I want to try a triple monitor setup but I'm not sure where to start with picking the monitors. Budget wise I'm looking at more towards the budget range could end up changing if budget monitors are terrible
I did it with budget monitors (cost £30 each). IIRC I spent about £15 on brackets and nuts and bolts etc. Don't let any one tell you that you need uber expensive monitors, that's horse poo. Just make sure they have a half decent viewing angle. My thoughts. In racing games it was boss. Absolute bloody boss. It was also excellent playing RAGE. There's a level on RAGE where you are in the middle of an arena, and it really helped to see where the gimps were coming from (it actually made it so easy I felt like I was cheating). It's fun, but there are serious caveats. Fallout 3 and New Vegas promised to be excellent. However, the side screens are stretched (this is deliberate apparently) which made things very odd. For example on my side screens a Death Claw would look like it was right upon me. Turn the mouse around and on the middle screen it was miles away. This was very odd and very off putting. The problem with the above is that some games do not have big enough textures to look good when they're stretched. Fallout 3's distant textures up close looked like a two year old drew them. Then there was the desktop. It was pretty much unusable. The start button for Windows was all the way over to the left, and the volume control etc was all the way over to the right. Even with my Razer mouse set to schizophrenic patient on amphetamine speed and DPI it was still a chore, and general desktop use would give me a seriously stiff neck from having to keep turning my head all the time. Seriously, it sucked ass. Now I hear that with AMD your desktop is different. The middle screen acts as normal with the two side screens acting as accessory panels. Now I could do that, but I was running Nvidia surround which made that a pipe dream. If it's still the same? then build a second rig, like I did, to run your three screens and keep your desktop intact. Maybe Nvidia have changed it? I don't know. All said and done? it's well worth playing with but I wouldn't dare spend lots of money on high quality screens because it's just not economical for the return. Some games are fun, but eventually you'll realise that you're spending most of your time looking at the middle screen any way. /can of worms well and truly opened.
Some screens.. BFBC2. RAGE NFS Hot Pursuit II Fallout 3 (note this needs serious INI hacking to work) Dirt 3 in action, me failing to realise the middle monitor was on a totally different colour setting Dirt 3 in action (I'm running two 295s in Quad SLI) Testing out RAGE And Mafia II Crysis II
Three of these. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-Dell-...mputerComponents_Monitors&hash=item2c760e1c04 Or even better, these. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DELL-1908...mputerComponents_Monitors&hash=item5d46e1051c With some sort of concocted stand or wall brackets would work well.
I run 4 screens. My racing rig i have 3 setup and as Andy said it is BOSS! You cannot beat triples for racing games/sims. Everything else i couldnt care less for i play with just 1 Dell U2711. Now there is a difference between the AMD and Nvidia as Andy pointed out. If i had my way it would all work how AMD have theirs set out. Its easy to set the triples up and then just save a custom profile in CCC, same for 1 screen and its just an instant switch when im not racing, takes 1 second litteraly. Just got rid of the 7950 i had and got a GTX 780. Changing screens is now a pain in the arse. As much grunt as the card has switching screens i now have to press Ctrl + Alt + S together, that switches the screens over to the triples from the single, then i have to calibrate the bezel compensation to how i like it then load my game. Sounds ok but whats really **** is i have to do this every time i switch over, there is no way around it. Changing back to a single is also a pain in that i have to Ctrl + Alt + S but it keeps one of the triples on until again i have to go into control panel and swap the monitors over. It might be a small niggle to some but i race competitively and i practice a lot, but only using the triples for my racing and thats all. I found the monitors i use from NrgIT on evilbay, hes a really great seller of Dell equipment. I bought 3 P2210's from him for £65 (but came with no stands) each only caveat is they 1680x1050 , which is perfectly fine for what i use them for. I know im just droning on now ...
Hmm sounds like Nvidia still suck the donkey balls on three screens then Eyefinity is miles better. Spanky - your choice in screens is wise. As I will continually stress - DO NOT sink a ton of money into this as it can really suck at times. I would go with the Ultrasharps I listed above, more so because they're not wide screens so each one is higher. There widescreens is very very wide but you only get normal height.
Agree with Andy on skimping on the pennies where you can. Triple screens to me, is it suits a purpose. Counter strike would make me feel dizzy and sick for example, you might be surprised at the sheer size on playing on triples once they are sitting on your desk. If you do go for it, i know its obvious but buy 3 of the same screens, ive mixed before and colors and such can be not the same etc, you get what i mean. http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/1786/img0102kd.jpg
Wow thanks for the detailed reply Andy really appreciate you taking some time out to write everything. It really has given me food for thought I want to stick with 24" monitors, I've got a massive desk so the space is available What about 3 of these with a triple mount http:// http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dell-P2414H-24-inch-Monitor-Widescreen-1-Year-Warranty-NO-STAND-4YN53-/171198329571?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_Monitors&hash=item27dc3732e3
Dead link man. Edit yeah they would be really nice. The problem is the cost of triple stands. I would look into wall mounting. I used as standard mount for the middle screen then two swing arms for the sides.
I used two of these for the sides. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Designer-Ha...F8&qid=1388776110&sr=8-9&keywords=monitor+arm And a flat one for the middle monitor. It took some planning (getting the side ones in the right place for example) but I got it there in there in the end. IIRC they combined postage so they were cheap as fook If I were doing it again I would mount onto a sheet of MDF and then screw that on the wall. Would make it a balls load easier to get them right (my arms were knacked by the time I was done). I've still got them all. Oddly enough I used one today to mount a portrait accessory screen
http://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/monitors-tvs/tv-brackets-and-furniture Lots to chose from just depends how much you won't to push budget
Check out the AllCam monitor stands if money is tight. They do a tripple mount for £60, although you'd need a couple of extra long arm modules to use 24" screens. Link. I've got the dual mount version using two bulky 24" IPS monitors, and it does the job nicely. It's well made and sturdy, even when it's just clamped to the desk. The two main issues are that the tilt mechanism is very fiddly, and the rotate function isn't all that smooth. But once they're set up, it's perfectly fine. If you plan to switch between landscape and portrait mode often though, it might get a bit annoying.
Just thought I'd add to previous opinions, AMD do seem far more advanced on the multi monitor front over nVidia, so your graphics card is well chosen!
Triple monitor? Are you sure? You are about to spend £270 on three average monitors. In 9 months that'll probably get you an Oculus Rift.
Does an Oculus Rift give you peripheral vision? Didn't seem like it. I use 3x Dell U2713HM's with Titan SLI's and it is indeed kind of awesome, though the aspect ratio stretching is an issue at times (I'm thinking about going the route of using 3x U3014's in portrait instead)... but with 16:9 monitors in Surround the usability of Metro is off the hook. The Surround switching is a pain, but I just turn to another PC for non-surround duties. On that note, if you're on a lower budget I think it's a better route to go with the 24" 1920 x 1200 monitors and put them in portrait.
