Widescreen Gaming Forum

I've read and searched a lot, but things always change. I'm interested in setting up a 5x1 portrait setup. I have a few questions:

1. Is it possible to do this with five TN monitors that only have DVI or HDMI connectors?
2. If not, how many monitors MUST be hooked up by display port?
3. Are there any inexpensive 16:9 or 16:10 TN monitors that even have display port connectors? Or do you pretty much have to purchase HPs or Dells that have the more expensive IPS panels?
4. Do most people only purchase the more expensive monitors that will rotate into portrait mode, or is there a decent single stand that can actually hold all five?

Thanks.

The way a TN screen is made, it's not recommended that you use them in portrait mode. The viewing angle is notably effected. I suggest IPS panels for portrait.

That being said, I use five Samsung 245BW TN panels in a 5x1P configuration using two 5870E6 cards in Crossfire. These panels are DVI connected and use active mini-dp to single link dvi adapters.

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Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?cs=19&c=us&l=en&sku=320-9270

Is a not to expensive IPS Screen, has Displayport, DVI, VGA (no HDMI). and Works Landscape and Portrait mode.

Depending on the GPU, but on HD6000 you can put 2 on DVI/VGA/HDMI and rest on Display port.

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We gonna send it to outa space!

BHawthorne, are you sure that's true about the TN viewing angles? I know TN angles are less than IPS angles, but the specs always report the angles as 160 degrees vertical and 160 degrees horizontal. If those specs are true, turning the display 90 degrees shouldn't really change anything.

BHawthorne, are you sure that's true about the TN viewing angles? I know TN angles are less than IPS angles, but the specs always report the angles as 160 degrees vertical and 160 degrees horizontal. If those specs are true, turning the display 90 degrees shouldn't really change anything.

That's more the angle that the image becomes completely messed up... you start to notice the colors changing alot less of an angle than that though.

So I guess if you want to go portrait mode eyefinity, you're really better off paying for an IPS panel. So far I've only found one TN panel that can even be rotated to portrait. It's the HP LA2405wg. Has anyone used that for portrait eyefinity and how well does it work?

To explain what occurs on my TN panels, the diffraction film in TN displays is optimized to push the picture in a certain range of angle. This is not optimized to push the picture in a downward angle regularly on TN panels.When you rotate 90 clockwise for portrait that means that depending upon where you are positioned the light from the display is diffracted somewhat outside your viewing angle on some of the outside displays. It helps a bit that the displays are arranged in a semi-circular arc, but you will still notice the issue in you pan around the view moving your head location.

For me it's a minor annoyance that I live with. For those that haven't purchased displays yet, it's an avoidable issue though.

See the pic second from the left in my sig? Notice the diffraction issue on the darkened two left displays vs the other because of camera shot viewing location? It gets darker the more extreme the counterclockwise positioning of the display is. That is the TN display viewing angle issue. While it might say 160 degree horizontal viewing angle, I doubt the 160 degree vertical viewing angle is accurate on a lot of TN displays.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com