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Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?
http://www.wsgf.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=68&t=13540		 Page 1 of 2
Author:  skipclarke [ 16 Aug 2006, 15:02 ]
Post subject:  Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?
To make a long story short, I've got a little extra cash to spend this month, and I'd like to upgrade my several year old 15 inch LCD that has a 16 MS respones time, and 1024x768 max resolution. My system isn't amazing by any stretch of the imagination, so I don't think I would fully enjoy a surround game, if I'm lagging too hard, would my system actually be able to play most games with high settings on that high of a resolution?

AMD Athalon 64 3800+
2 Gigs of Corsair DDR ram, (Dual channel)
7600GS video card (Bottle neck :-( )

If I'd lag a lot, or take a huge slowdown on performance, I think I'd just go to a 21~ widescreen monitor and save the 400-500$~ I save.

What do you guys think?
Author:  insan!ty [ 16 Aug 2006, 15:19 ]
Post subject:  Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?
On what high of a resolution? If you want a 20" widescreen (1680x1050) I'm not sure if a 7600GS would hold up with higher settings, or so I was told. Depends on what games you play, I'm sure WoW would look great! Probably won't be able to handle Oblivion at a high res.. but then again, not many can... :?

EDIT: Oh, you were talking about TripleHead2Go!!! Hmm.. like I said above, maybe WoW would play well but probably not newer more demanding games. I still think it'd be a gamble to go 1680x1050 witha 7600 GS let alone TripleHead2Go!
Author:  skipclarke [ 16 Aug 2006, 15:40 ]
Post subject:  Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?
Damn, because I'm not buying a high end card now, I'm holding out for the Dx10 cards.

I can handle 1024x768 max everything full AA and AF on Fear, Prey, HL2 and such without lagging all that bad. Fear gets me the lowest frame-rates, but it's just ridiculously demanding.

I'm thinking of using it for games like CS, CS:S, DOD:S, WOW, Fear Multiplayer (It's going to be free in a little bit, so more of my friends will be playing it), and thats really it for games I play regularily.

I'm trying to talk myself out of spending that much cash by saying my card can't handle it, but I so would love to be able to enjoy it.


edit: (3 19 inch LCD's is do-able?)
Author:  insan!ty [ 16 Aug 2006, 15:49 ]
Post subject:  Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?
Damn, because I'm not buying a high end card now, I'm holding out for the Dx10 cards.

I can handle 1024x768 max everything full AA and AF on Fear, Prey, HL2 and such without lagging all that bad. Fear gets me the lowest frame-rates, but it's just ridiculously demanding.

I'm thinking of using it for games like CS, CS:S, DOD:S, WOW, Fear Multiplayer (It's going to be free in a little bit, so more of my friends will be playing it), and thats really it for games I play regularily.

I'm trying to talk myself out of spending that much cash by saying my card can't handle it, but I so would love to be able to enjoy it.


edit: (3 19 inch LCD's is do-able?)


3 19" LCD monitors have a native resolution of 3840x1024 (or something close to that). That gives you 3,145,728 more pixels than 1024x768. That means your graphic card needs to render exactly that many pixels more, a lot huh? I dought CSS and Fear would be playable at that resolution on a 7600 GS. If you really don't want to upgrade your graphic card than don't bother upgrading your monitor.. it would be a waste of money and a performance drop.

I was used to playing at 1024x768 on my CRT with a smooth framerate, once I moved up to LCD at 1280x1024 some of my games became less playable. It was very annoying. I think if you got TripleHead2Go you'd just be pissed at your graphic card for its lack of being able to do justice to the monitor(s). That's how I see it anyway :D
Author:  JKeefe [ 16 Aug 2006, 21:21 ]
Post subject:  Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?
Yeah, with the vid card I'd stay away from the TripleHead2Go. For now; get yourself three nice monitors and a T2G down the road. It's worth it.
Author:  skipclarke [ 16 Aug 2006, 23:51 ]
Post subject:  Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?
Since I work for an electronics store, I can get a massive discount through ATi on an x1900xtx card, but my current mobo doesn't support SLI :-(.

This is going to be way more expensive then I initially thought, it's going to cost over $1,100 and it just keeps rising now :-( :-(.
Author:  insan!ty [ 16 Aug 2006, 23:55 ]
Post subject:  Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?
Since I work for an electronics store, I can get a massive discount through ATi on an x1900xtx card, but my current mobo doesn't support SLI :-(.

This is going to be way more expensive then I initially thought, it's going to cost over $1,100 and it just keeps rising now :-( :-(.


What does the X1900XTX have to do with SLI?
Author:  skipclarke [ 17 Aug 2006, 00:16 ]
Post subject:  Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?
Doesn't it have dual GPU's on it, running in SLI? Can I run it in a non-sli compatible mobo? I haven't really read up on it.


Also-- Would three of these be fine? http://www.officedepot.com/textSearch.do?uniqueSearchFlag=true&Ntt=113062

If so I'm definitely doing this, if not then :-( *I can get the rebates sent to family members houses, so one per household isn't a concern*

8 MS Response time, and the sides (bezels?) look pretty small, this might happen after all.
Author:  Tucson [ 17 Aug 2006, 00:54 ]
Post subject:  Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?
DX10 won't see the light of day for at least 9 months. That should not be what's holding you back.

The 7600GS is far from ideal, but you can run at 3x[1024x768] until you figure out your nexy best move. 1600x1200 is about 80% of that. Try playing at 1600x1200 with extra eye candy than you normally need and you'll see approx. how your rig will handle.

Also consider that many pro gamers play at low res for the lowest latency possible. If its good enough for the pros, a little jaggies won't hurt you.

P.S. Is your mobo pci-e or agp?
Author:  skipclarke [ 17 Aug 2006, 01:25 ]
Post subject:  Considering Surround gaming, would my PC be able to handle?
It's Pci-Ex, I really would like to do this, but I'm not sure if I could even get all the rebates, since I would order all three from the same credit card, I don't think I'd get the proper rebates.

(I can't test my rig on 1600x1200, because my only monitor supports 1024x768 as it's max.)
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