3 monitors for gaming...regrets?

J

John Stamos

Gawd
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Sep 14, 2009
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So here I stand, or sit...yea..with 3 120hz monitors @ 1920 x 1080 a piece. I'm currently running 2 HD6870's which I know isn't enough to fully power these and I knew that long before I made this purchase. I bought these monitors first as an investment and for future proofing my system. The reality is though even today's BEST cards do not interest me as I can't find anything that would keep a solid 120 frames on all 3 during gaming.

My graphic requirements aren't too too steep. I can handle looking at High shadows (don't need Ultra), I never use AA or any type of AA filtering, I don't like motion blur or extreme Bloom.

This leaves me with a first world problem. There's no possible way I can buy 3-4 Titans to power these at the frames I want, not only that though, the driver support just isn't there (and really never will be) for anything greater than two cards. At most I would consider 2 Titans and even then it's insanely expensive and something I probably couldn't do. Hell, I took out a "family loan" for these monitors and it took me about 5 months to pay them off. I can't dare ask for 2 grand though. So my problems lies in....what now? Where does one go from here. Did I walk into some territory that I didn't belong in?

Some games run pretty well, but some do not. I originally intended to do 3 670's but with the way microstutter is raging all our machines I wanted to try to get away from multiple cards. That's obviously impossible though with more than 1 monitor. The microstutter I have on my 6870's is absurd. When I was playing GW2 I thought my frames were just shit all the time, come to find out I was in the mid 50's and because of the microstutter my frame rate appeared to be 25-30. When I switched to window mode it ran like butter. Yuck!

So with that being said. What do you guys do for triple monitor gaming. Do most of you just run 60hz monitors? Do you bite the bullet on frame rate? Let me know!
 
I think 120Hz is great for single monitor gaming, a strong CF/SLI setup can power it. But for three of them you'll have to build a Vega System, which isn't practical for sane gamers.
 
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John Stamos said:
So here I stand, or sit...yea..with 3 120hz monitors @ 1920 x 1080 a piece. I'm currently running 2 HD6870's which I know isn't enough to fully power these and I knew that long before I made this purchase. I bought these monitors first as an investment and for future proofing my system. The reality is though even today's BEST cards do not interest me as I can't find anything that would keep a solid 120 frames on all 3 during gaming.

My graphic requirements aren't too too steep. I can handle looking at High shadows (don't need Ultra), I never use AA or any type of AA filtering, I don't like motion blur or extreme Bloom.

This leaves me with a first world problem. There's no possible way I can buy 3-4 Titans to power these at the frames I want, not only that though, the driver support just isn't there (and really never will be) for anything greater than two cards. At most I would consider 2 Titans and even then it's insanely expensive and something I probably couldn't do. Hell, I took out a "family loan" for these monitors and it took me about 5 months to pay them off. I can't dare ask for 2 grand though. So my problems lies in....what now? Where does one go from here. Did I walk into some territory that I didn't belong in?

Some games run pretty well, but some do not. I originally intended to do 3 670's but with the way microstutter is raging all our machines I wanted to try to get away from multiple cards. That's obviously impossible though with more than 1 monitor. The microstutter I have on my 6870's is absurd. When I was playing GW2 I thought my frames were just shit all the time, come to find out I was in the mid 50's and because of the microstutter my frame rate appeared to be 25-30. When I switched to window mode it ran like butter. Yuck!

So with that being said. What do you guys do for triple monitor gaming. Do most of you just run 60hz monitors? Do you bite the bullet on frame rate? Let me know!
Click to expand...

If you want higher frames you're just going to have to sacrifice graphics quality and turn settings down.
I've been running a single 120hz screen for several years on a Geforce 460. When my card was new I could run the highest settings and get 120 frames on a lot of games, but games that are new now I have to run on medium or low so I can get 120 fps.
 
Triple-monitor gaming using 1080p monitors (60 or 120Hz) is a strain for most CPU/GPU setups. If you are using more than 1080p you are limited to 60Hz anyway unless you overclock the monitors. It depends on the game and genre, but at some point you can't turn down the details to keep the FPS high without it looking a lot like Pong. If FPS is king, get a single 27" 120Hz 1080p monitor or plan on going quad-SLI/quadfire with a really big CPU/motherboard. I've personally tried quadfire HD6950's on a Z77 board and I was CPU-bound partly because I didn't have enough PCI-E lanes. What is your current CPU/motherboard?
 
The problem here is that you've bought 120hz monitors and expect to get full use out of them, which means 100+ frames at all times. That alone means your going to either have to make sacrifice or shell out the cash. You said you dnt have the cash, and that you want to stay away from too many gpus. that puts tou in a pretty tough spot. You could still get a great experience on one 680 or 7970, but the need for 100+ frames kind of crushes that. I played gw2 on 1 670 and got 45-53ish frames with 3x vg23ah (IPS, 76hz refresh rate). You really do have a lot of options but your gonna have to make some kind of sacrifice or put up the cash.
 
Tgrove said:
The problem here is that you've bought 120hz monitors and expect to get full use out of them, which means 100+ frames at all times. That alone means your going to either have to make sacrifice or shell out the cash. You said you dnt have the cash, and that you want to stay away from too many gpus. that puts tou in a pretty tough spot. You could still get a great experience on one 680 or 7970, but the need for 100+ frames kind of crushes that. I played gw2 on 1 670 and got 45-53ish frames with 3x vg23ah (IPS, 76hz refresh rate). You really do have a lot of options but your gonna have to make some kind of sacrifice or put up the cash.
Click to expand...

Well I am still highly considering two 770's when they come out. The only thing I can hope for is that monitors will always be the same, and GPU's will always improve. It seems like it will be a waiting game, but unless I'm rolling in the dough that's probably the only thing I can do.
 
2 680s or 2 770s (4gb recommended) would give you a great gameplay experience. You may not be over 100 frames at all times but you will have good fps. Not to mention you could ways get a good used deal on a 3rd 680/770 and you may be where you need to be depending on the game your playing. Sounds like you may need some patience, but there is hope for your 120hz dreams still
 
This and bezels is why I went with 3 Optoma GT720 projectors. 3840x800@120Hz is 'relatively' easy to drive.
 
John Stamos said:
Well I am still highly considering two 770's when they come out. The only thing I can hope for is that monitors will always be the same, and GPU's will always improve. It seems like it will be a waiting game, but unless I'm rolling in the dough that's probably the only thing I can do.
Click to expand...

Monitors are going to undergo dramatic changes over the next 5 years in both resolution (4K) and display technologies (OLED, etc). Can you imagine the horsepower required to drive a 4K monitor at 120hz?
 
deadlift1 said:
Monitors are going to undergo dramatic changes over the next 5 years in both resolution (4K) and display technologies (OLED, etc). Can you imagine the horsepower required to drive a 4K monitor at 120hz?
Click to expand...

I eagerly await Vega's first 4K build

drooooool
 
Well, I'm in a similar boat. I imagine that 7680x1600@60Hz is similar in performance requirements to 5760x1080@120Hz. And I cant say I have a good time. I'm going to 5400x1920.
 
I'm pretty sure you'll get a considerable increase in performance if you upgrade to SLI next gen cards. And there will be a game setting that will keep them locked at 120Hz, if not maxed slightly lower.

I game at 120Hz, and i know what you mean, once you get used to it, even 80Fps seems shitty. And for those that think we can't see the difference, you've never gamed on 120Hz. Hate that old claim...

I'm waiting for a 4k 120HZ 30" montior. Tired of small upgrades, I wan't a huge monitor upgrade if I'm spending that kind of money.
 
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John Stamos said:
Well I am still highly considering two 770's when they come out. The only thing I can hope for is that monitors will always be the same, and GPU's will always improve. It seems like it will be a waiting game, but unless I'm rolling in the dough that's probably the only thing I can do.
Click to expand...

New games always push GPU's to their limits, or even target future GPU's for their highest settings. So no matter how long you wait it really isn't going to make a difference unless your goal is to be able to play older games maxed out.
 
im a gamer who games in surround viewing.
if u dont care or dont really see the difference in AA and bloom and all that, or jus dont like it, ur options to go surround and having a very high frame isnt that much of a dream.

i currently run a single 3gb gtx 670. (not recommended.. but so is sailing in the night)
i can easily see u having ur standards met through affordable 2nd handed cards, that also pack enough a punch to almost double ur performance by crossfiring or SLi-ing.

i've done alot of personal analytical stuff to conclude that with current trends, future proffing ur self for the nxt ten years is very expensive and most likely going to be shitty near the end of the decade. but future proffing urself for the nxt couple years seems very feasible considering the performance of what i would consider teir3 cards (gtx 400 and 500 series.)

my monitors do not run at 120mhz only at 60.

even though u may notice less smoothness looking around compared to a 120mhz monitor it cant take away from the overwhelming immerssive effects of being surround in a virutal world through the sense of ur vision.

what im saying is, beyond the downfalls of using 3 monitors there are enough similarities, or simulating elements, that will take ur gaming to the nxt level. so much so that the US army and USAF use 3 monitor setups to train pilots and more.

in order to truly future proof myself, i find obtaining the right motherboard with enough accomadating features to be the best way to ensure full power in the future. having many 16 pcie slots, at least in my opinion, seem like the obvious choice for the future.

if ur impatient and want to spend money, jus buyin things straight out is the most convenient way to go, but if u like to fish i feel u can get what u want for less than 2000 total monitors included.
 
I will never understand the 'need' for anything other than low graphics settings. :p Maybe it's the games I play, or a leftover from playing games like Quake 3 made to look like lego, but I consider higher graphics settings to be visual pollution. I've tried Eyefinity (Samsung MDR230) and the novelty wore off fast. Single monitor @ 120hz (4k if it ever becomes available), single graphics card and no hassle are the way to go, imo. You're free to do whatever you like, but lowering your expectations seems like a more sensible course of action than taking out a loan to buy a set of Titans.

Best of luck with your dilemma!
 
deadlift1 said:
Monitors are going to undergo dramatic changes over the next 5 years in both resolution (4K) and display technologies (OLED, etc). Can you imagine the horsepower required to drive a 4K monitor at 120hz?
Click to expand...

As I am not convinced that 4K resolution will contribute in making games more realistic (at least for <30" screens), reducing the resolution may be helpful in increasing the frame rates without sacrificing image quality.
 
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