Matrox - Black Shark

I can attest to that being very sweet :)

Can't seem to get my Black Shark Serial to work with their promotion :(

Nate

yeah, im not giving them my black shark serial number. I really am interested in it, but it's so over priced. I guess they figure if you can afford three monitors in the first place, you have no problem dishing out another few hundred bucks for the matrox. that thing should be a hundred bucks max though.

http://aeicomp.com/Detail.asp?Product_ID=201.300_VA900

if you can convert to S-video(?), a similar item goes for $38.00. USD

I gather that is just a video splitter Smil, the th2g actually makes 3 x monitors appear as one very very wide screen to a pc.

For instance as far as my pc is concerned my setup is a single monitor with a resolution of 4320x900 or 5040 x 1050 (If I could drop to 57hz) but in reality it is 3 x 24 inch monitors.

Is that promotion just for retail box serials or also for those who bought DCS via download?

there should be a quote on the price without having to input the serial number first .

http://shopmatrox.com/usa/products/categories.asp?CategoryID=80&Column=2

The regular prices in US without any coupon.

http://shopmatrox.com/usa/products/categories.asp?CategoryID=80&Column=2

 

The regular prices in US without any coupon.

thanks , but how much is it with the coupon ?

cause... that's the whole point right ? :D

i kinda find tripple monitors set up an unatural field of view. maybe if you had 3 and then 3 ontop of thoose.

My best bet is never mind the 3 screen setup, go for a 46-52 Inch aqua LCD from Sharp running at 4ms at 120Hz. That would be enough for me :D

Something like this http://www.pccyber.com/?v=product&i=LCDTV-SHARP-LC46D85U

or this http://www.futureshop.ca/prodlink.asp?P=0770HDS0010112439&L=EN

Drooling I want one :D

there should be a quote on the price without having to input the serial number first .

true... also they don't seem to have listed Australia in country list meaning I wouldn't be able to get it :noexpression:

Heh moose that is nice and I considered it but it just gives you a big picture, not a wide field of view. Now 3 of those and you are talking...god I bet you couldn't stand the heat :D

It really looks amazing but what is the performance penalty for using it?

It really looks amazing but what is the performance penalty for using it?

Ok this actually has a rather interesting answer. Before I owned this setup I assumed it would be total death to try and push out 3 screens of info with one card. With crysis it pretty much is but then again crysis is pretty harsh just on one screen :)

Anyway to answer this I just went and ran some benchmarks with the track that made

First run using FRAPS to benchmark.

Mission paused, center screen with NP5, 1920x1200+standard FoV, unpause and activate benchmark. Killed benchmark on ejection landing.

2009-03-13 17:42:40 - dcs

Frames: 14626 - Time: 280250ms - Avg: 52.189 - Min: 37 - Max: 63

Second run.

Mission paused, center screen with NP5, 4320x900+200 FoV, unpause and activate benchmark. Killed benchmark on ejection landing.

2009-03-13 17:49:45 - dcs

Frames: 13681 - Time: 280417ms - Avg: 48.788 - Min: 31 - Max: 66

..and there be your answer according to fraps. The frame count makes it look kinda dodgy but to the eye I don't see a game play difference between 1920x1200 and 4320x900, except one looks decidedly more awesome :)

Superb! That is reassuring information, as I was contemplating TH2Go as a future purchase. I also was thinking that it would probably be a significant hit on performance.

I may even move that up on higher on my list... :)

Ok this actually has a rather interesting answer. Before I owned this setup I assumed it would be total death to try and push out 3 screens of info with one card. With crysis it pretty much is but then again crysis is pretty harsh just on one screen :)

 

Anyway to answer this I just went and ran some benchmarks with the track that made

.

 

First run using FRAPS to benchmark.

Mission paused, center screen with NP5, 1920x1200+standard FoV, unpause and activate benchmark. Killed benchmark on ejection landing.

2009-03-13 17:42:40 - dcs

Frames: 14626 - Time: 280250ms - Avg: 52.189 - Min: 37 - Max: 63

 

Second run.

Mission paused, center screen with NP5, 4320x900+200 FoV, unpause and activate benchmark. Killed benchmark on ejection landing.

2009-03-13 17:49:45 - dcs

Frames: 13681 - Time: 280417ms - Avg: 48.788 - Min: 31 - Max: 66

 

..and there be your answer according to fraps. The frame count makes it look kinda dodgy but to the eye I don't see a game play difference between 1920x1200 and 4320x900, except one looks decidedly more awesome :)

Wow I didn't expect that. Thanks for the info. Is it difficult to setup, configure as it is with the multi monitor and BS? Also pls can you post your system specs?

Wow I didn't expect that. Thanks for the info. Is it difficult to setup, configure as it is with the multi monitor and BS? Also pls can you post your system specs?

Plug 3 monitors into th2gd.

Plug th2gd into the pc vid card.

Plug th2gd usb into usb port for power.

Turn pc on and your pc sees a monitor 3840x800

Update the firmware then to get 4320x900 and 5040x1050

Install there control software for changing stuff and also configuring Bezel management. I think only the digital version has bezel management and it's kewl imo.

Start blackshark and pick one of the new awesome resolutions to use. Remember TH2G makes you PC think there is just one wide screen monitor not 3 so BS setup is easy.

That's it.

Things to note.

Black shark does not like to start in 4320x900 or 5040x1050. I have this problem and I have heard others have it as well. You can here the music but it wont maximize. Solution. Set desktop to 3840x800 and then start the game. It will change to whatever rez you set in game then with no problem. It just wont start unless the desktop is at 3840x800.

The initial Fov (Field of view) is shite imo. It is set up for an aspect ratio of 16x10 or 16x9 and a max of 120FoV where TH2g gives you 4.1x1. You can see much more going to a 200 or more fov. Check this thread to change the fov..

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=34832

Please note from my experience and from what I have heard it does not like zooming in and out thru 180 FoV. Doesn't bother me as I have it set to 200 and do not zoom but it is something you should be aware of.

Heat: 3 LCD monitors gives you a tan.

57hz. To run 5040x1050 your monitors MUST be able to drop down to 57hz. If they dont all you will get is an "out of range" or whatever message from your monitors and there is nothing you can do about it. Also I have seen posts that have pointed out that just because your monitor says it can do less then 57hz doesn't mean it can. I am limited to 4320x900 as I can't dumb down to 57hz fortunately but to be quite honest it doesn't matter. I leave my desktop at 3840x800 most of the time and still get whiplash looking back and forwards.

Bezels, the smaller the bezel the better it seems but to be honest you will not notice them in game. Mine are freaking huge and I thought it was going to suck but as I said you don't end up noticing them. All your attention is on the center screen, the side one provide the peripheral vision only and that ad's a great deal to the immersion but I find I hardly ever actually look at them. Trackir still swings my view so I still actually only look at the center screen most of the time and the giant bezels I have literally vanish.

Bezel management (Only with the digital version but it is kewl)

It works this way. The area between one monitor and the next is say for example 50 pixels. Bezel management subtracts those 50 pixels from your view so on the outside edge you get a black bar. The effect is like the monitor bezels are window frames and you cant see what is behind window frames but there is stuff there. You don't have to do this if you don't want to but stuff doesn't line up then and the black bars at the far edge of your vision you won't notice if you don't worry about them. Refer the bezels paragraph :)

Hmmm nothing else I can think of atm. Do your research tho and you won't be disappointed. I love the thing.

Ahh one more thing, they give you a free download tool to check to see if your system is capable of running a th2g. Be warned this checks your system and says yes or no. It has no idea if your monitors can run 57hz and wont tell you if they wont !!!!!!!!

My system specs....

Windows Vista™ Home Premium (6.0, Build 6001) Service Pack 1

System Model: P35-DS4

Processor: Intel® Core2 Duo CPU E6850 @ 3.00GHz (2 CPUs), ~3.0GHz

Memory: 3582MB RAM (pc800 i think)

Card name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260

Monitor: Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition

They are actualy 3x acer AL2416w monitors.

On board sound: Realtek Digital Output (Realtek High Definition Audio)

HDD 1xinternal: WDC WD5000AAKS-00YGA0 ATA Device

I think that is all the info you are after?

Heh god epic post, laters :)

I can confirm that the Matrox 3H2Go doesn't work with nvidia's 295 series boards. I've had nothing but trouble with my Matrox 3H2Go, even when running it on my 8800. It's never performed as advertised. Matrox support isn't much help either. So try to get feedback on how their gear will work with your video card and monitor setup before you buy!