Matrox Triplehead2Go reviewed

It's hard feel sorry for a reviewer who had to spend a few hours seated at a three monitor setup trying to gauge how "immersed" he felt in his favorite FPS titles, but we've gotta give the intrepid Wil Harris some props for pulling himself away from F.E.A.R. long enough to write up a review of the Matrox Triplehead2Go. Sounds like the device does work as advertised. Meaning, it splits a VGA connection into three VGA connections and tells your computer it's hooked up to one big 3840 x 1024 display. All the software seems to work fine for the various desktop configurations, and while there aren't too many games that can handle 3840 x 1024 out of the box, the included software can help get most common games up and running, and can even be extended by users to cover other titles. As for gaming, the setup comes highly recommended if you've got the graphics power to handle the added resolution. For productivity, the analog connections and further signal degradation due to three-way splitting makes the Triplehead2Go not be such a hot choice. So hold out for DVI if you must, or throw down your $300 (plus a few LCDs), jump in and get fragging.

[sc00tert00ter @ Apr 12th 2006 4:48PM]

**cough**cs:s cs_militia**cough**
thats pretty lame... 300 for the triplehead2go and then 300 for each lcd! so your lookin at about $1300(+tax) to play SOME games at 3840x1024. Get a good monitor for that price 1300 can get a you a nice monitor with out having plastic running down the middle

[Brad @ Apr 12th 2006 5:21PM]

Not many single monitors are going to do 3840X1024. I take it you're not a fan of multi-monitors? Once you have more than one, you will never go back.

[TwilightGhost @ Apr 12th 2006 5:38PM]

Remember when you used to be able to do this with DOOM and 3 networked machines?

I'm not impressed.

[dj @ Apr 12th 2006 5:44PM]

why not just get a Dell 30"? Way better and even more pixels!

[jason @ Apr 12th 2006 5:46PM]

For the wealthiest 1/5 of the western world, this must be great, lol.

[Matt W. @ Apr 12th 2006 7:45PM]

It's hard feel sorry?

Er, Engadget, perhaps you should get a spell-checker.

[Chris @ Apr 12th 2006 7:54PM]

this guys got no clue. the 24" dell also provides 1200 in the vertical which makes a huge difference in being able to see things comming at you from something other than strait ahead. and $180 for a 17" lcd is a pretty damned crapy lcd and will require a sale or mail in rebate to get that kind of price, which means you ain't gettin 3 of 'em the same model. more realistic is like $900, which you can just about get 2 20.5" dells for for a dual setup of 3360x1080 or 3,628,800 pixels, almost as wide and a bit taller and only one bezel pair in your way. And can run them both DVI with a standard dual display system.

only place this thing makes any sense is to use it with a desktop replacement laptop where adding in a second vid card isn't really an option

[Matt @ Apr 12th 2006 9:28PM]

"It's hard feel sorry?

Er, Engadget, perhaps you should get a spell-checker."

I think your talking about a grammar checker :P

[Bob-o @ Apr 12th 2006 9:34PM]

So no DVI?

[tom @ Apr 12th 2006 9:38PM]

Imagine the strain on one poor little video card :(

[Brett Donovan @ Apr 12th 2006 9:55PM]

Not that these units are not suported on docking stations .. check out their web site for a growing list of limitations ....

[Ben Hobbs @ Apr 13th 2006 1:08AM]

Why not simply get a 37" 1920x1080 TV?

If theres no DVI, then it must be running analogue - I can;t imagine that many pixels being thrown at at once over an analogue connection looking pretty.

Ben Hobbs

[Auburnate @ Apr 13th 2006 9:00AM]

8. "It's hard feel sorry?

Er, Engadget, perhaps you should get a spell-checker."

I think your talking about a grammar checker :P

Pot, Kettle! I think you're in need of studying your grammar!

How deliciously ironic when someone corrects a post for grammar and/or spelling and that someone has a problem with their (not there!) grammar and/or spelling.

[Paul @ Apr 13th 2006 9:14AM]

"How deliciously ironic when someone corrects a post for grammar and/or spelling and that someone has a problem with their (not there!) grammar and/or spelling."

LOL - that was very funny and a great to start my day. Thanks! :)

[xzavier @ Apr 13th 2006 9:35AM]

If anybody has 2 or more monitors at there house they will understand what matrox is doing. It is NOT about the resolution or how big your monitor is but BOTH. It's about being SUBMERSIVE into the game itself! the monitor in front of you is your direct line of sight wiile the other 2 monitors turn into your periferal vision. If you ever played just 1 game on a dual or triple screen you will know that it is HOT!

[furtive @ Apr 13th 2006 10:19AM]

"you can just about get 2 20.5" dells for for a dual setup... almost as wide and a bit taller and only one bezel pair in your way." - chris

Hey guess what chris. 2 Monitors would be USELESS for gaming. Maybe its you who needs to "get a clue". One bezel down the middle would mean your crosshair is split across two screens. Yeah... good thinking chris.

[Terry @ Apr 13th 2006 10:20AM]

$300? Why not just by a second video card as opposed to relying upon trickery to do the same thing but not as well?

What am I missing here? Except of course for a laptop, I just don't see how this any improvement over what is already available.

[len @ Apr 13th 2006 10:22AM]

Y'alls just jealous 'cause y'alls can't afford it.

Or something. Yeah, people are totally missing the point. It isn't about pixels, it's about field-of-view. From a first-person perspective, a bigger monitor does nothing but make everything bigger. From a behind perspective, the more you scale back to see more, the more real-estate is wasted on sky and ground.

And it's VGA-only because a single DVI connection can't pump that many pixels.

[Chris @ Apr 14th 2006 1:55PM]

Triple monitor gaiming rules. I've been using a Parhelia video card with 3 monitors for 2 years now. Having a 180 degrees of view is a wonder to play with. Having 2 monitors isn't useless for gaming either. There are other types of games like CIV where it doesn't really matter if the view is split in half.

[Cliff @ Apr 21st 2006 12:56AM]

Triple screens are way better, with 2 screens you still have the bezels right in front of you, the triples really do wrap around, I had Flight Sim 2004 set up and sync'd with 3 screens and its awesome to fly with the horizon straight across and banking was incredible (as far as a flight sim can be), I'm really looking forward to the product since setting up 3 screens in Flight Sim is tricky, not to mention you need 3 computers - maybe for FP shooters or roleplay this is'nt the end all but it will be for flight simming

[Tom @ Apr 22nd 2006 1:49PM]

I've been running tripple 18" displays for over three years with a matrox Parhelia and a ergotron monitor stand and it is awsome. I set it up for video editing and web multimedia dev, and it is hard to beat.

The Parhelia is not a gaming card but I have played older games on it and wow. Very different than playing on my 30" apple display. I would much rather play on the tripple with the wide view. Always wished Matrox would update the gpu for current fps games. This looks like a great solution to run multi-monitors and also be able to game with current titles. Maybe I can finally scrap my Parhelia and enjoy a real 3d gaming card and still be able to multitask with my dev apps.

Oh, regarding the DVI/VGA comments abve. The Parhelia has the center screen DVI and the two side screens in VGA and you can not see any difference, though I had the same concerns prior to setting it up. It is funny how many people comment on things they have never used or experienced. Take it from me with three years experience on tripples, this looks like a great product that fills an unmet need.

[Giz @ Apr 25th 2006 3:51PM]

I think it's pretty sweet. If you have the deskspace. As mentioned 2 monitors is useless for gaming, bezel down the middle.
GIZ's rule of multi monitor gaming:
MUST HAVE AN ODD NUMBER OF MONITORS. That way you are always looking at a middle monitor (no bezels down the middle).
I run 7800gtx's in sli and have a few 21"crts here that i was going to toss for a 2407, however $300 for his gadget might do the trick.