I'm attempting to achieve a 4240 x 1024 total resolution using mixed resolution monitors.
My current setup uses AMD/ATI Eyefinity via one display port adapter to DVI, and the two other DVI ports off the video card. I originally had three 19 inch monitors running 3840 x 1024, which has suited me just fine for several years. I recently acquired three Samsung SyncMaster 220wm's which have a native resolution of 1680 x 1050, and I immediately hooked them all up to achieve my current resolution of 5040 x 1050. But you know what? 5040x1050 is just... too wide. I feel almost no shame saying that. Not only has there been a drop in framerate in most of my games, I also haven't really taken advantage of the additional desktop space. It's too much!
On the other hand, I've totally fallen in love with having a wide screen monitor in the center of my setup. The bezels have been pushed out considerably, and the additional viewing area has been awesome in games. So, I thought to myself "Self, you've got all these leftover 19 inch monitors lying around, why not just put one of those on each side and keep a widescreen in the middle?" Genius! But when I tried, Eyefinity decided that what I really wanted was to have my center monitor running at 1280x1024 to match my left/right, and have everything stretched horribly running at my old resolution of 3840x1024. Fail!
I can understand why the software freaked out a little and wouldn't allow a monitor with a vertical resolution of 1050 to match one with 1024... But what if I forced my center monitor's resolution down from 1680x1050 to 1680x1024? Then Eyefinity would think that all three monitor's vertical resolutions were the same, and it would have no choice but to obey my will!!! Genius!!! So, with a lot of trial and error and dorking around with the thing, I finally got the center monitor to run at 1680x1024. And immediately upon creating the Eyefinity group through the Catalyst Control Center, I was right back to 3840x1024. Fail.
Has anyone ever achieved Eyefinity (or any surround/multi-monitor setup) with vertical resolutions that don't match? Can anyone provide me with alternate methods of forcing non-standard resolutions on a monitor (this thread seemed to have some methods at one point, but all the links are missing)? I liked the idea of just chopping down the center monitor to match the two sides; that way there was none of the stretching/skewing you get when you scale a monitor to a non-standard resolution. Would a non-Eyefinity setup possibly provide a better solution? Any advice would be much appreciated!
TL;DR - this is what I want:
