Matrox TripleHead2Go Review - PAGE 2

Matrox's TripleHead2Go is an incredibly simple-looking device. It is essentially a 10.5 x 8.5 x 2.5 cm black, metal box with four VGA connectors and a DC-in connector. One of those connectors is the input, which goes directly to the video card, while the other three branch out to the three independent displays (cleverly labeled "left", "center", and "right").

The TripleHead2Go has been implemented in such a way that the device is merely seen as a single, ultra-widescreen display (15:4 or 4:1, depending on your spanned resolution). As far as the video card and operating system are concerned, they only deal with outputting video at the correct resolution over a single VGA output, and the TripleHead2Go handles the splitting up of the signal on its own. This essentially makes the TripleHead2Go operating system-independent.

What do I mean when I say "ultra-widescreen"? Let's take a look at what sort of black magic the TripleHead2Go allows us to perform with our screen resolutions:

I've thrown in comparable 5:4/4:3 standard resolutions in order to serve as a reference for the pixel counts and video memory usage of the Triple-Head resolutions. Matrox has reported that while no NVIDIA cards seem to exhibit any issues with the highest Triple-Head resolutions, ATI's cards are somewhat problematic in 3D (no specifics were given, though it was mentioned that CrossFire absolutely will not do Triple-Head), and Intel's integrated graphics (popular in the laptop market) only work in the 640x480 based Triple-Head mode (1920x480).

As far as 3D rendering in "Surround Gaming" mode is concerned, the aspect ratio of what is being rendered has very little, if any, impact on frame rate. More important is the total pixel count, and in this case, gaming at 3840x1024 will be smooth as long as gaming at 2560x1600 is smooth, because these two resolutions have very close pixel counts. Matrox has stated that a number of games already support these non-standard resolutions out-of-the-box, along with properly-corrected fields of view. Those games that don't provision for non-standard resolutions can be helped out by Matrox's "Surround Gaming Utility", which we will discuss in more depth on the next page.

Let's sit here and absorb this information, though. A resolution of 3840x1024 spanned across three displays, readers ... we might just be able to fit all of Windows' system32 directory in a single Explorer window! ;-) Even more exciting is the prospect of photo/video editing and programming with three displays at your disposal. Now that's what I'm talking about! This product is being aimed at the business and production professionals just as much as the gamer. In fact, Matrox's previous DualHead2Go was aimed solely at the business and production professionals simply because it was not practical to play games in dual-head (lack of a "center" display).

The curious will want to know what happens when the desktop/game resolution is set to a standard single-display setting. Why you would want to do this when you have three awesome displays available is beyond me, but in case you do -- the TripleHead2Go will divert the signal to the center display only, and the other two will go into sleep mode. The assumption is that the center display is the one most comfortable to use with a particular user's desk layout.

Modern monitors have a feature dubbed "Display Data Channel" (DDC), which is a simple protocol for querying the monitor for a list of its capabilities (resolutions and refresh rates). It is because of DDC that you can plug that brand-spanking new monitor in, and Windows/OS X will automatically give you a list of all resolution/refresh rate combinations that the monitor can make use of. I haven't had as much luck with DDC on Linux, but hopefully that's been brought up-to-par with Windows/OS X by now. It also because of DDC that the TripleHead2Go is virtually 100% plug-and-play -- if your video card is capable of the odd 15:4/4:1 resolutions, they simply become an option on the display resolution slider in Windows, or the resolutions list in OS X.

Graphics aficionados will probably have already made note of the fact that I'm talking about VGA inputs and outputs rather than DVI. The TripleHead2Go, in its current form, is analog-only. The reasoning behind this is primarily one of market penetration. The "2Go" portion of the product's name is in reference to mobility and laptops -- Matrox is aiming the TripleHead2Go at the laptop market just as much as at the desktop market.

The problem with laptops is that not only do a frightening majority of them lack DVI output (the Apple PowerBook is the only one I can think of), but of those that do, even fewer of them have dual-link DVI. Dual-link DVI would be a requirement for a digital incarnation of the TripleHead2Go, as single-link DVI does not have enough bandwidth (165 MHz, 300 MHz is needed) to move all of the pixel data required to draw three screens at 60 Hz. The largest resolution possible with single-link DVI at 60 Hz is ~2.6 MP, which is not nearly enough to span three displays at the same resolutions that analog allows.

By first releasing a DVI version of the TripleHead2Go, Matrox would essentially be eliminating the philosophy behind the "2Go" portion of the name, along with cutting off a large potential market. Do not despair, however! Matrox's technology supports DVI, and they are planning to release a DVI version of the TripleHead2Go in the future.

Let's now take a gander or two at how this thing is actually installed and used in practice!