Surround Gaming Setup

[CMB]

Hi, Just wondering what kinda of setups people have for surround gaming.

Do people prefer to have the monitors all in a line or tilted in slightly... or tilted in a lot.. (mines slightly)

Whats it like with a larger centre montior and smaller ones to the side?

would you say surround gaming compatibility is a major contributing factor to your purchase of a game..?

Colin B

[GNEP]

Don't have a digital camera, so can't post pics, but I have a flat screen 19" CRT in the centre surronded by two 17" jobs. Works pretty well, except that one of the 17"ers is a bit buggered and so the colour is all off (it's just old)...

I needed to buy a desk especially for it though - sold to the other half on the premise that it could become a lovely kitchen table in another flat...

[CMB]

nice

Good sales pitch.

I got 3 15" monitors identical but when i set them all up.. 2 are perfectly matched and one is a little bluer.. so i had to tweak the colour on it. it works fine.. just strange that it would be sllightly off when compared to the other two

Also I was kinda dissapointed when I opened the box cos I was used to being sat right in front of a 19inch crt. but when its all set up it looks pretty sweet and ive never really missed the bigger screen.

I love playing battlfield 1942.. its amazing in surround mode something i havent read much about is the way the side screens stretch objects, given the impression of peripheral vision..
its a cool bonus that i never expected..

[SitFlyer]

I also don't have a digital camera. I have 3 Viewsonic VG181b's

[WyWyWyWy]

Hey CMB is your keyboard an Adobe Premier/AfterEffects specialise one? Or is it Sun specialise?

[CMB]

i actually had to look up the viewsonics. they look pretty sweet

hi wywywywy, my keyboard is a premiere one from post-op if memory serves. Im not sat infront of it right now, im bored at work with nothing to do lol.

You wouldn't think it makes that much of a difference but when i'm at work, everyone comments on the fact I use keyboard shortcuts, cos thats what im used to doing at home

[GNEP]

Yeah - you try using Bloomberg without the coloured keys marked... next to impossible!

[Tempest]

Hi CMB! I haven't got a Parhelia, just popped in to say that I'm extremely envious of your cool Thermaltake Xaser case. Maybe I should get a job.

- end of message -

[CMB]

Hi, Thanks for the kind words

I am impressed that it has 5 fans and is quieter then my old pc.. and the lcd on the front telling you what temp it is inside is pretty cool.

i was worried that the front wouldnt shut with the audigy drive bay in, but it shuts fine.. it has a see through side panel as well, but its kinda wasted cos you cant see it without pulling it out. and if you pull it out your going to open it up anyway lol

[CMB]

ps... jobs take you away form your pc and eat up vaulable gaming time.. they should be avoided at all cost

[borat]

run with a 20" eizo centre and 2 17" either side which works pretty well though id kill to get 3 18" thin bezel lcds as my minitors eat up so much space its beyond a joke

[CMB]

nice..

so whats everyones fave games to play in surround.. or do you use it for more then that??

i do video editing and dvd creation on mine.. what do you peeps get upto??

[GNEP]

web editing and photochopping (for the web editing) is great in triple - for photoshop I use dualhead independant plus feature - centre 19" at 16x12 for the main picture; one of the side screens at 10x7 for all the toolbars plus any other stuff like winamp; then the other side screen for dualhead zoom at about 8x on the centre screen.

Web editing - centre for code, left for content & explorer window, right for browser. Works a dream.

And then gaming - whatever comes along. UT/ UT2003 work nicely, playing Deus Ex last night was nice (even in dx7 1920x480), jk2 is great also... waiting for the SS:SE patch...

[CMB]

Yeh having so much space is a god send.
Its amazing how crowded things get when you go back to one screen.

Quite often tho people ask "why do you need 3 screens" and they dont understand its so much easier to work with until they spend some time with it.. then they miss it

i wonder how many parhelias matrox would sell if they had demo systems in pc world, ect... or did a package deal with a major monitor manufacturer

oo yeah... ut2003 does run pretty sweet

[GNEP]

I often think that the shops on Tottenham Court Road (London's computer/tech mecca) would sell a lot more screens if instead of linking them up through crappy splitters in the window and showing that age-old "fish-tank" screensaver, they put a Parhelia in and drove 3 screens much sharper and much more impressively with the Reef Demo. Would make a perfect window display IMHO. But I guess they've probably got an old 286 running all those screens