Three display setup performance

[whatnot]

Hi,

I've browsed through old threads and found some experiences but nothing too recent of multidisplay setup and as the patches have done major work on the graphics so I think it's better to check the latest state of affairs.

So what I'd like to do is a three display setup either with NVidia or ATI products. I've seen

this guy

and

that guy

doing it but due to a costly investment would like to learn more.

So what kind of gear do you need these days to achieve that GPU and CPU wise with maxed out setting?

Both NVidia and ATI have solutions for it, but which one would you recommend and why? (I know ATI has still some gfx glitches)

Can I achieve it with one card?

Thanks a million in advance!

[ACE-OF-ACES]

I use the MATROX Thripple Head 2 Go (TH2G)

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/pr...o/displayport/

Which basically makes my 3 monitors into 1 monitor as far as Windows is concerned

That is to say I have 3 x 1280x1024 montiors that TH2G makes into 1 x 3840x1024 monitor

Neat thing about using the TH2G is you only need one video card, where as some other multi monitor setups require two video cards, in that most video cards only have 2 DVI outputs, thus you need a 2nd card to provide the 3rd output.

Granted you need one 'good' video card to handle the large screen

[whatnot]

Originally Posted by ACE-OF-ACES

I use the MATROX Thripple Head 2 Go (TH2G)

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/pr...o/displayport/

Which basically makes my 3 monitors into 1 monitor as far as Windows is concerned

That is to say I have 3 x 1280x1024 montiors that TH2G makes into 1 x 3840x1024 monitor

Neat thing about using the TH2G is you only need one video card, where as some other multi monitor setups require two video cards, in that most video cards only have 2 DVI outputs, thus you need a 2nd card to provide the 3rd output.

Granted you need one 'good' video card to handle the large screen

Thanks for the hint. What kind of CPU / GPU power you have and what kind of performance do you get and with which settings?

[335th_GRAthos]

Originally Posted by ACE-OF-ACES

I use the MATROX Thripple Head 2 Go (TH2G)

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/pr...o/displayport/

Which basically makes my 3 monitors into 1 monitor as far as Windows is concerned

That is to say I have 3 x 1280x1024 montiors that TH2G makes into 1 x 3840x1024 monitor

Neat thing about using the TH2G is you only need one video card, where as some other multi monitor setups require two video cards, in that most video cards only have 2 DVI outputs, thus you need a 2nd card to provide the 3rd output.

Granted you need one 'good' video card to handle the large screen

+1

I have to be quick to mention that, unlike IL2FB, CoD does not support "three monitor view".


~S~

[whatnot]

Originally Posted by 335th_GRAthos

+1

I have to be quick to mention that, unlike IL2FB, CoD does not support "three monitor view".
~S~

What does that mean in practise?

How were those eyefinity setups done or does it emulate 'one big monitor' too like tripplehead2go?

[AirHog71]

Originally Posted by whatnot

What does that mean in practise?

How were those eyefinity setups done or does it emulate 'one big monitor' too like tripplehead2go?

Yes and no. Now I can only speak about ATI. I've never had an nVidia setup, not saying I wouldn't I've just always had ATI.

The software side is fairly straight forward. You first setup a display group extending the desktop space to all your screens. Then you setup an Eyefinity group where you set orientation. Then you can correct the bezel (I just leave it) and thats it.

The trickiest part for Eyefinity is the hardware side. Most of the current generation high end cards from both camps should be able to support 3 or more monitors on a single card.

I for example have got 2 Gigabyte 7970s in crossfire, but a single card has 4 display ports on the back: 1 x DVI, 2 x mini DVI and 1 x HDMI, it can have 4 screens attached.

This is what is needed to get it up and running.
http://youtu.be/O_dD4IjNGlA

The tricky part you will be faced with is sourcing the correct Display Port Adapter for your monitors. Almost all Eyefinity setups require an Active Display Port Adapter. I say almost because some brands of ATI cards don't.

Getting the correct adapter will depend on the brand of card you get and the type of monitors you have. If possible use the same make and model of monitor, it will save time.

Now there are varying types of adapters available:

Active and Passive
Digital and Analogue
Different adapters for different resolutions and refresh rates.

Do your research, fortunately ATI have a list of adapters that are certified for all cards, if go with that and you should be right.

http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/...y-dongles.aspx

As for the cost, well it all depends on how resourceful you are. For me, I don't buy 2nd hand. So I spent $900 on the 3 monitors, a card will set you back $500 to $700 depending on what you choose, and the adapters can be $60 - $120 depending on what you need.

If I was to build an Eyefinity setup now, and could only afford one card, I would buy this one:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=21626

6GB of vram ensures you've got plenty for a triple screen setup for years to come.

Good luck.

[whatnot]

Originally Posted by AirHog71

Yes and no. Now I can only speak about ATI. I've never had an nVidia setup, not saying I wouldn't I've just always had ATI.

Do you have graphics glitches with ATI these days running Clod? I've seen reports of dashed lines in the horizon etc but I'm not sure if they've got it fixed with the new engine.

I've always been in the nVidia camp but don't mind changing if ATI can offer a better overall solution.

Originally Posted by AirHog71

If I was to build an Eyefinity setup now, and could only afford one card, I would buy this one:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=21626

6GB of vram ensures you've got plenty for a triple screen setup for years to come.

One card for the whole lot does sound quite tempting as it would cut down the costs and simplify things quite a bit. And it supports four screens it seems. I wonder if it's possible to set up three as one and then have one 'control screen' for navigating windows and clod menus and then just render the game on the grouped three screens?

Thanks a lot for your insight on this issue!

[AirHog71]

Originally Posted by 335th_GRAthos

+1

I have to be quick to mention that, unlike IL2FB, CoD does not support "three monitor view".


~S~

What do you mean? I can natively select my three screen resolution inside CoD without needing to change the config file. That's not the case with IL-2.

[335th_GRAthos]

Originally Posted by 335th_GRAthos

+1

I have to be quick to mention that, unlike IL2FB, CoD does not support "three monitor view".

All games show you the "front view" that is the view when you are looking straight ahead.
This view is more limited than your real life:

...humans have a maximum horizontal field of view of approximately 200 degrees with two eyes, approximately 120 degrees of which makes up the binocular field of view (seen by both eyes) flanked by two uniocular fields (seen by only one eye) of approximately 40 degrees.

What I think they mean is that, whilst the horizontal FoV using both eyes is 200 degrees, only 120 degrees of this is simultaneously seen with both eyes. In other words, the left eye sees an additional 40 degress on the left which is invisible to the right eye, and the right eye sees an additional 40 degrees of the field on the right, which is invisible to the left eye.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binocular_vision)

To cut the long story short, this is much more than the FOV you see in the monitor in front of you.


Some games, and IL2 was one of them, have the option (in CONF.INI) to make the game render not only the "front view" but, the "left side view" and the "right side view" as well, at the same time.

This tripples the field of view you can normaly see in a game.
The disadvantage is that you can not enjoy this on a flat screen in front of you; You need three separate monitors and you have to incline the outside monitors toward you otherwise, the view may look very strange. It is difficult to explain but here is a picture of how strange it looks if you keep the monitors in front of you instead of inclining them:


The other disadvantage is that you need a very good graphics card because the game has to render three times more information that before (needless to say that the later is the reason why CoD fails to provide the three monitor view).

This been said, there is a way to adjust the field of view in CoD (using the mouse) to make it wide in order to resemble the three monitor view however it is a rather clumbersome way for my taste and it makes it impractical for dogfight situation where you have to switch from "zoomed in" to "wide view" while tracking the enemy and estimating the required lead for deflection shots.

~S~

[FS~Phat]

I wouldnt bother upgrading to triple screen just for CLOD. It doest work well enough to justify it even with my madly modded and overclocked system running 4way SLI. I have to lower settings to get it smooth and above 25FPS at 6048x1080 with 3x24" monitors. Its stilll very playable but its not as smooth or detailed as a single screen.

Lots of other games work well with 3 screens though including the old IL2 1946.
Here's an old video I made with a very early version of CLOD. The latest retail patch runs better but its not consistently smooth enough to justify running 3 screens. If you do go down the 3 screen path for CLOD you will need 3GB vram video cards as a minimum as it uses 2.5GB Vram at 6048x1080.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbJfvrd553U&feature=plcp