Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hello!

Just saying hi, and please be gentle, I'm sensitive! jkjk

I've spent a considerable amount of time reading the forums, trying to prepare myself for a 3xmonitor setup.

I have a few ideas, but really just need some input from someone who is much more knowledgeable than me.

Right now I'm sitting on this:

Asus P5Q-E
Q9550
Raptor 150/Caviar Black 500
Evga GTX 275
Kingston HyperX 4GB (2x2)
PcP&C 750w
Tuniq 120
Scythe Kaze Master Ace
2x Scythe Ultra Kaze
HannsG 28"
G110 KB
G9x mouse
Creative SoundBlaster X-FI
Creative Fatality Mk II Headphones

WHEW! I think i got it all.

My WC parts are already ordered, so the air setup will be gone soon.

Been looking at 5870x2, 460x2, 6950x2 cards. Really don't have a clue as to what monitors to even purchase. 21" ish monitors would be great.

Some advice on monitor/card setups would be appreciated. Looking to stay < $1000 if at all possible. Thanks in advance, looking forward to hearing what you guys have to say.

(P.S.- I've got tbh, I'm kind of a nvidia fanboy, but I'm open to anything that makes my setup badass!)

Welcome. :)

Well, the thing about nVidia Surround is twofold: it requires two cards, which makes it more expensive, and they've not really updated it since it was released. If you use the 258.96 drivers that were the first officially stable Surround capable drivers, you're not missing any features from the later drivers as there aren't any new ones. Except a modified setup procedure.

While with AMD, a single card can do great, but trying to pair CrossFireX and EyeFinity can yield all sorts of headaches.

Also something that needs to be taken into consideration with nVidia Surround is the fact that you'll really need 2GB+ of VRAM, so the 'cheapest' GTX560s etc aren't the way to go. I don't know how much 2GB GTX560s cost in the US at the minute, but you'll need a pair of them if you want the nVidia route.

The AMD route is a little easier: a single 6950 (if you flash it to 6970) or a single 6970.

Then the best monitors you can afford. Three of something like the Dell U2211H or U2311H.

Actually, given the board you're using, you'll need to go the AMD route for a single card. If you want to drop the res a bit for a FPS boost, look at 1680x1050 or 1600x900 screens.

First off thanks for the information!

So, 2 cards on the P5Q-E is not possible, or not recommended?

The 6950 is what has me most interested, since it can be flashed to a 6970.

Those monitors you recommended are definitely in my price range, however I was hoping for something with a little lower response time. (5 or sub 5 ms would be ideal. Any suggestions?)

1920x1200 isn't necessary for me to have the multi setup, I was pretty much looking at 1680x1050 as the max resolution per monitor.

Again, thanks for the heads up, maybe just throw me a few more bones, I'm still really on the fence with how to go about this... :D

I don't favour monitors with supposedly sub-5 ms response times; firstly, they use a type of panel known as TN (Twisted Nematic) which doesn't give as good colour quality as IPS (In Plane Switching) of the U2211H and U2311H. Then, combine that with the fact that those quoted response times are often "best case scenario" and occasionally even more than a little "wishful thinking" on the part of the manufacturer. ;)

Two cards on the P5Q-E is possible, but the PCI-E slots will run at 8x/8x each, so there is the potential for a bottleneck. Others have done tests (TechPowerUp) and shown that the impact is a few percent at most, but as GPUs get more powerful, that will/might change. ;)

Honestly, I'd go for screens that give a better picture, rather than the fastest response times possible.

Thanks for the info :D

So, say I got the 21.5 dell's for $209. Would that be a good deal?

Looks like I'm gonna go with the 6950 card as well. Hopefully this setup will be everything I hoped for!

Thanks so much for all the information and patiently explaining everything to me. :D

Unfortunately, you'll have to wait for a US member to tell you whether that's a good deal or not. It sounds it to me (with how much the monitors cost in Sterling) but I don't know.