Cheap Triple Monitor Setup

[bear95]

Having finally (hopefully ) settled after moving between two different campuses and living in different places for courses the past 3 semesters, I'm gonna get a desktop again. This article (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/multi-monitor-gaming-eyefinity-surround,3985.html) convinced me to get a cheap multi monitor build and I've come up with this  . I think I'm pretty much set. It doesn't have that much power but I its enough to play the odd game at a decent fps at decent settings and don't think I will play that much later with the gradual increase of course work I'm getting. Was hoping to add an SSD, like the $90 250gb Sandisk ultra 2 I got this black friday  , but I think I'm just gonna scavange for hdds I have laying around. Any suggestions on changes? Also, do you guys think the monitor I'm getting is decent? Picked that because I thought it had decent color accuracy and bezel size.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7LqDMp

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor  ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($64.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($67.69 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone SG05BB-LITE Mini ITX Tower Case  ($39.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 300W 80+ Certified SFX Power Supply  ($39.99 @ Mwave)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($139.99 @ Best Buy)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($139.99 @ Best Buy)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor  ($139.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $800.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-14 08:25 EST-0500

[IvanIvanovich]

If I were you, I would hit the used market instead. You should be able to do something like an i5-****, 6 or 7 series motherboard for not much more than what you have picked or if lucky perhaps less. Then you can get a much better gpu also like a 670 for not too much more used. If you plan on gaming in surround mode you will probably need something more powerful than 750 anyway. You would have to get a bigger wattage psu if you went that way though. Not using an ssd will make system feel slow. Any ssd is better, surely can find something on sale for cheap in the 120-256GB range.

[Geroximo]

Hi,

if you want to play the latest games in nvidia surround with 3 1080p Monitors the GTX 750Ti is not going to make it.
My brother has a GTX 750Ti and he is struggling to max out the latest games on a single 1080p monitor.
He cannot even max out League of Legends without fps drops in heavy action situations.
He is not statisfied with his GTX 750Ti. It's just too weak. On 3x 1080p nvidia surround? .... Forget it.

If you just want to play older games or on lower settings on maybe just a single monitor, you'll probably be fine.

[bear95]

Hm why didn't I think about that. Guess i'm gonna browse the classifieds here a bit later but for now i've briefly scanned craigslist (haven't used/know any other site) and seems like i can save on memory and the gpu. Wanted to get a single 8gb stick so I can upgrade later on but for the price savings I can living with 2x4gb sticks. Couldn't find a decently priced ssd tho. But I do have a 20gb msata drive I can use as a cache drive. I did find some older gpus that had pretty decent prices but I'm going have to get a bigger power supply, but I'm trying to limit size as decently small as possible. I'm gonna have to experiment around with that.

[bear95]

Hi,

if you want to play the latest games in nvidia surround with 3 1080p Monitors the GTX 750Ti is not going to make it.
My brother has a GTX 750Ti and he is struggling to max out the latest games on a single 1080p monitor.
He cannot even max out League of Legends without fps drops in heavy action situations.
He is not statisfied with his GTX 750Ti. It's just too weak. On 3x 1080p nvidia surround? .... Forget it.

If you just want to play older games or on lower settings on maybe just a single monitor, you'll probably be fine.

You sure? My laptop with a 1080p screen and  a 750m can get +100fps and maintain well over +60 fps in heavy battles on max settings. You sure its set to use the graphics card and not the integrated on teh cpu?

[IvanIvanovich]

Using 20GB for caching SSD with intel SRT is out, need to be 64GB or more. I suppose you may use it with some other 3rd party caching software but some of it is make/model dependent or dosen't really work very well. May be more difficult to find good deal on itx boards that have msata as well. It's not always a standard feature.
There is always ebay, plenty of deals to be had there in used components.

[tp4tissue]

This is bad.. you're wasting your time with triple monitors..  Especially those Acers..

the Dither pattern is especially bad on tiny budget monitors..

You're much better off getting one of those korean ips, or monoprice one (same thing)

[SuperBobKing]

I am using a triple monitor setup on a 760 and that can usually get 30 fps on approximately medium settings (still using max resolution) in the latest games. I don't play too many very recent ones though. I know that black flag had **** performance even on low-medium settings with a single monitor, but I am almost positive that is because of the game itself not performing well. It seems like the fps is fine but when you move around the mouse it doesn't look very smooth. Battlefield 4 is fine though. I am not sure exactly how big the performance difference is between the gpus but a 760 is already pushing it. Also the bottom bezel on those monitors sticks out further than the sides. So if you turn them inwards (which is pretty much a necessity) it might cause a gap between the bezels. If that doesn't bother you it is fine but it is something to consider.

[Joebroniee]

if the 750ti is the best you can get, i would go with dell p2014h 1600x900 ips monitors, at 90 bucks each for ips panels and dell quality control I'd hop on it. Dont mind the 1600x900 res. At that screen size, 1600x900 and set at the appropriate native res, it'll look just as good as 1080. I was so tempted to try this triple setup on my gtx770 when i was doing my new build but i stumbled across my dell u2913wm and fell in love with the design and clarity and just opted for this one panel.

Here's a link to microcenter for the dell's i mentioned above.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/437379/P2014H_20_Recertified_LED_Monitor

[Joebroniee]

oh yeah, also wanted to mention the 3 1600x900 panels will be ALOT easier to drive then 3 1080 panels. I've also got a single older 1600x900 panel and hooking it up at native res, i couldn't tell too much difference from this 1080(vertical pixels) on the other hand the horizontal pixel is that usually matters.