Hello there,I am a Flight Instructor at an aviation school in Oregon in need of some technical assistance. We have purchased two new computers each setup with three monitors but are getting horrible frame rates.The computers themselves are not top of the line, somewhere in the single processor 3-3.4g range with 2gb of ram. They are currently running Vista.The problem is that running these systems on the absolute lowest graphical settings we average 5-8fps. These computers are superior to my own at home which gets around 12fps with average graphical settings. I believe I have narrowed down the issue.The technician's setup us up with ATI's FireMV2400 video cards. http://ati.amd.com/products/firemvseries/FireMV2400PCI.html These are great 2d business application, multiple monitor cards, but do not seem to have any 3d architecture built in.I found a company's website on the other side of the country http://www.naplestech.com/shopcart/quadvid...DirectX_Version that had the following line: ********Can I play games with a FireMV card installed? * The FireMV line of video cards are designed for business use in a 2D environment. Although some games will play just fine on the FireMV cards, more advanced games such as flight simulators etc which require 3D will not. However, you can combine a 3D gaming with a FireMV video card and have the best of both worlds. Contact us if you have any questions. ********As I am the resident gamer, the school director has placed me in charge of getting a new video card. Unfortunately, I have never dealt with multiple monitors before and have no idea how this concept works.I know there's a million things can can slow down the flightsim: drivers, Vista itself, etc...but I believe this video card issue is the heavy hitter. If I can find a reasonably priced video card to buy for each of the two systems, I think we can get the frame rate much higher and usable for our students.Please let me know if you have any suggestions, or if I can provide any additional information.Thank you,Thomas Green, CFIIHillsboro Aviation

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/gxm/home.phpThe TripleHead2Go allied to a suitable modern graphics card should be the solution.You don't say whether the computer uses AGP or PCI-E graphics ports, but assuming `new` means new, I would guess it's PCI-E. In which case look for a decent card in the GeForce 8600/8800 stable - or the ATI equivalent - if you look at the compatibility table in the link above you can print out the list of supported cards.Hope this helps! Allcott

Hi, Thomas:Basically, I think, your choice is between a high class ATI video card and an nVidia based video card. These two types of card seem to rule in the FlightSim universe.In the past few months, I upgraded my DELL XPS Gen 4 PC and installed an eVGA 7900 GTO video card along with Triplehead-2-Go by MATROX and have three DELL LCDs running FS2004 in full 3-D with virtual cockpit, etc. The visual effect is stupendous and the sense of immersion fantastic. I have a sharp and very exciting 54" diagonal effect spread across three screens in all modes--cockpit, SPOT mode, Tower or Fly-By, and Virtual Cockpit/Your first task is to get a good video card like this, with at least 256MB of RAM and preferably 512MB of RAM. It should have two dual DVI-link outputs as well. Your PCs can probably accept this kind of card. It might be an nVidia based card rather than ATI as well because this is better if you wish to eventually migrate to a Triplehead To Go type of set-up.If you still want to run an ATI card, you should be able to get a current generation ATI card such as an XT1900 which is extremely powerful but cannot render ideally in a Triplehead-To-Go environment because ATI does not make the right drivers for MATROX. However, that said, ATI renders somewhat better than nVidia--it is crisper, sharper, more vivid, and handles anti aliasing and the heavy stuff that makes your picture perfect slightly better than nVidia.Most current generation ATI and nVidia cards will allow you to run two LCD monitors in a "dual display" format, meaning that you can stretch or extend the picture across two monitors, and with no special hardware or software because this capability is built into the video card that uses the appropriate drivers. Before I went with Triplehead, I had an ATI Radeon X850 XT PE video card that was superb and I enabled the Dual View mode to extend the image across two LCD monitors. It was marvellous quality visually, but the problem was that I had difficulty with the center view because it fell between the two bezels of the two monitors, so it was tricky to land and take off and see the centerline!To get FS2004 to run nicely in 3-D, you basically need:2GB of RAMat least 3.0Ghz Intel 4 processora 256 MB or 512MB RAM video card of a reasonably recent generation a decent power supply unit (PSU) or around 350 Watts (mean) that can peak at about 400-450 WattsSo, it's not just the video card. But from your description, your PC should be able to handle a good video card quite easily.The rest depends on the configuration of the PC. Not all PCs are created equal. I have used DELL for 10 years and it's always worked well for flightsim, every generation since FS95. Others prefer to build their own. Some spend $5,000+ and buy really high end custom rigs. We've all got our own approach and limitations.I hope this is of some use. It's not perfect, I know, but I've tried to give you some feel for my own personal experience in the hope it might assist.Cheers,JS

Thank you for the responses.I am still a bit unclear about the rough overview of how the linkage will work. All the PC's I've put together have had one video card, one cable and one monitor. How does this work with two video cards in the same machine? If we currently have an average 2d card that splits up the three monitors just fine, how does the 3d card we need to purchase fit into this? Do we have a cable going out of the 3d into the 2d? Does the computer somehow just know to use the 3d card and automatically send out the signal through the 2d?Adding to my confusion would be the line "get a good video card [with] two dual DVI-link outputs". Why two outputs? I have three monitors?So, I understand the value of a 3d card and have purchased both nvidia and ATI for myself over the years. However, I just don't get the overview of how I make a 3d card output to three screens. We currently have the 2d card splitting the signal just fine to three monitors (at a horrible FPS), but I'm worried I'm going to have my boss buy a nice 3d card and have no idea how to add it to the mix, as it were.Thank you,Thomas Green

OK, lets keep this simple, as the talk of two monitors has confused the issue. You specifically said three, and we should confine ourselves to answering that need:One video card is all you need. It needs to be a good one. Nvidia is currently preferred because of driver issues from the card manufacturers. Issues which are not insurmountable, but which are outside the scope of this discussion. So Nvidia GeForce it is. 7900GT or better. 8800 would be better still - but compare prices and see why it should be... ;)The TripleHead2Go takes the DVI feed from that card and then splits it into three for each of the monitors. The TH2GO is a splitter device, NOT a graphics card, and is simply a plugbox and some software. All the clever stuff is done in electrickery. The choice of whether you go for the analog or digital version is made by the nature of the connectors on the graphic card - all modern high-end cards use DVI connectors (with or without a VGA option) but for simming use the advantage of the Digital (DVI) version is that you can make use of the software in the TH2GO to remove the effect of the edges of the monitors and provide a continuous field of view - just like looking through a framed windscreen. Very immersive, and much closer to Real World visual cues, which is important to students.There are other ways to interlace multiple computers and/or multiple monitors, but this is the solution for you, based on what you asked.Hope this helps.Allcott

A picture is worth a 1000 words.http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/cadgis/p...th2go/th2go.php:)

Triple Head 2 Go in action - guess a video is worth a novel..!

Allcott

Thank you for the responses.I've passed along your suggestions to the computer team and the school director. You have been quite helpful.One last question, if I may...The description you gave above of having a 3d card cabled out to the Matrox splitter makes sense. The FireMV cards that we currently have say they can be used with a 3d card. If they decide to keep the current FireMV cards, how do we "add" a 3d card to the mix? How does one add an internal 3d card to an internal 2d card? Or do I have my information wrong, should shut up and stick with the Matrox product mentioned above? :)Thanks,Tom

As the 3d card will do everything that the 2d card will do, and then some, the best solution will be to remove the FireMV card and place it gently in the nearest skip. ;)There is no reason to have a 2d card and a 3d card in the same box, as the 3d card ALSO manages the 2d acceleration. And usually does it much better than a custom 2d card! Allcott

I agree. Just get a great nVidia 7900 or 8800 card (check your system spex fcarefully to ensure it can a very high end card like the 8800), and then if you have the $$ and 3 LCD screens, get the MATROX Triplehead To Go ($270 or so). It'll be great!JS