The hardware

When setting up more than two monitors, it’s important to pick your video card wisely. Most cards, including many consumer and entry level cards, will support two screens out of the box. When shopping for a card that supports more than that, be sure to check the specs to make sure it supports the number of screens you want. Also, your main use of the setup will guide how much you may want to spend. A gaming setup will need a more powerful card(s) than one that is only used for productivity.

I chose a Radeon HD6870 from Sapphire as the basis for my setup. At the time of purchase, I only had two screens and used it primarily for playing Final Fantasy XIV. My card featured two DVI ports, one HDMI, and two Mini DisplayPorts. More importantly, the card supported AMD Eyefinity. More on that later.

Even though there are five outputs, this particular card will only support up to four monitors: two DVI and two via DisplayPort. However, if your monitors do not have native DisplayPort inputs, you will only be able to drive two DVI monitors out of the box. How do you get around this? The expensive way is to buy a matching card and run them in Crossfire (AMD) or SLI (nVidia) mode. This would effectively double your video processing power but also drive up the cost, require a motherboard that supports this configuration, and a power supply that can feed two power-hungry GPUs.

The cost effective way is to get an adapter to convert the DisplayPort (or mini DisplayPort depending on the card) to DVI. There are a lot of adapters on the market that do this, but be careful when buying one! There are two types:

• Passive Adapter – These simply tells the DisplayPort that you are connecting a DVI device and won’t convert the signal. They are typically cheap to buy (around $10) and not usually marked with any special verbiage. Even some more expensive adapters found in stores (like Apple’s $30 miniDP to DVI adapter) are passive and WILL NOT WORK for this. Example of a passive adapter.

• Active Adapter – These adapters contain more circuitry in them that actually converts the DisplayPort signal to DVI. As far as the computer is concerned, you are hooking up a DisplayPort device. These adapters are a little more expensive (around $30) but don’t look any different than their passive brethren. Example of an active adapter (and the one I purchased).

So besides price and description, how can you tell which adapters are active and which are passive? AMD actually has a nice list of validated dongles. The list includes the higher priced DP to Dual Link active adapters needed to support the ultra-high resolution monitors (usually 25in.+), the DP to Single Link active adapters like the one above, and the DP to Single Link passive adapters. Just remember, an active adapter is necessary!

The Software

One you get all the hardware in place, it’s time to set up the software. Since I have an AMD card, I’ll be covering that setup process. nVidia users should have a similar experience.

Provided you have all of the right adapters, your system should boot up and recognize all three displays. If you are just setting up for productivity, I would recommend using the Windows control panel:

Here you can arrange the displays as they are on your desk, enable spanning across all screens, and set the main display. The main display is where your start menu and task bar will live. Keep in mind that the numbers are somewhat arbitrary, usually in the order that the GPU recognizes them. In my case, the DisplayPort screen is identified as 1. That doesn’t really matter much, as long as they are arranged in the right way here.

If you are going to want to game across all three screens, you will need to set up an Eyefinity group via the Catalyst Control Center. Most games won’t recognize multiple monitors out of the box, so even “full screen” mode will only maximize to your main monitor. What Eyefinity does is combine all of your displays (or the displays of your choice) into a single display. Instead of having three distinct displays, Windows and all applications will see one high resolution display.

When you maximize a window in this mode, it will fill all three screens, instead of just one. To set this up, fire up the Catalyst Control Center (CCC), navigate to the Eyefinith Multi-display section, and create a group. Follow the on-screen prompts to arrange and set up the monitors the way you want them.

Once that’s done, it’s now time to set up the games you’ll be playing. Since this is a much higher resolution than you were used to playing on before, you will likely have to tweak some settings in order to keep the frame rates up and in a playable range. Also, be sure to set the resolution properly and select the full screen option to get the maximum effect!

Lastly, since I usually switch between the Eyefinity setup and “standard” desktop setup quite frequently, I created some presets in the CCC. This allows me to easily go between the two via the CCC menu on the taskbar:

To set up a preset, arrange your displays to how you want them via CCC, then click “Add Preset.” Then change the settings to the alternate configuration and add another preset. Here you can see the two presets I’ve created, one for the Eyefinity spanned mode (for gaming) and the other for the standard 3 screen mode (for productivity).

Once everything is set up properly, give it a go with your favorite game. It’ll probably take some getting used to, but in many games, having the extra real estate is worth it!

Before

The existing dual stand is in the left corner holding the center and left monitors. The right monitor is sitting on the original base and a few volumes of manga. XD

To solve the problem, I went with a triple monitor stand that mounted to the desk. It arrived a few days later, even though I selected economy shipping!

The box contents are well packed, though I would never be able to get everything back in there in the same order… The stand consists of two long curved arms, a center mounting pole, clamp for the desk, and a large bag of screws. Each monitor is mounted independently prior to installation on the base.

Before installing the mount on my desk, I assembled the full mount and made sure it all fit together. I didn’t need any surprises while holding a 23 inch monitor!

The mounting plates for the monitor are nicely designed. The middle mount slides into a bracket at the center. The left and right mounts slide in from either end and clamp down for stability. For me, there is a slight design flaw with the center mount, more on that later. Since the monitors have VESA mounts, they attach easily with four screws.

Now that the screens are mounted, time for the final assembly! Installing the base to the desk was a cinch, the clamp is very sturdy and holds well. The top half of the clamp has some foam padding to minimize scratching if your desk is delicate.

Now time to install the first monitor. Here’s where I started running into problems. The mounts slide over the cross bar and then clamp down. Since my desk is in a corner, I did the far left one first by shifting the stand off to the right, mounting the monitor, and then sliding the whole assembly back to the left.

Here’s what it looks like behind the monitor once it is installed. There is a nice lever at the back that allows you to tighten the clamp without tools. The end caps on the hinges also come off to access a screw for tightening the joint so it doesn’t flop around.

Another nice feature is the cable management system. The center pole is thick enough to contain wires from all three screens and includes a place to feed them. Unfortunately, the cables I’m using aren’t long enough to go through the system and still make it to the computer.

In all, this was an awesome way to mount three screens and save some space. I did discover one major downside in my setup though. For flexibility, each mount has full tilt, swivel, and rotate functionality. While on the surface this is great and cool, it does present a challenge for the size of the monitor bracket. Take the center mount for example…

The center mount is far too large with the added functionality. As a result, it doesn’t mount flush with the bar and instead protrudes quite a bit forward. I discovered that if I used the mount, the monitors would actually be hanging over half of the desk. Not a very good space saving design! The solution? Go back to standing the center monitor on it’s original stand. >.>

Despite the flaw, the three monitor stand is a really nice way to mount three widescreen monitors. At less than $100, this is certainly the most cost effective way to do it!

So what does a screenshot at 6144×1152 look like? It looks like this!

The biggest change of late has been that I’ve finally retired Belldandy from service. After nearly 7 years of duties ranging from gaming machine to media PC to home server, it was time for her to be sent to greener pastures. The day I parted with her was pretty emotional, though I know someone will put her to good use.

In her place, I welcome Tsukasa into my home network as the bedroom HTPC. Sporting the same case used by Konata, her beginnings were conceived when I bought an Athlon x2 7750BE from someone at the office for $20.

After pairing the CPU with a Gigabyte GA-MA785GM-US2H motherboard, 2GB of RAM, and a Lite-on Blu-ray reader, she was ready to go into service serving up movies, music, and high definition content.

In addition to adding Tsukasa, I’d also decided to mount the TV to the wall and add an XBOX360 to the bedroom. The wall mount allowed me a bit extra space on the dresser to put things and generally tidy things up. I also have a wire management plate, however I’ve yet to install that and neaten things up.

I think the next step here will be to drop some CAT 5e to the bedroom. Currently, the XBOX is not connected to the network (PC is 802.11n), but I’m thinking it will be cheaper and better in the long run to have it hard wired.

On the Windows Home Server front, Kagami got a slight upgrade in drive space, now sporting 3 1.5TB hard drives and 1 750GB drive. At this point, I’ll probably wait for the 2TB drives to come down in price before adding any more.

Microsoft had also released Power Pack 3 for Windows Home Server. This update introduces a couple nice new features, some of which were previously handled by 3rd party add-ins.

Windows Home Server Power Pack 3 improves the Windows Home Server experience with Windows 7 and Windows Media Center by providing the following features: Backup and restore of computers running Windows 7, Windows 7 Libraries integration, enhancements for Windows Media Center, and better support for netbook computers.

I particularly like the integration with recorded TV, as Media Center will now automatically move recordings over to the Home Server, making it easier for all PCs in the house to access them. The integration of the console into Media Center is nice as well, however it isn’t a feature I use much.

So to take stock, here’s what I have on my home network…

Everything (with the exception of Kagami) is running some flavor of Windows 7 (either Ultimate or Home Premium). For media integration, I’m also using Media Browser and Arcsoft’s Total Media 3 Platinum. For anyone looking to use a Windows-based PC as a Blu-Ray player, I’d highly recommend paying for TMT3. Compared to PowerDVD (which is typically bundled with drives), it is a much better product and also features decent integration with Windows Media Center. It also comes with the SimHD plugin, which does a decent job upscaling standard definition DVDs.

Black Friday also came and went, and while I didn’t actually go out, I did score a couple interesting items. The first of which came in the week before Thanksgiving…

Yes, that is a brand new DLP television in my living room. Just how big is it and how much did I pay? Keep reading…

Prior to the upgrade, I had a 42in LCD from Vizio in the living room (the whole setup looked like this). The new display is a whopping 60in DLP from Mitsubishi. After some prodding from a coworker, I went to check it out at a local store. Since DLP TVs are slowly being phased out of the market (Mitsubishi is the only company still making them), the price was already marked down. On top of that, the store was running a coupon for $250 off any HDTV bigger than 52in. Final price was ~$750 with taxes. Not bad, eh?

Since the TV was much bigger, some new furniture was required. This meant several runs to IKEA and I ended up with a LACK TV stand and two EXPEDIT shelving units. Combined with the existing decor and lamps, the whole room has really filled up and looks extremely nice!

Going back a bit further, I’d also done some upgrades to my home computer setups. Chikane now sports two separate drives, with the primary disk being a 300 GB Western Digital Velociraptor. The secondary disk remains the same with a 750GB Samsung SpinPoint F1, though I have noticed a slight performance increase by installing the high performance drive. Additionally, Kagami got a space upgrade in the form of a 1.5 TB hard drive. This replaced one of the 750 GB drives already in service, bringing total drive space up to 5.25 TB (4.78 TB according to the computer).

Well, at this point, that’s really about it! Thanksgiving was full of family visits and Christmas is just around the corner! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

1/4 scale Mikuru Bunny by FREEing

1/8 scale Narusegawa Naru by EPOCH

1.5TB Seagate Barracuda Hard drive

300GB Western Digital VelociRaptor

I’m still waiting on a few things, including some wireless networking equipment (finally taking the plunge and upgrading things to N) as well as this little gem. Most of the latter half of the week involved rebuilding my computer and setting up the new equipment. Photos of figures will be forthcoming, once I get in that last item.

My first order of business was to install the 1.5TB drive into my home server. It replaced one of the existing 750GB drives, bringing total storage spaces to 4.78TB:

The slight upgrade leaves me with a bit more space to store DVDs, and also frees up a drive for use in my main machine. At some point, I’ll be replacing the last 750GB drive, though I’ll likely wait for prices to drop on the 2TB drives prior to making that move. It may also let me wait until the next version of WHS is released as replacing that drive will require a server rebuild.

With the spare 750GB drive in hand, I set on my next series of upgrades. Up until now, Chikane was the last machine I had that wasn’t running the Windows 7 RTM bits. While the post-RC build was mostly fine (build 7201), it was time for me to move forward. In anticipation of the upgrade, I’d also replaced the video card with something that is still supported by ATi. Now sporting a Radeon HD4830, Chikane was ready to rock and roll.

To complete the upgrades, I went ahead and installed both the 750GB Samsung drive and the VelociRaptor. Since I already had an equivalent 750GB drive in the system already, I placed the two in a RAID0 array for a bit extra performance. The OS and programs, however, would be handled by the VelociRaptor.

Sadly, even though the VelociRaptor is a 10kRPM drive, it’s still the bottleneck in my system. I just can’t win! Finally, however, I come to the capstone of my upgrades for the week. Thanks to my friends at Costco, I now have a pair of Samsung SyncMaster 2343BWX LCD monitors!

It turns out that my local store was clearing these screens out. I grabbed the last new display and the display model for $175 each. I’ll have to say though, when I first got them hooked up, it took some getting used to. I was actually feeling a bit motion sick from having to move my head around to see everything. Now that I’ve resituated my sitting position and had some time to adjust, it’s actually pretty natural. I’m just wondering how I can go back to such little real estate at work tomorrow…

Desktop wallpaper was found here. I’d also modified it to have a mirror image on the other screen, giving a nice symmetric effect.

First of all, meet Kagami, the hub of my home network…

Some of you may be wondering “What? That’s it? That doesn’t look like anything special…” and on appearance alone, you would be correct. Kagami is the only off-the-shelf desktop computer I own (and in fact the first one I’ve owned in many many years) and is a Dell PowerEdge SC440. The base machine cost me about $250 to purchase from Dell without an OS and I’ve pretty much left her stock. There are, however, a few major additions, namely in the area of storage. At present, Kagami carries 4 hard drives: 2 750GB Samsung Spinpoint F1s and 2 1.5TB Seagate Barracudas. Judging by the manufacturers’ capacity figures, she carries 4.25TB worth of storage space (the “real” number is actually around 4.1TB, using computer interpretation of the number of bytes in a kilobyte).

The other reason Kagami is special is that she isn’t using a run-of-the-mill operating system. She’s running an OEM copy of Microsoft’s Windows Home Server, which allows me to backup and maintain all of the other machines in the house.

Kagami is a Windows Home Server, complete with a bunch of storage

Pretty much all of my media (music, videos, pictures, and DVD images) is stored on Kagami and important irreplaceable data such as pictures are duplicated across multiple drives.

Next, meet Chikane. She’s my primary machine and serves as the powerhouse for all off the important tasks I do from day to day (like surf the internet, check email, and do photo processing). On the outside, she looks far more interesting…

As my pride and joy, Chikane has all of the best toys, including a quad-core Intel processor, 8GB of RAM, and 750GB of hard drive space. She also sports a media card reader and two CD/DVD RW drives. Another important feature to note is that she carries a TV tuner card that has the capability of receiving digital television broadcasts. This allows me to record and store high definition content from over the airwaves. The extra CPU horsepower also allows me to rip and convert DVD content, though the majority of what I do is convert existing DVDs to flat images for storage on the server. For TV shows, however, I usually elect to rip the individual episodes for storage (more on that later).

In addition to the main computer, I also have two media center PCs in the house. First is Belldandy, the “older sister” of the group. I originally built Bell in the summer of 2004 as my primary machine in college and has stayed with me all of these years. With the advances in computing power, her 2.4 GHz P4 CPU is a far cry from the 2.4 Ghz quad core found in Chikane, but she does give enough for decoding DVDs and playing back standard definition content. With some coaxing, she’s even been known to play HD content and even used to be my HDTV recorder.

Despite her age, she still runs Windows 7 gracefully and outputs 720p picture to the TV. However, due to the fact that she’s connected via wireless, she’s severely limited in bandwidth and often has trouble streaming anything of a medium to high bitrate (like DVD images).

Lastly, we come to Konata, the primary media PC in the house. She makes herself at home in the living room and is hooked up to the main entertainment system in the house.

Konata was built specifically as a media PC, and features all of the parts to match. I’d picked out a low power output dual core CPU and paired it with a motherboard based on the ATi 780G chipset. This combination gives me a relatively cool running machine that has enough horsepower to decode high definition video and Blu-Rays without the need for add on cards. To top the package off, I also installed an LG BD/HD-DVD reader.

Earlier, I mentioned that my format of choice for DVDs was straight uncompressed images. Using a combination of Windows Media Center and a piece of software called Media Browser, I’m able to create an extremely rich library browsing experience and have access to my entire DVD collection without ever having to grab a disk from the shelf. I store all of my DVD images and videos on the home server, point Media Browser to those directories, and it (with a little help from me) grabs the associated metadata from the internet and creates an extremely rich browsing experience (see above). Cover art, plot synopsis, and actor information is pulled down and displayed. In addition, since it is integrated directly into Windows Media Center, I can then take advantage of Media Center’s capabilities to play DVD image files. It’s as if I had the disk inserted into the drive!

That’s a quick run around my home media set up. Hopefully it was simple enough to understand!

Although Win7 shows 2.50GB of memory available, the chipset is limited to using a maximum of 2GB. Despite this, the upgrade from 512MB to 2GB is pretty striking. Freya is far more responsive than before and applications are less prone to stuttering. As a testament, the Windows Experience Index for memory jumped from 2.9 to 4.4!

In addition to today’s upgrade, I found a couple of driver enhancements that could potentially improve battery life and functionality. The first major change was a BIOS upgrade that was issued by Lenovo a couple of days ago. The most noticeable change was alterations to the fan speed controller. Previously, the fan was either on or off, depending on the CPU utilization. The new update adds a more granular fan control scheme, reducing the amount of noise generated as the fan spins up. It also keeps power drain to a minimal since the fan won’t run at full power when not needed.

In addition to the upgrade, I finally found a compatible power management driver for Windows 7. It seems that the S10 is a mismash of hardware from other Lenovo machines, so it’s all a matter of finding the right driver for a different model. Fortunately for me, Windows 7 eventually identified the power management system as the same system used on one of the Y series laptops. It even gave me a link to Lenovo’s site for downloading the driver. Once installed, I’ve noticed some improvements in the battery life. Currently, the battery gauge is reading just over 50% and 2 hours of power remaining. Pretty good for such a minor tweak!

Tsuruya-san seems interested in the new toy

After a couple of hours of setup, I got Windows 7 and my required apps installed. Since I’ll be using this as a lightweight machine, I decided to go with a relatively lightweight application suite. The basic Office install is probably the most heavyweight program I put on. Other apps include:

• Windows Live Suite (Messenger, Photo Gallery, Writer, Mail)
• Firefox
• K-Lite Codec Pack
• Paint.net
• Virtual Clone Drive
• 7zip

In all, I am very impressed with the performance given the size and specs. Windows 7 runs passably on half a gig of RAM and I even consider it usable. That, however, won’t stop me from upgrading to 2 gigs. The extra RAM should be here within the next few days, as it was placed on the same day as the machine itself. From what I’ve see, I don’t doubt that Win7 will become the OS of choice for low powered netbooks, easily replacing Linux as the users’ choice.

The form factor has presented a couple of challenges, however. the smaller keyboard is taking some effort to get used to. The lack of a full sized right shift key has caused me several problems, including constant mistypes of the “up” key. Also, the thinner keys means I’m not used to the shorter distance I would have to go to read the apostrophe key. I’ve been finding myself hitting enter by accident and having to correct for typos.

Battery life has also proved, as I’m currently on track to hit the 3 hour target for the 3-cell battery. At some point in the future, I may switch to a 6-cell, though I don’t foresee my usage habits to really dictate a strong need for one. At ~$50 for one, it’s a pretty pricy investment considering that I currently have $350 invested in the machine and upgrades so far.

Lastly, I decided to give Freya a fresh wallpaper today. After doing some searching, I found a half decent wallpaper with a “dark Chii.” Using Paint.net (not on the netbook, of course) I cropped around her image and cleaned up the edges. I then superimposed her onto an existing Windows 7 wallpaper I’d been using on other machines and altered the subtext. I’m pretty happy with the results. While Paint.net is a great editor and has a lot of features, it isn’t by any means a replacement for Photoshop. The magnetic lasso tool alone would have saved me a good chunk of time trying to select the outline. I guess I can’t complain, Paint.net is free while Photoshop is a several hundred dollar program… Anyways, here is the result of tonight’s work:

Windows 7: Freya edition

***this post was written entirely on the netbook***