Hardware & Technical 3 Monitors help needed

Ben Ryder · Aug 11, 2014

Hi

I've got 28 inch monitor.

I've got two DVI-D ports free on my graphics card.

I'm thinking of getting another two monitors.

Do they need to be the same physical size as my main monitor?

Do they need to run at the same resolution?

I just don't know.

Any one know from there own personal experience?

Thanks.

--- Edit

Have been running two 4 screens for a while now. One at full 4k and the other at the next resolution down.

My card is a EVGA Nvidia GTX 780Ti SC 3GB 384-bit Graphics Card

and I was wondering what resolution I could run all three screens 60fps.

Does anyone know from their own personal experience?

Thanks

Y2K · Aug 11, 2014

You dont need the same size monitor, same resolution is recommended but not essential. You do NEED to run at least ONE monitor from the display port or mini display port.

Have fun. BUT

TBH, id wait untill the Rift is made retail, it will blow 3 monitors away

Yaffle · Aug 11, 2014

It looks best if they are the same monitor models (even the same batch if you can).

To use the three in Elite you need to make them into one virtual monitor, like having a massive single desktop. For most other purposes that's not actually very practical. I have my screens set to be separate monitors for work, then turn them to one huge one for Elite.

To do that you use a utility from your card maker. I have ATi, and in the catalyst control there is a function called eyefinity which allows you to make the three monitors into one. If you have one at (say) 1080 and two at (say)1440 it will force all of them to 1080.

It will look weird if the monitors are different sizes too.

Upsides - it looks overwhelmingly real.
- useful for work, having lots of screen real estate is a boon

Downsides - cost. A rift would be better value, and is much better supported in this game
- can your card handle the extra pixels it has to throw around?
- the way the screens render extreme left and right leads to bad distortion
-there are bezels in the way at crucial points. You can make them less obtrusive by moving the image around so it flows behind them, but they can get in the way.

If FD put effort into it - making it possible to have a new camera for each screen, or allowing the menus to be on all the time on the side screens, or the map or something then it will be worth every penny. At the moment, the attention the rift gets makes that a better buy if it's just for Elite.

Asp Explorer · Aug 11, 2014

Yaffle is right - if it's the best Elite experience you are looking for, then the headset is probably the way to go.

For general computing though - 3 monitors is just bliss

kmw · Aug 11, 2014

I would not be without my triple monitors. I do not get the distortion that many seem to suffer. And although it is essentially 'just one big monitor', it does actually widen the visible area, i.e. you can see more at the sides than in a single monitor.
Even if FD were to offer side screen panel views, I will still use mine for one overall view, such is the immersion difference.
I use mine for race sims, flight sims, and any FPS games that work, & now Elite.
I highly recommend three of the same model - the colour & contrast match makes a massive difference. And same screen size is best, or the three images won't line up properly.
I do admit though, I have not tried the Rift and would like to get one eventually, especially if it gives me the feeling of actually being in a race car cockpit!

Ben Ryder · Aug 11, 2014

Yaffle said:
It looks best if they are the same monitor models (even the same batch if you can).

To use the three in Elite you need to make them into one virtual monitor, like having a massive single desktop. For most other purposes that's not actually very practical. I have my screens set to be separate monitors for work, then turn them to one huge one for Elite.

To do that you use a utility from your card maker. I have ATi, and in the catalyst control there is a function called eyefinity which allows you to make the three monitors into one. If you have one at (say) 1080 and two at (say)1440 it will force all of them to 1080.

It will look weird if the monitors are different sizes too.

Upsides - it looks overwhelmingly real.
- useful for work, having lots of screen real estate is a boon

Downsides - cost. A rift would be better value, and is much better supported in this game
- can your card handle the extra pixels it has to throw around?
- the way the screens render extreme left and right leads to bad distortion
-there are bezels in the way at crucial points. You can make them less obtrusive by moving the image around so it flows behind them, but they can get in the way.

If FD put effort into it - making it possible to have a new camera for each screen, or allowing the menus to be on all the time on the side screens, or the map or something then it will be worth every penny. At the moment, the attention the rift gets makes that a better buy if it's just for Elite.

Thanks Yaffle, you splendid old bird.

My main monitor is a 4k and it uses the main display port on my card.
EVGA Nvidia GTX 780Ti SC 3GB 384-bit Graphics Card

There are two DVI-D ports free and I'm fine at running the game at a lower frame rate. 30ish suits me fine.

I'd not want to lose the wonderful resolution of the 4k if getting to side monitors was going to significantly detract.

I'm going to get a second monitor for work as I've been without one for a while and it's just not right.I can't justify getting rift because ... it doesn't in a sense pay for itself. All my gear helps me do my job in one way or another.

Edit and thanks to the other posters too.

Any one using a 4k monitor with smaller monitors as side screens?

Fangrim · Aug 11, 2014

Dark Vader said:
You dont need the same size monitor, same resolution is recommended but not essential. You do NEED to run at least ONE monitor from the display port or mini display port.

Have fun. BUT

TBH, id wait untill the Rift is made retail, it will blow 3 monitors away

Why do you NEED to do that? Buddy of mine has a 3 monitor setup, 2 DVI, 1 HDMI used, DP unused.

If it's bandwidth, it won't matter, unless the monitors have a high refresh rate.

Ben Ryder · Aug 11, 2014

Fangrim said:
Why do you NEED to do that? Buddy of mine has a 3 monitor setup, 2 DVI, 1 HDMI used, DP unused.

If it's bandwidth, it won't matter, unless the monitors have a high refresh rate.

Hi rim,

Are they all the same type?

MrVibrating · Aug 11, 2014

i use triplehead2go, two of 'em, running off a dual DVI-I card. Works really well, would defo recommend, apart from the fact that it's redundant, obsolete and expensive.

And also, like Vader sez, the Rift will blow it away soon for a fraction of the cost..

Trickster63 · Aug 11, 2014

Multiple monitors and different resolutions

I currently run 3 monitors, 2 x 19" (1280 x 1024) one on each side of my 24" (1920 x 1200). When I configure these in Nvidia surround the main monitor drops its resolution and I end up with 3840 x 1024 setup. It does spoil the detail in the main screen but is very playable.:smilie:

Roland2 · Aug 11, 2014

I run 3 QNIX 27", 2560x1440. I use two 780TI's SLI'd, and can go full resolution at around 50fps.

CATPAIN KIRK · Aug 11, 2014

Ben Ryder said:
Any one using a 4k monitor with smaller monitors as side screens?

As pointed out by Trickster, it works (kind off - you'll liekly lose the 4k res on the middle screen). However be aware of the heavy tax on your GPU(s).

I run three Benq 2420T 24" 120 hz displays in nvidia surround on dual 680 GTX cards in 6040*1080 averaging at about 60-80 FPS . Adding a single 4k display into the mix would kill performance, I assume.

RustyNailed · Aug 11, 2014

My setup has 3 monitors, a central 27" 2560x1440, with a 22" 1680x1050 on either side. The primary and one of the secondaries are run directly off the GTX 560 Ti DVI ports, and the third from the mainboard DVI port - the nVidia/Intel software makes it all work.

I only use the central monitor for gaming (i.e. no wrap round effect) as I cba to go through the switching hassle, and the difference in resolutions would make it hugely sub-optimal. For E

, I have my eye on a Consumer Rift....

The main reason for the 3 screen setup is 'work' in the sense I do various things other than gaming on the PC - mainly personal software development and other pointless time wasting, and I love the flexibility that the three display gives me. I actually find the 'borders' a useful break point. So on one screen I can have Full screen Netflix, on another full screen IDE, and on the third web browsers for reference, and so on.

I initially got a dual screen setup with 2 identical monitors, but then treated myself to a properly calibrated high res display for photo processing, hence the mix and match approach.

R

MoodyB · Aug 12, 2014

Yaffle said:
To do that you use a utility from your card maker. I have ATi, and in the catalyst control there is a function called eyefinity which allows you to make the three monitors into one. If you have one at (say) 1080 and two at (say)1440 it will force all of them to 1080.

That's no longer the case with Catalyst 14.6 onwards.

They added 2 new modes to Eyefinity that allows you to run mismatched monitor sizes/resolutions across 3 screens :

http://techreport.com/news/26516/wa...-enhancements-coming-in-catalyst-14-6-drivers

A bit similar to what SoftTH did years ago.

I just recently switched from a GTX 780 to a R9 290 because of the mismatched monitor support added in Cat 14.6.

As I run a 1280x1024-1920x1080-1280x1024 setup, this was ideal.

I know I could have ran E : D in windowed mode & stretched it, but then I wouldn't have been able to use bezel correction.

Yaffle said:
If FD put effort into it - making it possible to have a new camera for each screen, or allowing the menus to be on all the time on the side screens, or the map or something then it will be worth every penny.

I'd love to see iRacing or Assetto Corsa style triple screen support in E : D.

Having planets go all elliptical in the side screens on a 3 screen setup, due to the wide angle of the main camera, takes away from the immersion a bit.

CATPAIN KIRK said:
Adding a single 4k display into the mix would kill performance, I assume.

One other thing to watch out for would be the vram usage at very high resolutions.

At the moment E : D uses just under 2gb vram at my res, which is 4680x1080 + all high gfx settings + fxaa.

At 7680x1440, which is 3 2560x1440 monitors, I wouldn't be at all surprised to see vram usage go over the 3gb limit of the 780 Ti.

Xreasonz · Aug 12, 2014

MoodyB said:
I'd love to see iRacing or Assetto Corsa style triple screen support in E : D.

Having planets go all elliptical in the side screens on a 3 screen setup, due to the wide angle of the main camera, takes away from the immersion a bit.

agreed, Assetto Corsa is doing the best Triple screen setup together with iRacing that i have seen, full control over angle, bezel correction and 1 or 3 screen rendering.

Running Triple 27" 144 hz screens @ 5760x1080 With TrackIR5

And you do get stretching at the extreme left and rights. And it does break immersion but also the actual viewspace imo. It is very hard to guess where the target is without looking around so that the object is in the center view

So if the devs are reading this? Please look into getting proper triple screen support. Much thanks will be given.

Fangrim · Aug 12, 2014

Ben Ryder said:
Hi rim,

Are they all the same type?

Yeah, 3 ASUS something.

Ben Ryder · Aug 12, 2014

I have learned a lot form this and I hope it helps others too.

You guys have been diamonds and any more information would be great because I have a feeling that I'm not alone in the mix and match approach.

Y2K · Aug 12, 2014

Fangrim said:
Why do you NEED to do that? Buddy of mine has a 3 monitor setup, 2 DVI, 1 HDMI used, DP unused.

If it's bandwidth, it won't matter, unless the monitors have a high refresh rate.

For 3 monitor eyefinity on AMD/ATI cards one of the monitors must be connected to a display port, having 3 monitors working on DVI/Hdmi outputs isnt possible. Do your homework.

mid_gen · Aug 12, 2014

I run a couple of 24" 1920x1080 either side of a 30" 2560x1600. Tbh I only bothered running it across all 3 once and it wasn't pretty on the main screen, don't see the point.

MoodyB · Aug 12, 2014

Dark Vader said:
For 3 monitor eyefinity on AMD/ATI cards one of the monitors must be connected to a display port, having 3 monitors working on DVI/Hdmi outputs isnt possible. Do your homework.

Yes it is.

I have 3 monitors running off dvi - hdmi - dvi on a R9 290 just now :

My 2 side monitors are a 17" Dell 1708, and a 17" Dell 190PS ( basically the same as the 1708 )
And my main monitor is a 24" BenQ GL2460

AMD changed the hardware slightly on 200 series cards to allow 3 monitors without the need for one connected to a display port :

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7400/the-radeon-r9-280x-review-feat-asus-xfx/3