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Thread: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

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    Question Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    Hi guys.

    I am thinking of starting an upgrade to my system soon. Basically everything except my hard drives and case.

    One of the things I have been thinking about is monitors. I have a BenQ FP241WZ monitor currently, an old monitor admittedly. I was wondering how this would compare with the current gen 24 inch monitors [16:10]. Something like the Dell U2412M or U2410.

    Also does anyone here have experience of multi monitor gaming? I have been looking at three monitor set ups and some of the screens on the extreme left and right seem distorted. Is this typical of gaming in general or just typical of certain games. Is it distracting when playing?

    One final question, in your opinions which would have the better gaming experience, playing on a bigger monitor or to play on three monitors?

    thanks guys.

    PS I mainly play fps (very badly) if that makes any difference. thanks.

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    Senior Member Pob255's Avatar
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    Re: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    They look distorted, because of the enlarged field of vision, it gives it a fish eye effect.
    With the side monitors angled correctly you should actually notice it when playing as they would be in your periphery.

    The other alternative would be to use the monitors in portrait mode.

    One thing to be aware of is eyefinity does increase the gpu load and a crossfire setup is advisable for gaming.

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    Re: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    I've had a couple of goes on 3 monitor setups for gaming. It struck me as a novelty tbh. It was fun for a while, and on some prettier games the panoramas were gorgeous, but didn't really add much to the experience, nor always work that well. it didn't add much at all when compared to how much extra you'd be spending and effort of making it work, it's not something most games support natively. For the price of the 2 extra decent sized monitors you could add a lot of grunt to your machine or upgrade your main monitor to something really nice like the 27" - 30" screens, which seem huge when they're only a foot or two from your face and easily fill your eyeline.

    As for your current monitor it might be a couple of years old, but from everything I've heard it was a very good monitor. I have a dell screen about the same age, which most would probably count as a little worse than yours on account of being a TN panel, but not sure I'd upgrade it for a new build unless I was going up in size or there was some kind of problem.

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    Not a good person scaryjim's Avatar
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    Re: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    Don't forget that if you do want to game on 3 monitors you're going to have to upgrade your graphics to either an AMD eyefinity-supporting card, or *two* nvidia cards in SLI (nvidia still can't run 3 monitors off one card, AFAIK).

    The real issue comes from large, high-res panels being so expensive: a 27" 2560x1440 panel will set you back £600, whereas for £450 you can run 3 1080p panels* for either 5760x1080 or 3240x1920. If you're upgrading anyway it might be worth getting the 3 panels to give you £150 more to spend on the graphics card. Otherwise I don't see any point in upgrading to a bigger screen of the same (or lower) resolution as you're just reducing the pixel pitch and making the picture less sharp...

    *alternatively you could go for some 1680x1050 panels for 5040x1050 or 3150x1680. The main thing with a triple monitor system is mounting: if you're using all the monitors in landscape for an ultra-wide panoramic display then it's not such an issue, but if you go for portrait monitors you need to make sure they come with pivot stands, or you need to buy a mounting system (which can get very expensive very quickly!)
    Last edited by scaryjim; 12-10-2011 at 10:41 AM. Reason: reread OP properly!

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    Re: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    Be warned. Multi-monitor gaming's not only expensive, it's a total pain in the arse at times. When it works, the results can be stunning. Just be prepared to work to get those results.


    Time to pimp the rig again

    That's using nVidia's solution which requires SLI and multiple identically spec'd monitors (all timings must match). Less flexible than AMD's Eyefinity in terms of hardware requirements but it's what I chose to go for.

    In surround gaming, the left and right displays are mostly used for peripheral vision, you don't really look at them directly as such. In Battlefield, for instance, you'll have a much greater view of the field, giving you a chance to see a target out of the corner of your eye and respond to events you might not have noticed otherwise. With Burnout, you'll have the world whizzing by in your periphery, giving you a much greater sense of immersion. Skyjacking a plane in Just Cause 2 isn't the same on a single screen. Like I said, when it works, it's awesome. (The reason the side views can appear exaggerated is because that's what your game eyes are seeing, your real eye locations aren't matched with the game's camera. The game's FOV could be messed up too.)

    My biggest gripe would be inflexible interface design; games with their HUD tied to the edges of the display. Having a health meter in the top left and a map in the bottom right of a 5760 x 1080 resolution means you'll miss what's happening right in front of you when appraising your status. Some games will allow you to have the HUD on the centre screen, some require manually configuring. It's all very hit and miss with regards to support. I'd suggest you go check WSGF as they'll have all the info you need on tricks to get games cooperating.

    For normal desktop usage, that sort of aspect ratio isn't really suitable in my opinion. I find I have to switch back to 3 single desktops if I want things like Aero Snap and more convenient app window management. Even that's still useful in gaming though. Being able to have Supreme Commander on two screens and a browser/Steam/etc open on another works a treat.

    Despite its annoyances and the expense, I'd do it all again. The flexibility of having multiple displays over a single screen is worth it.
    My only concern is should I hide my true identity? A costume maybe?

    0iD: Plus weeing in it every now & again does it good
    scaryjim: 10" is just a little large to hold comfortably in one hand, which makes it a lot harder to tap, swipe and generally interact with.

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    Re: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    Thanks everyone for posting back.

    As you say Pob255, I will seriously have to upgrade my gfx cards/ system for anything like this.

    I am in a total quandary now. Triple monitor has been something I'd wanted for so long. Looking at what I do on my pc, I guess it is evenly split between gaming and watching movies/ tv with browsing/ emailing and music afterwards. (Our tv is an old 24 inch CRT so my current monitor is better).

    I think the triple monitor set up would really only be of use with gaming for me. Giving up the idea of it is gut wrenching as indeed is the thoughts of shelling out so much money for a bigger screen with higher res. On top of this I am working long hours and may not have the time nor patience to set it up. Aggghhh.
    I hadn't even thought about going portrait with the monitors tbh. That would give a 5:4 with 3600 x 1920 i.e three 1920x1200 monitors. 3400x1920 (16:9) and 3072:1920 (16:10) with black lines for movie viewing. I am talking myself back in to it again. Gaming one way and turning portrait for everything else.

    My current monitor pivots easily enough, it's just all the cables at the back tend to freak out. Trying with three monitors and having to lift them all to move them closer (for portrait) and back again for gaming. I just looked at the prices of the mounting systems,

    I have never worked on nor really looked at a 27 or 30 inch monitor. I may try to get to pc world at the weekend to get a feel for the size. It may be easier but so darned expensive esp if you want to increase the resolution, as you say scaryjim.

    Chuckskull, you may well be right. If it ain't broke then leave it alone.

    Oh, I am so unable to make a decision. Ok, #deep breath# I'm gonna wait till the weekend and look at larger screens. So I'm making a decision to put off making a decision.


    Again thanks to you all for posting.

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    Re: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    personally if I ever did a triple monitor setup I'd love to use three 1600x1200 non-wide screen monitors

    Although I also liked the idea of a single large widescreen in landscape with a smaller monitor on each side in portrait.
    But that setup wouldn't work in eyefinity or the nvidia one, as they both need to have the same resolution on all three screens AFAIK

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    Re: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    I upgraded to a 6950 (Unlocked and OC'ed to 6970) for 5760x1080 (soon to be 5760x1200) and it plays pretty much everything at the highest settings with a decent FPS. I play BFBC2 a lot and I get about 35-80 FPS during the gameplay, normal FPS is around the 40's. The Eyefinity setup works great for flying and having a wider view of the battlefield.

    L4D2 and source games, you don't need to worry about FPS, it's way over 60's even when the crap hits the fan.

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    Re: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    I definitely think triple monitor gaming has a future. More games support it and with AMD's Eyefinity it is becoming easier to set up. I've been in camp Nvidia for a while now, but if they don't seriously sort out their inferior Surround tech then I could very well change over to AMD next.

    You can get some rather cheap ~24" IPS monitors these days which has tempted me to make a multi monitor setup for gaming.

    It works fantastically well for racing games especially, of which I'm a big fan. Gives a better feeling for speed and also allows you to see other cars without changing the view and also the corner apexes better.

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    Re: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    The only games were you could take advantage of that setup would be with the ones that actually support it. supreme commander is one good example, and company of heroes, though is rather old.

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    Re: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    I still haven't seen a 30 inch monitor so never made a choice. I hope to be upgrading cpu, mobo and the gfx card soon. I'll probably come back to this quandary early to mid of next year.

    Wanted to say thanks to all you guys for posting. No doubt I'll annoy you next year when I start thinking about it again.

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    Re: Gaming, One large or three smaller monitors

    Quote Originally Posted by TaintedShirt View Post
    I still haven't seen a 30 inch monitor so never made a choice. I hope to be upgrading cpu, mobo and the gfx card soon. I'll probably come back to this quandary early to mid of next year.

    Wanted to say thanks to all you guys for posting. No doubt I'll annoy you next year when I start thinking about it again.
    I'm using a 30 inch monitor currently. It's good, but it's just effectively the same image but larger in gaming.

    I'm seriously considering a triple monitor setup next. Hope games manufacturers keep up with the support for such systems.

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