NVIDIA 2D Surround Help & Advice Please.

[JohnM]

Hey,

Really interested in a 2D Surround setup for gaming.
I currently have from my initial purchase form OCUK back in 2008...
2 x Samsung SM2693HM 25.5" Widescreen LCD Monitors

Now for the life of me I cant find this monitor anywhere now. Its a shame its a great monitor. So I'm looking at the...

Hanns.G HZ281HPB 27.5" Widescreen LCD Monitor - Black [HZ281HPB]

Both are 1920*1200, obviously the Hanns.G is going to be taller but as I understand it this should not be a problem?

The Response Time is said to be better on the Hanns.G, as well as better contrast ect. If I remember correct. It has a max refresh rate of 75 I think, but this can be changed back down to 60 correct?

Apart from any possible technical issues? I should be able to just level the monitors. Since the taller Hanns.G is in the middle and pretty long, the 2 side monitors are more peripheral. The height difference shouldn't be too much of an annoyance.

I just got my GTX 570 through the door, and as an SLI setup is needed for 3 monitors & 2D/3D Surround...
I've added another one to the basket.

Palit GeForce GTX 570 1280MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Mobo
Asus Rampage III Gene Intel X58

Now, I'm pretty sure everything should work. I'm going to have to take out my sound-card, but I have on-board available. A little worried about the heat since one of the fans is going to be slightly covered on the GPU.

Finally is it worth it?
Does any one have any experience with 2D Surround, SLI, Tri-Monitor setup.
Hows compatibility with games?

My 1st SLI setup
Have I missed anything?
Thanks.


ooo *edit*
Is 2D surround compatible with DX11?

 

[Confused Stu]

Yes, surround is compatible with DX11.

Once you've tried tri-screen gaming, 90% of people love it and keep it. I've only had mine set up for a few weeks (Christmas present) but already I would hate to have to go back to single screen gaming, I just feel like I'm wearing blinkers.

Compatibility with games I can only partially answer as I'm running ATI's Eyefinity setup (with a single 5870) rather than nVidia's surround&SLI option. However, I have found most of my games simply work straight out of the box. The few that did have issues (such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 1 & 2) were mainly around things being stretched but a simple visit to http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/ has fixed all the games I had issues with.

One thing to bear in mind is that first and third person games have a perspective point near the centre of the screen. This means when things get near the edge of your screen they show more of an angle so the world looks realistic & "3D". However, as you're extending the sides of your monitor by a whole other monitor, the side screens will look very angled and people can look like Oompa-Lumpas. This actually doesn't hurt the immersion IMHO, but just something to be aware of so you don't think something is wrong on day 1. A quick google to show you an example of what I'm talking about gave me this: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=311908 - have a look towards the left and right of the screenshots and see how everything gets angled a lot by the time it hits the edge of the screen? Again, it actually works when playing but it can be a shock at first.

Good luck.

 

[JohnM]

Thanks for the reply.
Third person games usualy have a editable FOV setting. Pretty sure its that.
Noticed it a bit on witcher when I was testing with my brother 24"

heh, Non-SLI GTX570 9800GX2 - Looked great, ran great... on some game useing SoftTH.
But the compatibility was just not good enough.
Cant wait to try this out.

Ive decided to sell my current monitors and purchase 3 of the same model.
Ive also changed my choice to the...
Iiyama ProLite E2607WS 26" Widescreen LCD Monitor

Yes its a drop to 26" but the bezal on the Hanns.G is insane at 1.5" on each side. The Iiyama looks a lot better but I cant find a review on the size.

Makes things a lot easier.