The Great Debate - 3D or Eyefinity / Surround?

dvs20 · 11 Oct 2011 at 10:53

Hi all,

Wondered if this has been discussed before (a search didn't yield anything), but it's something I'm contemplating while I upgrade my current setup (spec in sig).

On the one side.... Eyefinity;
I've used this before and absolutely loved the immersive experience of having a very wide peripheral view in games. TF2 was fantastic fun and "felt" really different to the normal field of view offered on a single screen. This was a 3x1 setup and so the additional GPU horsepower required was 300% (I know it's probably not as simple as that but lets keep it straightforward).

Then the newly revitalised fashion of 3D;
My experience of digital 3D only extends to watching films in IMAX and the US Open on a 42" screen, so I have never played a first person shooter or any other game in 3D, however I imagine the spacial depth must lend an entirely different feeling of immersion to that offered by a surround setup. And at only a 50% performance hit (theoretical disclaimer, etc) it's more efficient than eyefinity's 66% reduction.

So I ask the OcUK hive mind - what is your experience, and which between the two provides the best gaming experience over normal single-display 2D?

feck199 · 11 Oct 2011 at 11:45

This view is a little one sided as i use eyefinity at home, and only ever seen the 3D nivida stuff at an i series event.

Eyefinity = Play online multiplayer games like TF2, BC2, Upcoming BF3. You see a lot more around you, if you have a pc that can keep up with 3 screens, there is so much more infomation that others are missing out on. But you knew this already

3D stuffs, Yus it looked cool, but i didnt see me ever wanting it for online games, more so for single player stuff just as an added cool factor.

Greenja · 11 Oct 2011 at 11:56

A friend of mine has the Acer 27" 3D monitor. Now i've read that this isn't one of the best 3D monitors available, various issues etc. Even with this, the effect is nothing short of amazing. It is much better than IMAX 3D (which is pretty cool too!). Played Crysis 2, Witcher 2, Batman AA, etc in 3D and it was a great experiance.

3D SBS movies played on it were something else entirely, on games i noticed it was mostly depth (which really does add a whole new level of immersion) but with the 3D movies on it the pop out effect was also prominent. Watched a sea life documentary and was swiping my hand through the air trying to touch the fish haha!

I don't have any experiance of an eyefinity set up, but i can imagine thats pretty awesome too. Wouldn't it be great to have both! If only hardware was super powerful, or i was super rich...

I was considering getting a 3D monitor in the future (as well as my current screen) and then adding a third 2D monitor sometime after that. Then when i want to game in 3D just use the middle screen, and for games that dont have a great 3D effect etc switch to surround with the 3 screens all working.

Greenja · 11 Oct 2011 at 11:59

feck199 said:
3D stuffs, Yus it looked cool, but i didnt see me ever wanting it for online games, more so for single player stuff just as an added cool factor.

I don't think i'd use 3D for multiplayer either, it really is great for immersing in a good single player game/campaign.

Going back to my previous post, i'd love to have 3 screens 2D for multiplayer and then just switch the 2 side screens off and enable 3D on the middle one for single player

Arcane · 11 Oct 2011 at 12:49

As you need a 120hz monitor for 3D you could play offline in 3D and online in 2D at 120hz.

OCPete · 11 Oct 2011 at 13:07

Arcane said:
As you need a 120hz monitor for 3D you could play offline in 3D and online in 2D at 120hz.

This! 120Hz 2D is EPIC.

eyetrip · 11 Oct 2011 at 13:46

I realllly wanted to go Eyefinity, but the absolute largest monitor I could have gotten due to desk size would have been 22". As I game on console a lot too, I would have missed a larger screen in that case.

Seriously considered 3D, but hesitated due to now knowing whether I would get bored of the whole 3D thing, and having forked out a lot for not much.

There is the whole 120Hz aspect, but I just don't know if I would notice or care about this. Its hard to gauge these thigns when you can't try.

In the end, decided to go for higher res large screen with good quality panel tech. If I had the space, would have been 3 X ips

Rroff · 11 Oct 2011 at 14:41

Neither really. The effect is great with 3D but its just not practical really and definitely a hinderance in faster paced games/multiplayer.

Multi panel I guess is nice if your a more casual gamer - I can kinda play with it now in racing games and some slower paced games where I'm a bit more laid back and after awhile you stop noticing the bezels so much - but again for fast paced games especially online FPS I still find the bezels annoying.

SkScotchegg · 11 Oct 2011 at 17:32

Soon as they bring out monitors with no bezzles or find some solution around this, then three monitors for eyefinity will be sweet and I'm sure everyone will buy this kind of setup.

EDIT: Or maybe rather then the whole gaming comunity having to buy three monitors which sounds daft because of the money involved, maybe they should invent a monitor that is curved and has a huge viewing angel. Like one monitor that is the same size of three 24" monitors next to each other, if you get what I'm saying.