I've been up all morning talking this one through. I was originally planning to use 3 Dell P2010H monitors, in portrait mode, for some 2700x1600 resolution hijinks. I found places online that had them for £130, refurbished, no dead/stuck pixels. So, grab a Displayport cable, a 4-way power extender, and all sorted, for a tad more than £400. Right? Wrong. Code: Dell monitor dimensions: |\ 9x | \ 20 |__\ 16x 20^2 = (9x)^2 + (16x)^2 400 = 81x^2 + 256x^2 400 = 337x^2 x^2 = 1.187 x = 1.089469421405687 Height = 9.8in Width = 17.43in Triple Eyefinity: 9.8 9.8 9.8 _________________________ | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 17.43 | | | | | | | | |_______|_______|_______| Height = 17.43in Width = 29.4in Diagonal length (z): z^2 = 17.43^2 + 29.4^2 z^2 = 303.8049 + 864.36 z^2 = 1168.1649 z = 34.17 This is someone actually using Pythagoras' Theorem in real life. Shocked people heading to uni soon, take note. The above tells me those 3 monitors will give me an equivalent screen size of 34". Resolutions above 1080p should barely be noticeable at any sort of distance from such an epic setup. But that's not the worst of it. I'll have big black lines running through it. If I were to buy a 37" Full HD TV, I'd not have to worry about Displayport cables, massive power drain, or even speakers if I went for the HDMI option. And no bezels. Same price, too. Dropping to a 32" TV saves me £100. I know the monitors will provide me with better colours, and a higher resolution, and flexibility with rotations, but all the PC superiority doesn't take away from the fact that there are giant black bars running down the middle of the screen. Hi, my name's Will, and I've just talked myself out of an Eyefinity setup, because in my limited scope, it's a big pile of pants. How's your morning?
It depends on what your playing as to if the bezels make a difference. You cant play fps with 2 eyefinity because the cross-hair is in the middle, but you can with 3, the side screens give you a larger field of vision How big are the bezels? maybe you could mod the screens? and remove a large portion of them. Eyefinity is just cool, but might not be for everyone
I saw the set up your describing with the 3x monitors in portrait format at LAN last weekend. Must say I was completely unimpressed by the set up. It was showing BFBC2 and it was terrible to play with.
This has got me a pondering. For my next build I was thinking of a 3 monitor setup for game play FSX GRID etc. My ponder is would 3 monitors be better than 1 big one and what is the best way of doing the 3? Please feel free to add to my ponderings. Cheers Mark
only 3 ways to do too SoftTH - software hack for larger resolutions spanning multiple screens (tempramental and a lot of faff) Maxtrox Triplehead2go - Hardware for "tricking" the PC into thinking its 1 screen. (old school and easy to implement) Eyefinity - built in support for multiple monitors as one. (works but need a 5x00 card and sillt display port adapter ! usually) A top quality larger screen will be cheaper than using multiple monitors although you wouldnt have as high resolution but it has the advantage of not needing a monster GPU to run with MAX settings. you could just look at a monster screen like 27-30" @ 2560x1600 monitor although i bet that would be the same or more expensive than 3 smaller monitors (no bezel though) i guess where multi monitors come in is FoV as with eyefinity setups this can be awesome which a single larger panel just wont have.
What are you expecting from 3 small monitors in portrait? I wouldn't recommend running anything less than 3x 24" in portrait mode. Depending on the Game I play I will use either Landscape or Portrait. Landscape mode, Portrait mode, Really? I love BFBC2 in Eyefinity. It is better in Landscape mode. I find the game more enjoyable using Eyefinity. Simon.
FIXED... + Nvidia Surround - GTX2xx or GTX4xx series cards only in SLI. As for the bezels, in landscape you really dont notice them all that much, you tend to focus on the middle screen and the outside monitors instinctively become your peripheral vision. I would have to agree with True_gamer on the fact that portrait with anything less than 24" 16:10 ratio monitors is not nearly as bad or distracting as 20" 16:9 which is narrower per screen. Using 16:10 ratio you get a bit extra width before the bezels become an interference. I tried running my 22" 16:9 monitors in portrait and found exactly this, the screen just seemed to narrow for my likings, however when switched to landscape mode, it really does become a lot more immersive.
Some games like Mass effect 2 or tomb raider won't run in landscape mode as the FOV is either zoomed in or too stretched. This is why I choose between the 2 modes. Simon.
I just link the PC to a twin monitor for day to day usage, emails, photoshop, sketchup etc (1x24" Samsung and 1x touchscreen 23" both in landscape) and for gaming send the output to my LED TV, like you said at 1080p its awesome, and its 50" so I sit further away, theres not a huge benefit for me in having higher res, far bigger benefit in the sheer scale!
If you have eyefinity/matrox/surround enabled when you are at the windows desktop (ie no game running) then if you maximize an application, that application would span across all monitors instead of just 1 monitor like normal. I place shortcuts on my desktop to switch between span and extended modes. Extended for windows so that I have 3 independant monitors, then spaned mode for gaming.
Will, you completely misssed the point of eyefinity. Eyyefinity is not a technique that ssupplies you with a bigger monitor, as for that, it would indeed be better to just get a bigger monitor. Eyefinity is awesome in landscape mode though. Just incredible. Not that you can really see everything on screen, but stuff happening in the corner of your eyesight means that you are not just witnessing an event through a window or a screen, but you are really there. Play a racing game from the cockpit view, and you are forever sold. During FPS, you actually have an ingame advanttage, as you see people running in places you'd normally have no view. That pissed quite a few people off at the last LAN i atteended
Tell me you're being not serious i could get three or six dell U2410s for less than the retrspective prices for those!
