Triple Monitors

Athariel · 16 May 2011 at 16:49

Hi All,

I am looking for some advice from the wealth of knowledge on these forums.

I currently have in my possesion a Samsung 226BW 22" which is almost dead and while following the thread about replacing capacitors I have just decided it is time to upgrade with a nice bonus from work.

I am looking to go for a triple monitor setup.

The screen size to be between 22" and 24".

I have around £200 or so to spend per monitor so around 600 or so total can stretch a bit more if needed.

The primary use is for gaming everything from FPS to MMO's and RTS.

I like the idea of multiple screens over 1 large screen for the MMO's which I play the most such as multiple Eve Online Accounts and reading internet stuff, seeing vent etc while raiding in AoC or playing World of Tanks.

I am not intending to play an FPS across multiple screens as I have heard it can cause significant fps drop.

The secondary use would be for work where I prefer multiple screens so I can see emails while doing letters in word or preparing presentations, while researching on the internet.

Will I have any problems running 3 screens with 2 x 280 GTX and what screens should I go for?

Many thanks in advance for your help.

Alasdairhurst · 17 May 2011 at 19:40

3xx u2311h deffo!

you can choose between portrait and landscape mode and see what you like best. portrait is great for movies, RTS's and every game plays perfectly on that aspect ratio.
landscape is good for driving sims, some mmo's RPG's and FPS's

if you play landscape mode then there is less performance drop than portrait, as half of the side screens are stretched to the edge of the screen to simulate your field of vision, therefore not using as much gpu power, but gtx 280 sli shouldt be a problem. i play with a 6950 and no significant fps drop playing eyefinity 5760x1080 from 1680x1050 in most games. (crysis and metro need a few ultra high settings turned to high and thats about it)

cmndr_andi · 17 May 2011 at 19:47

Alasdairhurst said:
3xx u2311h deffo!

+1

Three of these monitors would be amazing and only slightly over budget. Well worth it IMHO.

Here is an in depth review of the U2311H.

If you are running two GTX 280 in SLI, then I would just configure them in Nvidia Surround when gaming so you can make full use out of them. This is very resource intensive, but two GTX 280 should handle it fine in most MMOs and it will look fantastic. Alternatively configure the monitors the run independently and run the games in borderless window mode so you can use your desktop on the other monitors while playing.

Alasdairhurst · 17 May 2011 at 19:58

cmndr_andi said:
run the games in borderless window mode so you can use your desktop on the other monitors while playing.

make sure not to do that for RTS's as the main way of moving the screen is with the mouse at the edge of it. if it's windowed mode it will just fall off the edge

cmndr_andi · 17 May 2011 at 20:01

Alasdairhurst said:
make sure not to do that for RTS's as the main way of moving the screen is with the mouse at the edge of it. if it's windowed mode it will just fall off the edge

Yes, absolutely. But for stuff like MMOs and FPS it should work fine.