nvidia surround... what would I need?

andrewohare · 10 Jan 2014 at 09:31

When I was on eyfinity screens I just physically turned of the monitors and the drivers did the rest not sure if that's the same on nvida, I found 3monitors problematic and support on a lot of games crap so sold them all for a 27inch 144hz monitor

eyetrip · 10 Jan 2014 at 10:15

andrewohare said:
When I was on eyfinity screens I just physically turned of the monitors and the drivers did the rest not sure if that's the same on nvida, I found 3monitors problematic and support on a lot of games crap so sold them all for a 27inch 144hz monitor

So far, I have to admit, it's been far less hassle than I thought it would, apart from that HDMI issue which took me several hours to work out.

A little more searching and it seems like connecting 3 displays to one GPU works just fine if you only have one GPU....

If you have SLI, it will simply force you to connect one screen to 2nd GPU. What the hell is that about?

Does not seem there is any reliable way of switching between single spanned display and 3 separate screens - again, there are solutions with single GPU, but not with SLI.

So much for Nvidia drivers being superior!

Some of this stuff seems like it really shouldn't be too hard to do...

Rusty0611 · 10 Jan 2014 at 10:21

eyetrip said:
So far, I have to admit, it's been far less hassle than I thought it would, apart from that HDMI issue which took me several hours to work out.

A little more searching and it seems like connecting 3 displays to one GPU works just fine if you only have one GPU....

If you have SLI, it will simply force you to connect one screen to 2nd GPU. What the hell is that about?

Does not seem there is any reliable way of switching between single spanned display and 3 separate screens - again, there are solutions with single GPU, but not with SLI.

So much for Nvidia drivers being superior!

Some of this stuff seems like it really shouldn't be too hard to do...

It's the logistics of having the monitors connected across two cards as opposed to just one. In my opinion, the benefits of having the cards connected across two cards outweighs the cons of having the cards connected to one card.

The biggest downside in that is that the card will have to clock up at 'idle' to drive your desktop display. 5760x1080 is too large a resolution for a single card to drive at idle clocks and voltage. This can completely ruin your idle temperatures and ambience.

Unless it has changed the only way I could realistically switch to three single monitors from a single Surround display was to disable Surround in the nVidia drivers. I had it set up so that my middle display was connected to card 1, port 1. Left display on card 1 port 2 and then then third display on card 2, port 1.

Gregster · 10 Jan 2014 at 10:25

The screen colour difference can happen because of different cuts of panel or different revisions. I was lucky in both of your problems though, as all my panels matched up and I don't recall a game that didn't work in SLI....

I lie. FarCry 3 was a noghtmare in SLI and was the most un-smoothest game I have ever seen. I ended up dropping to one screen and 1 GPU and completed that game (loved it despite the bugs).

andrewohare · 10 Jan 2014 at 10:25

eyetrip said:
So far, I have to admit, it's been far less hassle than I thought it would, apart from that HDMI issue which took me several hours to work out.

A little more searching and it seems like connecting 3 displays to one GPU works just fine if you only have one GPU....

If you have SLI, it will simply force you to connect one screen to 2nd GPU. What the hell is that about?

Does not seem there is any reliable way of switching between single spanned display and 3 separate screens - again, there are solutions with single GPU, but not with SLI.

So much for Nvidia drivers being superior!

Some of this stuff seems like it really shouldn't be too hard to do...

Yeah the amd card all monitors had to be plugged into the single card even if xfire

eyetrip · 10 Jan 2014 at 10:37

Gregster said:
The screen colour difference can happen because of different cuts of panel or different revisions. I was lucky in both of your problems though, as all my panels matched up and I don't recall a game that didn't work in SLI....

I haven't yet found a game that doesn't work in SLI, but haven't tried many.

Ok, I guess I should say Black Flag... That doesn't seem to be running brilliantly. But we expect no less from Ubisoft. Really need to stop supporting them. Except for The Division...

My two main games currently are perfect though - BF4 and Assetto Corsa.

AC is lovely in surround. Just awesome.

BF, I am worried I may get some motion sickness. But need a longer period to test that theory. Still not sure where I should be setting the FOV on that

Gregster · 10 Jan 2014 at 10:43

I never got motion sickness but know what you mean. I found default in BF3 to be fine but not sure for BF4 and yer, UBIsoft are not the best when it comes to PC gamers sadly. They makes some great games but lack in the "They work perfectly" department.

DavidS14 · 10 Jan 2014 at 20:06

Wouldn't be without surround now I've had it for a while, playing on one screen is so cramped now I'm always thinking about all of the stuff I'm missing.

Plus having all the screen area available when not gaming is great for having all the stuff I'm using open and available on the three screens

eyetrip · 10 Jan 2014 at 21:58

Dirt 3 in surround 3D = Amazeballs!

steveoz · 10 Jan 2014 at 23:07

I get motion sick in some titles, ARMA3 being one of them, the new COD ghosts, even with the fix made me feel a bit ill when getting thrown around in the campaign.

Widescreen fixer and Flawless Widescreen is a must to get a lot of titles working well, for others you just fiddle with the config files.

I've not found any easy way to switch, I just tend to leave it in surround which is a bit annoying when wanting full screen video on one screen say you tube or a movie while you are doing stuff on other screens.

Greg that setup looked lovely, why did you change?

Here's mine, not quite as much of an arty picture as yours lol:

Gregster · 11 Jan 2014 at 09:40

steveoz said:
I get motion sick in some titles, ARMA3 being one of them, the new COD ghosts, even with the fix made me feel a bit ill when getting thrown around in the campaign.

Widescreen fixer and Flawless Widescreen is a must to get a lot of titles working well, for others you just fiddle with the config files.

I've not found any easy way to switch, I just tend to leave it in surround which is a bit annoying when wanting full screen video on one screen say you tube or a movie while you are doing stuff on other screens.

Greg that setup looked lovely, why did you change?

Here's mine, not quite as much of an arty picture as yours lol:

Yer, I do miss it now

At the time, I had not played a game at all for a couple of months and the Wifes screen had packed up (it was a 1680x1050 screen), so I temporarily gave her one of mine and bought a 27" 1440P Dell to have a play with. I ended up keeping the Dell and keeping one of my monitors, so I could flick between the 2. I did find it too much at 3x27" at times.

eyetrip · 11 Jan 2014 at 23:20

On the plus side, games can be wonderful in surround, and sometimes even better in 3d.

Down side? What a headache!

Firstly how fussy it is on what screens you can connect and where.

Then when you disable surround, it completely disables two of 3 screens, and the on it leaves enabled seems random.

Restarting can mean 3d no longer works until you disable surround, get 3d working on one, then u may be in luck.

I would try from a clean install.... But I don't think I have a job any more, so maybe better off sending back. Undecided on this though.

Don't want something that going to bring me more stress right now.

Rusty0611 · 11 Jan 2014 at 23:34

Yeah there is a degree of perseverance involved. That applies to both the AMD and nVidia implementations of Eyefinity and Surround respectively. I, personally, thought it was worth it and if the project at work didn't come up when it did, I would definitely still have triple screens.

As it happens, I'm very happy with my 120 Hz 1080p monitor and Dell 1440p monitor. Greg says he can't see the difference between 1080 and 1440 but that's largely because he's approaching a pensionable age.

andrewohare · 11 Jan 2014 at 23:47

Going from a triple setup to a 1 screen 27 inch 144 Hz monitor I feel I made right choice but even now some games don't like the 144hz refresh rate

bru · 12 Jan 2014 at 01:51

Stupid thought as I'm sure you've tried it, but does the Windows key and p not give you any options to help switching from triple to single?

eyetrip · 12 Jan 2014 at 08:38

Well, don't think am going to have luck, and it's all down to nvidia's "we will only support officially licenced screens for 3D"

With my two screen setup, and a dedicated 3D screen, I was only able to use 3DVision because of the driver for the single passive display they licenced through Acer.

Never had a problem with it.

What happens now, is I set up the 3 screens (not in surround) and get 3D set up and working on single display (and update the driver for all 3 screens to the acer driver), and works fine.

Then enable surround, and 3D will continue to work fine in surround.

Restart, and it no longer allows 3D apart from the anaglyph type.

To re-enable 3D, I have to disable surround, re-enable the two monitors Nvidia chooses to disable for some reason, check 3D working in single, then re-enable surround - for which you have to go through the entire setup process again...

With me being jobless pretty soon, the over-riding factor for me returning it, oddly, not financial, but rather that I don't need the stress this will bring - and I don't think I am going to find a solution to 3D not working on restart anyway.

Purely down to Nvidia and their often horrible business decisions.

Edit:
Oh, and tried Tridef as well, but that won't work on more than a single display - it used the wide res and actually does the 3D, but squeezes it all onto one screen.

steveoz · 13 Jan 2014 at 21:35

Gregster, fair enough

Haven't played with 1440, do the games look much nicer?

Eyetrip, agreed, if you keep changing the set up it gets very fussy, I just leave it on surround and put up with it's quirks.

andrewohare · 13 Jan 2014 at 21:42

So on a 27" screen what's better 144hz at 1080p or a 1440 screen (not sure of refresh)

Gregster · 13 Jan 2014 at 22:47

steveoz said:
Gregster, fair enough Haven't played with 1440, do the games look much nicer?

Eyetrip, agreed, if you keep changing the set up it gets very fussy, I just leave it on surround and put up with it's quirks.

Not for me

Maybe being harsh but colours look deeper and the image is slightly crisper but nothing makes me go "wow, that looks so much nicer" The minuses over 120Hz are big as well, with tearing or input lag being the choice you have to make. I hate tearing, so input lag it is.