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Is Surround Gaming Worth It?????

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  • #1

    Is Surround Gaming Worth It?????

    Hey,

    Been reading here for a while, thanks to everyone for all
    of the great information posted...

    I have been debating about getting a Parhelia for some time
    now... If I get the Parhelia it will be mainly for the
    surround gaming experience. If I don't go with the
    Parhelia, I will probably look into getting the ATI 9700 or
    possible a flavor of NV30 depending on price and
    availability.

    Those of you who have the Parhelia, what would you
    recommend? Is Surround Gaming awesome? Is it good enough to
    justify the the Parhelia over any other card out here,
    especially considering the cost for extra monitors and the
    huge price of the card itself?

    Part of me wants to go with the Parhelia and the glory of
    surround gaming. However, I am also thinking that Surround
    Gaming may not be all that it is marketed to be and that I
    will be disapointed with it. I am especially concerned with
    future game support for it...

    Thanks for your thoughts and opinions....
    Tags: None
  • #2
    I love it.
    I'm now only buying games that support surround.
    It takes a little getting used to, but once you have, you get immersed in the games. I played JediKnight2 all the way through single player in surround mode. Loved it. Have also played some STV:EF, UT, Q3, and a couple game demos. Loved them. Currently playing through NWN, and have UT2K3 waiting for me...Lovin' it.

    If you can afford the desk space and cost of the monitors, I highly reccomend giving it shot.
    Core2 Duo E7500 2.93, Asus P5Q Pro Turbo, 4gig 1066 DDR2, 1gig Asus ENGTS250, SB X-Fi Gamer ,WD Caviar Black 1tb, Plextor PX-880SA, Dual Samsung 2494s

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    • #3
      Jack

      I admit I bought it when new and just out and I paid $400.00 big ones! Go to www.pricewatch.com and buy it for around $320.00 plus some shipping cost. My opinion is it has just as good grafics as any gf 4 or ati radeon for the same cost. If you can see the difference with the naked eye for real and not just make up your mind based on articles and madonion 3d tests than dont buy it, however those other guys will not even come out with surround gaming. Yes I would still own it with all the troubles and games I play not supported. I admit I did buy it because it is cool. You can always use the three monitors for multitasking. Anyone that says its a waste would change their minds if they had it, its that cool. My grafics even became better when I bought a new pc with 2.4ghz cpu and 533mhz bus, I dont know why but they did. Once you get it your questions will be answered. Jack no matter how fast those other guys are with frame rate etc. it still cant compare to surround gaming, period.

      My specs:
      TWO (2) 17" PRO VIEW MONITORS CRT
      ONE (1) 17" FLAT LCD 7100E ENVISION MONITOR
      1024 MB RAM PC 2100 DDR
      80GHD
      CDRW
      DVD
      2.4GHZ CPU
      533MHZ FSB
      MEMORY STICK SLOT
      CREATIVE SOUND BLASTER EXTIGY EXTERNAL SOUND CARD
      CREATIVE 5300 5.1 SPEAKERS
      FLOPPY (OF COURSE)
      MATROX 128MB PARHELIA
      WIN XP HOME
      WIN XP SERV. PK
      DSL CONNECTION @ 1200KB DOWN 128KB UP


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      • #4
        Buddy-boy,

        I can offer you an answer in two words: HELL YEAH!

        Or, I can give you a more long-winded answer.

        I've had a number of friends come over since I set my rig up to do the triple head thang and each one of them has salivated and said, "Oh, that's for me ... hook me up!"

        The hook-up part is where to get three identical monitors without breaking the bank. I went to uBid.com and went to the 17" monitor section. If you get an "A" grade refurbished monitor with a Trinitron screen, expect to win 3 monitors at about $45 bucks each. Unfortunately, the shipping is insane at $53 a piece ... but ultimately, that's still $100 per monitor.

        Every game I've played so far (including tech demos) has blown me away ... and believe it or not, using Windows XP has been more "friendly" ... when I go to work now and look at my single (but very nice 17" LCD), I think ... damn, I wish I had more deskspace.

        The Radeon 9700 Pro is fast ... yes. Very fast. But that isn't reason enough to buy it in my opinion. If you can see spending money for three screens, I say get the Parhelia 128MB.
        Main PC
        Athlon XP 2500+ | GA-7N400-L | 1.0GB PC3200 | Radeon 9800XT & 9000 | SoundBlaster Audigy | TRIPLE 17" NEC 1760Vs!

        Home Theater PC
        AthlonXP 2500+ | Chaintech 7NIL1 | 1024MB PC2700 | RADEON 9700 | SoundBlaster Audigy | Coolermaster ATC-610 HTPC Case | 61" Sony TV

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        • #5
          First off, thanks for the replies...

          Boy, you guys are making it really tough to talk myself out of getting some Surround Gaming action going on! I was expecting to get some naysayers telling me that the games didn't run fast enough, or that there were too many problems, but I am surprised to hear that it seems as good as it is cracked up to be.

          Do you guys have any problems with the bezels getting in the way of the Surround Gaming experience? If you are all running on CRTs, it seems like 4 inches of bezel in between each screen would be annoying, do you even notice it after a while?

          Comment

          • #6
            Youhave to get surround gaming
            as far as the 4 inches of bevel go. I found it annoying for the first 2 to 3 days after that you dont even notice thier are there. And for the first couple of days when u do notice them you will be so emersed in the hardcore gaming experience that you wont really care about it.
            The underlying fact of the essence of life is if you stand on your head everything becomes upsid edown

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            • #7
              all i have to say is:

              OFFICIAL EX- EMPLOYEE

              <font size="1">"So now I'm dreaming<br>For myself I'm understanding <br>Performing there, one hundred thousand fans would gather one and all <br>And so decided, we could rule it all if we should <br>Dance all away across the greatest city in the nether world..."<p>- Central Park 09/24/03</font>

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              • #8
                Sorry Jack,

                But we won't be able to help you avoid making this purchase. Now, to be honest, a couple games are finicky and work fine once you get them to behave ... I think its worth it. And many games are coming out that are "widescreen" capable right out of the box. 007 Nightfire comes to mind.

                As far as slowdown, I haven't noticed any difference from running the same game on one screen or all three. Its amazing!
                Main PC
                Athlon XP 2500+ | GA-7N400-L | 1.0GB PC3200 | Radeon 9800XT & 9000 | SoundBlaster Audigy | TRIPLE 17" NEC 1760Vs!

                Home Theater PC
                AthlonXP 2500+ | Chaintech 7NIL1 | 1024MB PC2700 | RADEON 9700 | SoundBlaster Audigy | Coolermaster ATC-610 HTPC Case | 61" Sony TV

                Comment

                • #9
                  Originally posted by ex-SalesSoup
                  all i have to say is:
                  Nice

                  But you could have taken a picture with ROM and Haig on the other screens with all three of you killing someone in the middle - that would be cool
                  "I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen Roberts

                  µße®LørÐ - A legend in his underwear
                  Member of For F*ck Sake UT clan
                  DriverHeaven administrator
                  PowerVR Network administrator

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    Well I had a Geforce 4 and when I updated to my Parhelia I was literally BLOWN!!!! away Go get it NOW!

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Just to let you all know that I am blaming my now immenent purchase of a Parhelia and yet another monitor on this forum and you. My wife is going to be really upset with you guys!



                      Thanks again for the responses and information... now I just need to decide if I am going to wait to see what VigilAnt's Pitou thing is all about before ordering... =)

                      Comment

                      • #12
                        My filosophy is that it's never worth waiting for anything in this business. If you wait 4 months you may end up waiting for something better for another 4 months and so on so forth.

                        If you want something, and have the money, go get it now!

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                        • #13
                          ... you've also lost out on four months worth of enjoyment.
                          <TABLE BGCOLOR=Red><TR><TD><Font-weight="+1"><font COLOR=Black>The world just changed, Sep. 11, 2001</font></Font-weight></TR></TD></TABLE>

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                          • #14
                            hehe, http://158.39.125.250:113/images/surgaming is my setup, taken with the lousy Nokia 7650 camera.

                            Comment

                            • #15
                              cairnz,

                              Thanks for taking the time to post those screenshots... I am thinking that I am going to have to give surround gaming a whirl.

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