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Displays Graphics Software Entertainment Games

Tom's Hardware Reviews Multi-Display Gaming 273

Posted by CmdrTaco from the getting-just-a-little-crazy dept.
MikShapi writes "Most gamers out there today own a dual-head graphics card (most of us completely neglecting the second port), and games such as X2 are offering support for this already (at least on nVidia cards, due to the "span" driver feature). Tom's Hardware did a nice rundown on the technology, complete with screenshots and benchmarks."
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Tom's Hardware Reviews Multi-Display Gaming More

Tom's Hardware Reviews Multi-Display Gaming

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  • Hornet.....1989 (Score:5, Informative)

    by BWJones ( 18351 ) * on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:25AM (#8304235) Homepage Journal
    Meh, Seriously..... People are saying how cool this is but multidisplay gaming was being done on my Mac Quadra 840av back in 1989 or 1990 with an application galled Hornet by Graphic Simulations. We had three displays hooked up that could dynamically display front and side views as you moved the plane throughout its axis making virtual air combat much easier. Hornet was apparently written for the Mac natively, but later, when Graphsim decided they were going to write for Windows first and then port the Mac version, we lost the ability to do multidisplays even though the Macintosh had been supporting multiple displays since 1987.

    Granted, at the time, a Quadra 840av with three fast NUBUS video cards and three displays were decidedly not cheap, but my point is simply that this is nothing new and when the original Graphsim creators of Hornet included this feature, they knew this was the right way to do it just like the more sophisticated simulators that pilots use for their training.

    • Re:Hornet.....1989 (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Acidic_Diarrhea ( 641390 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:55AM (#8304515) Homepage Journal
      "People are saying how cool this is but multidisplay gaming was being done on my Mac Quadra 840av back in 1989 or 1990 with an application galled Hornet by Graphic Simulations."
      So your point is that because it has been done before, it's no longer cool?

      I don't think the articles point is that this is some major innovation that's never been thought of before. Games that take advantage of multiple displays are few and far between. We can go make through the history of games on the PC and Mac and pick out a handful of them and show how knowledgeable we all are [as you seem to have chosen to do] but what purpose does that serve? The article isn't saying this is a new thing - it's saying it is an underused thing. Furthermore, it's a chicken before the egg situation because developers aren't going to support it until they know people are using multiple displays and people aren't going to use multiple displays until games take advantage of them. So yes, you were able to cite a game from the past that took advantage of this. Congratulations.

    • Re:Hornet.....1989 (Score:3, Insightful)

      by siberian ( 14177 )
      I remember that game! While it was a blast, I agree, the 12 fps left a lot to be desired...

      But nothing like having 3 monitors. It supported up to 9 I think, I bet it would have blazed at 5fps with all 9 hooked up.

      That was always a problem with my quadra, the potential always showed through the reality.

    • FA-18 Hornet, which was a little later, supported this anyway. And yeah, it was way fun. I had a weird combination of monitors -- one color 20" and one Radius "tilt" screen that was B&W. The Radius would be set to landscape mode, and I'd "check six" for people on my tail. (I think it might have worked for Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, too -- that game had bad flight models, but all sorts of 'film' features and extras that were ahead of their time.)

      Those old OS 7.something Macs supported "spanning" at the

  • Cool. Now to get some money... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by ObviousGuy ( 578567 ) <ObviousGuy@hotmail.com> on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:28AM (#8304260) Homepage Journal
    I'm sure that having a second monitor to provide extra game info is probably way cool, especially with games like flight sims and driving sims. But how many people really have two monitors?

    My desk is not that big and because I care about resolution and sharpness I run a large 19" CRT. There simply isn't room on the desk for a second CRT.

    Not to mention that extra monitors are quite pricey. I love games and gaming, but I can't see myself forking over several hundred dollars for the purpose of playing a game. At least if I were a graphic designer I could make money with the second screen, but gaming is only a money pit.

    No second screen for me, I guess, no matter how cool it would be. :-(
    • I run duel monitors, one 19" crt and one 15" lcd, and it's great, but not for games, for the desktop. I have movie/tv/whatever running on the 15" and web browsing/chattin/programming/whatever on the 19"

      it's sooo wonderful, I want to get another vid card and do a third on the left :P
      • Hmm, I currently havea 19" crt and i'm thinking of getting a setup like yours...however simply so that winamp and other such applications can sit on the lcd.

        Second question, how does linux do with a second monitor? does it take any further customization?

        • They work great in linux, I only use linux, so it was important to me. You can set it up any way you like, so check it out.

        • Re:Cool. Now to get some money... (Score:5, Informative)

          by mbogosian ( 537034 ) <matt@arCOFFEEena ... m minus caffeine> on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @11:05AM (#8305207) Homepage
          Second question, how does linux do with a second monitor?

          Like anything with Linux, the answer is, "it depends on your distro, your [insert hardware model here] and what version of [insert relevant software here] you're running".

          does it take any further customization?

          Heh. Would it be Linux if it didn't? :-)

          Seriously, though, check out this HOWTO [tldp.org]. The HOWTO's title is slightly misleading in that it covers dual head configuration in addition to Xinerama (which is lucky for us).

          FYI, the Xinerama extension is what allows XFree86 to support the use of multiple monitors with one desktop (e.g., you can drag your windows from one monitor to another or have them span both, etc.). In the old days, you used to have a separate X session for each monitor. Most modern session managers (GNOME, KDE, etc.) now have good support for Xinerama, but you'll need a relatively new version of XFree86 [xfree86.org] (if you have a newer version of most distros, you should already have this).

          It will also help if your monitors are relatively new. If they're not, you may have to do some Googling to get the proper modelines (search for "[your monitor model] xfree86 modeline"), but for most newer monitors, this should be an issue.

          Another point of recommendation: if you want hardware 3d acceleration, try and make sure all of your cards support it. Otherwise the contents of your OpenGL app windows will not display on monitors without it. Not a show-stopper, but sometimes a little confusing/annoying when you're running Blender [blender.org]. :-)
    • But how many people really have two monitors?

      There are many many folks that have been using multiple monitors for a while. I got my MacIIsi and had two monitors running back in 1988 and every computer since then (except for most of my Windows systems and a couple SGI's) have had multiple displays. The advantages are simply too many to count, but historically the applications for multiple displays have run the gamut from financial displays of information to a system we had based on WinNT that was serious

    • Re:Cool. Now to get some money... (Score:5, Funny)

      by sYn pHrEAk ( 526867 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:42AM (#8304406) Homepage Journal
      but I can't see myself forking over several hundred dollars for the purpose of playing a game.

      Then you're definitely no gamer.

      "WOW! GEFORCE 5000! MOMMY CAN I HAVE $750 FOR A COMPUTER PART?!?! ALL THE OTHER KIDS MIGHT GET IT FIRST IF YOU DON'T HURRY!"

      "No, Jimmy. Now take your medicine, go to your room and lie down. You know how your blood pressure gets when you're excited ever since you turned 40."

    • Re:Cool. Now to get some money... (Score:5, Informative)

      by blixel ( 158224 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:50AM (#8304457)
      I'm sure that having a second monitor to provide extra game info is probably way cool, especially with games like flight sims and driving sims. But how many people really have two monitors?

      I bought 3 Hitachi 17" Flat Panel displays [tomshardware.com] just for that purpose. I powered them with a Matrox Parhelia. (Screenshots here [blixel.com], here [blixel.com], and here [blixel.com].

      For Flight Sim'ing, the experience is just OK (at best). And that's only if you turn down the settings quite a bit. The video card simply can't handle 3840x1024 resolutions with all the settings maxed out and still manage 60+ frames per second. (Though in flight siming, since the graphics don't change nearly as much as they do in a first person shooter, you only need 25-30 to get a smooth playback.)

      I noticed that in first person shooters the extra monitors didn't actually add to the emersion like I thought it would. You still focus all of your attention on the middle monitor. The side monitors ARE good for camping/sniping though. You have a wider field of view so it's harder for someone to surprise you from the side. But when you are running around constantly, the side monitors can almost be more distracting than useful. But it makes for a great demo for friends. Everyone you show it to will want it.

      The real problem with triple head gaming right now is lack of graphic processing power. Don't buy the Matrox card for this purpose. You definitely WILL NOT be happy with the results. I most certainly wasn't. And I bought it knowing that for first person shooters it was going to suck, but I wanted it mainly for Flight Simulators. But even in that case it just doesn't have enough power.

      Maybe when PCI Express is available I'll be able to buy 3 NVidia/ATI based graphic cards that actually have the kind of power needed for this intense of a workout.

      What Tom's Hardware is proposing in this article is a much more practicle use for a second (or third) monitor. Having the second monitor display map data, chat information, statistics, and so on. The second display wouldn't even have to be accelerated in that case. A spare PCI VGA card with 8MB or 16MB of RAM should be sufficient.
      • And a couple of more quick points.

        The Matrox Parhelia SUCKS if you are a Linux user. For the last several months I've been using Linux 100% of the time but I guess technically I am a dual booter. (There are a couple of games in Windows that I enjoy enough to keep Windows around.) Anyway - the Linux drivers that are available for the Parhelia are non accelerated. (There is a note on the website that says you can e-mail them and request some kind of accelerated development only driver. I requested them
        • The drivers also address your Desktop as one big Desktop (not Xinerama). So when you maximize a window, it maximizes across all 3 monitors.

          Best. Minesweeper. Ever.

      • For a cool (DIY) flightsim setup, check out this one [localhost.nl]. It's a wicked one, for sure.

        Oops, did I cause that site to be /.-ed now?

      • I think its becoming a fairly true statement when I say that most people have at least 2 monitors, at least one of which is sitting in a closet/basement/corner unused. However, theres pretty much a 99% chance that you will never have two of the same monitors without specifically ordering them.

        In your case, you're not giving a fair argument. Just by clicking the link to your Hitachi 17" flat panels and looking at the bottom would scare away most users.

        The cheapest price for a Hitachi CML174SXW 17" flat pane

      • If you use two systems at the same desk, there are some good tricks you can do. On an X-windows box, run an app called x2vnc. [hubbe.net] Then, on your second machine (e.g. windows) run a vncserver. When the mouse hits the end of the screen, it warps over to the other PC. So, you get to use two different PCs as a multiple display setup, using the same inputs. Cut and paste works as well! Highly recommended. I used to do it with a dual head PC to get three displays hooked in.

        If you want both machines running X, you ne

    • Re:Cool. Now to get some money... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by asdfghjklqwertyuiop ( 649296 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:55AM (#8304509)
      Not to mention that extra monitors are quite pricey.

      Actually, they're quite cheap, if you had the space.

      I have a triple-display setup at home. Three 17" CRTs. CRT monitors aren't very expensive these days. As for the video cards, I have one AGP Geforce2 on the center monitor, and I have two PCI Matrox Millenium II cards on the side displays. The Millenium IIs are $20/each on Ebay.

      Now of course, given the hardware on the side displays they aren't very useful for running games, however this setup is incredibly useful for many other things (programming, web stuff). Also, I can have a game running fullscreen/accelerated on the center GeForce2 and have IRC or AIM or a web page or something running on the side displays.

    • Re:Cool. Now to get some money... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by kfg ( 145172 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @10:13AM (#8304693)
      How much does a set of graphite shaft golf clubs cost? For that matter have you checked out the price of balls lately? Nevermind greens fees.

      What does a single Orvis or Sage flyrod cost, never mind your reel, line, flies and wading equipment?

      I've got several hundred dollars into just the radio gear of my R/C racing car, and it's another fourty bucks in tires every few times I race it. Not to mention entry fees.

      Computer gaming is actually relatively cheap if one runs a generation or so behind the curve. Used 17" CRTs are about fifty bucks.

      I'm a notorious cheap ass bastard who enjoys squeezing life out of as little money as I can. I'm a luftmensch. But I work to buy things I want and enjoy. A good book. A game. A nice flyrod. A Campy grouppo. Whatever.

      Life is a money pit. I'm going to do what I can to enjoy it and use what little money I have in that pursuit.

      I work to live, not live to work.

      KFG

    • A lot of laptop users... (Score:5, Informative)

      by blorg ( 726186 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @10:30AM (#8304847)
      ...have multiple monitors, myself included (e.g. the built-in LCD + an external monitor). I've had a laptop plus a second monitor for years now, and couldn't imagine working without them - I really miss the second monitor when away from my work/home workstation. Although admittedly this is not to play games, it is used in a similar way to that suggested in the article, with secondary applications like Winamp, terminal services into another computer, documentation, etc. on the second monitor. It's also great to be able to code on the main monitor and see the results on the second one.

      My second monitor at home is a 17" LCD and was pretty cheap. Indeed, two smaller monitors will give you more screen real-estate than a single large one, for a much lower price.

      If you do go down the multi-monitor route in Windows, I'd highly recommend Ultramon [realtimesoft.com] which adds invaluable features missing in the OS (taskbar on second monitor, maximize to dual-screen, button to flip window from one monitor to another, turn on/off second monitor, multiple profiles, etc.)

    • I'm sure that having a second monitor to provide extra game info is probably way cool, especially with games like flight sims and driving sims. But how many people really have two monitors?

      Exactly. That is the whole reason I bought a KVM switch, to AVOID needing more than one monitor. If I get tired of "hotkeying" over to the other computers, I can fire up VNC.

      Gaming is a money pit. I *almost* bought a new video card back in November just to be prepared for when HL2 came out. I am soooo glad I coul

    • , but gaming is only a money pit

      No WAY! Do you realize how much money is actually saved by people who play Counter-Strike? They pay $15-45 U.S. (depending on when they bought the game) for the actual game and then pay for their monthly internet connection (which they arguably would have anyway). Then they don't need to be wasting money on things like dinners at nice restraunts on dates or on movies or any of the other things that "normal" people throw their money away doing. It's the perfect cheap dat

  • Yeah but, (Score:5, Interesting)

    by pheared ( 446683 ) <kevin@nOSpAm.pheared.net> on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:29AM (#8304268) Homepage
    You can't beat the "3-headed" Doom play if you had three networked machines. That was fun.

  • Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by clifgriffin ( 676199 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:29AM (#8304270) Homepage
    My experience with dual monitors has showed me its use for multitasking, but I can't think of anything more horrid than trying to span a game across it.

    Even my multitasking ends up dividing entertainment from work... My GAIM windows and media players go in monitor 2 while my real work stays in number one.

    I just don't see how that would be any fun.
    • One thing I did recently was load up an old k6-2 450 with Linux, and have that running beside my main machine; of which, my main machine has one 15" lcd and one 17" crt.

      Why?

      Well, it's nice that when I switch to games on the real computer, that the secondary display stays up. However, you cannot easily switch focus (at least I cannot) to chat in an IM window, and then switch back.... (UT is a pain - takes 30secs to swap to a diff. task).

      I have all of my 'net chat windows up on the linux box, happy as ca

    • Re:Why? (Score:3, Informative)

      by gerddie ( 173963 )
      Since I got a second monitor at work, I run the programming environment (Anjuta or XEmacs) on the first screen, and the help browsers (like DevHelp, or Galeon with the apropriate web pages) on the other window.
      Mail, Media player (for some music) and normal internet browsing go to virtual desktops.
    • I just don't see how that would be any fun.

      The first example on the article web site is a pretty good case: you don't span the main game view across two windows, you play with a full-size main view on one screen and far more of the supporting information/controls than normal visible on the other. Gives you a larger main display and more convenient access to the extras. Any RTS fan is going to appreciate that...

  • You know who'd love this??? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Howard Beale ( 92386 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:30AM (#8304277)
    Zaphod Beeblebrox!

  • 3 head would be better (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Zog The Undeniable ( 632031 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:32AM (#8304294)
    Left, centre, right. Ideal for flight simulators etc. Where do you look with dual head? I can see the practical problems with fitting 3 VGA outputs on the back of an AGP card though, as well as desk space issues.

  • Yawn.... (Score:4, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:32AM (#8304295)
    I had multi-display gaming on my Mac ten years ago. Chuck Yeager's Air Combat. I set the second monitor to always show the rear view, so if any MiGs or Messerschmitts started tailing me, I'd see it immediately. IIRC, the game would let you put a different view on as many monitors as you had.

    Hell, one of my friends managed to get DOOM working with three displays on his PC back then, too, though it took him a day or two to figure it out-- mine was just (as you'd expect on a Mac) plug and play.

  • Touch screens (Score:5, Interesting)

    by vasqzr ( 619165 ) <vasqzr@ne[ ]ape.net ['tsc' in gap]> on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:32AM (#8304299)
    This would work great for a game if you had a touch screen on one of the monitors.

    Think MMORPG

    One screen is first person view

    The other is your inventory and chat screen

    It's too hard to actively use 2 screens with one mouse.

    • Re:Touch screens (Score:4, Interesting)

      by TonyZahn ( 534930 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:52AM (#8304483) Homepage
      This isn't too far from what Nintento and Square have done with Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicals. Multiplayer is done via multiple Game Boys hooked up to the Gamecube. This way each person can access their own speciall menus without pausing the game or sucking up screen space.

      My brother just got this game and even if you only play single-player, you can hook a GBA up to the second controller port to view a special map on the GBA screen.

  • Sore muscles (Score:5, Informative)

    by kneecarrot ( 646291 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:32AM (#8304300)
    I had the opportunity to use a multi-display gaming rig for a few days and I can honestly say that there was one big showstopper of a problem that would keep me doing so again.

    I found that continually turning my head right to left to view both screens put a real strain on my neck.

    I tried moving back from the screens but I really couldn't find a "sweet spot" and eventally gave up.

    • Re:Sore muscles (Score:5, Insightful)

      by fafaforza ( 248976 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:39AM (#8304365)
      Maybe multiple displays aren't designed for the game you were playing.

      The best fit that I can think of for this would be racing sims like Grand Prox Legends. A 3-headed display would give you lots of peripheral vision to see cars that got along side of you, but you wouldn't have to turn your head to see the car in detail; the mere glimpse of a car's presence and position would be enough.
      • Actually, your comment really makes sense. If I remember correctly, I was playing a real-time strategy game (I don't recall the name) that required constant scanning of all areas of the screen.
      • I almost never use the look left/right feature in Grand Prix Legends. It's too jarring and unnatural. I'm likely to hit the car I'm looking to see if it's there, and then miss my turn in.

        Simply being able to glance at a monitor to my side would be wonderful, even if it meant turning my head. The panning is natural and continuous and perpherial vision keeps your forward orientation intact.

        Used 17" monitors are going for about $50 at my local salvager.

        GPL Rank -11
        Monster Rank +104

        KFG
      • If you're using the additional monitors for just peripheral vision in a racing game and/or information displays (merely text or 2D graphs/sprites at best), the card doesn't (or better say shouldn't) have to chug out all the gory details with high resolution textures and pixel shaders running full force on the "extra displays".
    • Seriously. If you're turning your neck to see 2 or 3 displays right up against each other, YOU'RE SITTING TOO CLOSE TO THEM! Move back a bit and use your eyes to scan, glasshoppah!

  • Second monitor becomes unusable (Score:5, Interesting)

    by fatwreckfan ( 322865 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:33AM (#8304303)
    I've always hated how my second monitor becomes unusable during gameplay. I'd like nothing more than to be able to throw my TV app up on the second monitor so I could watch TV while waiting to respawn in Wolf: ET.

    • Re:Second monitor becomes unusable (Score:5, Informative)

      by TrekkieGod ( 627867 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:57AM (#8304538) Homepage Journal
      I've always hated how my second monitor becomes unusable during gameplay. I'd like nothing more than to be able to throw my TV app up on the second monitor so I could watch TV while waiting to respawn in Wolf

      I do exactly that with my GeForce FX 5700. As long as you don't need to interact with what's on the second monitor (most games grab the mice, so you can't move it to the other monitor), it works just fine.

      What I would really like to do is to be able to chat on the other monitor while waiting to respawn, etc. on the game. Alt-tabbing minimizes all games in full screen mode, though.

  • Desert Combat mock-up (Score:5, Interesting)

    by southpolesammy ( 150094 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:34AM (#8304315) Journal
    I like the idea he presents in the article, but I'd rather have FPS games have the action in a middle window and have auxilliary information on the sides. Of course, the problem there is that two screens would divide the picture and three screens get you head swiveling even more than the original layout.

    Multi-display gaming will require a lot of these kinds of ergonomic decisions if they are to succeed.

  • heh (Score:4, Funny)

    by big_groo ( 237634 ) <groovis&gmail,com> on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:35AM (#8304323) Homepage
    cross your eyes...it's cheaper.

  • BF1942 and Desert Combat Need this (Score:3, Informative)

    by swb ( 14022 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:38AM (#8304356)
    I got kind of excited when I saw the DC mockup showing extra info on the additional monitor, and disappointed when I saw it wasn't possible (I have an Nividia dual-head setup so I pretty much knew that).

    But BF1942/DC could really use this, as could any FPS that involves a lot of secondary display info (maps, sensors, multiplayer chat, etc). I think that'd be a great step forward.

    A triple screen where you actually get a broader field of view would be amazing, although I won't hold my breath. Plus the desk space is a pain -- I have a custom-built desk I made specifically to hold 2-3 21" displays and it still feels cramped. Unfortunately the money for 3 x 21" LCDs just isn't there.
    • I *think* the UT2k4 demo supports multi-display...

      I'm not home so I cant verify this, but I remember in the setup options seeing a configurable Field of View (FOV) angle.

      Is multidisplay what this option is about?
    • A triple screen where you actually get a broader field of view would be amazing, although I won't hold my breath.

      Me neither, since this functionality was actually in the game up until version 1.4, when EA (or was it DICE?) decided it would be cheating to have a wider perspective than others with only one monitor. Version 1.5 removed all support for surround gaming, and it hasn't been put back in 1.6.

  • Little known thing... (Score:5, Informative)

    by dwaggie ( 106338 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:39AM (#8304361)
    With the nVidia drivers allowing you to span, games like EverQuest already support multi-monitor. I play EQ in 2560x1024x32 and it works out pretty well, letting me split the character information across the screens. And, honestly, you never really look directly in front of you that often, heh, so the screen split isn't that bad.

  • Edges of screens (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Sentosus ( 751729 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:40AM (#8304371)
    My biggest issues with this is that I need a monitor that allows me to place 2 more monitors on the left and right seemlessly. Such as, I want to extend the screen forward in the form of a lens and then slide the left and right monitors behind it hiding the plastic along the edge of the glass display. I can't have the 2 inches of break in my display when playing FPS games. Put it on both sides and it is twice as annoying. Remove the frame of the monitor and we have this working for games. Otherwise this is going to only slow me down. My desk has a 19 inch CRT, 14 Inch CRT, 17 inch CRT, and 2 laptops. Nothing new, but technology just isn't right.
    • Pretend that the edges are power loader (or other arbitrary vehicle or techy outfit, whatever suits the game) support beams.

      You'll get an extra kick out of the realistic bumpmapping.

    • Re:Edges of screens (Score:5, Informative)

      by phillymjs ( 234426 ) <slashdot.stango@org> on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @12:09PM (#8305916) Homepage Journal
      In arcade games they addressed that issue by putting one flat-screen CRT in place normally, and putting the other so the screen surface was on a horizontal plane showing a reversed image, and putting a mirror right up to the edge of the other CRT for the reversed image to reflect from so the image was as close to seamless as possible. It worked pretty well.

      It was done in larger multi-player games like (IIRC) the 6-player version of "X-Men"

      ~Philly

  • In the early 90's (Score:5, Informative)

    by BassKnight ( 525986 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:40AM (#8304375)
    Atari tried to put this technology into arcades, with Race Drivin' Panorama. There were 3 and 5 screen versions, but only prototypes existed. Check some nice photos and specs here [system16.com] and here [videotopia.com]

  • Cool for some (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Gr8Apes ( 679165 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:40AM (#8304380)

    Some games I think a dual monitor setup would be awesome. Think any RTS game where the play field is shrunk because of the "instrumentation" or the like, with dual monitors, a lot of this could go to the second monitor. I think it'd be even cooler if you could decide what components went over to the second screen, and only keep those items most important to you on the play field screen. Or, have both the current and a completely non-instrumented view in the second.

    I don't think that just spanning the entire screen shot across 2 monitors would be helpful in any way though. Even with LCDs, the break caused by the frames would be somewhat irritating, to me at least. Then again, even the mesh lines on Trinitron monitors are annoying to me, so I may be just a bit more sensitive to those types of things.

    As for dual monitors in general, initially I thought why have duals? Just get one bigger better monitor. Now having worked with duals for about 2 years, I love this setup, and would rather have 2 slightly less capable monitors instead of one slightly bigger monitor. Being able to see a full web page and do something else in another screen related to it is way more helpful than switching between two window frames. There are many other instances where dual monitors are useful as well, and I even span both sometimes, although the application I use when doing that is amenable to doing that (eclipse).

  • My Favorite Line (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jwilhelm ( 238084 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:40AM (#8304384) Homepage Journal
    "During our tests, we literally fried an NVIDIA FX 5950 Ultra. One moment, the card was running just fine, the next there was a loud bang and it smelled as if something had burned. We will investigate this phenomenon further to rule out the possibility of this being a coincidence."

    Yeah, we *may* have fried a $450 video card, but don't worry about that... on with the review!

    • Re:My Favorite Line (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Tx ( 96709 )
      Soon to be 2x $450 cards - because I can only think of one way of proving it wasn't coincidence.
      • Good point. Must be nice to just have free hardware thrown at you... "Yeah, I'm going to need a few more of these GeForce FX 9999 Super Ultra Plus ++'s for some, uh, tests..."
        • "Yeah, I'm going to need a few more of these GeForce FX 9999 Super Ultra Plus ++'s for some, uh, tests..."

          You think that's bad? The producer of the last Bond movie allegedly had to ring up his contact at Aston Martin, which had lent them several DB7s to play with, and explain that they'd just accidentally crashed a car with a six-figure price tag into an iceberg.

    • The frying of their video card got me thinking...

      since Tom's Hardware concludes that the processing power isnt quite there yet for multiple high-rez monitors, why not just settle for multiple TV-sets at TV-rez?

      Not only TVs are cheaper, so you can afford more, but you could have wall to wall to ceiling of TVs on a rack...

      Or throw that option out altogether, and get a LCD projector, expand the FOV to 180 degree, and project it on a concave screen? or would you have to project it on a semi-transparent conve

  • parhelia (Score:2, Informative)

    by robnauta ( 716284 )
    I believe Tom's Hardware itself showed a photo of someone playing Quake 3 on three screens when he reviewed the Matrox Parhelia card (which can drive 3 monitors). This was in 2002. Here is the relevant page. [tomshardware.com] and Here is another one [tomshardware.com]

  • Awesome! (Score:5, Funny)

    by lacrymology.com ( 583077 ) <nospam@minotaurc ... m minus caffeine> on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:42AM (#8304404) Homepage
    You mean when I play Pong, I can have one paddle on one screen, and the other on another! That is dope!

    -m

  • Mach L 3.8 etc.. (Score:5, Informative)

    by Alucard454 ( 736653 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:50AM (#8304460) Homepage Journal
    anybody remember these guys?
    http://www.go-l.com/monitors/index.htm [go-l.com]
    last i recall, they had fraud rumors flying left and right, but then they showed up to some convention or other with an actual setup and made everyone eat their words. i still think a lot of their desktop descriptions sound like complete hogwash, but whatever. that grand canyon display still looks pretty badass.

    • anybody remember these guys? http://www.go-l.com/monitors/index.htm [go-l.com] last i recall, they had fraud rumors flying left and right, but then they showed up to some convention or other with an actual setup and made everyone eat their words. i still think a lot of their desktop descriptions sound like complete hogwash, but whatever. that grand canyon display still looks pretty badass.

      Or, for a wider range of multi-monitor styles, you could check out 9X Media [9xmedia.com]. Their expandable multimonitor units run up to 32 dis

  • Two Cameras (Score:5, Interesting)

    by glenrm ( 640773 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:50AM (#8304463) Homepage Journal
    What I want is two camera views one for each monitor. I would like to have an overhead camera and a front view camera when playing NeverWinter Nights. This way I can see the excellent fights and creatures and still have a tactical overview of the situation.

  • I'm quite surprised to read that trimonitor/trihead is difficult because I find it's actually quite easy - I've got a dualhead Matrox G550 card, and a TNT2 PCI card with 3 monitors and am able to have 3 desktops, and even tried a 3rd TNT2 card to get 4 screens, but the computer kept crashing which I suspect due to the excessive power usage of the 3 graphic cards.

    I used to have a Geforce 3 and 2 TNT2 cards but as I said, the computer kept crashing after 5 to 15 mins of trimonitor usage.

    Talking about 3 mo

  • Rehashed again and again (Score:3, Insightful)

    by aliens ( 90441 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:51AM (#8304471) Homepage Journal
    Every few years multi-headed gaming rears its head (haha).

    It's not going to catch on any time soon.

    Matrox [matrox.com] Did it right with their latest 3d card. Offering the use of 3 monitors. Several games supported this natively but the comparitively poor 3D speed led few to pick it up.

    Until it is the defacto standard to have 2 or 3 LCD's on a desk you're not going to see gamers using this over one large high resolution monitor.

  • I've been eyeing this 3 panel LCD display for a while. I would buy it, but i'm a gamer at heart and I just can't give up my 9800 pro just to have 3 monitors. I'm hoping that when PCI-express comes out that matrox will step up the the plate and put out a good quality 3d card that handles dx9 and opengl. Then I wont want more then 2 seconds to place that order for the 3 panel lcd.

  • The home of multiple monitors... (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Tryfen ( 216209 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @09:53AM (#8304489) Homepage
    ...is here [realtimesoft.com]
    When I was a developer I used to use 3.
    Left was API / Help
    Centre was IDE
    Right was Output (+ Winamp, trillian etc)

    Nowadays I keep my email on my secod monitor and my work on my main.

    A second PCI video card can be had for nothing - and you can pick up small CRTs for beer money. For cost effective multitasking, go multimonitor.

  • The grass is always greener (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @10:02AM (#8304576)
    I spent considerable time and energy acquiring the hardware and configuring a multi-headed system specifically for FPS. I ended up with three 17" monitors with a screen resoloution of 3084X768. After a couple weeks of screwing with xinerama & propritary drivers I got everything working the way it should.

    I was suprised to find that Multiple monitors actually distracted from gameplay. As a previous poster mentioned, The time spent turning your head & refocusing on another screen was often long enough for your oponent to get a shot off. More significant, by adjusting the view to match the realestate of the display, I lost considerable vertical field of view. Leaving me prone to attacks from above & below. I used the Multi-heads for a month, making adjustments. But eventually reverted back to a single monitor and saw my frags increase imeadiatly.

  • Link [slashdot.org]

    Ask Slashdot: Multiple Monitor Fun

    Posted by Cliff on Tue Nov 03, '98 07:09 AM
    from the more-monitors-are-good-than-one dept.
    A whole bunch of you have written in about multiple monitor (multi-headed) support in Linux. Is it possible? What's involved? Who supports it? These are all interesting questions, and one person made a point of noting that Windows could do it, and couldn't find out how to do it on Linux. There's also a nifty project in the works involving Linux and a "video wall"! Click below fo

  • Hmm... (Score:3, Informative)

    by BJH ( 11355 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @10:07AM (#8304630)
    We hope that multi-display gaming will get a lot easier with the introduction of the PCI-Express interface, as it allows the use of several graphics adapters.

    This is actually incorrect - contrary to most people's assumptions, there is no technical reason why a motherboard cannot provide multiple AGP slots.
    Whether software is built to handle it is another question, of course...
  • It's especially appropriate for Tom's reviews.

  • 2 monitors different res (Score:4, Interesting)

    by bfkDW ( 752955 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @10:11AM (#8304665) Homepage
    I currently run 2 monitors not for gaming but for webdesign and programming. One is a 19inch monitor the other is a 15 inch. I run the 19 at 1600x1200 and the 15 at 1024x768. No good for gaming but I can check how well a website works at different resolutions and program on the big screen then check out render on the 15. I'll never go back to a single monitor.

  • Destroying cards (Score:2, Informative)

    by earthloop ( 449575 )
    RTA. The author appears to have actually destroyed a card due to the demands put on it by dual heading.

  • Battletech (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Shadowhawk ( 30195 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @12:52PM (#8306399)
    This reminds me of the expensive Battletech simulator that existed ~10+ years ago in a mall in Chicago. It had multiple monitors (one showing front view and one showing a radar). IIRC, each monitor was hooked up to a different computer, a PC for the front view and an Amiga displaying the radar. That was a cool game. Too bad it cost so much (like $5/per person/session). Eventually, they disappeared, although I saw a similar game in LA about 5 years ago (which has also disappeared since).

  • Multiple Screens, HMDs, and Virtual Presence (Score:3, Interesting)

    by cr0sh ( 43134 ) on Tuesday February 17, 2004 @03:12PM (#8308290) Homepage
    It seems that the better our 3D first person games get, the more push there is for the goal of total immersion. Why it has taken this long, I don't know. The graphics are there, but the means to immerse oneself into them are not. Gamers are finding they want more, but they are also find that to get it, they will have to spend some dough.

    Enter multiple monitors. This is a good solution, but gamers will likely find that the solution may be unwieldy and expensive. Furthermore, it will still lack the depth that they seek to immerse themselves into the game. Lastly, the edges of the monitors will ultimately get in the way, though this is a minor problem compared to the expense and the need for a large desk.

    One thing that is rarely discussed or seen is how to get better depth from a single (or multi) monitor setup. The way to do it, which the simulator industry has done for years, is by using a collimated display [google.com]. These displays work by taking the light output of a monitor, and forcing it to be more parallel, resulting in an increase of depth and immersion. However, these displays are typically expensive, due to the specialized optics (and niche market, of course). How can a home user do this themselves?

    Enter the fresnel lens - using such a lens (page magnifier), obtained from just about anywhere (or, alternatively, if you are willing to spend the money, buy a good one from Edmund Scientific Optics). Flashback on the "100 inch" TV projector projects (some would say scams), then flashback further to the AcidWarp projector box from DOS days, and even further back to the large fresnel lens TV magnifiers - you start to get the idea. Then, go to this page [rickleephoto.com], and read it. Get immersed!

    Regarding HMDs - for good immersion you will want one with at least 60 degrees horizontal FOV, ideally with a high resolution. Such HMDs exist, but they are expensive, very expensive. Even lower res (ie, 640x480 or 800x600) will set you back some coin, especially if you buy new. If you want to play with HMDs, it is probably best to buy used (every now and then pro-level HMDs appear on Ebay for a fraction of what they cost new - recently, several Virtuality HMDs went up - I have also purchased a CyberEye CE-200M on Ebay before as well, with 3DOF magnetic head tracker, for around $300.00). You can also go the homebrew route - use small TFT LCD TVs mounted to a hardhat headband, with credit-card size fresnel lenses as magnifiers. Likely your first tries will be abject failures, but subsequent modding will yield a reasonable HMD for little monetary outlay (but lots of invested time). Back in the day, PCVR magazine ran lots of articles on this - information on building homebrew HMDs seems to have faded from the collective memory. You won't get the resolution or the FOV of a high-end HMD, but you can easily approach, and in many-ways exceed, that of low to lower-mid level HMDs, if you only try...

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