The real allure of the Matrox TripleHead2Go is a concept called Surround Gaming in which three LCD panels can be paired together and act as one screen at resolutions up to 3084x1024. Most gamers, however, will wonder what the big deal is. After all, most video cards released in the past couple of years feature dual video outputs and it’s not inconceivable to insert another video card to get access to three screens. Such solutions, however, are patchwork at best since the software you run will have to be aware to span its contents across multiple screens; something Windows does natively but game software tends not to. The TripleHead2Go product introduces some software that will merge all your physical displays into one giant single display so games can work seamlessly with a multiple display setup. It’s like merging all your multi-core processors into a virtual single core so the developer does not have to take into account creating a specific multi-threaded or multi-core version of the program.

The TripleHead2Go, and its predecessors, have been on the market for awhile. Our version of the product features three DVI outputs to monitors and a VGA or DVI input to your video card. This is a step up from previous products which supported VGA only although vertical refresh rates are capped at 60hz. The TripleHead2Go needs to communicate with Matrox software, which installs and embeds itself into the display properties of Windows. To do so, a USB cable is provided to hook the unit up to the computer. We appreciated the fact that the unit draws power from the USB port and the power adapter from previous versions of the product has been eliminated.

The software installed without a hitch upon connecting the unit to Windows. We utilized a white box PC equipped with a Windows Vista operating system, Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 processor and a single eVGA nVidia 8600GT card for testing. Once you enable the TripleHead2Go, you will be able to see your Windows desktop span across the displays. Dual displays are becoming more common in the desktop world and for most of the PC savvy multiple displays should not be a surprise. For productivity tasks, the TripleHead2Go adds one more pane of information. We were able to keep SlingPlayer on one monitor showing television while working on the central display and then keep Outlook on a third without any issues. Is it more efficient to use three displays instead of two or one? We’re of the opinion that multiple displays are always better than one simply because there are times when you have to reference a spreadsheet or document and having it on another screen can alleviate the need to switch through the many windows on your desktop.

Clearly, it will be a boon to some. Look at any investment trader’s desk and you’ll see much more than two or three displays. However, for most people, the third pane might be devoted to informational purposes only.
For Surround Gaming to work, we had to wrangle together three displays of the same size. While you can use leftover equipment and hook them up to the TripleHead2Go, it will be awkward at best. Ironically, multiple 4:3 type displays seem to work better than the 16:9 widescreen ones that are being pushed these days. If you plan on purchasing additional LCD monitors for TripleHead2Go, our advice is to purchase one with as thin a bezel as possible in order to let the images seamlessly blend together.

Most games do not support resolutions at 3084x1024 natively. You can stretch a 1600x1200 image across but that wouldn’t maximize the usage of the monitors you have strung together. To get around this, Matrox has created a launcher application which will configure specific games to run at Surround Gaming resolutions. A shortcut is created to run the game with the special resolution settings. Most of these games are old standbys like F.E.A.R., Age of Empires 3, EverQuest II, etc. Newer game support is a bit of a hit and miss, although Matrox does seem to make an effort to update the list of supported titles. Notable titles like the Battlefield games are absent but some recent games such as World in Conflict, Gears of War and the ever popular World of Warcraft are capable of supporting Surround Gaming.

For strategy titles, Surround Gaming increases your screen real estate enabling you to see more without having to scroll around. This will let you avoid those crucial skirmishes on the edge of the map by your scouting parties. For flight simulators and first person shooters, the TripleHead2Go increases your peripheral vision giving you a slight sensory advantage. Most of the RPG titles supported by this product seem to be MMOs. The visible benefit for MMOs is you tend to have more space for chat windows and dialogue boxes. Is it a more immersive game experience? It depends on what the game has to offer. If it lacked details and wasn’t all that great on a single panel, it’s not going to look great with three. Can it give a tactical advantage? We would have to say with strategy titles and flight simulators, there is a tactical advantage in seeing more and being able to process more information.

The main drawback for TripleHead2Go is its price and the physical real estate Surround Gaming occupies. To get as seamless a set up as possible between the three displays you want them as close as possible. Combined with the TripleHead2Go, we found there were a lot of cables running around, never mind that you need to find space for three monitors on your table. When you are not gaming, the TripleHead2Go can span your desktop or clone your display. Cloning is great for training sessions but for the price of TripleHead2Go, you’re more likely better to find a more affordable dedicated solution. The same can be said for desktop spanning where most video cards these days support two displays and PC manufacturers are promoting support for dual video cards. Thus, we feel that potential buyers of this product would not be seeking the TripleHead2Go for solely for its spanning and cloning capabilities. It needs to come down in price for that to happen.

Surround Gaming is an interesting concept that should be experienced at least once. You will need quite a bit of hardware just to use TripleHead2Go but if you spend a decent amount of time gaming and increasing 60fps to 150fps is not really extending your gaming experience, Matrox’s solution here will give your existing game library a new wrinkle. From what we see of supported Surround Gaming titles, Matrox appears active in courting additional publishers to support their product. However, it is best to check the Matrox website to see whether some of your favorite PC games are supported before you take the plunge.

Rating •••••80%•••••