Author Topic: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?  (Read 16845 times)

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Offline Kavik

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Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« on: Wed, 10 July 2019, 09:23:16 »
This has long been a curiosity of mine. I recently came into possession of two identical 21.5" 60 Hz 1080p monitors with display port connectors. This is in addition to my 24" 144 Hz 1080p monitor. My GPU is a GTX 980 reference model.

Would the size and refresh rate discrepancies between my center monitor and the two peripheral ones cause any problems, either technical or perceptual? Has anyone played games with triple monitors, and is it worth it? One thing I'm worried about is that everything on the peripheral monitors might be stretched out weird like a fish eye lens; this already happens when I turn up the FOV in games.
Maybe they're waiting for gasmasks and latex to get sexy again.

The world has become a weird place.

Offline tp4tissue

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #1 on: Wed, 10 July 2019, 11:07:59 »
they all have to run at the same frequency while playing the game, the 144hz monitor supports 60hz.

Ultra wide Curved is the way to go for games that take advantage of FOV for immersion.

Offline Leslieann

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #2 on: Wed, 10 July 2019, 18:05:36 »
Most games are not setup for 2 screens, much less three.

And yes, your fears are exactly what is likely to happen when it works at all. Very few game sat all support 3 screens, most don't even allow for two. Some companies are now even making it difficult to use ultra wides and duals purposely because of the FOV advantage it gives those with the screens.
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Offline Legonut

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #3 on: Sat, 13 July 2019, 01:31:02 »
3 Monitors basically only works for flight sims and racers. Those games are usually setup properly for 3 monitors, and refresh rate isn't as critical. You will be limited to 60hz across all 3 screens, and won't be able to get 144 on the center one (at least not as of a few years ago). There will be a fish eye effect, but it's really not that bad. You already have all the hardware, try it out!

Offline captainkai

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #4 on: Sat, 13 July 2019, 01:42:15 »
3 Monitors basically only works for flight sims and racers. Those games are usually setup properly for 3 monitors, and refresh rate isn't as critical. You will be limited to 60hz across all 3 screens, and won't be able to get 144 on the center one (at least not as of a few years ago). There will be a fish eye effect, but it's really not that bad. You already have all the hardware, try it out!

I'm also pretty sure you're limited to 60hz.  The fisheye effect isn't that bad on a racing game and even in something like Skyrim since your primary focus is the center monitor anyway. 
Keep in mind that since you have an Nvidia card you'll probably need to enable the "Span displays with Surround" option in your Nvidia control panel, which is kind of a huge pain since you typically need to do this when playing a game, then disable it to go back to using your monitors normally.

That said, I moved from a tripe monitor setup to a 3440x1440 ultrawide and I don't think I'd ever be able to go back.

Offline Sintpinty

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #5 on: Sun, 14 July 2019, 07:47:09 »
Triple vertical monitors sounds cool to me, or playing .io games on a vertical monitor would be interesting.

Offline Kavik

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #6 on: Thu, 05 September 2019, 10:54:49 »
I finally got this setup, and, while it looks cool, my initial impression is that it's useless.

1. It's a pain to switch back and forth between Nvidia Surround when playing games and just using the desktop. When I uncheck the box, one of my monitors always chooses the wrong resolution (and Nvidia control panel doesn't list the native resolution in the dropdown, so I have to do it in Windows display settings), and I have to reset the primary monitor each time.
2. The sides are indeed very stretched, and everything appears closer than it actually is. In FPS games, this is rather distracting/disorienting when turning fast (I guess Nvidia's Perspective Surround tech never caught on either, so this may never be fixed).
3. Even if the perspective were correct, I'd still have to turn my head or eyes to look at the other monitors which means taking my eyes off the action.

I haven't played much with them, so these are just initial impressions. I suppose it might help in seeing enemies sneaking up from the sides, but the perspective/distance issue might throw me off more than it would help.
Maybe they're waiting for gasmasks and latex to get sexy again.

The world has become a weird place.

Offline Sniping

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 05 September 2019, 20:26:56 »
it's gimmicky to me. a decade ago we didn't have all these crazy monitors on the market, so people would run triple monitors to a monitor setup that you couldn't emulate because you couldn't use a TV in the past and ultrawides didn't exist.

Offline Sintpinty

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #8 on: Fri, 06 September 2019, 13:16:36 »
This has long been a curiosity of mine. I recently came into possession of two identical 21.5" 60 Hz 1080p monitors with display port connectors. This is in addition to my 24" 144 Hz 1080p monitor. My GPU is a GTX 980 reference model.

Would the size and refresh rate discrepancies between my center monitor and the two peripheral ones cause any problems, either technical or perceptual? Has anyone played games with triple monitors, and is it worth it? One thing I'm worried about is that everything on the peripheral monitors might be stretched out weird like a fish eye lens; this already happens when I turn up the FOV in games.


My personal suggestion is to put 3 vertical monitors and then line them up... big screen i guess.


Not needed but i'd love to do that

Offline Sintpinty

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #9 on: Fri, 06 September 2019, 13:19:08 »
I finally got this setup, and, while it looks cool, my initial impression is that it's useless.

1. It's a pain to switch back and forth between Nvidia Surround when playing games and just using the desktop. When I uncheck the box, one of my monitors always chooses the wrong resolution (and Nvidia control panel doesn't list the native resolution in the dropdown, so I have to do it in Windows display settings), and I have to reset the primary monitor each time.
2. The sides are indeed very stretched, and everything appears closer than it actually is. In FPS games, this is rather distracting/disorienting when turning fast (I guess Nvidia's Perspective Surround tech never caught on either, so this may never be fixed).
3. Even if the perspective were correct, I'd still have to turn my head or eyes to look at the other monitors which means taking my eyes off the action.

I haven't played much with them, so these are just initial impressions. I suppose it might help in seeing enemies sneaking up from the sides, but the perspective/distance issue might throw me off more than it would help.

I just mute the sound anyways due to my crap integrated speakers

Offline Sintpinty

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #10 on: Fri, 06 September 2019, 13:23:22 »
Dual won't cut it. I once played minecraft on a dual monitor for a week and that was wack

Offline noisyturtle

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #11 on: Mon, 23 December 2019, 22:20:33 »
Sims only, otherwise it's a hindrance. I tried playing fps games on triple monitor setups and it hurts your game having to move your head even that small amount.

Offline Cloverdale

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #12 on: Thu, 26 December 2019, 15:21:19 »
Sims only, otherwise it's a hindrance. I tried playing fps games on triple monitor setups and it hurts your game having to move your head even that small amount.

I'd rather not even run dual monitors for productivity even if they are useful, simply for the head turning fatigue. But an extra monitor in portrait mode especially can be handy or even required, I get it. I just don't find it pleasurable to actually use.

Offline Kavik

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #13 on: Fri, 27 December 2019, 13:03:30 »
Sims only, otherwise it's a hindrance. I tried playing fps games on triple monitor setups and it hurts your game having to move your head even that small amount.

This is the conclusion I came to after just a few sessions. The peripheral monitors are too distorted to be useful, and I noticed that I never turned my head or moved my eyes to the other monitors anyway, so I just leave them up for browsing between matches or using a map or something now.
Maybe they're waiting for gasmasks and latex to get sexy again.

The world has become a weird place.

Offline tp4tissue

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #14 on: Sat, 28 December 2019, 09:13:43 »
Ultrawide is prolly the way to go for immersion, buhhh it's a huge waste of processing power due to the way the human vision system works.


Offline 4sStylZ

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #15 on: Sat, 28 December 2019, 20:46:56 »
I have a Samsung CHG90 32/9 49” curved 3840×1080px 144hz. This is litteraly 2×34” and this is awesome for 900 bucks.
I wouldn't take a larger one really…

It's cool for many games, sim racing for sure are perfect but also fps. Also I am probably the only one dumbass to play dota on such a aspect ratio.
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Offline TacticalCoder

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #16 on: Fri, 10 April 2020, 06:27:39 »
I have a Samsung CHG90 32/9 49” curved 3840×1080px 144hz. This is litteraly 2×34” and this is awesome for 900 bucks.

It's nice but 1080 pixels vertically may not be enough depending on what you're doing. I've got a 3840x1600 38", curved too and it's about the same price. I may be less immersive for games (I don't play any games) but I much prefer 1440 or 1600 pixels vertically than 1080.
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Offline PadawanGeek

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Re: Playing Games with Triple Monitors?
« Reply #17 on: Sun, 12 April 2020, 00:00:38 »
I'm a 'vet' of triple monitor gaming, started back when I'd gotten a Sapphire HD5870 + 3x Benq 24" 1080P monitors more than 10 years back. I hung with EyeFinity gaming (updated GPU's along the way, usually running CFX rigs with 2x HD6970. 2x HD7970, 2x R9 290X, 2x RX VEGA64) till about 4 years back when I'd gotten my present 21:9 monitor (Acer XR341CK).  I got tired of all the extra cables that triple monitor setup required, but I do miss my 3x monitors. About a couple of years back, I got a Samsung LC49HG90DMEXXS 49" 32:9 monitor (3840x1080) gaming monitor. At that res, exactly half of 4K, it doesn't require an RTX2080 Ti to run well, my VEGA64 is doing a decent enough job (till either big NAVI or Ampere shows up).


Edit - This is an older pic, I now have my 3900X + PC VEGA64 with this monitor, and my i7 3960X + LeadTek GTX1080 (the rig you see in pic) on my Acer XR341CK monitor.....
« Last Edit: Sun, 12 April 2020, 00:02:53 by PadawanGeek »