Have a 30" Display for year...want to go 3 smaller screens for Eyefinity

[Zorachus]

I have been gaming on this Apple 30" Display since I got it around 2005/2006, and it has been a blast, but when I bought my new AMD 5870 VideoCard, I am ready to go Eyefinity triple screen gaming. I think the three screens will give me more immersion.

Thing is I can not afford two more 30" monitors, no way. And even if I could, I don't think many games would run too good at 7680x1600res, that would be a very extreme resolution to play games on, would be awesome of course, but a beast to run smooth.

So I am will go three smaller size and resolution monitors for sure to run a fun Eyefinity setup, but how small can I go that would still be as cool as my single 30" display ? I know 3 - 24" 1920x1200res is the preferred Eyefinity setup, but that is still pretty pricey, you need three IPS panels, with display port, that could run easily $1,500 - $1,800, again way out of my budget, wanted to keep it below $1,000.

Would 1920x1080res x 3 screens be too small in height, or possibly 3 - Dell 2007FP's that is 1600x1200res each .

Opinions wanted please

 

[Sherloc]

3x 2209wa's, but you'd have to have a displayport adapter.

 

[Askanison2]

3 cheap TN 1080p screens (for around USD 600 for all 3), only one monitor would required to use the DP input with the present 5870/5850 cards

 

[Askanison2]

3x 2209wa's, but you'd have to have a displayport adapter.

More correctly,.... one of the 2209wa will have to use a DP cable for input (from the 5870's DP port). The other 2 will be using the 2 DVI ports of the 5870.

 

[Anemone]

Really think the bezel separated screens are going to be more immersive than the one expansive 30?

 

[Zorachus]

Really think the bezel separated screens are going to be more immersive than the one expansive 30?

I have seen a Matrox TH2G setup years ago, and it looked bad ass, and seems like your brain fades those bezels out of the way subconsciously , you focus on the main screen in front of you, and the two sides are there for the extra immersion and just adds to the game, but the bars don't seem like a huge deal to me.

 

[10e]

Really think the bezel separated screens are going to be more immersive than the one expansive 30?

My driving is no less immersive because there is an A or B pillar in my line of site, as I've gotten used to it over time. I think this is similar in that regard.

But I do agree on the 3x2209WA screens. Another option is the 2233RZ screens from Samsung simply because they are so reactive/120hz, but these days most games won't max out to that speed anyway, and the 2209WA can often do 75hz too.

 

[Zorachus]

So my one Apple 30" Display at 2560x1600 gives me total 4096 pixels ? And three Dell 2209WA's would give me 5292 pixels total ? So that's approx 25%-30% more pixels or game world to see ?

Or I could go 3 - Dell 2007FP's of 1600x1200res each and that would give a total of approx 5760 pixels and would be 40% more pixels or game world to see than my single 30" Display ?

If I go triple screen gaming and get rid of my 30" display, my rule is I want to be able to get at least 1/3rd more game world total to see over my single Apple monitor, and less than that and I don;t think it will be as big a wow factor to me ?

Or I could go 3 - 1920x1080res that would give me approx 6220 pixels total and be 50% more pixels than the 30" Apple, but I am afraid that big a res gets pretty tough to play games smooth on ?

 

[Askanison2]

you're missing a few (3) decimal points... 3x 1080p has 6,220,800 pixels... or 6221 k pixels. 5870 should handle 3x1080p just fine (you'll have the option of crossfire should the need arise)

 

[Spun Ducky]

3x 2209wa's, but you'd have to have a displayport adapter.

This is the route I went with today 3x 2209wa's along with the display port adaptor. I originally was going to get 2 more hanns g 28 inch panels to go with my current one but after reading more and more about the problems with TN panels I can't hardly look at my current screen without seeing the flaws. I will post here when the gear arrives and I get it setup to tell you my opinion being someone like you with a larger single display and thinking about multi screens at a lower size.

 

[Syntax Error]

3 cheap TN 1080p screens (for around USD 600 for all 3), only one monitor would required to use the DP input with the present 5870/5850 cards

you're missing a few (3) decimal points... 3x 1080p has 6,220,800 pixels... or 6221 k pixels. 5870 should handle 3x1080p just fine (you'll have the option of crossfire should the need arise)

TN displays are an unacceptable solution, IMO, and in 16:9 no less.

The man's coming from an Apple Cinema Display, for God's sake, 3 TNs are going to suck.

To the OP: if you can bear with parting with your screen, you can recoup the cost of your investment more than likely!

 

[Zorachus]

TN displays are an unacceptable solution, IMO, and in 16:9 no less.

The man's coming from an Apple Cinema Display, for God's sake, 3 TNs are going to suck.

To the OP: if you can bear with parting with your screen, you can recoup the cost of your investment more than likely!

So which three monitors do you suggest ?

 

[vjcsmoke]

OP, can't you do 30" 2560x1600 + 2x 20" 1600x1200 rotated to portrait mode? That would likely save you some money even if you're only getting 2400 more horizontal pixels...
I might also want to wait a bit to see Samsung's 'slim bezel' offerings. They might have some monitors that you might like to use in Eyefinity.

I thought that the 3x U2410 setup that HardOCP tested looked pretty sweet. And there are days when those models sell for about ~ $400 apiece when paired with bing cashback and coupons. That's over 1k for 3 of them but they do have native displayport interfaces so you won't need to buy an adapter for Eyefinity at least.

 

[Zorachus]

OP, can't you do 30" 2560x1600 + 2x 20" 1600x1200 rotated to portrait mode? That would likely save you some money even if you're only getting 2400 more horizontal pixels...

Wanted to do that from day one with Eyefinity, but AMD does not support that. Eyefinity must be all Landscape or all Portrait mode, no mix and match, plus all three displays must be the same resolution, again no mix and match

That could change in the future but who knows when that will be ? I suppose I could get three 2007FP's of 1600x1200res, and run Eyefinity across all three, and then once they do allow mixing Landscape + Portrait bring the 30" back in the middle, and give my Brother the 3rd Dell 2007FP, because he currently has a dual monitor setup of 20" LCD's each 1600x1200res. Adding the 3rd 2007FP for him and he is looking to get a 5850 sometime this Fall would work for both of us ?

 

[vjcsmoke]

That could change in the future but who knows when that will be ? I suppose I could get three 2007FP's of 1600x1200res, and run Eyefinity across all three, and then once they do allow mixing Landscape + Portrait bring the 30" back in the middle, and give my Brother the 3rd Dell 2007FP, because he currently has a dual monitor setup of 20" LCD's each 1600x1200res. Adding the 3rd 2007FP for him and he is looking to get a 5850 sometime this Fall would work for both of us ?

Now that's an interesting thought. Hmm, dunno. I don't think it would be so hard for ATI to update Eyefinity driver to allow mix and match resolutions. Plus they still need to implement bezel management, so I would think that should be coming in the future.

It might be a step back for you to go 20" x3. Because you'd be missing 400 pixels of vertical height, plus the screens are smaller. I dunno.

 

[Zorachus]

Now that's an interesting thought. Hmm, dunno. I don't think it would be so hard for ATI to update Eyefinity driver to allow mix and match resolutions. Plus they still need to implement bezel management, so I would think that should be coming in the future.

It might be a step back for you to go 20" x3. Because you'd be missing 400 pixels of vertical height, plus the screens are smaller. I dunno.

3 - Dell 2007FP's would be 5,760,000 pixels compared to my single 30" Display is approx 4,096,000 pixels ? So the three Dells would give me 40% more screen real estate ? Just wider game world to see as opposed to taller or higher game to see ? And I play WoW alot, I do look straight on pretty much most of the time, not looking up to the top of screen too much, so maybe more wider view would be cooler ? Not sure ?

 

[l88bastard]

I got the same situation, does warcraft work with SoftTH? Im using SoftTH with over flanders field to play on my 20x30x20 setup and its not ideal, but better than nothing.

So maybe get the 5870x2 and softTH warcraft, until eyefinity supports PLP setups