Eyefinity question/rant

I went for NEC EA231WMi panels which are e-IPS and don't break the bank. I was blown away with the image quality and how vibrant the colours were, the first day I used them. I think they were about £275 each.

There is a big thread about them in the display forum and how good they are for the money. They seemed a great choice for Eyefinity and seem a big upgrade for me from my 30" Apple Cinema Display that I've been using for almost 5 years.

Their downside is supposedly response rate, although I think NEC quote worst case scenario figures, rather than average and I haven't noticed any ghosting or input lag that would make a difference. It's certainly no different from what I'm used to.
 
PrincessFrosty said:
...As the OP says you really need decent panels for gaming, people are slapping together cheap TN eyefinity solutions together and the image quality looks pants, everytime I see pictures of the rigs I can see the brightness/colour/black shift between each of the 3 panels....
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You havent considered that the photos were taken at a very different viewing point than the seating position, odd considering you bring up the very effect this causes and you try to sound like you understand this issue.
Unless you have a very widescreen camera, you wont be able to show how good TNs look unless you set them up/angle them only for the camera shot.
 
Nenu said:
You havent considered that the photos were taken at a very different viewing point than the seating position, odd considering you bring up the very effect this causes and you try to sound like you understand this issue.
Unless you have a very widescreen camera, you wont be able to show how good TNs look unless you set them up/angle them only for the camera shot.
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Angling them still causes huge shift from the seating position... in fact, being further away DECREASES the sharpness of the angle, thus making them look better than they would in-person... thus, they look even worse than they do in pictures.
 
GoldenTiger said:
Angling them still causes huge shift from the seating position... in fact, being further away DECREASES the sharpness of the angle, thus making them look better than they would in-person... thus, they look even worse than they do in pictures.
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Not true.
If you position them to look best where you sit, they are hardly going to look as good/better from a different position unless you re-orient them for that position.
 
Nenu said:
Not true at all.
If you position them to look best where you sit, they are hardly going to look better from a different position unless you re-orient them for that position.
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Please illustrate how you might position a three-monitor EyeFinity setup with TN's to have the side views at a LESSER angle than your center screen's edges from a viewer sitting in the middle of the center screen.

ProTip: You can't, because it's physically impossible. Thus, TN viewing issues are excaberated by EyeFinity, and do not remain "the same or better".
 
Its common sense that if you position them to look best at one seating place, thats where they will look best, BY DEFINITION.
Are you saying its impossible to place TNs in a good position, at all?
 
Nenu said:
Its common sense that if you position them to look best at one seating place, thats where they will look best, BY DEFINITION.
Are you saying its impossible to place TNs in a good position, at all?
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You cannot place the sides to be at a lower angle from a viewer regardless of their distance from the center of the middle screen. Thus, yes, I am saying it is NOT possible to place the side TN's in a good position if one regards even a middle TN monitor as having issues toward the sides (which is accepted by virtually everyone who has ever used one).
 
Maybe some inferior TNs have that issue, mine certainly doesnt (Dell 2209Wb).
If I place a monitor so it looks good where I sit, it looks good.
Taking a picture from further back to show your setup wont look as good, hence the photos that show colour/brightnes shift.
Common sense imo.
 
Nenu said:
Maybe some inferior TNs have that issue, mine certainly doesnt (Dell 2209Wb).
If I place a monitor so it looks good where I sit, it looks good.
Taking a picture from further back to show your setup wont look as good, hence the photos that show colour/brightnes shift.
Common sense imo.
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Yes, your TN is special... OK, since you don't seem to be understanding... I've made a quick Paint drawing illustrating what I am talking about: :) Everyone knows higher angle from viewer = worse color/more shifting for TN's, so therefore:


viewingangle.png
 
Not at all, there are loads of decent TNs, after all that is what is being discussed.
Theres no point discussing TNs that nobody will use for Eyefinity.

You also illustrate my point very well, at small viewing angle (ie when positioned to look good at the seating position), they will look best.
Taking a picture from a distance changes the viewing angle dramatically and therefore the photo wont look as good.
You are saying that those photos you dont like, look the same as when the users play on their setup.
Not so.
 
GoldenTiger said:
You cannot place the sides to be at a lower angle from a viewer regardless of their distance from the center of the middle screen. Thus, yes, I am saying it is NOT possible to place the side TN's in a good position if one regards even a middle TN monitor as having issues toward the sides (which is accepted by virtually everyone who has ever used one).
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Maybe not at a lower angle than the center, but definitely at an equal angle from the center. The easiest example is a perfect hexagon, the center is at an even angle as all the sides. If you can see your monitor without color shifting normally, turn your head and keep looking at the monitor, you should not see color shifting. You can set up your monitors at that angle to have the same amount of color shifting as the center monitor

Do not confuse the angle the monitor is pointed at towards you, and the angle you are looking at the monitor (peripheral vision)

And wrong, further away does not gives a better perspective than sitting in the spot the monitor are arranged for, For a single monitor yes further is better, but for triple monitor, the perfect angle would be closer than a distance shot.

I'm off to work, but if you want me to show you the geometry of it later, I can
 
polonyc2 said:
so if you're going to sacrifice image quality and overall performance in each screen does it really make it a worthy setup?...of course price is the main factor in this but then why not wait before jumping into this?...or am I missing something and is Eyefinity so awesome that I can link 3 cheap LCD's and it will provide such an awesome experience?...I'd rather have 1 top of the line amazing 24" LCD versus having 3 average 24" Eyefinity ones

I'm not knocking people who have Eyefinity but I'm just curious the rationale behind the purchase
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I think you are missing something. :D

I know where you are coming from. I have a 2690WUXi and have issues with using PVA panels (can't stand the image shifts). Still, I am considering now to use 3XPVA screens (Samsung Eyefinity MD230). The 2690 will still be a working screen, since I need the color accuracy, but I am willing to go PVA just for the eyefinity setup. My other choice is IPS (3X U2410), but I want the bezels to be as little as possible (1 cm vs. 1.9cm) and samsung offer a finished setup for Eyefinity.

Many game with TN's and are content with that. I wouldn't be, but I have no problems understanding those who are. TN's worst problems are not the horizontal angle, but the vertical. Therefore, its possible and doable to use them in Eyefinity. In Eyefinity, you are still gaming on the center screen and the side screens are for your peripherial vision.

Eyefinity and surround gaming is to increase the immersion by adding additional game content and let it surround you. I have 4 things to say:

Eyefinity: "Get in the game" - this is how you do it.
Matrox TH2G: "Oh, baby its a wide world"
Nvidia surround: "The way it should have been played"
SoftTH: "When the above is too [H]ard for you"
 
I have three mediocre TN panels (Dell P2210H) for eyefinity and I absolutely love it DID I JUST BLOW YOUR MIND?!?!?! Get off your high horse, price determines everything. I'd rather blow all the money I'd have to pay for high quality IPS panels on lingerie for my wife, all three brand new panels only cost me roughly $550. It's just gaming. Wipe the cheetoh dust off your shirt and go outside for awhile.
 
OldPueblo said:
I have three mediocre TN panels (Dell P2210H) for eyefinity and I absolutely love it DID I JUST BLOW YOUR MIND?!?!?! Get off your high horse, price determines everything. I'd rather blow all the money I'd have to pay for high quality IPS panels on lingerie for my wife, all three brand new panels only cost me roughly $550. It's just gaming. Wipe the cheetoh dust off your shirt and go outside for awhile.
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LOL, because owning expensive PC gear means you're out of shape and/or don't have a social life? Some people can afford IPS panels and lingerie for their wives. :eek: Let's stop with the generalizations, whether it be that all TN panels are worthless or that people with IPS panels are elitist, fat, socially awkward nerds. In fact I'd say buying three monitors to play games on makes you even more nerdy, but I won't deny that I like the concept of triple head gaming and will probably end up going this route as well after I see what nVidia is going to bring to the table. :D
 
imyourzero said:
LOL, because owning expensive PC gear means you're out of shape and/or don't have a social life? Some people can afford IPS panels and lingerie for their wives. :eek: Let's stop with the generalizations, whether it be that all TN panels are worthless or that people with IPS panels are elitist, fat, socially awkward nerds. In fact I'd say buying three monitors to play games on makes you even more nerdy, but I won't deny that I like the concept of triple head gaming and will probably end up going this route as well after I see what nVidia is going to bring to the table. :D
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Exactly.
 
Breath_of_the_Dying said:
Do not confuse the angle the monitor is pointed at towards you, and the angle you are looking at the monitor (peripheral vision)

And wrong, further away does not gives a better perspective than sitting in the spot the monitor are arranged for, For a single monitor yes further is better, but for triple monitor, the perfect angle would be closer than a distance shot.

I'm off to work, but if you want me to show you the geometry of it later, I can
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You're right, now that I have woken up and read your explanation :). Nenu, that goes for you too ;).

Yes, someone's admitting they were wrong on the internet... :eek: .
 
GoldenTiger said:
You cannot place the sides to be at a lower angle from a viewer regardless of their distance from the center of the middle screen. Thus, yes, I am saying it is NOT possible to place the side TN's in a good position if one regards even a middle TN monitor as having issues toward the sides (which is accepted by virtually everyone who has ever used one).
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Gimme a break. I have all three panel types (IPS, PVA and TN). I haven't run across a TN panel in the last few years that have prominent HORIZONTAL viewing issues when sitting in front of the monitor. Vertical issues, yes, not horizontal. Passing off photos shot at a distant angle is BS as it doesn't match the seating position. You people crack me up. You just can't seem to understand that others have different priories and preferences. I use my PVA at work. At home the IPS serves as a photo touch up rig. The three TNs I have are perfect for a gaming rig. Fast response time (faster than my IPS and TN panels) with adequate viewing angles and agreeable color consistency for gaming. Me personally, I prefer less smear and a quicker response time with a gaming LCD. The reduced cost of TNs is a nice benefit too. What's the big deal with that?
 
polonyc2 said:
totally agree...this is exactly what I was trying to get across in my first post...instead of 3 crap panels in Eyefinity those same people should have gone out and purchased 1 really high end 24" or 30" panel for basically the same price and would have a better gaming experience

people are jumping onto the Eyefinity bandwagon thinking that any 3 panels will produce some spectacular result...sorry but it doesn't work this way...the same principles that apply to purchasing 1 single LCD apply to Eyefinity times 3
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Here we go again. My previous rig had a really nice, perfectly calibrated 40" panel. It was HUGE and gaming was good. My 3 TN Samsungs in Eyefinity *blows it away* in terms of gaming experience. Have you even tried Eyefinity? I've seen many Eyefinity users "downgrade" from a single large monitor to three smaller monitors and NOT ONE has said they prefer the single larger monitor. I went from one 40" to three 23" and I wouldn't trade the three for the one 40".

Oh and from my experience, these "crap" TN panels offer better movement response and less smearing than my "uber" IPS panel. Better for gaming.
 
polonyc2 said:
totally agree...this is exactly what I was trying to get across in my first post...instead of 3 crap panels in Eyefinity those same people should have gone out and purchased 1 really high end 24" or 30" panel for basically the same price and would have a better gaming experience

people are jumping onto the Eyefinity bandwagon thinking that any 3 panels will produce some spectacular result...sorry but it doesn't work this way...the same principles that apply to purchasing 1 single LCD apply to Eyefinity times 3
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This is an age old issue with PC gaming, always has and always will be.

Resolution vs Quality.

I remember back in the CRT day , unless you had more $$ you had to sacrifice resolution for refresh rate/quality.

Sure you could get a cheap 17" w/1600x1200 - washed out colors etc..

but why not get that nice 21" w/1280x1024 with high refresh rate and awesome colors.



the bottom line is, in PC gaming Resolution is king, always has been.

that is all Eyefinity is bringing. You're ranting way to much on the "quality 1280x1024" vs the "less quality but higher resolution 1600x1200" age old debate. And money is always an issue, you can't really shrug that off and say, just get 3 of the best possible panels available.

So sure, stick with the quality 1280x1024, but give me the high resolution and the 3 monitors worth of it :)
 
PrincessFrosty said:
I considered eyefinity but have largely disregarded it now.

As the OP says you really need decent panels for gaming, people are slapping together cheap TN eyefinity solutions together and the image quality looks pants, everytime I see pictures of the rigs I can see the brightness/colour/black shift between each of the 3 panels.

The problem is IPS panels are expensive, 3x24" is an insane amount of money, way more than you'd spend on a single 30" which IMO looks much better.
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I don't follow the logic here. If I were to take a picture of an IPS panel at 200 degree off axis, I would see color shifts too. TN panels have a more narrow range but the same principals apply. If you were to take pics of a TN panel severely off axis, it's the same argument.

The only picture worth a damn is a picture from the seating position at eye level, unless you like gaming ten feet away from your 24" monitor at a 150 degree off axis angle?
 
alxnet2003 said:
Me personally, I prefer less smear and a quicker response time with a gaming LCD. The reduced cost of TNs is a nice benefit too. What's the big deal with that?
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Absolutely nothing. There are waaay too many people on the internet that try to justify their purchases and put down others in an attempt to look superior or make the other person feel stupid for buying what they did. Just buy what you want and be happy. Unfortunately, this is never going to go away and it happens all the time (i.e. this forum isn't the only one by far). The guy that bought the BMW is going to look down upon the guy that bought the Honda, but for all he knows the guy who bought the Honda could afford more but just wanted to be practical. Likewise, there will be the guy who bought something sensible and says the Porsche owner is an elitist prick or is just trying to make up for something else...that usually happens out of jealousy, though. This sort of thing applies to just about every forum I've been on, and it does get old. People should be more supportive of each other -- the world would be a better place. :)
 
imyourzero said:
Absolutely nothing. There are waaay too many people on the internet that try to justify their purchases and put down others in an attempt to look superior or make the other person feel stupid for buying what they did. Just buy what you want and be happy. Unfortunately, this is never going to go away and it happens all the time (i.e. this forum isn't the only one by far). The guy that bought the BMW is going to look down upon the guy that bought the Honda, but for all he knows the guy who bought the Honda could afford more but just wanted to be practical. Likewise, there will be the guy who bought something sensible and says the Porsche owner is an elitist prick or is just trying to make up for something else...that usually happens out of jealousy, though. This sort of thing applies to just about every forum I've been on, and it does get old. People should be more supportive of each other -- the world would be a better place. :)
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amen :)
 
alxnet2003 said:
Here we go again. My previous rig had a really nice, perfectly calibrated 40" panel. It was HUGE and gaming was good. My 3 TN Samsungs in Eyefinity *blows it away* in terms of gaming experience. Have you even tried Eyefinity? I've seen many Eyefinity users "downgrade" from a single large monitor to three smaller monitors and NOT ONE has said they prefer the single larger monitor. I went from one 40" to three 23" and I wouldn't trade the three for the one 40".

Oh and from my experience, these "crap" TN panels offer better movement response and less smearing than my "uber" IPS panel. Better for gaming.
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LOL...by "blows it away" do you mean the 2% of games that actually support Eyefinity?...or the ones that support Eyefinity but have display or other types of issues?...can I play older games using EF?...hell even games that came out in 2009?...do you end up turning off 2 out of 3 LCD's most of the time?...how about when surfing the web or doing other applications?

and yes these are actual complaints from Eyefinity users!
 
polonyc2 said:
LOL...by "blows it away" do you mean the 2% of games that actually support Eyefinity?...or the ones that support Eyefinity but have display or other types of issues?...can I play older games using EF?...hell even games that came out in 2009?...do you end up turning off 2 out of 3 LCD's most of the time?...how about when surfing the web or doing other applications?

and yes these are actual complaints from Eyefinity users!
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Oy, here we go again. Assuming 80% of releases are crap, let's just concentrate on some of the big ones ok? I've successfully tried the following on my system: Bioshock, MW2, Dragon Age Origins, all the Half Life games, Burnout Paradise, NFS Shift, Dirt 2, Elder Scrolls IV, Grid, Left4Dead2, Torchlight, Wings of Prey, Batman AA, COD2, Crysis, Crysis Warhead, WOW, and ummm.... oh yeah, even Titan Quest. Yes I'm a gameaholic, yes Eyefinity totally changes the way you perceive even your older games, and yes, it's obvious you have very little knowledge or first hand experience with multimonitor gaming.
 
polonyc2 said:
LOL...by "blows it away" do you mean the 2% of games that actually support Eyefinity?...or the ones that support Eyefinity but have display or other types of issues?...can I play older games using EF?...hell even games that came out in 2009?...do you end up turning off 2 out of 3 LCD's most of the time?...how about when surfing the web or doing other applications?

and yes these are actual complaints from Eyefinity users!
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They clearly aren't. The only game I have, out of the huge list of games that I've played in Eyefinity, that I had to go down to a single screen for is Street Fighter IV and that's not because it didn't support Eyefinity (the menus and splash screens are great) but because it's a fixed width game during the fighting. If you have 6 screens it plays perfectly but with 3 the aspect ratio is just too large for the game to fit in.
 
polonyc2 said:
LOL...by "blows it away" do you mean the 2% of games that actually support Eyefinity?...or the ones that support Eyefinity but have display or other types of issues?...can I play older games using EF?...hell even games that came out in 2009?...do you end up turning off 2 out of 3 LCD's most of the time?...how about when surfing the web or doing other applications?

and yes these are actual complaints from Eyefinity users!
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Protip: Questions aren't complaints, you posted a list of questions, not complaints. And clearly those *aren't* actual complaints from Eyefinity users, due to the reasons others have pointed out (such as them being mainly FUD)
 
and here I thought this was a serious thread, but no, it's just a *bash* all EyeFinity users thread...


/closethread
 
imyourzero said:
Absolutely nothing. There are waaay too many people on the internet that try to justify their purchases and put down others in an attempt to look superior or make the other person feel stupid for buying what they did. Just buy what you want and be happy. Unfortunately, this is never going to go away and it happens all the time (i.e. this forum isn't the only one by far). The guy that bought the BMW is going to look down upon the guy that bought the Honda, but for all he knows the guy who bought the Honda could afford more but just wanted to be practical. Likewise, there will be the guy who bought something sensible and says the Porsche owner is an elitist prick or is just trying to make up for something else...that usually happens out of jealousy, though. This sort of thing applies to just about every forum I've been on, and it does get old. People should be more supportive of each other -- the world would be a better place. :)
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Amen +1 :cool:
 
Take one guy's post and generalize it for every person who got eyefinity? You're fishing man.

Since I got my monitors I've tried it in over 30 games, about 5 of them don't work at all. Every other game is fine. Sure some of the menus might be stretched but like I care.

And most importantly, I've been having a blast :cool:
 
As long as we are enjoying what setup we have, I see no reason to debate about it.

I haven't had a lick of trouble with Eyefinity so far...OK, I take that back- Doom 3 wouldn't run (yes, I tried it, for nostalgia purposes...:D )

Seruosly, though- for the games I play : MW2, Crysis/Warhead, Hawx, Dirt 2, Half Life 2/EP1/EP2, Far Cry 2... Just WAY cooler to me with the 3 22"ers. (I would never have played thourgh HL2 again- but I just had to with the new setup! )

In the end- I have read countless people who have had issues- and mabye I am one of the lucky ones, but I have had 0 issues since setting up a month ago. And as long as we like what we have, wether it's IPS, TN, or a good 'ole 50" (what I was gaming on before the Eyefinity setup )... more power to ya'! Game on!! :cool:
 
H-street said:
This is an age old issue with PC gaming, always has and always will be.

Resolution vs Quality.
So sure, stick with the quality 1280x1024, but give me the high resolution and the 3 monitors worth of it :)
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Yeah, eyefinity also brings bezels and viewing angle issues ;) though, so it's not JUST resolution vs. quality. Even if it hypothetically were, high-quality 720p sets often look far better than low-end 1080p ones... resolution is not always king.
 
Omegas said:
and here I thought this was a serious thread, but no, it's just a *bash* all EyeFinity users thread...


/closethread
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Well of course. Eyefinity sucks until the point when (nvidia diehards/console users/people that can't afford it) get access to it, at which point it will become the saviour of the human race and lots of people making asses out of themselves right now will suddenly forget they had a bad thing to say about it.
 
Finkus said:
Well of course. Eyefinity sucks until the point when (nvidia diehards/console users/people that can't afford it) get access to it, at which point it will become the saviour of the human race and lots of people making asses out of themselves right now will suddenly forget they had a bad thing to say about it.
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I own a 5870 and could setup eyefinity pretty easily: I just don't see the worth of it yet. It's not always a "OMG I CAN'T GET IT SO IT MUST SUCK" issue ;).
 
GoldenTiger said:
I own a 5870 and could setup eyefinity pretty easily: I just don't see the worth of it yet. It's not always a "OMG I CAN'T GET IT SO IT MUST SUCK" issue ;).
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I'm sure there are rare outliers in any situation. Have you gamed with Eyefinity yet, btw? If it had sucked I would have returned my displays and carried on with a 30".
 
I'm done trying to explain myself ...some people keep turning this into an issue which had nothing to do with my original post, such as TN vs IPS or Eyefinity bashing...I guess my definition of 'gaming' is different then a lot of people here...image quality is a very big deal to me...games in and of itself is a visual medium...your eyes process the images on your screen...you spend all your time looking at your display...Nvidia and ATI keep finding ways to improve anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering etc...game manufacturer's keep finding ways to push the boundaries of photorealistic graphics...DX11 is pushing tesselation...image quality is that important...almost every other piece of hardware is internal and is processed via the one gadget that most people here seem to care the least about

people are willing to spend thousands of dollars on CPU's, video cards and SSD's but flinch when it comes to spending that amount on a good monitor...call me an elitist I don't care...but I know that I'm not going to lower my standards just because other people are willing to

here's a history lesson:

1) I bought my first LCD (the NEC 2490WUXi) back in November 2009...yes I was using my CRT up until that time...why?...because it offered the best gaming experience vs any LCD on the market and I wasn't going to switch just for the sake of switching or to get a monitor that was 'good enough'...it had to be better then my current CRT...my CRT was the Sony GDM-F520...one of the finest CRT's ever produced...0.22 dot pitch, 2048 x 1536 max resolution among other things

I still to this day say that a high end CRT offers the best image quality vs any LCD in existence...but there are the masses that went out and bought any LCD and called it nirvana

2) choosing the NEC in itself was a tough call as the only real 'upgrade' from a good CRT is an OLED screen...and those won't be a realistic option for years...so I wanted the LCD which gave me the best image quality...only a couple of real choices in that regard

I never said Eyefinity sucks...all I said was that for me to 'upgrade' to Eyefinity it will have to be under the right circumstances...meaning 3 Dell U2410's minimum...if you have convinced yourself that 3 cheap LCD's optimizes your gaming experience then more power to you

"in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king"
 
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