Customer Reviews

Matrox TripleHead2Go External Multi-Display Adapter, Analog Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I had a Matrox parhelia card which permitted gaming on three monitors. It was slow and there were no upgrades. Triplehead is a device that attaches to your current video card so that 3 monitors can be used. Works great for me. I have upgraded video cards twice (nvidia) and have had no problems. You can have 3 separate screens for work or you can spread the images over 3 screens for gaming. FSX and Titan Quest look great over 3 screens.

I have this set up on my Falcon Northwest gaming computer along with three Samsung 22 inch widescreen monitors. All I can say is that it makes an incredible difference in playing World of Warcraft, MS Flight Simulator and ESPECIALLY Counter Strike.

When I first hooked it up I was just plain blown away! Everything was so much more realistic and I saw so many things I had missed before I got it, I could never go back to only one monitor again.

When playing Counter Strike I can honestly say my frag rate has gone up quite a bit because I no longer have any blind spots on the sides (where other players can hide and ambush me from) that in its self was worth the money.

It truly has made playing games a lot more fun along with making me a much better player (well much better than I was before I got it).

Till the day comes where they get 3D for computer games, if you really want to be immersed in your games this is what rocks.

There are a couple of possible downsides I should mention, none which are major...

It does take a bit of tweaking to get it working but I found nothing major and the info at the company website covered all the questions I had during setup.

When you start playing it does take a while to get used to the "surround screen" feel. Your eyes are not used to all the peripheral eye candy on each side screen and you may find yourself a little overwhelmed with all that screen real estate for the first couple of days. Quick movement, usually in combat, is where I noticed it the most. I think it is much like what fighter pilots must feel when they get their first experience in a flight simulator. After a day or two your eyes and mind adjust and it becomes second nature.

My other issue is that although the list of supported games is very extensive, it does not support every game so before purchasing you should check out: www.surroundgaming.com to see if your favorite game is supported. (Note: I just loaded Unreal Tournament III and while it does not show up as a supported game it is working like a champ.)

On a scale of 1 to 5 I give it a big 4.75.

I can not imagine going back to single screen game playing or computing again, and if that's the functionality you're looking for, then the Matrox TripleHead2Go is definitely the product for you. It will not impede system performance or frame rates in any way which is a vast advantage over software based, multi-screen solutions. However, be aware that it does have some resolution issues with ATI video cards.

I already use Matrox's DualHead2Go and I get better screen resolution across two screens, with my third monitor hooked into the second head on my video card with it, so, unfortunately, I had to return this item. The maximum resolution the TripleHeadToGo could achieve across 3 screens with my ATI 1950x Pro video card was 800 x 600 per screen, which is too low for Flight Simulator 2004, the sole reason I bought this. I will happily stick with my DualHead2Go without complaint either way.

Matrox has historically performed better on Nvidia cards, which, in turn have historically not performed well with MicroSoft Flight Simulator. Nvidia drivers appear to be addressing these problems so the TripleHead2Go will be of greater value once those driver issues are fully addressed.

1st, I have to say the seller sent me the wrong part... sent the DVI and I ordered the VGA. I had to make due with what they sent because time was short.
That being said, the product was simple to set up and configure. Not an easy task for some complex graphics trickery. The software was laid out well enough to follow and manipulate with little issue.

I had a problem, however, with the external connection to my laptop. I contacted Matrox to get it resolved and they spent the time to rouble shoot the problem thoroughly. It turned out not to be their problem, but I have no doubt that if it was, they would have found it and issued a resolution. I was very pleased with their troubleshooting skills and will use them in the future for anything for which they sell a solution.

I bought the TripleHead2Go a couple of months ago and then purchased a Windows7 laptop. I was surprised to get a email response from Matrox that they would not be supplying a Windows7 driver for the TripleHead2Go analog edition. I then read where someone used the Vista 64 driver with Windows7 setting the compatability mode to Windows Vista SP2. I tried this and it works like a champ using 3 Samsung 24" monitors giving 1280 x 1024 resolution. Maybe this will help someone else. All in all - still pleased with the TripleHead2Go analog.

5/31/2010 Update - Matrox now has Windows 7 Drivers - Way To Go Matrox!

I bought this product to span across 3 42" plasmas for a tradeshow display and it works as advertised. Only thing that I would like to see is more resolution choices or even the ability to manually enter them. I had to go with 3840x768 (triple 1280x768) and (like most lower end plasmas) my displays would work best with triple 1366x768. But the stretching isn't very bad and the setup is a snap. Note: make sure your video card can output the super high resolutions needed. I used a Nvidia Quattro 1300FX and it works great. The primary output drives the TripleHead and the secondary drives a 1024x768 touchscreen.