eyefinity / nvidia surround

[niggyg]

I've read that for triple monitor setups each monitor needs to have matching res. But then I've also read conflicting info on this.

My plan was to run 1600x1200 | 1920x1200 | 1600x1200 so all 3 have the same vertical res. Would this be a problem for Red or Green team? Is there anything else I need to watch out for?

 

[RynceWynd]

You can have mixed resolutions on eye infinity ( I run 1920x1080/2560x1080/1920x1080, to give 6400x1080).

last time i tried surround (about 4 months ago) you had to have the same resolution screens, or it sets the lowest res across all three.

 

[Confused Stu]

When Eyefinity originally launched in 2009, you had to have each monitor running at the same resolution. In 2014, AMD improved it to support different resolution monitors, this article gives a good example of the improvements:
http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/amd-eyefinity-3-panel-mixed-resolution-review,1.html

If you go for Eyefinity, you'll find your GPU runs at a higher idle memory speed than normal with those monitors attached (whether running an Eyefinity merged screen, or 3 separates) because of the different resolutions. This will mean higher GPU idle temperatures, and higher idle power draw by a bit. Depending how you have your Eyefinity set up, you'll either have the middle screen stretched if you go for 4800x1200, or you'll have the very outer parts of the display off the edges of the screen if you choose 5760x1200. Neither is ideal, and the latter might mean parts of your HUD are off the side in some games. [EDIT - reading the article it looks like you should be able to set 5120x1200 as a resolution, so looks like I'm wrong about the latter bit]

I haven't used Nvidia Surround, so can't comment on that, I'm afraid.

 

[niggyg]

Do you think it's worth doing as an experiment?

I can grab 2 Dell 2007fp monitors that are 1600x1200 for ~£60.

 

[Confused Stu]

Do you think it's worth doing as an experiment?

I can grab 2 Dell 2007fp monitors that are 1600x1200 for ~£60.

Everything's worth trying as an experiment! For that price, you could probably sell them without a loss if you decide against it.

Where in the country are you based? If you're anywhere near Kent, I've got a couple of 2007fp's I use for LAN games weekends which you're welcome to borrow to try out without splashing any cash.

I originally ran 1920x1080(24") + 1920x1200(26") + 1920x1080(24") and loved it, even though at that time it meant running the middle screen at 1920x1080 and having everything stretched by 10%. I changed to matching 1920x1080 monitors before the 2014 improvements just because one came up at the right price, and I fancied switching to matching. Didn't make a huge different in real life, but I did find it less irritating knowing there was a problem with my setup that was irking me.

 

[niggyg]

Everything's worth trying as an experiment! For that price, you could probably sell them without a loss if you decide against it.

Where in the country are you based? If you're anywhere near Kent, I've got a couple of 2007fp's I use for LAN games weekends which you're welcome to borrow to try out without splashing any cash.

I originally ran 1920x1080(24") + 1920x1200(26") + 1920x1080(24") and loved it, even though at that time it meant running the middle screen at 1920x1080 and having everything stretched by 10%. I changed to matching 1920x1080 monitors before the 2014 improvements just because one came up at the right price, and I fancied switching to matching. Didn't make a huge different in real life, but I did find it less irritating knowing there was a problem with my setup that was irking me.

Thanks for the offer. I'm in Yorkshire, so a little to far away. I think I'll give it a go for ~£60. I'm currently running a HD7850 so I know it's going to struggle. It's a shame Nvidia doesn't seem to be an option as I think I might need more grunt than any AMD upgrade could provide (RX 480).

 

[niggyg]

So I got the 2 extra monitors setup. I like it a lot

Not surprisingly my 7850 struggles unless I whack all settings down when playing Battlefield 4/Battlefield 1 beta.

I'd quite like more grunt and I'd like to go for a 1070 but the lack of support for mixed monitor (resolution) surround is putting me off. I've seen people have this working unofficially but I'm thinking it's going to be a lot more hassle than it would be with an AMD card.

Should I get a 1070 and tinker?
Get a 480 that probably won't have enough grunt?
Or wait for AMD's faster cards?

 

[pingu666]

if you work out the megapixels or res equivalence of your card then look at benchmarks...

so far one drawback is i cant find a equivilent to amds super sampling AA 4x, which made games jaggy and moire free. DSR should do the same thing, but thats disabled in surround mode

 

[pingu666]

ah just got close using nv inspector, and 4x super sampling and 8x transparency, 4x should work too

 

[MoodyB]

I'd quite like more grunt and I'd like to go for a 1070 but the lack of support for mixed monitor (resolution) surround is putting me off. I've seen people have this working unofficially but I'm thinking it's going to be a lot more hassle than it would be with an AMD card.

Should I get a 1070 and tinker?
Get a 480 that probably won't have enough grunt?
Or wait for AMD's faster cards?

On Nvidia cards you could run games in windowed mode over 3 mismatched screens. Downside is you won't get bezel correction & lose a bit of performance vs full screen.

Or if it's a Dx9 based game you could use SoftTH to get bezel correction & run full screen.

Never tried the mismatched surround workaround so can't comment on that.

A 480 is around the same speed as a 290x so it'll be better than your 7850, but it will struggle in recent games at high'ish settings as you're getting close to 4k res, just that you're dong it over 3 screens instead of one :


8.3 million pixels for 4k

vs

6.1 million pixels for your 3 screen setup

 

[Scania]

I have 3 24" monitors @5760x1080 in surround with a 3gb 780ti, BF4 runs great with everything bar AA & textures at ultra, I couldn't get mismatched monitors to work but my two Benq and AOC 24" jobbies cost me under £150 for all three - used. Previously had two GTX580's 1.5gb, they were fine but the 780ti rocks so long as you turn down textures on games such as GTA V.