3x23 - portrait? DP flicker?

T

Tiporaro

[H]ard|Gawd
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Apr 12, 2011
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So I've been reading around and a few different things have come up in my preparation for my latest endeavor. I'm considering going from 2 landscape 24 tn samsung panels to a 3 monitor setup, potentially eyefinity.

First off, for practicality, usability, and just sheer desk space, running all 3 in portrait seems very attractive. Thoughts on this? Do people get sick of this after awhile, or is it long term as useful as I want to believe it is?

Next, are the Dell 2311s really the sweet spot? I see them recommended time and time again, which obviously speaks for itself. However, am I overlooking other panels in this price range (preferably sub $300 per panel on sale)?

Finally, what exactly is the deal with how to set this up eyefinity (on a 6950, or potentially xf'd 6950s), namely in regards to the whole tearing/vertical line aspect I've heard about? I've seen it's related to whichever monitor isn't run on the same type of port as the others. I believe one of the nice things of the 2311s is they are DP, so does this eliminate the problem, or is there still the limitation of how many DP ports on the card? Is there a full solution, or are you destined to have some limited issue?

Thanks in advance for any guidance!
 
For desktop workspace 3 dell 2311s in portrait mode should give you 3240x1920 which is the same resolution as my setup. I find it simple amazing. Its compact so its easy to access multiple programs at once and switch between them with very little neck/mouse movement. You'll want to install the hydraGrid drivers for CCC and you can easily divide the large screen up in ways that make setting up and viewing 3-6+ programs at once really easy. I mess around with 3x1 landscape eyefinity setups, but its the desktop that makes me keep switching my monitors back to portrait. I've been using them for just a bit over 7 months now.

The dell 2311 is a pretty nice monitor and it seems to go on sale for $240 or less every 2-3 months. Some people have some QC issues/backlight bleeds, mine doesn't suffer too much in that regard. Bezels/stand are nicer on it than my other monitor, but the silver dell logo does get a bit annoying on the two right monitors as it stands out. After 1-2 months use I found myself not even noticing it was there just like how stopped noticing the bezels.

As for DP issues its best if your using all DP on both the gpu and the monitors. The tearing was bad enough for me that I'd say get a card that had 3 DP outputs. I originally had a sapphire 6950 and it was connected with two different cable types, one of them always tore. It was a lot worse in portrait than landscape mode too. I got a refund and ordered an ASUS 6970. Note: this is a pretty big card and it also comes in a 6950 version.

This runs most games at medium to high settings at 30+ fps, but its not going to max out new releases. Some people crossfire that with a stock version of the same model and I hear that works out pretty well. I pretty much game everything in portrait mode these days, outside of fps the extra viewing angle from landscape doesn't help to much and a lot of games like Witcher 2 give a better sense of immersion in portrait mode because of the added height.
 
Thanks for your response. So is the only solution to the flickering having a card that has 3 separate DP ports? Ie would my ref xfx 6950 simly flicker regardless? If so, would getting another 6950/70 that had 3 DP's to xfire with my current xfx 6950 and setting that one as primary solve the problem? Thanks for any more clarification.
 
Ok thanks. So picking up 3 monitors for portrait eyefinity is destined for failure without purchasing a new card - this is the only solution, anything else (active DP adapters or w/e) will leave the image flickering regardless? Is there any plan to fix this by amd? Seems like a major flaw for the higher market segment that is more likely to run an eyefinity setup.
 
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