Gaming across 3 Huge Screens

[wolfy814]

Hi,

I have looked for days trying to find someone that can give me an update on how gaming is going with 3 screens. I am about to start a project where a client would like 3 projectors or 52,55, or 65" lcd's used together to create a more immersive gaming experience. Money is not really an issue.

If someone has tested this already and has a list of parts that can give me the resolution I need without a noticable drop in famerate I'd be really greatful to talk to him/her.

 

[wolfy814]

Figured I would reply to this before people ad comments. I build custom gaming rigs but have never messed with 3 big screens before.

 

[leon2006]

Clarify your 3 screen. Are you planning for front, left , right side views?

I play games on 70 inch HDTV @ 1080P game resolution with no significant frame rate reduction. I got excellent results on GTX 280 and XOC 4890. This fall I'm considering a 295 or adding another XOC 4890. Take note that Big HDTV are limited to 1080P unlike a 30inch display which can go higher.

My setup is about > 1.5 years and i have evaluated different video cards from 8800GT OC, 4850, 4870...

Its totally different experience specially in shoot out games. I would never play on a smaller screen again.

 

[wolfy814]

I am looking to get front and side views...basically 180 degrees all the way around.

I've seen Matrox has a Triple Head to Go setup but I am curious what kind of lag I will get from that.

Ideas?

 

[leon2006]

From what i know matrox cards are not designed for GAMES. Mostly for 2D applications.

Flight Simulation games support 180 deg display.... I don't know the other games.

BIG HDTV are of slower response time compare to LCD computer display. But the shear size you will be awed. In my case i don't have noticeable lag time. I play Crysis, Half-Life, stalker and Grid on my setup.

Actually i have 2 set-up of HDTV. One 52 HDTV with GTX-280 and the 2nd is 70Inch HDTV with XOC 4890. I like the GTX-280 with respect to stability. The performance is almost the same...As on my previous POST i'm considering a NVIDIA 295.


I suggest you call Nvidia tech or customer support for 180 deg support on games.

You may need a kick ass quad core for this and 3 GTX-285. I'm not sure if the PCIE bus will not limit the performance of 3 GPU in 180-display mode. Talk to NVDIA...

 

[daedalus685]

I posted in the other thread you started of the same name... Could a mod perhaps merge the double post?

 

[wolfy814]

I understand where you are coming from but I need a little more info. I'm hoping there are AMD or Nvidia Reps that have accounts here and watch the threads.

I am looking toward Tri-SLi or Crossfire-X so I can bypass the use of a Matrox Triple-head system.

Matrox's Triple-head adapter only supports 4:3 ratio for a 3 monitor split. I want 3 monitors at 1080p or 3 at 720p upconverted onto 1080p LCDs or Projectors.

This will be on 3 65" LCD screens as a wrap around or 3 Projectors on 3 8' screens as a wrap around.


Client is open to budget. I need a real solid recommendation for a fix on this.


Anyone actually do this?

 

[PsyKhiqZero]

It's been awhile since I've looked into this subject. But the problems with multi monitor gaming are as follows.

1. Niether Nvidia or ATI provide a driver that will tell windows that all monitors are 1 single monitor with the combined resolution. This means the game will only full screen on the primary monitor. Nvidia quattro cards do have this feature but I do not know if they can be SLI'ed or just how well they do in gaming.

2. Even in your could get the PC to treat the monitors as a single output device, There aren't many games that will support such wide displays. And there are even fewer that will let you adjust the field of view to properly take advantage of wider viewing angle.

3. The only game that I know of that will support multi monitors is Microsofts Flight Simulator X. Look it up. People have some right nasty setups for it. As far as I know SLI, and xfire setups only support 2 monitors. So search flight sim forums for more info.
http://www.wideview.it/wideview.htm

 

[wolfy814]

If you look at the Matrox Triple Head page you can see a link to the supported games for Triple Screen Setups. There are alot of games that are supported and I know it can be done...but what's the best equipment is the question...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzMATTjdTHY&feature=related

 

[baddad]

http://alltechnoblog.com/nec-43-curved-lcd/

 

[daedalus685]

I understand where you are coming from but I need a little more info. I'm hoping there are AMD or Nvidia Reps that have accounts here and watch the threads.

I am looking toward Tri-SLi or Crossfire-X so I can bypass the use of a Matrox Triple-head system.

Matrox's Triple-head adapter only supports 4:3 ratio for a 3 monitor split. I want 3 monitors at 1080p or 3 at 720p upconverted onto 1080p LCDs or Projectors.

This will be on 3 65" LCD screens as a wrap around or 3 Projectors on 3 8' screens as a wrap around.


Client is open to budget. I need a real solid recommendation for a fix on this.


Anyone actually do this?

Matrox triple head to go is the only option that would not require an entirely custom system.

It is also not 4:3 aspect ratio, you might want to have another look at it.

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/

With the digital edition (provided you connect it using a dual link DVI) you get 3*1680 x 1050.

SLI/Crossfire kill the outputs on all of the cards but the primary. That is how it works. It is not possible to use crossfire/sli and get any more than 2 display outputs.

You would have to create your own drivers and modify directX to be able to use all three cards to produce one image across three screens. It is not a practical solution. Even an industrial solution to this uses a system like matrox's, with the computer simply outputting a custom resolution and that picture being mixed across the desired screens (like at a baseball game). Someting like matrox's system is what you want, I assure you. Anything else would require custom programmed games and drivers, which would cost a small fortune. However, if you want true 1080p you may need to contact them to see if it is possilbe to get something built that could do 1920*1080 instead of 1680*1050.

 

[wolfy814]

That's the reply I was looking for and what I figured. I can use SLi 2-3 way and get it to output to a the Triple-Head 2 go...but will a singe GTX 295 card do the 3 screens in 1680x1050 without a huge loss in framerate in Crysis?

It's really performance I'm after without having to go extremely crazy.

Update: He decided on 3 Mitsubishi 52" LCDs (1080p of course)

Haven't figured out mounting yet but a couple of Cantilever arm mounts will probably be the way we go.

He's selling his house so he needs this system somewhat clean for buyers. Something even without a mount that would create a partition as a temporary setup would be nice.

Decided on the Playseat Racing Edition with the Logitech Wheel and Saitek system for the flight controls.

The rest will be Keyboard and Mouse Bluetooth and Microsoft XBOX 360 Controllers for the PC.

Sound system is an Energy Encore system...something decent with an Onkyo DTS THX Receiver.

Ideas are welcome. I have the PC already lined out.