Monitor / TV / 3-Monitor / Projector

[Alex Ball]

I am undecided as to which I prefer - so, passing this over to the greater good.

I can't decide if I prefer my old 42" tv, the three monitors I have, or the theroetical projector setup.

Framerates seem to be an issue for me on 3 monitors, hence the thoughts.

 

[EIF]

My system is an i5 2500k and 8GB DDR3 Ram on a P67A motherboard. The 6870 is a great card which I got at a very cheap price, even runs intensive games like BF3 very well but I wonder about the high resolution of triple screen with the 1GB Vram.

 

[Jim Cole]

You may have to turn texture sizes down in the games you play, but I don't even know you will have to worry about that as the card is nice and fast.

 

[EIF]

Yeah I mainly play sims so the 6870 seemsed a great choice for price versus performance. A 6970 was much more than twice the price for less than double the performance.

 

[ProSimEU]

My system is an i5 2500k and 8GB DDR3 Ram on a P67A motherboard. The 6870 is a great card which I got at a very cheap price, even runs intensive games like BF3 very well but I wonder about the high resolution of triple screen with the 1GB Vram.

Admittedly I only use rFactor but I have exactly the same system running 3 x 32" screens at maximum res and maximum settings in rFactor and it all runs perfectly

 

[Alex Ball]

So, I sold my ATI HD 6970s, and bought a pair of GTX580s to run in SLI-mode instead.

I'm not sure what to say.. except WOW.

rfactor = 200fps (without d3d hack)
iracing = same

also, I just tried Need for Speed: Shift 2 Unleashed.

Previously, in Crossfire, I was getting 20-30fps in 3-screens, it was jerky and totally unplayable.

Now I get 90-100fps..

These GTX are AMAZING cards, and I regret ever moving away from nvidia.

 

[Danny Asbury]

Wow, that is very impressive, indeed.

But, good grief, that upgrade had to cost you over $1000 USD, right?

 

[Rupe Wilson]

it looks like alot of us will be upgrading soon with all the new releases comming and ther higher min spec.. im just above it(0.3ghz)
its at 2.6 ghz maybe i can squeze a bit more out of it as it stock at the moment ... should get 3.0ghz...
But a new system sounds beter... all i will keep i think is my gtx460 and h/drives..
i would like another gtx460 to go with it, so by the summer is should be there..
i like the idea of 3x30inch, but 1 big 60inch plasma might be my option and forget the other card any way im not going to see much change from 2000 euros by the time ive finished... its bad when you games machine is worth more than my real car....

 

[Alex Ball]

I already had one 580 in another machine - so I sold one 6970 for £200, bought the 580 for £300, and swapped the two other cars over.

 

[Ramónizer]

2 projectors with edge blending is a nice option too, or build your own rearprojection curved screen like this one, but as big as you want:

basically you need 2 shortthrow projectors, a acrylic flexible surface and rearprojection film, you need 2 mirrors wich fit inside the housing where the projector is aimed at, reflecting the image back to the screen billiard style.

To get the acrylic screen fitted right you could use 90° bend curtain rails as front end and slide the screen in, the depth of the housing depends of the throwlenght of the projector. The Software for edge blending and warping can be bought for 50$ http://fly.elise-ng.net/index.php/immersivedisplaylite2

Then some molton clough to cover the surfaces inside the housing, to prevent unwanted reflection.

For about 1000$ you can build something like this, no rocket science there. I've nailed all the parts down a while ago but just ran out of cash to actually start with it.

 

[Danny Asbury]

I already had one 580 in another machine - so I sold one 6970 for £200, bought the 580 for £300, and swapped the two other cars over.

I like how you do business

 

[James Woods]

i'm thinking of getting 3x24" (16:10 screens). I currently run a 27" (2560x1440 res) without any issues in the games i play, i get 60+ fps with 4xSS on in GTR Evo. I have one 6970 card. The current monitor pushes 3.6 million pixels, the new ones would be 6.9 million - I'm a little worried the 6970 won't drive these three screens...

Anyone done this and got ok results? Alex, i know you had issues with your 6970's but god knows what was causing that :S

I have a feeling if i disable super sampling i'll be fine, but i'll hate those damn jaggies everywhere if i have to...

 

[Alex Ball]

just not enough grunt. I think you'd be fine if you turned down some graphics settings, but I'm not up for that !

 

[Bob Luneski]

i'm thinking of getting 3x24" (16:10 screens). I currently run a 27" (2560x1440 res) without any issues in the games i play, i get 60+ fps with 4xSS on in GTR Evo. I have one 6970 card. The current monitor pushes 3.6 million pixels, the new ones would be 6.9 million - I'm a little worried the 6970 won't drive these three screens...

Anyone done this and got ok results? Alex, i know you had issues with your 6970's but god knows what was causing that :S

I have a feeling if i disable super sampling i'll be fine, but i'll hate those damn jaggies everywhere if i have to...

I'm running a single 6970 @ 5760x1080 with a i5-2500k @ 4.8gHz and 8 gig 2200 mHz memory on a ASUS P8P67-Pro with ANTEC high current Gamer PS and run all sims at full graphics settings with no problems except rFactor 2 I have to dial back a few of the settings to get good framerates.

 

[James Woods]

i did get the screens in the end. I also have no issues getting over 60fps in all the older sims as long as SS isn't on. On some i can do 2xSS but it's a little fuzzy, really need 4x to clear everything up. Might go Crossfire soon. 4xMS (with adaptive on) is what i use most, but it's not perfect.

Same as you on RF2. I have to run 0xAA to get anything above 40fps in triple screens. Looks a total mess if I'm honest! But the GT1 around palm beach, man is that fun

 

[Alex Ball]

I turned off replays in rF and my framerates are way better - 60+ in rF2, 200+ in rF1.

 

[James Woods]

how do you turn them off? just want to make sure i do it correctly.

 

[Alex Ball]

I did it in the .PLR file

 

[James Woods]

I'll give that a trythe next time i fire up rf2 and let you know how it went

 

[Alex Ball]

Cool. I turned AA off too - it looks uglier, but it seems to speed things up - not just framerates but stuttering etc.

Pretty happy with the setup now, will take some new photos + vids at some point.

 

[Juraj Heldak]

Hi all. I need an advice. Which screens are better for triple screen set up? Should I buy 3 x 27" monitors(iiyama) or 3 x 32" LED TVs(Panasonic)? Thanks.