Confused about monitors... 3x1 eyefinity... need help....

[acid16]

Disclaimer: I haven't posted on here since 2003... that's 11 years. I have fallen out of the loop, so please forgive me if I sound incredibly stupid. It's nice to be back here though.

I have decided to build a 3x1 triple monitor gaming setup that will use eyefinity. Thus far the learning curve has been as expected (tons of choices for motherboards, CPU's, etc.), however, the choice I thought would be the easiest (choosing monitors), has turned out to be one of the more difficult ones. In fact, it is DRIVING me NUTS! There's literally THOUSANDS of monitors out there and I find myself getting lost in a sea of choices. Newegg alone has 652 LCD monitors for sale. Now I've done hours of research, but I seem to be getting nowhere. Does anyone feel like helping me find the perfect set of monitors? I really need to have these ordered by Monday morning (so with 2 day shipping I can have them here by Thursday at the latest).

A bit of info.... the system will be used for gaming only. Nothing else (except surfing and stuff). I want to be able to play BF3, Batman, and other games at high quality. I am also looking at 23/24" widescreen monitors... and, if it matters, I'll likely be using GTX 670 or 680's in SLI (or possibly a single GTX 690).

Some of the things I'm confused by (or which could use further explaining) are:

1) 60hz IPS or 120hz TN?
2) LED backlight - YES or NO? Is this considered common place, or a luxury, or what?
3) Contract ratio - 1000:1 seems to be the standard, is this good for games?
4) Response time - 4ms, 6ms, 8ms?
5) Resolution - 1080 or 1200? I assume 5760x1200 would mean less FPS. Is 1080 adequate? Is eyefinity support stronger for either? I see a lot of games reviewed in 1200.
6) Ports - D-Sub, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc. What do these mean, and which ones are better?
7) Connections - What is the easiest way to connect all 3 monitors together. Anything I need to look for?
8) Bezel size - How can I find which monitors have the thinnest bezels, and how many inches is considered thin (no dirty minds )?

If anyone wants to help, I would really appreciate it. You can just copy and paste my 8 questions and add comments if it makes it easier. Any additional info would also be appreciated, or suggestions on monitors to buy (Newegg or Amazon would be preferable).

 

[Dark Shroud]

Don't waste your money on a 690, if you want Nvidia just get duel GTX 670s.

 

[KingFatty]

1) 60hz IPS or 120hz TN?

I'd say get the 60 Hz, because you will be getting three of them so it would save a good amount of money. Plus, what compromises would you have to make to your settings, if it's even possible, to enable your video card to run triple monitors at 120Hz? It would be frustrating to know you have triple 120 Hz monitors yet don't have the GPU muscle to reach 120 Hz. So, if you end up not being able to reach much more than 60 Hz due to the GPU horsepower, it might be money wasted to get 120 Hz monitors.

Also, consider another way to satisfy both - get triple 60 Hz now, then later pick up a catleap 27" 1440p monitor that perhaps can get 120 Hz (apparently there is some rumor that another run of these monitors will happen in june or july). Then, just switch between eyefinity triple monitor setup and the one big ass monitor for 120 hz, where your GPU could probably be more likely to hit 120 Hz on the 1440p monitor instead of the eyefinity setup.

 

[Dark Shroud]

120hz does not mean running 120FPS.

The only draw back to running 120hz monitors is it would be around 3 times the cost of 3 60hz 1080p panels.

 

[blanketyblank]

1) 60hz IPS or 120hz TN?
2) LED backlight - YES or NO? Is this considered common place, or a luxury, or what?
3) Contract ratio - 1000:1 seems to be the standard, is this good for games?
4) Response time - 4ms, 6ms, 8ms?
5) Resolution - 1080 or 1200? I assume 5760x1200 would mean less FPS. Is 1080 adequate? Is eyefinity support stronger for either? I see a lot of games reviewed in 1200.
6) Ports - D-Sub, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc. What do these mean, and which ones are better?
7) Connections - What is the easiest way to connect all 3 monitors together. Anything I need to look for?
8) Bezel size - How can I find which monitors have the thinnest bezels, and how many inches is considered thin (no dirty minds )?

1. Do you see yourself playing 3d games at some point? You will need a 120 Hz display for shutter glass 3d. You will also most likely only be able to play 3d games on one display since eyefinity 3d is I believe too much for any current system on a newer game.
Otherwise I think IPS is preferrable since you will have better colors and wider viewing angles which is very important for the side monitors in an eyefinity setup. That being said I've heard the new cheap IPS monitors (catleap and all those 27" ones) can be overclocked to do 100+ Hz.
2. LED is considered common now. There are some very expensive professional monitors that use RGB LED, but you are unlikely to see those in the consumer price range. I dont' think this will matter too much to you, but for the average gamer LED is better since it saves on energy costs. If you were doing graphical work CFC is better since it provides better colors as it provides a more complete light if that makes any sense.
3. For the most part you can ignore contrast ratio. All the manufacturers do their own thing with this measurement so sometimes you'll see hundred thousand or 1 million to 1 and stuff because they do dynamic contrast ratio. In real life you won't have your monitor set to maximum brightness with the dynamic mode on so you'll never see the difference between the brightest pixel and led switched off pixel.
4. Lower is better, but depends on the type of panel. TN can go down to 2ms maybe lower, but IPS panels will be higher than that. Not a huge deal either way just go for as low as possible but choose between IPS and TN first.
5. Yes fps will be lower with 5760 x 1200 vs 5760 x 1080. The more pixels your card has to push the lower your fps will be. Main factor here imo though is cost. 1920 x 1200 monitors are much pricier than 1920 x 1080 monitors likely since 1080 is essentially the standard now. Often times you could purchase 2 1080 monitors for the price of a 1200. 1200 is of course preferrable since you're seeing more stuff, but you'd have to pay for it.
6. All pretty much the same digital inputs except for d sub which is a vga connection. Since you are building a system from scratch you just need to make sure your monitors support one or more of the digital ones. In order of preference: display port > hdmi > dvi.
You can get cables/adapters to convert your video cards signal to any of these though converting a display port from your graphics card to one of the others actively is quite expensive so it's better if your monitor can support it natively. (this is common if you were doing eyefinity with an AMD card since the third monitor needs to take display port signal).
7. Not sure what you mean, but monitor arms are nice since they let you position the monitors however you want. There are some arms designed for 3 or more monitors.
8. The thinner the better. Look at photos and reviews. Alternatively if money was no object you could consider using projectors instead of monitors so you'd have no bezels.

I'd suggest taking a look at the U2311 or U2312 monitors for a good relatively cheap setup. TheI've seen recertified go to below 150 before and new when on sale they go for about 200.
There are some other 23" IPS monitors that go for roughly 200 as well.

 

[guskline]

If you are going to run in SLI and you want to power 3 monitors you might want to look at the 4G VRAM EVGA GTX 670 for@$485. BTW Nvdia multiple monitors use "Surround" while Amd uses "Eyefinity"
I use a single GTX 680 to power 3 Acer 24" S242HL monitors at 5760 x 1080 resolution and am very happy with the setup. They are std LED backlit monitors, 1920 x1080, and work well. My fps, even in BF3,iis at worst in Ultra setting low 30s. Switch to high settings and it jumps to 40s to 50s.
Since you want to run SLI your fps should not be a problem with either 5760 x 1080 or 5760 x 1200.
How much $$$ do you want to spend on monitors?

 

[BrightCandle]

Big question is to do with price. Good monitors aren't cheap and you want to reduce ghost while maintain decent colours. 60 Hz is good enough but people do say that 120Hz is also much smoother. I do agree with that having run CRT's more at 95Hz as I found 60 to stutter. But alas you can't get 120Hz monitors with good colour balance so you have to choose. But its worse than that because if you are budget constrained you may find you can't afford to do 120Hz or high quality IPS because both ends are really expensive.

So I am going to assume your a gamer and that 120Hz matters more to you than colour. next thing to do is take a look at the reviews on http://tftcentral.co.uk/. They really review monitors in a lot of detail and will give you a clear picture as to the differences and various qualities of monitors. You'll see for example that one of the best baseline 120Hz monitors they have ever reviewed for ghosting is the Samsung 2233Rz 120Hz. Its not cheap, the colour quality isn't great but its a good gaming monitor.

The only way to work out what you value is to go look at these monitors somewhere yourself. See them in action in games with hardware capable of pushing 60+ fps and experience the difference. Otherwise I would say choose a monitor based on the reviews that has very low ghosting and is 120Hz.

 

[Mistwalker]

1. Do you see yourself playing 3d games at some point? You will need a 120 Hz display for shutter glass 3d. You will also most likely only be able to play 3d games on one display since eyefinity 3d is I believe too much for any current system on a newer game.
Otherwise I think IPS is preferrable since you will have better colors and wider viewing angles which is very important for the side monitors in an eyefinity setup. That being said I've heard the new cheap IPS monitors (catleap and all those 27" ones) can be overclocked to do 100+ Hz.
2. LED is considered common now. There are some very expensive professional monitors that use RGB LED, but you are unlikely to see those in the consumer price range. I dont' think this will matter too much to you, but for the average gamer LED is better since it saves on energy costs. If you were doing graphical work CFC is better since it provides better colors as it provides a more complete light if that makes any sense.
3. For the most part you can ignore contrast ratio. All the manufacturers do their own thing with this measurement so sometimes you'll see hundred thousand or 1 million to 1 and stuff because they do dynamic contrast ratio. In real life you won't have your monitor set to maximum brightness with the dynamic mode on so you'll never see the difference between the brightest pixel and led switched off pixel.
4. Lower is better, but depends on the type of panel. TN can go down to 2ms maybe lower, but IPS panels will be higher than that. Not a huge deal either way just go for as low as possible but choose between IPS and TN first.
5. Yes fps will be lower with 5760 x 1200 vs 5760 x 1080. The more pixels your card has to push the lower your fps will be. Main factor here imo though is cost. 1920 x 1200 monitors are much pricier than 1920 x 1080 monitors likely since 1080 is essentially the standard now. Often times you could purchase 2 1080 monitors for the price of a 1200. 1200 is of course preferrable since you're seeing more stuff, but you'd have to pay for it.
6. All pretty much the same digital inputs except for d sub which is a vga connection. Since you are building a system from scratch you just need to make sure your monitors support one or more of the digital ones. In order of preference: display port > hdmi > dvi.
You can get cables/adapters to convert your video cards signal to any of these though converting a display port from your graphics card to one of the others actively is quite expensive so it's better if your monitor can support it natively. (this is common if you were doing eyefinity with an AMD card since the third monitor needs to take display port signal).
7. Not sure what you mean, but monitor arms are nice since they let you position the monitors however you want. There are some arms designed for 3 or more monitors.
8. The thinner the better. Look at photos and reviews. Alternatively if money was no object you could consider using projectors instead of monitors so you'd have no bezels

I'm quoting this whole monster because it covers pretty much everything I would have said.

I'll also reiterate that while 120Hz is necessary if you want to go 3D, for Eyefinity I believe the better colors and viewing angles of IPS panels are more important (and you're not going to be hitting solid 120fps at 5760x1200 anyway).

Also, 1920x1200 panels are fantastic for non-gaming (the extra 10% vertical real estate is absolutely noticeable) but if games are all you care about, 1920x1080 displays are much cheaper and more plentiful.

 

[Wall Street]

Your best bet is to read monitor reviews and roundups on the various tech website because the tech specs that you see listed on the back of the box (and copied by newegg) are exaggerations and lies. I would go with 60 Hz TN panels, but I am cheap. I'm using an ASUS one right now and it works well enough.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

I would personally go with IPS monitors as I value picture quality over FPS but it is just personal prefrence.

Consider a triple SLI setup over dual cards as I have read reports that the third card does little for framerates but it makes microstutter dissapear.

The best way to go is quad SLI but unless you are willing to get two GTX 690s that option is out.

Try to get 4GB cards or go with 7970s as I have doubts of the longevity of a 2GB setup especially with 3x1. Remember the 5970? Well it cannot even run most games in 3x1 at this point due to VRAM limitations.

 

[brandonb]

1) 60hz IPS or 120hz TN?
2) LED backlight - YES or NO? Is this considered common place, or a luxury, or what?
3) Contract ratio - 1000:1 seems to be the standard, is this good for games?
4) Response time - 4ms, 6ms, 8ms?
5) Resolution - 1080 or 1200? I assume 5760x1200 would mean less FPS. Is 1080 adequate? Is eyefinity support stronger for either? I see a lot of games reviewed in 1200.
6) Ports - D-Sub, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc. What do these mean, and which ones are better?
7) Connections - What is the easiest way to connect all 3 monitors together. Anything I need to look for?
8) Bezel size - How can I find which monitors have the thinnest bezels, and how many inches is considered thin (no dirty minds )?

I just recently went through the same nonsense.

1) IPS has the advantage of going portrait mode (imagine rotating the monitor 90 degress to make it super tall and thin) with 3x1 Portrait mode. Make sure the bezels are the same size on all sides (unlike the monitors I have listed in my sig). TN panels cannot go portrait becaue of the limitations of the technology. IPS is the only option for portrait.

2) For a gamer, probably doesn't matter. You aren't going to be getting professional monitors where they are going to be 10bit, wide gamut, etc. For gaming. LED works just fine, and probably a better choice as it reduces heat. Nothing to worry about here.

3) Don't worry about it.

4) Don't worry about it.

5) 1080. 1200 is hard to find and more expensive. Most games are standardizing on 1920x1080.

6) HDMI is the same as DVI, but carries the audio channel. D-SUB don't even get it (its the old VGA connector). DisplayPort is newer but has the ability to daisy chain off a cable.

7) See #6. Either you can display port daisy chain, or just connect all 3 monitors to the back of the video card.

8) Honestly after having eyefinity, Bezel is the least of your worries. Literally within minutes you don't see them between the screen. I have like 2 inches between my screens and I don't notice it.

Honestly, I'd buy the cheapest E-IPS ($300-$400 range) that supports portrait (it will list pivot as a stand adjustment along with tilt, etc.) and has bezels which are the same size on all 4 sides of the monitor and buy 3 of them.

 

[acid16]

Thanks for all the detailed replies. I am just going to address my initial list with new info I have gathered from this thread/online research

1) 60hz IPS or 120hz TN?
I am definitely eliminating 120hz. I don't plan to use 3d, and eyefinity is unlikely to exceed 60fps, plus I had no idea how much they cost. So I am going with 60hz. The only question now is IPS or TN? And I think I am going to go with IPS. The price difference is small (about $50-60 extra per monitor) and seems worth it for the angle / colour of triple monitors
2) LED backlight - YES or NO? Is this considered common place, or a luxury, or what?
Not worried about this as much now...
3) Contract ratio - 1000:1 seems to be the standard, is this good for games?
Same as #2 - this one doesn't seem to matter
4) Response time - 4ms, 6ms, 8ms?
I'm going to keep it as low as possible, but not worry about it too much. Seems like 8ms is standard for IPS
5) Resolution - 1080 or 1200? I assume 5760x1200 would mean less FPS. Is 1080 adequate? Is eyefinity support stronger for either? I see a lot of games reviewed in 1200.
Going with 1080 for SURE. I had no idea 1200 was more expensive + waste of money for what I need
6) Ports - D-Sub, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort, etc. What do these mean, and which ones are better?77
7) Connections - What is the easiest way to connect all 3 monitors together. Anything I need to look for?
For #6 and #7.... It sounds like what I want is displayport. I want only 1 cable running from all 3 monitors to the computer. Does this mean I need displayport? I assume that's what a daisy chain is? This is the only thing I'm a bit confused about (I searched google, it's surprising how little info there is). What exactly is displayport for - is it intended for multiple monitors? Or does it serve some other purpose?
8) Bezel size - How can I find which monitors have the thinnest bezels, and how many inches is considered thin (no dirty minds)?
Thanks for the info (blank and brandon). Sort of conflicting info. I do want a thin bezel, but I can also see how it's not as big of a deal as I think it might be. Actually, I work on 3 monitors at work and they have thick bezels and I don't notice them. I never thought of that. I won't go out of my way to find a small bezel.

So basically the only thing I still need clarification on is #6/#7. I also appreciate all the advice on video cards. Ideally I'd like to go with just 1 video card now, and then SLI it in 12-18 months when prices come down. The advice here coincides with what I read online. It sounds like the GTX 670 or 680 with 4gb is the best solution, because vram apparently is the bottleneck on 5760x1080 resolution. If I got just one card for now, I could play on decent settings for now and then see about SLI'ing it in the future. I don't think I can afford or would want to buy 3 cards or 4 cards. Is there really that many problems with 2 cards in SLI?

Thanks for the help...

 

[acid16]

I've almost definitely settled on the Dell Ultrasharp U2312HM monitors. Anyone have experience with these? They seem to have everything I desire:

PROS
- 1920x1080
- IPS
- No integrated speakers (pro for me, as I plan to have external speakers)
- A pretty thin bezel (according to reviews)
- 8ms response time (but apparently faster than other IPS screens)
- Good stand with portrait mode
- 1 displayport + 1 DVI

CONS
- No HDMI outlet (but I don't really need this)
- Only 23". But this seems standard for 1080p - their 24" version is 1200p

The price is around $240. I can't make this a pro or a con, but I am leaning towards a pro. To me the price seems too good to believe. Actually, I can't find any TN monitors for this cheap WITH a displayport. Maybe they just don't make that many TN monitors with displayports? Either way... anyone see anything wrong with this monitor? All reviews show it to be quite well reviewed. Seems to just be a smaller version of the more popular Ultrasharp 2412M (which is 1920x1200)

 

[Will Robinson]

I think the 16:10 1920x1200 resolution is nicer than the 1080p 16:9 you have in mind.
1920x1080 always looks to skinny to me after having my current U2410 for a few years.
ps.Definitely stay with the IPS panels...they are great!

 

[acid16]

Further to my last post, I just found the following info buried in the dell Q&A:

"As it turns out, the U2312hm does not have the DP port "out", which is necessary to daisy chain the monitors. You could go with the alternative of a DP hub, or choose a different monitor. I would highly recommend heavy research on Display Port connectivity. There are many forums talking about the difficulties of connecting Display Ports. You might even check out the tech forums at the link below."

Since I still don't really understand displayport, I don't understand this. But it doesn't sound good. Apparently it also uses displayport version 1.1a, and not the 1.2 that most video cards seem to use. Is this something to be concerned about? I'm just looking for the least wires possible, but maybe I misunderstand displayport.

Edit: Nevermind. I am just going to use DVI... a lot easier it seems like, for now anyways.

 

[iCyborg]

"As it turns out, the U2312hm does not have the DP port "out"

It only matters if you want to daisy chain monitors, i.e. run more than one from 1 DP output on your GPU. I think no monitor has MST hub built-in currently, so that's not a negative for U2312. You don't need that either, there are enough outputs on GTX 6xx for 3 monitors.

DP 1.2 is also not a negative since it's needed for higher resolutions like 4K x 2K, and since U2312 is 1080p, there's no need for it.

I personally like U2412 more, purely because I like 16:10 better. One inch seems like little difference but it's not the same aspect ratio so the difference is larger in practice. 10% more pixels isn't that big a deal for performance hit, and you do get those pixels.

GTX 670 is a better value, but if you're buying 3 monitors, then extra $100 for 680 doesn't seem crazy either.
SLI seems to have less problems than CF, but I'm personally still staying away from any dual solutions.