Eyefinity vs 30" single display ?

[Zorachus]

Would like to hear opinions on what people prefer; a single 30" monitor, ( 2560x1600res ) vs a smaller 27" ( 1920x1200res each ) Eyefinity setup ? Anyone here that have had both of these setups, or just one of them, and what do you think ?

My first very expensive monitor purchase was back in 2005, I bought the Apple 30" Cinema Display for my custom PC, and man that thing was a beast, and a piece of artwork for that time, it was before Dell even had their 3007 out yet. Gaming Half Life 2, and WoW back then at 2560x1600res was crazy cool

Then in 2009 when ATI unveiled Eyefinity, I was sold, and ran out and bought two more used Dell 27" monitors off Craiglists to line up with my Wife's Dell 2707WFP, I got the 5870 VidoeCard to power them, and back then was playing WoW, and Team Fortress 2. And gaming across three displays was pretty fucking sick at 5760x1200res, shooters like TF2 were extremely immersive. But now almost two years later with Eyefinity, I am not sure I like it anymore, over this time, a lot of things bother me about Eyefinity. And I often wish I had my Apple 30" display back, or the newer HP ZW30r, vs the triple screen setup.

I am mainly bothered by the stretched / distorted view on the side displays. I understand the point of LLL Eyefinity is for immersion, and the side monitors are not meant to be looked at directly. But that is best for racing games, and first person shooters. To me that stretched distorted look really becomes apparent in MMO's like WoW, and RTS games, where you should be able to look at all three displays, and they should render the game super clear image like the center main display, and not be stretched out. In WoW for example, when looking at a monster on either side display he is like 3 times wider looking, and less detailed, but then turn around and look at the same monster in the main center screen, and the monster looks normal again. I don't like that part of Eyefinity, wish for certain games you could render all three displays the same aspect ratio and detail, and not do the distorted look.

Plus for Windows 7, three wide screens is just too way too wide, always turning head left to right to see everything, the start button all the way on the far right, opening web pages sometimes goes between the bezels. For every day computing I do not like Eyefinity at all, much prefer a single 30" monitor.

Sorry to go off, blah...blah...blah, just looking for opinions here. Thanks.

 

[rtangwai]

I personally could never decide either, so I cheated:

Bottom middle is a 30" Gateway, the wing ones are Dell 2001FP 20", the upper row is Dell 2007WFP 20" widescreens and a LG 20" widescreen. The lower row is in PLP (portrait-landscape-portrait) configuration, so it is not Eyefinity-compatible. I game on the 30" in the center and use all the monitors in my usual desktop for windowed applications. It's not perfect (I would kill for Eyefinity available on multiple resolutions), but it is the best compromise I could come up with that didn't cause my neck to ache.

 

[Big Lebowski]

Would like to hear opinions on what people prefer; a single 30" monitor, ( 2560x1600res ) vs a smaller 27" ( 1920x1200res each ) Eyefinity setup ? Anyone here that have had both of these setups, or just one of them, and what do you think ?

Maybe post some photos of your setup? Sounds like you may not have things configured right. You may have to spend more time researching, fixing and patching games to run and look properly. Usual multi-monitor fun
I know it gets old, I have a few friends with 3+ monitors and they are always pissing around getting things to work.

 

[Big Lebowski]

I personally could never decide either, so I cheated:

She has had some of the best plastic surgery in all of Hollywood

 

[Zorachus]

I personally could never decide either, so I cheated:

Bottom middle is a 30" Gateway, the wing ones are Dell 2001FP 20", the upper row is Dell 2007WFP 20" widescreens and a LG 20" widescreen. The lower row is in PLP (portrait-landscape-portrait) configuration, so it is not Eyefinity-compatible. I game on the 30" in the center and use all the monitors in my usual desktop for windowed applications. It's not perfect (I would kill for Eyefinity available on multiple resolutions), but it is the best compromise I could come up with that didn't cause my neck to ache.

That is actually my favorite setup, a 30" in Landscape mode in center, flanked by two Portrait 2007FP's, but from what I read it is not really ready for prime time gaming ? Really wished AMD after two years of Eyefinity would get drivers for a P+L+P setup, is it ever going to happen ?

 

[Zorachus]

Maybe post some photos of your fucking sick setup? Sounds like you might not have something configured or set up right. You may have to spend more time configuring, researching, fixing and patching games to run and look properly. Usual multi-monitor fun
I know it gets old, I have a few friends with 3+ monitors and they are always pissing around getting things to work. They use to say it was fun.

Here is the old Apple 30", crappy picture taken on old cell phone camera, taken back during WoW TBC;

Here is the 27" Eyefinity setup when it was first setup;

WoW;

 

[Martha Stewart]

I just got rid of my Eyefinity set up(3x24" DELL U2410's) yesterday. It was awesome for specific games that would scale correctly and didn't take 4 GPU's to do so-TF2, Bad Company 2, and NFS all looked awesome. But there were too many issues that pissed me off-Games not working correctly at launch-Battlefield 3(currently all messed up) or games not working at all-StarCraft 2, Call of Duty, Rage, etc. Then there were other issues when just using the desktop-Playing full screen videos stretched through the bezels, having to look left or right to see certain pages or apps, etc..

So long story short I went back to one single massive screen yesterday and while not as immersive in select games, the desktop experience is easier, nothing is stretched, and gaming at 2560 res is beautiful.

If I was rich, the ideal set up would be one Eyefinity for select games and one big 2560 res monitor for everything else. But in the real world one 30">3x24"s

 

[Zorachus]

I just got rid of my Eyefinity set up(3x24" DELL U2410's) yesterday. It was awesome for specific games that would scale correctly and didn't take 4 GPU's to do so-TF2, Bad Company 2, and NFS all looked awesome. But there were too many issues that pissed me off-Games not working correctly at launch-Battlefield 3(currently all messed up) or games not working at all-StarCraft 2, Call of Duty, Rage, etc. Then there were other issues when just using the desktop-Playing full screen videos stretched through the bezels, having to look left or right to see certain pages or apps, etc..

So long story short I went back to one single massive screen yesterday and while not as immersive in select games, the desktop experience is easier, nothing is stretched, and gaming at 2560 res is beautiful.

If I was rich, the ideal set up would be one Eyefinity for select games and one big 2560 res monitor for everything else. But in the real world one 30">3x24"s

Well said, and pretty much my thoughts as well. For certain games Eyefinity is awesome, but for all the headaches to get the HUD lined up right, and in-game menus to show properly, and new games not even working at all sometimes, on all three screens, becomes a hassle.

I play WoW still, and am torn on Eyefinity vs one 30" display. I think the single 30" looks beautiful, 2560x1600res is amazing so sharp and detailed, with Eyefinity I would just mainly see walls of dungeons/raids on the side displays, and then that stretched out distorted view really bothered me on the sides as well. Wish for MMO's and RTS games they would not stretch out the image on the other two displays, that is my biggest beef.

 

[l88bastard]

Both are completely different experiences and bring different offerings to the table.

I loved my 30" gateway XHD3000, but eyefinity is much more immersive with shooters, flight simulators and driving simulators. However, nothing is pertier than a 30" on full tilt with the GPU power to back it up...ala Crysis or Crysis Warhead

I found a cool compromise with my three dell U2410s by rotating them in portrait mode, but ultimately the bezels and obscenely high pixel count made most games difficult to push without going crossfire.

The dynamix are now changed though with the induction of 120hz panels. I just got a 27" Samsung S27A750 1080p 120hz 3d panel and it is FREAKING AWESOME! I actually love it so much that I ordered two more and have put my triple U2410s up for auction on ebay! Playing BF3 at 120FPS is mindblowingly buttery smooth and I hope I can get eyefinity running with 60+fps with three MSI Lightning 6970s.

I guess what I am trying to say, its all what your into...We get tired and bored of our setups and sometimes we need a change.

 

[notarat]

Would like to hear opinions on what people prefer; a single 30" monitor, ( 2560x1600res ) vs a smaller 27" ( 1920x1200res each ) Eyefinity setup ? Anyone here that have had both of these setups, or just one of them, and what do you think ?

My first very expensive monitor purchase was back in 2005, I bought the Apple 30" Cinema Display for my custom PC, and man that thing was a beast, and a piece of artwork for that time, it was before Dell even had their 3007 out yet. Gaming Half Life 2, and WoW back then at 2560x1600res was crazy cool

Then in 2009 when ATI unveiled Eyefinity, I was sold, and ran out and bought two more used Dell 27" monitors off Craiglists to line up with my Wife's Dell 2707WFP, I got the 5870 VidoeCard to power them, and back then was playing WoW, and Team Fortress 2. And gaming across three displays was pretty fucking sick at 5760x1200res, shooters like TF2 were extremely immersive. But now almost two years later with Eyefinity, I am not sure I like it anymore, over this time, a lot of things bother me about Eyefinity. And I often wish I had my Apple 30" display back, or the newer HP ZW30r, vs the triple screen setup.

I am mainly bothered by the stretched / distorted view on the side displays. I understand the point of LLL Eyefinity is for immersion, and the side monitors are not meant to be looked at directly. But that is best for racing games, and first person shooters. To me that stretched distorted look really becomes apparent in MMO's like WoW, and RTS games, where you should be able to look at all three displays, and they should render the game super clear image like the center main display, and not be stretched out. In WoW for example, when looking at a monster on either side display he is like 3 times wider looking, and less detailed, but then turn around and look at the same monster in the main center screen, and the monster looks normal again. I don't like that part of Eyefinity, wish for certain games you could render all three displays the same aspect ratio and detail, and not do the distorted look.

Plus for Windows 7, three wide screens is just too way too wide, always turning head left to right to see everything, the start button all the way on the far right, opening web pages sometimes goes between the bezels. For every day computing I do not like Eyefinity at all, much prefer a single 30" monitor.

Sorry to go off, blah...blah...blah, just looking for opinions here. Thanks.

Okay. I had (3) Dell U2410s in Eyefinity Portrait Mode and I replaced them with (1) Dell U3011.

Eyefinity was great, and I had no complaints about it except for 1 thing that could never be "fixed" by driver updates...

I kept losing track of my mouse cursor because of the sheer amount of screen real estate!

Throw in spell effects from 24 people kicking the crap out of 12+ raid mobs, while you're staring intensely at the screen trying to locate your cursor in the midst of battle...it's a freaking epileptic seizure just waiting to happen...lol. It was just "too much" of a good thing...

It's also one thing to have to move your mouse ~15 inches diagonally on a 24" LCD to click something in the upper right/left corner, then go back to clicking something in the lower middle part of a screen, like a spell bar in an RPG...it's another thing entirely to have to move it 27+ inches then back and find a 1/4" sized button in a reasonable amount of time, lol.

 

[rtangwai]

That is actually my favorite setup, a 30" in Landscape mode in center, flanked by two Portrait 2007FP's, but from what I read it is not really ready for prime time gaming ? Really wished AMD after two years of Eyefinity would get drivers for a P+L+P setup, is it ever going to happen ?

I've played with SoftTH, but it's very fussy - still better than Eyefinity though in terms of flexibility. I suspect the driver part is difficult because mismatched monitors would be hell to divvy up the video processing correctly.

 

[freshnsoclean]

I ran it and it had the wow factor for the first week. Then it gets old and you never use it much any more. I went from 3x27" Eyefinity to a 42" for non FPS gaming and love it. I left my other monitors on the side for TV & internet.

 

[Andyk5]

Keep it coming guys, I am in the same boat, I have a 27inch 2710m Hp in the middle flanked with 2 2007fp's on the sides on in portrait for web browsing and the other landscape for watching justin.tv etc.. I want to replace the middle monitor with the 3011 but I am torn about 120Hz and eyefinity. Never really gamed on either one of them but I saw a 120Hz Tv playing Granturismo 5 one time at best buy and I was in love with the refresh rate.

Here is my setup btw.

 

[J Macker]

Sometimes I think about how nice it would be to have a single 30" lcd, then I look at the price tag and then I wake up.

I'll stick (suffer) with my 3x 2209wa's for a few more years.

But I agree, most of the games I like would benefit more from a single 30" LCD over eyefinity.

Batman AA was cool in eyefinity though!
Borderlands in portait Eyefinity is nice, RTS games suck as does LoL.

I really love my eyefinity setup for the R/C flight simulators.

Oh, I am so torn!

 

[BanDeodorant]

Sometimes I think about how nice it would be to have a single 30" lcd, then I look at the price tag and then I wake up.

I'll stick (suffer) with my 3x 2209wa's for a few more years.

But I agree, most of the games I like would benefit more from a single 30" LCD over eyefinity.

Batman AA was cool in eyefinity though!
Borderlands in portait Eyefinity is nice, RTS games suck as does LoL.

I really love my eyefinity setup for the R/C flight simulators.

Oh, I am so torn!

Sounds like you need three U3011s

 

[wagoo]

Definitely try the 2707WFPs in portrait mode, first.

 

[elvn]

With a quality high dpi mouse and the proper mouse speed, moving your mouse back and forth to action bars or parts of a screen should be no sweat with skill/practice on a 27" 2560x, just like targeting in a fps should be. Besides that, in WoW via addons, and games like Rift out of the box - you can move your action bars closer to your centralized charcter so they are always in sight, and most skilled players don't actually use the mouse to activate their actions anyway - they just use the action bars (or popup icon addons) to watch their cooldowns. I used to use macros and mod keys (alt/crtrl/shift) to do everything on either a keyboard or g13 interchangably (+ the g13 stick for a few things like targeting cycle / focus target , mounting up, map, etc). The only real mouse clicking of icons would be backpack/inventory management, raid/healbot clicking on party/raid members for some casting, and activating in-world objects.
.
I haven't used LLL eyefinity but it looks appealing for things like L4D2, TF2, and other shooters and adventure games. Lately I've been playing Rift and it really fills a lot of my viewpoint on a 27". The only gripe I have now is that the graphics are so demanding.. and the textures are so detailed and have depth via bumpmapping - that the lcd blur is more obvious. Its as if fine text were written on the textures in topographic depth relief, and bluring just washes it out on fast FoV panning. Turning the smart camera off so that the game camera isn't always swinging back to front helps though ( I tend to look around a lot when traveling in game).

i run the game on max [custom in the graphs] on a gtx570 and an i5 2500k @ 4.7ghz [from aria] and i get about 20-25fps at 1080p if antisotropic is at x16, and about 35-40 if it's at x2.

Obviously at 2560x rez on such high detail games the settings would require some tweaking without some very heavy horsepower gpus.