Thinking of getting 2 more screens for my PC

[Erik_Twice]

Yesterday I was looking around at a pawn shop with my friends and I saw several 17" screens for around 50 €. They were different models but without the frames they would fit perfectly with my current screen and I would be able to play with a field of vision of 120º which is amazing for inmmersion.

However I'm a newbie when it comes to this kind of topics. My video card only has two VGA outputs, does that mean I would need another videocard? Because I have an old one lying around but I'm sure it can't power TF2 at a good enough level so as to make 3 screens a good idea.

So, the question is, what would be cheaper/better? A 22" screen with inputs for my consoles or buying 2 more screens + videocard and a random TV of negligible cost? A good 22" screen would cost me more than 200€ which is what I would spend on the screens, a good videocard and a random TV. Yes, that's a lot of space

I don't know where to ask for some info so any help would be greatly appreciated. Also if you think the videogames that support multiscreen lack tell me about it. All Valve games support it and I'm into competitive TF2 so at least I will get some fun of that but knowing more games that allow it is always nice.

Also I wonder. If I have three screens and my PC is pretty poweful there must be some way of playing Starcraft with two friends on it using aditional keyboards/mouses. Is this a really cool idea or I'm just insane.

And for those who know. How good of an idea is removing the frame of a screen? Given that they would all be different models it would be a good idea*

*Strictly speaking I can exchange one of the new screens for my sister's screen beacuse it's the same model as mine and use those as side-screens.

Thanks in advance.

[Niode]

You need one of these:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wi ... /TH2Go_FAQ

Getting an extra video card would only be beneficial if you had an SLI (nvidia) or crossfire (ATi) compatible motherboard. Since you don't know much about this kind of stuff I'm assuming that's a no.

Essentially what you are doing is extending the field of view (FOV) across the 3 monitors. It's all well and good getting a triple monitor setup but without some custom drivers you're going to break the effect because it's not accomodating for the borders of the monitors.

There's not much of a risk of removing the casing for a TFT monitor but I wouldn't even attempt it on a CRT. You'll probably die (I'm not kidding here, being shocked by several thousand volts hurts, a lot). However you're going to need adequate shielding and some way of mounting the screens (since most mounting systems are on the casing itself).

I'd go with the TH2Go, it's the most noob-friendly system and is easy to get up and running.

So here's something you need to ask yourself, are the extra screens able to run the game at the same native resolution as your main screen, is the pixel pitch roughly the same (if not it's going to look very odd) plus the screens may not be the same quality and may look strange in comparison to the other ones (this can be fixed somewhat in in the config of the monitor, you can't fix it in software if you are going the th2go route since it reports to the PC as one really big widescreen monitor, editing the software controls for brightness and colour on the PC will change it for all the screens). Also you need to consider how powerful your graphics card is, it needs to be powerful enough to run essentially 3x the workload it is currently running at to power 1 screen. Unless you have something meaty like an 8800 or hd3870 upwards you're going to have to turn the visual settings down, which will completely ruin the entire point you are going for, Immersion.

Also there is the software route with softTH (software triple head) which requires two PCI-e graphics cards. If you don't have a PCI-Express motherboard you can't go this route. It also only works with certain software, compared to the much higher compatibility of Matrox's Triplehead 2 Go system.


Regarding your other question, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to run 3 instances of starcraft on 1 system at a time anyway, let alone being able to be controlled by 3 seperate keyboard and mouse combinations. The game just simply wasn't coded with this kind of set up in mind.

[Hobie-wan]

Ditto a lot of what Niode said. Even just running 2 monitors requires a lot more horsepower from your PC and video card if you're going to be gaming. Even running a game on one screen with a second just showing some desktop with say your IM and music player running will affect the game a lot. Mixing and matching different monitor brands will make calibrating them so the colors and brightness match will take a while.

Just things to consider.

[Erik_Twice]

Oh, this is credit to team!

Unfortunatedly TH2go is way too expensive for me if I take the new screens into account. It's not a matter of what I'm willing to pay but "will my parents allow me?". So it's better to break it down in more parent-friendly pieces.

Thus I think I may get the screens first and go the software route. TF2 runs fine on it and given it's the game I will play more I'm already on safe ground.

I don't know now if my base board allows two video cards, I should check. However it wouldn't hurt to change it if the price is still in check. So what do you think?

Concerning Starcraft I mean something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiseat_configuration

[Hobie-wan]

Concerning Starcraft I mean something like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiseat_configuration

If you mean Starcraft 1 and it cooperates with the software on that page, then yeah, modern system should be able to handle the computing power needed for multiple copies of Starcraft.

[fastbilly1]

Multiseat gaming is an interesting idea. Since most of my favorite multiplayer pc games are from 2000 or before one beefy pc might be the ideal way of lanning 8 players. Im going to try and play with one of the xp options tonight.

Edit:
After alot of research I discovered that SoftXpand might be your best choice for XP Multiseat gaming - mainly since it apparently runs AutoCAD on multiple instances. I am going to try to play around with the demo tonight. IF it works Ill try some titles thatll be heavy for the box - p4 2.8ghz, 2 gigs ddr2, 6600.

[Erik_Twice]

I checked and my computer lacks a second PCI-e port but I read that I can just use a PCI videocard and it will run exactly the same. Yay! It means I get Multimonitor gaming for around 120€! Not bad at all!

Thank you very much! Now all I need is to find a PCI videocard and voilá!

On multiseat gaming:

Thanks you a lot fastbilly 1! Once I get my setup I will try to get some Half-Life Deathmatch working. If you do something cool, please tell us!

[fast]

http://kb.miniframe.com/kb/?View=entry&EntryID=102

They have a list of games they have running on their setup. I am going to try it off of one card instead of the two they suggest. Which reminds me I think GoG has Descent 3 on sale right now...hmmm

[fastbilly1]

Norris what are your specs? Im installing xp on that p4 box today and Ill give it a go with Starcraft, Red Alert 2, Half-Life, UT99, and a couple others (ie what I buy off GoG).

[fastbilly1]

Softxpand works quite well on separate gpus and decently on the same. On that P4 box I got UT99 to run fairly well two player and I was quite impressed. It does have some quirks and you might not be able to play Starcraft because of them. Softxpand doesnt like programs that force a change to your resolution. I havent played with it enough to figure out a workaround but as of right now Starcraft gives up several errors about how it needs 640x480.

Softxpand is a bargain at its price and Ill be buying the full version soon.