ThrottleUp Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Hello everyone, Sorry for a rambling whiny post but I really need some advice! Ok I've just had a rude shock (and its all my fault for forgetting to research this before ordering my new gaming rig). I have two 20" displays each at 1680 X 1050 native resolution. In a nutshell - it seems that ATI cards cannot be made to treat these two monitors as one big one. This was VERY easy to do with Nvidia. As far as I can tell with ATI it does not allow "true" recognition of two displays. Instead its Catalyst/Hydravision software simply stretches windows across both monitors. But the Nvidia software could truly treat both screens as one giant display. And heres the bit that bit me!.... With my old 7600GT set to Horizontal Span Flight Simulator would recognize the new size of 3360 X 1050 (1680 X 2) This does not happen at all with my HD4870 and so I cannot game on 3360 X 1050 like I used to on my old Dell with its 7600GT card. If I had caught this fact before buying I would have got a GTX280 in a heartbeat! Im so gutted, flight sim looked AWESOME spanned to 3360 X 1050 and now I cannot do that on my new system. I guess Im posting this in the hope that someone has a solution.... Thanks guys! I made this diagram to clarify my issue: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotspot Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 What a bummer!! If you are sure the GTX280 will do what you want, it looks like you have three choices: 1. Sell the ATI card and get a GTX280 or similar - cost, about $500 depending on sale price. 2. Keep the ATI card, buy another 20" monitor with a TH2Go Digital and run three screens - cost, about $1000. 3. Stick with what you have - cost, kicking the cat every time you think "simulator" and probably a divorce. Being a triplehead fan myself the middle option looks good, but the third would tempt me Sorry to hear of the problem ThrottleUp - it may yet have a silver lining. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Ah I don't think you will have successful results with Wide Screen's and the TH2GO because of the Width Pixel wise. 3840 X 1024 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tennyson Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Maurice, I been running 3 x LG 22" widescreen monitors with a triple head2go for a long while and my native res for the three screens is 3840 x 1024. There is no distortion and if you have a look throo the community screenshots you will see lots of examples of them, including mine. Frank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThrottleUp Posted January 26, 2009 Author Share Posted January 26, 2009 Well guys guess what after a lot of searching I came upon the probable cause. Horizontal Spanning using graphics card software (Catalyst, GeForce) is apparently not possible in Vista. Notice I did not mention TH2GO, Ultramon etc. This as far as I understand is not *true* spanning where the OS core "senses" one giant display made up of multiple screens. On my old system with XP & 7600GT card FS actually sensed the 3360 X 1050 display made up of two 1680 X 1050s without the use of any additional 3rd-party hardware or software. From what I saw on gaming forums many people have dumped Vista and gone back to XP because it allows spanning with their cards. Im glad I found this out before I ordered an NVidia card because extensive searching found that even people with NVidias cannot not Horizontally Span - but the option to do so magically appeared when they went back to XP.Why did I give up safe, stable and faithful XP! Initially I had planned on buying XP Home and having a dual OS - keeping XP just for FS but I realize that Windows 7 is coming....fingers crossed they re-enable good old Horizontal Spanning. I am now in the RIDICULOUS situation of having been able to game at 3360 X 1050 with a Pentium 4, 7600GT system but stuck with 1680 X 1050 with a Core i7, HD4870 system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Frank I'm trying to figure out how you can get 3840 X 1024 across 3 22" 16:9 screens without distortion, when my 3 x 21" CRT's 4:3 run an un stretched image at 3840 X 1024 in VC but don't even think about any 2D cockpit. If you fly on the centre screen and have other tools on the other screens then that is a different situation. External shots would be effected but to a much lesser degree I suspect. I wish I had the money to purchase 3 22" LCD's to test my system (might liberate some realestate on my desk) the difference might be Analogue v Digital too as mine is analogue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThrottleUp Posted January 26, 2009 Author Share Posted January 26, 2009 the difference might be Analogue v Digital too as mine is analogue. Even after this new i7 rig arrived I was using analog connections on the monitors. Until a buddy of mine gave me some of his spare DVI cables. Talk about a transformation! I had to turn the brightness down for one thing (its just at 20% now) but things are now so sharp on the display. Expecially noticeble in games. If you have DVI outputs I would defo get some cables Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurdy Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 The 3 widescreen option is only available on the digital version of the TH2Go .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gurdy Posted January 26, 2009 Share Posted January 26, 2009 Has anyone tried the Horizontal Spanning on Windows7 .. i doubt it has changed... but would be interesting to see if M$ listen to their customers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boe772ER Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Hey ThrottleUp I am building a system almost identitcal to yours. It is a great computer! ;D Now that I have read this post I'm starting to think I should go with the GTX280 because they are about the same price as the 4870 and they seem to work better with multiple monitors which I will probably do. Also what frames do you typically get at like FTX YMML or Fsdreamteam KJFK? (Im going to use PMDG, Active Sky)... Thanks, Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotspot Posted January 27, 2009 Share Posted January 27, 2009 Frank I'm trying to figure out how you can get 3840 X 1024 across 3 22" 16:9 screens without distortion, when my 3 x 21" CRT's 4:3 run an un stretched image at 3840 X 1024 in VC but don't even think about any 2D cockpit. If you fly on the centre screen and have other tools on the other screens then that is a different situation. External shots would be effected but to a much lesser degree I suspect. I wish I had the money to purchase 3 22" LCD's to test my system (might liberate some realestate on my desk) the difference might be Analogue v Digital too as mine is analogue. Hi Mozz, Yep, my TH2Go Digital spreads the fullscreen sim across three 22" LCD's (without distortion) and I now have a fourth 22' LCD plugged into the same card (GTX280) running my peripherals and getting great clarity on all four with FPS not below 24. The fourth screen is centrally mounted above the others and is ideal for showing instruments etc. while the panoramic view is uncluttered on the three lower screens. The resolution on the TH2Go screens is 3840X1024, and the res on the single plugged into the same card is 1680x1050 - set by selecting the "second" screen in the Vista CP Display settings/adjust Res. I gave up trying to fathom out or explain resolution matters some time ago, and decided to just enjoy what my eyes were telling me - it is not my intention to convince anyone how good it is - the evidence is on this forum and if it is ignored or disbelieved by some who may not have experienced it that is strictly 'bilong them'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThrottleUp Posted January 27, 2009 Author Share Posted January 27, 2009 Hey Dan, The leap in performance is amazing in FSX with this new rig. However TBH I have not really done any serious testing of FPS and all that. I keep it locked at 30 because VISUALLY *without* the FPS counter I cannot tell the difference. I left it ulocked once at the FPS counter showed 80-85FPS max but I forgot where I was flying and also that was probably a default plane without a sooper-dooper hi-res VC etc. But the coolest thing about this new rig is not the FPS but the *smoothness* of FS9 & FSX. Theres *no* stutters. It just flows like a stream!! And thats what counts...Im glad Im not fixated on the FPS count and the 30-lock works well for me. Lots and lots of tweaking to do but Im realizing that I shouldnt spend too much time on that - us simmers sometimes fall into the awful trap of spending every waking moment on the PC tweaking this and tweaking that....enough...go fly and do the tweaking in small steps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boe772ER Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Oh thanks ThrottleUp can't wait to get my system built! Its going to be great for FSX! Although I'm might be getting the GTX285 instead of 4870... Thanks, Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThrottleUp Posted January 31, 2009 Author Share Posted January 31, 2009 Although I'm might be getting the GTX285 instead of 4870 Id be really interested to hear how FSX performs with that on your new system. Specially the spanning bit (heh). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Has anyone tried the Horizontal Spanning on Windows7 .. i doubt it has changed... but would be interesting to see if M$ listen to their customers! Well in my case the W7 installation simply see's the TH2GO as a 3840 X 1024 VGA Monitor. W7 does however know there is another VGA/DVI Port available. Unfortunately it currently refuses to allow the installation of the Power Desk software but that is small potatoes compared to all the other little niceties I've discovered so far. I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThrottleUp Posted February 11, 2009 Author Share Posted February 11, 2009 Has anyone tried the Horizontal Spanning on Windows7 .. i doubt it has changed... but would be interesting to see if M$ listen to their customers! Thats an interesting question and I shall watch with interest to see if they enable that in Windows 7! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maurice_King Posted February 11, 2009 Share Posted February 11, 2009 I'll be away for a few days , but on my return I'll drop the TH2GO out off line and plug 2 monitors into the 2 Ports on the Graphics Card and see what happens. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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