Triple screen setup

Charlie Fishykins · Jun 7, 2016

Hello guys!

I have seen that the majority of racers here have triple screened setups, as the majority of the setup pictures in the Setup thread where your all boasting about your beautiful and expensive setups, seem to have 3 screens, and i've come to the decision of wanting to create my own Triple screen setup. Before doing so though, I have some questions:

What specifications would you recommend (GPU, CPU, etc) to support Project Cars at 60FPS+ with 3 1920x1080 monitors?

Is it hard configuring games to work with triple screen setups?

What racing games currently support Triple screen setups?

Will it turn me blind!?

I am appreciative to any feedback and support that is given!

Robert Bachmayer · Jun 8, 2016

I've got 3 x Asus 27 inch screens in a dedicated homemade timber rig with G27.
Running 5760x108t0 or 5960x1080 bezel corrected.
GTX680 4 gig.
Because my center monitor is 144hz 3d vision 2 ready, I now use this only.
My outer monitors are turned off as 3d IMO kills triples.
The 3d effect at 81% with convergence set correctly is stunning.
Goodbye triples, can't go back, or cv1 or similar should be stunning.

Mark_McQ · Jun 9, 2016

What specifications would you recommend (GPU, CPU, etc) to support Project Cars at 60FPS+ with 3 1920x1080 monitors?

I'm running 3 24" 1080 monitors on a GTX970. Project Cars is very demanding graphically, so I'm sitting around the lower/mid end of medium settings when using 3 screens to keep it over 60FPS. I'm moving up to the GTX 1080 soon so I can get the settings turned up in the sims I use, although they still look great on the 970.

Is it hard configuring games to work with triple screen setups?

If the game doesn't support triple screen natively, Project Cars for example, you simply select the 5760x1080 res and the game will display across all 3 monitors. You won't be able to do bezel correction or adjust for angle though, but it's not a huge issue.

Games that have native support will have settings in the options, or in the case of Assetto Corsa a great little built-in app.

What racing games currently support Triple screen setups?

iRacing, RFactor 2 and Assetto Corsa do triple support. You can set your bezel correction and side monitor angles in these games to get the image displaying more or less perfect.

Peter Klawitter · Jun 9, 2016

hi all, i have been wondering for a while now what to do and which screens / triples to go with, flat and/ or curved.

I have GPU: SLI 3x Nvidia Titan X and CPU: i7-6950X, RAM: 128GB (yes it is a video rendering machine) but want to use it for simracing too, can i go curved triples? or should i go flat triples? just would love big screens, or bigger screens than 22-27inchss if possible, and if it makes sense.

which monitors (ones) to go with in either option?

would I need G-Sync really with Titan X GPU's? but again would good option to have jn case I need it as some point, better have G-Sync and not need it than needing it and not having it.
Ultra Wides would be nice, because I can then also use that for my work and hobby, gives me a lot of working space, virtually/ display area speaking.

1) go Acer X34 Predator?
2) go Acer Z35 Predator?
3) go Asus PG279Q?
4) go Asus PG348Q?
5) or Benq XR3501?

thank you all!

Emery · Jun 10, 2016

If you're going for total immersion, then 27" monitors are a little small because with a realistic fov, the rearview mirror in a big sedan (e.g. NASCAR) will be above the border because you can't get the monitors close enough due to the size of most steering wheel housings (You are planning on positioning your steering wheel in line with the on-screen location, aren't you? And then turning off the on-screen wheel unless you need something like the F1 on-wheel display?). 35"-40" displays are better choices if they don't break the bank and you can find the other features you want.

Curved monitors are a tradeoff. All the gaming software output the pictures based on flat monitor panels, so there will be a very minor distortion when using curved monitors. Also, curved monitors are usually not of the correct radius for having them in close. IMHO, in a triple screen config, it would be wasted money, particularly if you have the monitors closer than would match the monitor curvature and set their angles so the monitor's curvature is not continued (because that's what you'd do for total immersion).

In a lot of ways, a single big screen TV quad density is a good choice, but then you can't see out the side windows like you can with a triple monitor setup. See Mr. Pix's Project Immersion web site for his current configuration.

SLI or Crossfire has some drawbacks. Namely when fps is lowest, the SLI often performs no better than a single card (because it's flushing & refilling the texture cache?), which is when you most want extra fps. And then not all racing games scale well with SLI or Crossfire, particularly if you are using older cards where driver support is weak. Yes, when fps is less taxing, then SLI or Crossfire shines and you'll get more fps than you know what to do with.

Bezel correction can be performed inside the nVidia or AMD driver rather than relying on the game supporting bezel correction. When you do that, you're basically adding another resolution to the list of choices in the game, so in the game you'd pick that new resolution (closer to 6000x1080) rather 5760x1080.

970 GTX is sub-optimal for triple 1080p monitors. That's what I'm currently using with triple 27" monitors. 980 GTX, 1070 GTX, 1080 GTX recommended. I'll be upgrading to a 1080 GTX within a year, once the dust settles and other people have finished being the guinea pigs

.

Emery · Jun 10, 2016

One more consideration:
The monitor stand should stand independent of where your wheel/pedals are mounted to avoid unnecessary vibrations/wobbles. If you just leave the monitors on the same surface that your wheel is mounted, then the monitors will wobble on their stands while you thrash the steering wheel. At a minimum, plan on budgeting for two articulating arms for the side monitors in addition to a fixed mount for the center monitor.

Peter Klawitter · Jun 11, 2016

@Emery,thank you for your in depth reply! after a long time reads and feels like someone who truly is helping, knows the angles and provides not only suggestions but also solutions! thank you very much Emery, really appreciate it! this will be my go to thread to read and educate myself in the future and post questions about displays/ curved/ flat/ triples and etc.

i do setup/ or in game remove hands, wheel and etc., so i can use my own wheel and "motec" style dash (whatever that might be). so plain cockpit in games becomes one/ as good as i can get it, matching the wheel or look through the wheel...

great point with wobble of displays, good thing I did seperate and have parts for my 80/20 rig that i customized got parts for myself, so i can build/ expand as much as i need. and this is perfect occasion for getting triples onto the extra 80/20 extrusions that i have.

thanka again!

Peter Klawitter · Jun 15, 2016

...and if money was no issues, would try this one @120hz native refresh rate! single screen!

http://www.lg.com/ae/tvs/lg-105UC9T

Peter Klawitter · Jun 16, 2016

also, what I read Panasonic makes TV's @4k and with DisplayPort, but have not found prices and sizes yet, but did read that they are very expensive!

Raceface · Sep 9, 2016

Emery said:
If you're going for total immersion, then 27" monitors are a little small because with a realistic fov, the rearview mirror in a big sedan (e.g. NASCAR) will be above the border because you can't get the monitors close enough due to the size of most steering wheel housings (You are planning on positioning your steering wheel in line with the on-screen location, aren't you? And then turning off the on-screen wheel unless you need something like the F1 on-wheel display?). 35"-40" displays are better choices if they don't break the bank and you can find the other features you want.

Curved monitors are a tradeoff. All the gaming software output the pictures based on flat monitor panels, so there will be a very minor distortion when using curved monitors. Also, curved monitors are usually not of the correct radius for having them in close. IMHO, in a triple screen config, it would be wasted money, particularly if you have the monitors closer than would match the monitor curvature and set their angles so the monitor's curvature is not continued (because that's what you'd do for total immersion).

In a lot of ways, a single big screen TV quad density is a good choice, but then you can't see out the side windows like you can with a triple monitor setup. See Mr. Pix's Project Immersion web site for his current configuration.

SLI or Crossfire has some drawbacks. Namely when fps is lowest, the SLI often performs no better than a single card (because it's flushing & refilling the texture cache?), which is when you most want extra fps. And then not all racing games scale well with SLI or Crossfire, particularly if you are using older cards where driver support is weak. Yes, when fps is less taxing, then SLI or Crossfire shines and you'll get more fps than you know what to do with.

Bezel correction can be performed inside the nVidia or AMD driver rather than relying on the game supporting bezel correction. When you do that, you're basically adding another resolution to the list of choices in the game, so in the game you'd pick that new resolution (closer to 6000x1080) rather 5760x1080.

970 GTX is sub-optimal for triple 1080p monitors. That's what I'm currently using with triple 27" monitors. 980 GTX, 1070 GTX, 1080 GTX recommended. I'll be upgrading to a 1080 GTX within a year, once the dust settles and other people have finished being the guinea pigs .

Raceface · Sep 9, 2016

Hi Emery
I am at my wits end. running 4670k chip 970gtx card 3 24" monitors , 1 acer, 2 viewsonic. Was running 5670 x 1080 ...UNTIL BF one Beta came out... and install latest nvidia I have since tried many versions of drivers......also manually set each monitor to 1980 x 1080 at 59 hz... Still I can't set or even create a 5760 x 1080 res. If you know could you please help me out. ! THANKS

Emery · Sep 10, 2016

If you don't see the resolution listed after installing a new video driver, then you probably need to open NVidia Control Panel, 3D Settings, Configure Surround, PhysX to span the desktop.

Raceface · Sep 12, 2016

Thanks Emery but my issue is way deeper... at least i think it is... even after i set all monitors the same....all i can ever get is 4800 x 1200... i am stumped

Raceface · Sep 12, 2016

also i can set 2 viewsonic monitors to 1920 x 1080 at 59 hz .. and also the Acer to 1920 x 1080 at 59 hz...but when i go to configure surround ..the two viewsonics configure when i use 1 x 2 ...but when i go 1 x 3 and select ALL three .....it seems to lock in at 4800 x 1200 at 60hz ......

lol signed Totally Stumped and Pissed off

Emery · Sep 12, 2016

Yeah, that's deep. Have you tried swapping the monitors around, plugging them into different ports?

Raceface · Oct 1, 2016

UPDATE on Triple Monitor issue..ALL that matters is to do a CUSTOM NVIDIA Install. Also make sure you do a CLEAN install.. The only issue i have now is....every time i boot up the PC i have to install the NVIDIA Driver. But at least i can get my 5760 x 1200 back (desktop) AC is 5760 x 1080