New GPU and monitors. Bigscreen or 3d?

[robomath]

I am looking into getting a new GPU, and I had a few questions I wanted to run by the community.
First, here is my setup.
i5 @ 3.30GHz
8GB RAM
Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 mobo
Nvidia gtx 460 768MB
2-mismatched 20" monitors.

My next upgrade is my GPU, and I've been eyeing the GTX 670 and 680s.

My question is, 3d surround, or go with a bigger (+32") monitor.
With that question I have sub questions.

If I got with the 3d surround, will the newer 370/380s run 3 monitors on one gpu? Or do I have to SLI?
If it can run 3 on one GPU, will the performance drop?
If I have to SLI, what is a good alternative to buy 2 cards for around the same price range?

With the larger monitor, I wonder if it will be a better gaming experience vs 3-monitors.
What are the specs I'd look at if I wanted to do a TV as a monitor besides 1080p?

Lastly, I've been an Nvidia fan for years, but I hear that some of the new AMD cards are stacking up ok, and can run multi-monitors on one card. What are the comparisons of those exactly?

Sorry for the wall of questions, but I appreciate this community a lot. You've helped me many times by me just lurking around on here.

 

[redeemer]

For 3D setup I would go for Nvidia, for multi panel I would go AMD Eyefinity. Now Two screens are better than one large in my opinion because you will have more resolution that way. The 670 can handle surround easily, but if you want to go multi panel+3D yeah pick up another 670 for SLI.

 

[jsrudd]

My vote is for one larger monitor rather than a multi monitor support. I have three screens attached to my desktop, but only game on one.

Regarding your questions:

Running three screens means pushing 5760 x 1080 pixels. This means that you will get much lower performance than a single display (even a large one) because there are so many more pixels.

Further, running in 3D will slow things down even further because it essentially halves your frame rate since each frame must be output separately for each eye.

As far as SLI goes you get a great bang for your buck with 2 670s.

The problem with gaming in surround is that a lot of titles don't support it perfectly. MW3 doesn't support it at all. Right now it might not be worth it unless you have a particular game in mind that you know will support multi monitor play (like a flight simulator or racing game).

The last thing I have to add, though not directly relevant, is that the only person that I know that does multi-monitor 3d bought a 690 to push those monitors because that's what he thought it would take to play what he wanted on high settings.

 

[ko888]

The GeForce GTX 680 and GeForce GTX 670 have the ability to drive four monitors by a single card (and hence 3D Vision Surround).

Mismatched monitors do not make for a good gaming experience.

When driving three 1080p monitors from a single card the frame rate, in many cases, is less than half that of when using a single 1080p monitor.

 

[rocknrollz]

I would go one big monitor @ 120Hz and another small one for non gaming use.

 

[robomath]

I think I'm convinced to start with a single 670 or 680, still can't decide, and go with one big monitor, and keep my older 20" as a side browsing monitor.

Well I pulled the trigger on a woot deal, got a 37" 1080p, 60MHz. Why not, lol. I just hope its not too big.