Widescreen Gaming Forum

I wonder if any of you good people face a similar decision...I could do with some advice on how to proceed as this is *eating my brain* :shock: and I just want to get it sorted in the next week!

I want a 3-display Eyefinity setup. I already have 2 excellent 20" Philips monitors (1050 X 1680). These monitors are now out of production and finding that rez in a new monitors in that size (20") is really hard.

But at last I found one - its a Dell 20" @ 1050 X 1680

So I can order that and it will sit between the Philips and its happy days. But heres where it gets hard.

I *CAN* afford 3 new monitors in the 23" size and Ive spotted some great prices on nice LG and Samsung ones out there. However they are all at HD rez.

:?

1. Shall I bite the bullet and sell of my *supremely reliable and flawless* Philips displays and get 3 new matched displays?
2. Or should I keep em and just add the new Dell display?
3. If I do go for 3 new 23" HD displays - is it asking too much of a HD5850 to push 6,220,800 pixels? (total pixel count with three 1920 X 1080 monitors)

Total pixels by adding the Dell would come to 5,292,000. So going HD would hand the graphics card 928,800 extra pixels to push and while its a decently powerful card it is not a stonking monster machine like the higher spec 5000 series and I worry about gaming performance.

Would totally like to see what you all have to suggest...and if youre running a 5850 on 3 HD displays on Eyefinity do share what your performance has been like gaming and such. I mostly play FSX Acceleration, apart from that I like Fallout 3, Metro 2033 those kinda games!

Thanx guys... :)

What inputs do the philips and dell monitor have?

If they do not have a display-port input, then you may need to get an adaptor to vga/dvi (the dvi needs to be an "active" adaptor).

I quite like 3 matched, but really so long as the outside 2 are matched it still has some symmetry to it. :)
It should manage to drive the display you are looking for with some games, some others struggle to hit even 10fps with the likes of STALKER but however check here for some eyefinity benchmarks and comparisons

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Could try e-bay for the monitor model you already have. If you are looking at new monitor's I think you would be happy as long as they have DP. There is a strong possability that using any adapter for VGA or DVI to DP will leave you unsatisfied.

What inputs do the philips and dell monitor have?
If they do not have a display-port input, then you may need to get an adaptor to vga/dvi (the dvi needs to be an "active" adaptor).

Philips monitor - 1 X VGA, 1 X DVI
Dell monitor - 1 X VGA, 1 X DVI (with HDCP)

I have heard that many people with Eyefinity are successfully running the setup using a DisplayPort---->VGA adapter. These adapters of course cost much less than the rip-off prices being charged by the "active" DP adapters. The downside of course is that 2 monitors will be fed thru DVI and the third thru VGA. But from what I hear its very hard to tell just by looking at the screen! So I shall have to look into this some more! :) Also - thanks for the link to those benchmarks...very interesting!

BTW heres the Dell Im looking at:

http://accessories.euro.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=uk&l=en&s=dhs&cs=ukdhs1&sku=185311

Could try e-bay for the monitor model you already have.

Great tip! Unfortunately..beleive it or not its impossible to find this monitor even on there! Unless Ive been doing something wrong! Ive never used EBay before. I did a search for Philips 200WS monitors and it said I was outta luck!

I would get 3 new 23 inch 1080p monitors.

I dunno if this is against the rules, but I am selling my 3 Dell S2309W 23" 1080p monitors if you're interested. They have monoprice stands that allow them to go into portrait as well.

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Display: | 3 x Dell Ultrasharp 3007WFP-HC @ 7680x1600 | Dell u3011 |

I would get 3 new 23 inch 1080p monitors.

I would really like to do that but I have to be realistic :(

My graphics card will struggle to feed 3 HD screens, I have made the decision to just get the Dell. Im quite happy to be gaming at 1050 X 1680 rez, 2 screens have made a huge difference and a third will utterly transform things. I feel that at 1050 X 5040 is the limit of what this 5850 will perform well at.

When the time comes to get bigger screens they will be the next generation of displays...thinner, slimmer, superslim bezels :mrgreen:

Hi guys,

There is another issue you may be over looking .... FSX is very CPU reliant ... even if you own a Quad core or higher FSX will only use one core ... there is some tweaking you can do in the config.ini to try and balance the load over more cores ... but it's still a dog ... lol

I tested it over 3 x 24" {1920 x 1080} monitors running a 5870 .... and it ran like a dog ... didn't have time to play/tweak it {it's on my never ending to do list} and to compound the problem ... hi res scenery and 3rd party enviromental software may have to be dumped.

My 5970 should be delivered in the next couple of days ... will do a full test with it ... and let you know how I got on ....

Now for some good news ... lol ... since MSoft have dropped developing FSX ... the guys behind it ACES have been head hunted by some major players ... they are currently assessing 3D engines for the next gen FS ... but I think we maybe in for a long wait on that one ...

To fill the void I'm picking up wings of prey ... which is IL2 completely reworked by Gaijin Entertainment Corporation .... with Olec Maddox overseeing it .... It looks very cool

cheers all

Buy one from eBay or look around for a refurbished model. I bought my two additional 2007wfps from eBay and apart from being too lazy to calibrate them they are working great.

I also use the HP DP->VGA adaptor with no issues, except if I leave the PC on overnight I need to remove and insert the adaptor but the display comes straight up again.

Hey ddt...you need the Jesus tweak for FSX.cfg!!! Backup your current fsx.cfg before you do this. 8)

***Only do this if you have a high-performance computer*** :shock:

First read this carefully
http://forums1.avsim.net/topic/281538-the-bp0-conclusions/

And now here is the fsx.cfg (remember you have to adjust it with the data for your videocard - copy-paste them from the original .cfg
http://forums1.avsim.net/topic/283061-bojotes-fsxcfg-file/

I also use the HP DP->VGA adaptor with no issues

Thanks very much for posting that....its bought me peace of mind! Im just about to order the adapter now! :)