Triple monitor setup?? HELP!!

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
B

Blumill

Honorable
Jan 4, 2013
13
0
10,510
Hello everyone,

I am about to begin ordering parts for my new PC, but i am somewhat confused on triple monitor setups.

I plan on playing Forza or Gran Turismo on 3 x 27 inch screens but I dont know what I need in order to accomplish this.

Do I need two Graphics cards? Does it depend on the screen res of the monitors? I am so confused...

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated, thanks.
 
Solution
master_chen
AMD's "Eyefinity" works much better for triple-monitor (up to six monitors, actually) setups and you won't be needing more than one card.
Just get any Radeon HD 78xx-level (or higher) card with at least 2GB of memory on-board, and you're good to go with almost everything on maximal graphical settings and maximum resolution (as long as your monitors aren't "2560x1440" ones, lol) while at triple-monitor setup.

Of course, it is obvious that the higher the end resolution setting would be, the more demanding your setup would be, but for absolute majority of the time just one card of such level as HD 7870/HD 7970 would be more than enough.
Though it is essential that you have enough video ports in it to be able to connect at least three...
Sort by date Sort by votes
AMD's "Eyefinity" works much better for triple-monitor (up to six monitors, actually) setups and you won't be needing more than one card.
Just get any Radeon HD 78xx-level (or higher) card with at least 2GB of memory on-board, and you're good to go with almost everything on maximal graphical settings and maximum resolution (as long as your monitors aren't "2560x1440" ones, lol) while at triple-monitor setup.

Of course, it is obvious that the higher the end resolution setting would be, the more demanding your setup would be, but for absolute majority of the time just one card of such level as HD 7870/HD 7970 would be more than enough.
Though it is essential that you have enough video ports in it to be able to connect at least three monitors, so try to pick that one model that has enough ports.
Personally, I would recommend getting this or this for a quality Eyefinity setup.
Also, the best type of monitor connection these days is DisplayPort (second best being the Dual-Link DVI).
So if you want to have everything out of it, connect your main monitor only through DP (you can connect other two through DVI/HDMI just fine).
Also, remember that the game itself must support triple-monitor modes, otherwise there's no point in using triple-monitor setups just for gaming.
Also, make sure that your PSU is powerful enough to feed such setups, since triple-monitor setups tend to eat quite much more energy than just one-monitor builds.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution

I can't agree with this. I have a 7850 right now and can NOT do any games on max settings on 4800x1200. I most likely will end up getting a 7950 because 3gb of VRAM will help out a lot more.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

What part of "almost everything" you didn't get? "Almost" isn't "everything", you know?
It heavily depends on what you play. Of course you wouldn't be able to "max out triple-monitor" something like Max Payne 3/Sleeping Dogs/Far Cry 3 with just one 3GB-card. :\
But for those particular games he mentioned it would be more than enough (as long as he doesn't use "2560x1440" monitors, lol).
Also, re-read my post carefully - I've recommended both 2GB and 3GB variants to him. I'm not stupid, ya know...
It all boils down to how much he's willing to spend to get high-quality Eyefinity setup.
I'm assuming that since he's getting three monitors, he can pretty much allow himself to buy at least one "250~350$" card.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote

I apologize but I'm just basing it off personal experience; Out of my large library of games I have more that I can't max oppose to ones I can.

Out of curiosity if one couldn't max Sleeping Dogs with a single 7950 due to VRAM, doesn't that mean I couldn't max it with two? I always thought crossfiring doesn't share VRAM amoungst the cards.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Well, actually...first version of Eyefinity worked horribly with CFX setups.
I seriously don't know how things are right now (after "Eyefinity 2.0" came out, which is basically an optimization), because I haven't tested such setups myself (several CFXed Radeons in combo with "Eyefinity 2.0", I mean), but as far as first Eyefinity goes - better not.

P.S. You can max out Sleeping Dogs on Eyefinity setup with just one card. If you get this, lol. %)

P.P.S. You're still using "1600x1200" monitors? LOL, that's some very good NECs you have there, brah. %)
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Ok so what you guys are saying is I need a Radeon HD high end 7 series with 3gb,
I understand that but what I dont understand is the res of the monitors to the graphics card. aka (as long as your monitors aren't "2560x1440" ones, lol) What does this mean? What monitor specs am I looking for.

-And yes you are correct money isnt really a problem considering itll be a grand for the monitors alone
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
I am willing to go to $500 for a single card unless I need two.
- But would this work?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150586

@MasterChen i noticed you only referenced Sapphire cards, is that something i should think about?

And im still confused on what monitors I should be looking for?
would this work?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236103

This is ONLY for Forza Racing.


-i7 2600K, with swiftech triple 120mm stand alone WC system
-ASUS P8Z77 V-PRO
-32GB RAM 1600mhz
-850-1000W PSU havnt decided yet
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


It's just your monitor's maximum resolution, man. %)
The higher you make it in the game's graphic settings, the better picture's quality will be, but will also eat much more RAM and GPU's memory. Simple as that.
"2560x1440" monitors are BEASTS, if you're making triple-monitor setup with them and also want to max everything out on such setup you'll need quite of a beefy card, brah.


You really don't have to pay that much for a very capable, "quality Eyefinity" video card.
But if you want such expensive card anyway, going "ALL BALLS OUTTA WALL!!", then definitely get this (You can find it for less money at some places) and you pretty much can forget about everything, just cramping settings up to max with any monitors and completely forgetting about the thing, lol. %)


Yes you should. At the current moment their stuff's the best for such kind of thing you want to do.



So you haven't picked/ordered ANYTHING YET, AT ALL!? Oh boy... %)



Awwwww, maaaaaan... %)))))))))))))))

P.S. You DON'T need to have a "1000W" PSU for something like that. You'll be more than fine with almost any 750W PSU that has "Silver" or "Gold" level of efficiency.
This, for example, would be a perfect choice in your case.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Well i am waiting to order my monitors because I dont want the card I get to go to waste.

I dont think I need a $600 card for the game I plan on using it for (not forza 4, just any racing game/sim) which i heard doesnt need that crazy of a card.

-would 3 of these monitors work?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236103

-With this card?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008

And thanks on the PSU input I honestly didnt know what I needed, just ordered the Corsair in the link, good look man.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
1. Those monitors aren't bad at all, yeah, you can pretty much get those.

2. That card isn't bad, but better get that "HD 7950 Flex 2" I've recommended you at the beginning of the thread, if you want to spend more than 300$.

P.S. You probably should also read this (especially latest part, on "Flex").
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Don't ask me. I don't play those games.
Maybe they were announced for PC, I dunno. Or he found a way to (somehow) translate image through PC, onto multiple monitors, while playing from X-Box.
There's a video of that on Youtube, at AMD's booth on E3 2011. Maybe he thinks he can recreate that at home, or something, I dunno...
I have a couple of thoughts about it on my mind, but I won't tell. %)


P.S. Ridge Racer Forever! %)

P.P.S. Rrrriiidge Racer. Rrrrrrrrrrrrriiiiiidge Racerrr!!!11

 
Upvote 0 Downvote


Its for Racing Sims in general and yes, you are correct, forza and gran turismo are not on pc
Idk why I kept saying forza, sorry for the confusion.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Maybe because you want to play it that much?
Anyway, I'm not sure, but looks like there's a way to play Forza on PC.
Though I won't be giving in details, because that way's probably illegal. If you want to play Forza that much, you'll have to look for that info by yourself.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


Haha No it's all good. The game I'm creating this setup for is iRacing. I do miss forza though. Gonna have to dust off the xbox until my monitors arrive.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Are you sure that iRacing supports triple-monitor setups like "Eyefinity"? As I said before, such setups would work perfectly only in the case if the game itself supports it.
Of course, you can use triple-monitor setup outside games just fine (like for extending desktop and etc), but if game (you're building your setup for) doesn't support such setup by default, then what's the point of building such setup solely for gaming? You should check info on which racing/driving games support triple-monitor setups, before spending your money.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote



Yeah it does. That would be silly to make a racing game that doesn't support multiple monitors IMO. Seems like waste to me.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote


The technologies itself appeared not so long ago. There are tons of games which don't support neither "Eyefinity", nor Nvidia's "3D Vision". Even some of the most freshest ones.

Here is (almost) complete list of all games that support "Eyefinity" at this current moment, you'd better read it carefully and make notes. I didn't find iRacing there... :\

I've gone and picked out all racing/driving games out of that list, for you, so that you'll get a picture of what you should get, to play:
Dirt 2
Dirt 3
Dirt: Showdown
F1 2010
F1 2012
Need For Speed World
Need for Speed: Shift
Need For Speed: Shift 2
Need for Speed: The Run
RaceDriver: GRID
Test Drive: Ferrari Legends

Of course, I'm not saying that iRacing doesn't support triple-monitor setups, I'm just assuming that it's too fresh (appeared recently) and/or haven't been added to AMD's list yet.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom