Questions for 3 monitor gaming

[dfuze]

I'm currently using 2 monitors, my main 24" Asus VS247H-P and a spare 19" panel that I have sitting around the house. I'm thinking of getting another 2 of the Asus panels since gaming on 2 normal sized panels isn't good for FPS (I only use the Asus when FPS gaming).

My 2 questions:
1-For those of you who have made the leap from 1 to 3 monitors, has it been worth it?
2-I know my R9 270 isn't top of the line, but could it handle 3 monitors for say BF4? I know I'd have to turn down the settings, but currently it handles Ultra in my setup on 64 man servers without a hiccup.

 

[cbrunny]

If you run 3 x 1080p, a rough estimate of how it will run is to take your current frames per second, and divide it by three. The card has to push that many more pixels. This does not include any additional requirements for video memory, which essentially become far greater as you add monitors.

A single 270 won't even begin to cut the mustard in my opinion.

I have two 7970s in my 3 x 1080p setup, and it does fine with some games, but can't handle others. I've just purchased a big CPU upgrade (4790k from a FX-8350) and hoping that helps, as others seem to think it will.

 

[Puppies04]

R9 270 will tank on frame rates even on low settings with 3 1080P panels. Don't do it.

 

[dfuze]

I "can" steal a 2nd 270 from my son's pc that I put in it when I stopped mining (he still mostly plays minecraft)

Have either of you tried 3 monitor gaming, are the extra pixels of immersion worth the trouble?

 

[cbrunny]

I've never played BF4 so I can't comment on that. But I did play FFXIV for a while and found the extra screen space to be really useful for menus, maps, and just for extra viewing. 5 x 1080p in portrait is where it's at, if you can get there (many thousands of dollars). 3 x 1080p in landscape is pretty cool too though.

If you game game game all day, go for it. What I typically do is figure out what the cost per day over a year of usage would be for any upgrade, and decide that way. It works for me but may not work for others.

Lately I've been wishing that instead of eyefinity, I went with a single 1440 or 1600 monitor instead. Once 4K becomes more common I'm sure I'll sell my monitors and get a decent 4K monitor.

 

[Puppies04]

I "can" steal a 2nd 270 from my son's pc that I put in it when I stopped mining (he still mostly plays minecraft)

Have either of you tried 3 monitor gaming, are the extra pixels of immersion worth the trouble?

I would imagine that your major issue is going to be caused by the memory interface on those cards. Running them in crossfire is going to do nothing to help you as the memory will just be mirrored. Not saying it won't run on very low settings but is it really worth the game looking like a pile of crap and suffering from slow downs just to gain extra pixels?

I have played on 3 screens before and with the right set up it is pretty cool but you really need a top end card. Even then you are going to run into trouble with a lot of games. It isn't quite the same but have you considered running your games on a 27" higher resolution panel and keeping another panel or 2 for extra desktop space? Will work out cheaper and give better performance in the long run.

 

[dfuze]

You two bring up good points and options to think of. Wonder if the wife already knew that when she gave approval for more monitors LOL

 

[brandonb]

I'm currently using 2 monitors, my main 24" Asus VS247H-P and a spare 19" panel that I have sitting around the house. I'm thinking of getting another 2 of the Asus panels since gaming on 2 normal sized panels isn't good for FPS (I only use the Asus when FPS gaming).

My 2 questions:
1-For those of you who have made the leap from 1 to 3 monitors, has it been worth it?
2-I know my R9 270 isn't top of the line, but could it handle 3 monitors for say BF4? I know I'd have to turn down the settings, but currently it handles Ultra in my setup on 64 man servers without a hiccup.

1- No, I stopped using it 3 months after I purchased it. Most games do not support multi monitor. Only a few handful can work with it properly. The most impressive out of the bunch that I have was Dirt 3. But I am not a car driver gamer. It came with my video card. So I played it all of maybe 2 hours.
2 - I haven't played BF4 and only BF3 with mine. Worked pretty good. The framerate was still acceptable for me. I have a 7970 though which I don't know where that compares to your card.

 

[toughtrasher]

I wouldn't suggest it. It's not worth the frame drop

 

[Patre]

Does it make any difference whether using HDMI or DVI (except the no sound in DVI)??

 

[cbrunny]

Does it make any difference whether using HDMI or DVI (except the no sound in DVI)??

No

 

[dfuze]

Wow, did some checking last night, sadly it's cheaper for me to get another 2 of those 1080p monitors than 1 of the 1440p 27" ones.

 

[toughtrasher]

Wow, did some checking last night, sadly it's cheaper for me to get another 2 of those 1080p monitors than 1 of the 1440p 27" ones.

Yep, reason why I have 2 1080p ones instead of the slightly more pixels one. Games still look fantastic on 1080p though

 

[mizzou]

its enjoyable for a while...but honesty gamecontent these days is best viewed at 1080.; i prefer onebig screen over 3 mediocre ones

 

[inachu]

I went from 2 to 3 monitor setup and its pure fun and pure hell at the same time.
To avoid the hell part then make sure all your monitors are the same size no matter what!

Also make sure any dongle or connector is a active displayport. If you have an adapter and nothing works to make the 3 monitor turn on means your adapter is passive. I just bought an active displayport for around $30 and it was worth it.

I have 1 20 inch and 1 19 inch and 1 24 inch. trying to use EYEINFINITY will work but it will look messed up. All 3 have same resolution but the pc knows the true size and compensates for the size differences and makes the 19 inch into 800x640 mode no matter what changes I make on the software side. Would not go through that hell if all the monitors were the same.