Matrox TripleHead2Go test

Introduction

Videocards have increased in performance so rapidly as of late that many games hardly make use of the available processing power. In addition to this, most LCD panels cannot display higher resolutions than 1280 by 1024 pixels, which means that one has to use 8x anti-aliasing to keep the card reasonably occupied. This potential power could, however, be used to address more than one screen. This way, the screen’s surface area increases, and consequently the gaming experience improves as well. However, the big drawback to all modern videocards is the inability to address more than two monitors. Although it is possible to use two monitors in this setup, gaming on two screens can be a nuisance. In the centre of this configuration is the combined edge of the two screens, obscuring visibility. One would actually need three screens: a centre monitor for the primary action, with the adjacent monitors providing a wider picture. Granted, one would now have two edges dividing the on-screen action, but because they are towards the sides, contact between the screens is less problematic. Gamers who wanted to use three screens until now had to make do with the Matrox Parhelia TripleHead videocard, as this was the only consumer-grade videocard with the necessary connections. Sadly, the Parhelia is showing its age and is incapable of rendering the current crop of PC games with a high enough frame rate. The solution to this problem also comes from Matrox, in the shape of the TripleHead2Go, a stand-alone device that can be paired to any videocard.

Why not just two videocards?

All well and good, one might think, but since the arrival of PCI-Express it is of course possible to use more than one videocard, and thus create a system with more than two video connections. It would make sense to connect the first two monitors to the first videocard, and the third one to the second card. Although this works fine in a 2D environment –you can even address more than three monitors with ease- this is not the case for 3D applications. Almost no games support 3D rendering on multiple monitors. Only one 3D window is supported, and using more than one monitor requires the user to trick the relevant application or game. This usually works with two monitors: one videocard with two connectors can address these as one virtual screen, which is called “horizontal spanning”. However, it is not possible to use two videocards to create this single virtual 3D window. Until new 3D cards arrive on the market with triple connections, one is stuck with using two monitors for almost all games.

Matrox Triplehead2Go

Matrox turns this situation around with the TripleHead2Go. Just like the previously released DualHead2Go, this external unit is attached to the already present graphics card, so the PC does not require opening up. The only thing this little box does is it divides the incoming signal between the three attached monitors. With this approach, it is possible to attach three monitors to just one port. The TripleHead2Go registers itself as a standard plug and play monitor with a maximum resolution of 3840 by 1024 pixels, which is of course consistent with three standard LCD resolutions of 1280 by 1024. Without any additional installation of software, it is immediately possible to select this resolution from the Display Properties, and the TripleHead2Go then neatly divides the picture among the three connected monitors.