Thinking about 3D gaming. Input needed!

[Carfax83]

OK my 30 inch monitor is on it's last legs it looks like :'( It has vertical green bands/stripes on the right side, and I already tried switching video cards and the problem was still there so it's definitely the monitor.

And I'm also out of warranty, so I'm going to have to buy a new monitor. At first I was thinking about getting a Dell U2711 or something similar, but then I thought of how I always wanted to try 3D gaming.

So basically, I'm looking for input from people that have 3D vision/vision 2 set ups, or have experienced playing on such. I already have several 3D ready games, ie Mafia 2, Batman Arkham City/Asylum, Metro 2033, Witcher 2 etc....

Also I have 2x GTX 580s, so I don't think GPU power will be a problem assuming I do end up getting a 3D gaming monitor....or at least I hope not.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

dude you need to push 120 fps to 3d game

 

[Leopardos]

Get it, its worth the money, and you get 120Hz anyway if you want to use it non 3D too..

 

[PrincessFrosty]

I actually ran a 30" IPS panel as well, mine didn't die but I wanted to move to 120hz for more responsive gaming, and 3D was just a good bonus on top of that.

To me 3D in all forms has always been a bit of a gimmick and I'm generally not a fan of 3D at the cinema, so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised by the experience.

Nvidia Vision 2 is really great, I'd highly recommend getting the Vision 2 set with a Vision ready monitor, it provides a much better 3D experience with less ghosting/crosstalk, brighter image and less flicker, IMO if you're going to do it then do it "properly".

I'm pleased with 3D experience so far, it was very easy to set up, the quality is very good, a lot of games are supported although there is sometimes graphics bugs in games. The games that are built for 3D are really impressive, Trine 2 was especially impressive, and the Batman games as well, the best games for 3D tend to be racing and 3rd person games, anything with decent perspective between foreground and background, 1st person shooters tend to feel less impressive.

I was a bit disappointed with Skyrim not working well with unavoidable shadow bugs and no support for Saints Row the Third at all, I bought Warhammer 40,000 Space Marine in the steam sale only to later find there was no 3D support. Other times you get non 3D games which just happen to work very well anyway even older games, I really enjoyed Flatout 2, it even worked well with Broken Sword 3.

With PowerDVD you can also use the kit for 3D movies which was an equally effortless experience, the auto detection for both the glasses and the type of 3D used in the 3D media was excellent. It's piqued my interest about doing 3D in the living room powered from the PC, I'm looking at potentially replacing my 1080p projector with a 120hz in the near future.

 

[Aikouka]

I use an ASUS VG278H 3D Vision 2 monitor, and it works fairly well. My only complaint compared to my Dell U2709W is that the monitor's viewing angles aren't as good. If I decide to lean back in my chair and relax while watching a video, the video will be noticeably darker on the ASUS monitor. This does not occur if I use the Dell monitor.

This obviously isn't a problem if you're gaming.

Also, last time I checked, the ASUS monitor was only $600 at NewEgg, which is the cheapest that I've seen it. It includes the glasses, which last I saw cost about $85 at Amazon. ASUS's normal 27" monitors cost about $250-300, so it's around a $200 premium for the 120Hz + 3D capability.

To note, you have to turn off 3D Vision manually in Windows. I put the icons on my desktop to do it.

 

[fatpat268]

You don't *need* 120 fps to game in 3D... only if you use a 120hz active display. There are 3d passive monitors out there that render at 60hz (I have one). You lose half of your vertical resolution, but it isn't a huge deal for me for the few times I use 3D.

I have an ASUS vg23ah, it's 3D and IPS for under $300... probably small for most here at 23 inches though.

 

[Aikouka]

You don't *need* 120 fps to game in 3D... only if you use a 120hz active display. There are 3d passive monitors out there that render at 60hz (I have one). You lose half of your vertical resolution, but it isn't a huge deal for me for the few times I use 3D.

Do those work natively with nVision 3D? I'm guessing that they could be designed to work with it just fine as long as they accept a 120Hz signal, but actually pool every 2 frames and display them using the typical alternate-line polarization that's used with passive displays.

Unfortunately, I would assume that only projectors and DLPs (since they are projectors with built-in screens ) are capable of full-resolution passive stereoscopy 3D.

I have an ASUS vg23ah, it's 3D and IPS for under $300... probably small for most here at 23 inches though.

Is that nVision 3D 2? A lot of people rave about the dynamic brightness provided by version 2 monitors as it raises the brightness while using 3D (since 3D glasses will dim your vision). I've never used a version 1 monitor, so I can't tell the difference with my VG278h.

 

[moonbogg]

VG278 here and its great really. 3D vision 2 is fantastic, and movies especially are very awesome in 3D at 1080p. Transformers was completely badass in 3D (seriously). Gaming is good, but I hate playing FPS games in 3D. Its just hard to get used to. Burnout paradise is tons of fun in 3D.
I tried BF3, and while the GPUs are good enough for 3D, the CPU can't push enough frames to provide a good 3D experience. I thought playing in 3D increases load on the GPUs and I think I was wrong for thinking that. Whatever your PC can do FPS wise, 3D simply takes half of those frames and delivers them to each eye. So if you are CPU limited and getting 60fps, your GPUs will not load up more in 3D. Instead, you will still be CPU limited and only get half the FPS (correct if wrong).
I play in 2D most of the time and the 120hz is more than worth it. 3D is a nice bonus for movies and the occasional 3D game.
Proper monitor calibration has really helped the image quality. I used one of those spider calibrators and it really removed the washed out look the monitor had. Contrast and colors are better and more accurate now.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Playing in 3D just requires a higher frame rate, for games which have engines calculating new game states for each frame you'll incur more CPU usage as well as GPU usage, not all games are like that however, some have fixed tick rates, doom 3 off the top of my head is locked at 60.

CPU bottlenecks are more of a problem because most engines don't have settings you can change that greatly change the load on your CPU, you can always tone down graphics settings if your GPU struggles but with CPUs your only option is to overclock or upgrade.

 

[QuantumPion]

I have the first gen 3dvision. I've pretty much never used it after the first couple of days playing with it.

a) only games that are 100% designed for it really work. Any glitch or bug like shadows or reflections not working ruin it and make it unusable. The number of games designed for 3dvision can be counted on 1 hand (batman, trine, couple others).
b) first person shooters don't work at all. can't aim at anything properly due to parallax.
c) after 2 years, 3d videos (i.e. youtube) still don't work.

That said I love my 120 hz monitor.

 

[Aikouka]

c) after 2 years, 3d videos (i.e. youtube) still don't work.

I can never get 3D YouTube videos to work either. I wonder if it's because I have two monitors and only one supports 3D? I remember trying to watch a video in 3D, and eventually, I just went to my HTPC downstairs, turned 3D on my TV and it worked without a problem. :|

 

[Carfax83]

Hey guys, looks like I may be able to get an extended warranty on my monitor I'll know whether I'll be approved early next week..

I hope I do get approved. Although this would have given me a good excuse to get a 3D gaming set up, dropping all the way down to 1080p from 1600p would have been really difficult for me I think.

Plus, aren't all the 120Hz monitors TN?

 

[wuliheron]

I recommend the http://www.mtbs3d.com/ website. They're the largest and most comprehensive website for everything stereoscopic 3D. They even rate games according to how good they look in 3D.

The technology is complex and diverse to say the least, but Nvidia definitely has the among the best and most reliable systems out there. The drawback is they are proprietary and you need to commit to using their monitors and graphics cards.

Size does matter for S3D. Watching tiney tiny spaceships or whatever fly out of a small monitor just doesn't have the same immersion. The soon to be released 55" LG OLED has undoubtedly the best screen for anything including brain surgery, but it costs $8,000.oo. Check out the reviews at MTBS3D for monitors which can run anywhere from $800.oo on down.

 

[KaOTiK]

I've had my setup for like 2 years now and like it a lot. Some games are just awesome in 3D. I don't recommend playing anything truly competitive though with it, but for single player? Pure awesomeness. It does require a bit of a beefy PC to get good frame rates doing 3D but it is well worth it.

 

[Carfax83]

OK I didn't qualify for the extended warranty, and my monitor is getting worse (now the entire screen is turning green) so I decided to go ahead and buy a new monitor. :|

So I thought about the 3D set up, and I decided that as tempting as 3D gaming is, there's no way I could drop down to 1080p after being at 1600p for so long. I love gaming, but I don't game often enough to justify down grading to 1080p for general use..

So I went ahead and bought a Yamakasi Catleap Q270 SE 27 inch LED monitor.

This is amongst the cheapest 27 inch monitor S-IPS panel you can find, with a very low response time. (6ms). I checked the reviews on it before I bought it of course, and they were for overwhelmingly positive. I also bought the SquareTrade extended warranty, just in case it dies on me after the manufacturer warranty expires.

 

[LurkerPrime]

Before you go and get a new monitor, have you tried switching out the cable?

 

[Carfax83]

Before you go and get a new monitor, have you tried switching out the cable?

Yep, did that already. Also tried a different video card as well..

It's definitely the monitor.....much to my dismay, because I really love this monitor :|

 

[fatpat268]

Do those work natively with nVision 3D? I'm guessing that they could be designed to work with it just fine as long as they accept a 120Hz signal, but actually pool every 2 frames and display them using the typical alternate-line polarization that's used with passive displays.

Unfortunately, I would assume that only projectors and DLPs (since they are projectors with built-in screens ) are capable of full-resolution passive stereoscopy 3D.

It doesn't 'natively' support nvidia's 3d solution, but you can install a hacked edid driver from a passive monitor that did (which is dead simple to do...).

I tried iz3d before I did the edid hack, and when I enabled 3d, I got terrible performance... presumably because it was trying to push 120 fps. Nvidia does something... different. The effect is a little different, but it's still adjustable.

Is that nVision 3D 2? A lot of people rave about the dynamic brightness provided by version 2 monitors as it raises the brightness while using 3D (since 3D glasses will dim your vision). I've never used a version 1 monitor, so I can't tell the difference with my VG278h.

No, I don't think so, and the monitor isn't officially supported anyway. As far as brightness, yes you sacrifice a little bit (all polarized solution, afaik sacrifice a little bit of brightness), but I remedy that by switching the monitor into game or movie mode which raises the contrast and brightness levels.