GTX + 9600GTX / Vista 64 / 4Gb

Upcoming: i980X@4+ / 5870-6 / Win7 64 / 6Gb

I also want to replace my aging 1280x1024 'outside view' screens with 22" 1680x1050 screens (3).

Reading the Matrox site, it indicates that the 5000 series ATI card will drive the DH2go Digital up to 2880...which is just what I need. But I have no experience with Eyefinity, and want a configuration that uses the six DP ports of the 5870 as:

Ports 1,2,3 = 1680x1050 x 3 DP monitors together, with bezel management
Port 4 = 1440x900 x 2 with DH2go
Port 5 = 1440x900
Port 6 = 1280x1024

In essence, four monitor 'groups'.

Here's an illustration and photos of my current and proposed configuration.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/49039512@N03/?saved=1

Does this sound plausible?

Will Eyefinity allow this mixture of screens?

I know it's a bit of an oddball configuration, but it works well for flight simming. BTW, the DH2go "Digital", has DVI outputs...but strangely, the input is VGA. I'm hoping a DP-to-VGA adapter will work.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Noel W

In theroy you should be able to run 7 monitors using a dual head to go without any issues.
Similar has been done using SoftTH which is a software equiverlent of the TH2G hardware device.

Check out these 2 threads (1), (2) which may shed some light on how to expand your monitor setup.

Good luck

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Thank you for the links. That's certainly interesting what others are trying to do.

Mostly, it seems that people are trying to get extreme FOV setups, or the 3x2 setups. If you were able to see the photos of my screen layout, you can see it's kind of a 'dog's breakfast' the way I have them arranged. It's for a purpose, but not symmetrical and just not the norm.

So that's what I'm keen to discover...will I be able to creat 4 monitor groupings, and then drag their placement wherever I want? And with DH2go in the mix?

Maybe no one has tried this with the Eyefinity cards. I remember in the ATI white paper for the 5870/6, when Eyefinity was first announced, it showed a layout, as I recall, that depicted a three monitor group (spanned), with three additional separate monitors. That's really what I'm trying to do, but just use DH2go to turn the 6th monitor into 6 and 7.

But could I apply bezel management to just the 3 monitor group?

Has anyone played with bezel management with more than 3 monitors and an Eyefinity card?

Any other comments would be appreciated.

Noel W

Hey Gumps, sounds good. Similar to what I'm hoping to do for FSX.

I currently run a 8800GTX and TH2Go combo with 3 x 19" monitors and 1 x 24". I'm planning on going down the Eyefinity 6 card route with 3 x 24" monitors for main view but also want to use the 3 x 19" and 24" for 2d panels.

Was thinking of using in combination with the TH2go and a second card. Also have 3 x 10" panels that I could put to use to complete my command centre...

Anyone running an nVidia card together with an ATI 5 series under Win7 without issues? I.e. twin drivers.

Edit: Looking at your pictures Gumps, that's the same sort of arrangement I'm going for. Would love the idea of touchscreens, are yours touch monitors or do they have touch screens applied to standard panels?

You might have an issue using a DP to VGA adapter on the DH2go as these adapters have a max resolution of 1920x1200 (well mine does anyway). I don't think you can get adapters that will support more.

Magic Man...my touchscreens are overlays. I crammed them into my 19" widescreen Samsungs, and used speed tape (aluminum tape) to hold the cases together. Somewhat cheesy, but it works. The other two monitors do not have bezels. I bought them this way off ebay. For flying airliners, particularly those with a CDU or MCDU, a touchscreen is well worth it.

I fly different airplanes, and have shyed away from confining myself to particular hardware, like say, a 737NG. The touchscreens allow for me to fly all kinds of airplanes and still have a tactile interface.

Also, I use a networked PC to run TouchBuddy, which is freeware, (and other software) to control my sim. You might consider that as well.

Sprewell...thanks for the heads-up on the max resolution for the DP-to-VGA adapter - I hadn't thought of that. Maybe there are some that do more, dunno. The more I think about it, I wouldn't be surprised if the limit you cite is common. You may have saved me some grief! Thanks again.

Best Regards,

Noel W

Magic Man...my touchscreens are overlays. I crammed them into my 19" widescreen Samsungs, and used speed tape (aluminum tape) to hold the cases together. Somewhat cheesy, but it works. The other two monitors do not have bezels. I bought them this way off ebay. For flying airliners, particularly those with a CDU or MCDU, a touchscreen is well worth it.

I fly different airplanes, and have shyed away from confining myself to particular hardware, like say, a 737NG. The touchscreens allow for me to fly all kinds of airplanes and still have a tactile interface.

Also, I use a networked PC to run TouchBuddy, which is freeware, (and other software) to control my sim. You might consider that as well.

Thanks for that. I feel the same - love the looks of some of the replica simpits out there but would never want to lock my setup in to one particular aircraft or vehicle for that matter... Have looked at the TouchBuddy site before, looks good. May have to look at getting some overlays or touch screens.