13 replies to this topic

[Fixedgeariain]

Okay, so....I want to finally branch into Surround/Eyefinity style gaming across 3 24 inch screens.

total resolution will be 5760 x 1080.

I am currently running two 460GTX 1GB's in SLI and am wondering if this will be enough for let's say TF2, Minecraft, Guild Wars 2, Aion, and BFBC2?

I know that unless I upgrade I wont get stellar performance in newer games that have amazing graphics.


If I had a budget of about $350 give or take...what should I upgrade to?
Kind of lost trying to be frugal and run this sort of display setup...

[xPETEZx]

Have you already got the 3 screens? If so, just try it.
Imo, that should be enough grunt to run those games just fine.

I would not buy any new graphics cards before you have tested if you are happy with the performance.

[t0asty]

Is there anyone you know that has three screens and you could go try it out? I thought it was awesome for a few months, but now I just find myself gaming on the center monitor and only using the other 2 for multitasking when it comes time to it. 460's in SLI won't be able to max out many games, but you will be more than playable I would think. Even with two unlocked 6950's I have trouble in some games. My ultimate goal (and by the time I even get this set up, I hope it would be supported) is to have a 30" center in landscape flanked by two 20's in portrate mode. mmmm

[Fixedgeariain]

Well, I already run BF3 at amazing (to my eyes) settings on a single screen so I don't forsee games like that being an issue.
The new monitor will be obtained Thursday after work (On sale at local Compusa).

I'm mainly going to be doing A LOT of multi-tasking (Ableton Live/FL Studio/Acid Pro/Serato SL)
However, games like Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, Minecraft, Guild Wars 2 are my top priority in gaming.

Guild Wars 2 runs amazingly well (Full detail/settings) on a single 9600GT, Core2Quad, 4GB DDR2 without issue so I am guessing I should be able to do 3 screen span on my dualies.


Thanks for the help guys!

[suedenim]

Apart from Metro 2033 my 5850 handles most games I've thrown at it (albeit at ~5300x1050)

[mattyamdfanboi]

3 screens is different to one screen fixedgeariain...

my gtx 580s could handle 1 screen no problem.. but 3 screens?? not enough vram to put the textures to max..

[Prunes]

It going to be the vram that'll hold you back. I believe to get good results you need an absolute minimum of 2GB, which still won't be enough for great results.

[El_Capitan]

My dual GTX 570's was able to hold it's own pretty decently at 5760 x 1200. Dual GTX 580's 1.5GB's even better, and I'm sure my dual GTX 580 3GB's are even better (I game at 2560 x 1600 now). VRAM will be your final bottleneck, but you won't get that far unless you have cards powerful enough to handle the rendering.

Still, those games don't need powerful cards to run. I'd try getting a on a single HD 7970 around $400, or else just keep waiting. It's not worth it to go and buy two GTX 560 Ti 2GB's to put in SLI.

[suedenim]

I think VRAM is only an issue for very high detail settings and AA candy etc. Look at the results of the 680 vs 7970 at multi-monitor resolutions.

[Rofltroll]

Wait for the 680 4GB to come out and you'll be able to run games well on a 3 monitor setup. Until then I think you'll be fine with 2x460, though you might want to play games at high and not at ultra. Perhaps if you run 1600 rez on all 3 you might be able to get away with setting some of the details on Ultra.

[xPETEZx]

Is there anyone you know that has three screens and you could go try it out? I thought it was awesome for a few months, but now I just find myself gaming on the center monitor and only using the other 2 for multitasking when it comes time to it. 460's in SLI won't be able to max out many games, but you will be more than playable I would think. Even with two unlocked 6950's I have trouble in some games. My ultimate goal (and by the time I even get this set up, I hope it would be supported) is to have a 30" center in landscape flanked by two 20's in portrate mode. mmmm

I currently have 20"+24"+20" and using SoftTH you can play with odd resolutions over 3 screens. However just like you said, you quickly realise its a gimick, and playing on 1 screen is preferable.
However I woundt give the 2x 20"'s back! Love em for multi-tasking.

I too am looking for a deal on a 30" (preferable a Dell 3007) to go along with my 2x 20"!

[El_Capitan]

I too am looking for a deal on a 30" (preferable a Dell 3007) to go along with my 2x 20"!

I got my Dell 3007 for $400.