Widescreen Gaming Forum

[-noun] Web community dedicated to ensuring PC games run properly on your tablet, netbook, personal computer, HDTV and multi-monitor gaming rig.
It is currently 29 Mar 2024, 15:23

All times are UTC [ DST ]




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 6 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: 23 Apr 2013, 20:20 
Offline

Joined: 05 Jan 2013, 06:08
Posts: 13
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Hello all,

My name is Ray, you can also call me Refuge. I've been building computers and small networks since I was young, I have experiance in meeting the specific needs of people with the hardware and keeping things in a budget.

But I'm looking to upgrade my life, I'm starting to save money back weekly for a new rig I plan to build. I plan to run 3/4 monitors, and would love some input as to where I should head with this build. I've never done anything with this kind of scale for pixels, and wanna make sure that I know what to expect to pay for what I want to achieve.

I'm looking to do a 3x1 setup, mostly for multi-tasking, but also for mid/heavy gaming. in the future if I get enough cash setup I would like to plant a 4th monitor ontop the middle for for a diagnostic screen, real time data on resources usage, tempratures, ect. ect.

An idea of the games I play, the catalog is rather simple. WoW, SWTOR, Skyrim, Anno, And Civ. Nothing too intense.

As for usage I would like to be able to swap between gaming on all 3 monitors or just the middle one, realtively on the fly. Closing down to the desktop and starting things back up, or perhaps even less effort is what I am looking for.

I would prefer to play at mid/max settings, the higher the better obviously but I also want to keep the budget realistic.

Probably the most intense use of the system would be WoW on one screen, SWTOR, on a second, and then Netflix on a third. But Usually I'll be doing only one of those while coding, and having Chrome on the third screen for research and such.

What sort of monitors should I be looking at? I want to keep cost down as much as possible, but I would like to get three 20-22 inch, thin bezel 1920x1080 monitors.

What sort of graphics solution would be best for this? I figure SLI will be required, but if there is a single card that would be able to push this I would prefer that personally. Its usually cheaper and then sets me up to get a second for longevity in the future.

Nvidia or ATI? I hear that ATI has more functionality, but Nvidia has better performing drivers.

The games I play really aren't that intense, so I think I would be able to get away with either two mid grade cards, or one top end card, input on this would be appreciated.

If anyone has any links to tutorials, guides, or even just some direction to where I can do some research on the requirements of this many pixels, I would greatly appreciate it.

Estimates on hardware requirements would be great, if you are feeling esspecially kind some theoretical builds would be greatly appreciated.

Opinions on monitors and mounting systems would be VERY helpful as I really don't know much about either of these to be honest.

The key thing here is I'm trying to achieve this for the lowest cost possible, that way I can make it happen sooner rather than later. But I do plan to build on it in the future. Starting is the hard/pricey part. Adding here and there is when things get much easier on the budget.

I thank anyone in advance for any help/time offered on this, and look forward to all responses.

Thanks guys!!! :)


Top
 Profile  
 


PostPosted: 23 Apr 2013, 21:43 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: 27 Feb 2013, 16:25
Posts: 163
Location: Gloucester, UK
You're asking a lot all in one go here so I'm going to give "my opinion" based on what I have and what I can play. I'll give a list of stuff I think you may want or need, with a list of optional upgrades based on what you want to use the computer for on a day to day basis and not games.

An example would be that an i5 is perfectly fine for most games, however if you do heavily intensive CPU stuff in your day to day work you may want to go i7. 8GB of memory (RAM) is enough for a gaming rig as most games are 32bit still and therefore only reference 4 gigs of ram and the other 4 gigs will be left for winodws and other processes.

So here we go with my "minimum" for a 3 screen solution:-

CPU - i5 3570K (Retail)- £180
Motherboard - Gigabyte Z77-DS3H Intel Z77 - £80
Memory - Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9) - £60
GFX card(s) - Gigabyte 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB - £240
Case - down to personal preference but expect about £80
HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA - £75
Power Supply - OCZ ZT 750W '80 Plus Bronze' Modular Power Supply - £80
Monitors - BenQ GL2450 - £120 = £360

2x mini display port to DVI about £40

Total - £1195

Now down to some of the choices:

Retail CPU - means you get a stock cooler, unless you are going to overclock which you get the capacity of with the chip and motherboard choice, then you will need a better cooler

2x7950, will run Crysis 3 at middle settings at 5760x1080 at between 30 and 60 FPS, 30 when outside in the rain and lighting effects. One card should run the type of games you like, I would get 2nd opinions from the other guys

The monitors - well I have them and they are good for me, with the "specified" 2ms response it can't be all bad, yes they are TN panels but you are paying £120 each not £200+

The rest of the stuff is from well known good companies at what they do and you shouldn't go wrong.

Others will have different opinions and some will say reduce this to get that and vice versa but this is what I have for you as a start

_________________
i7 3770K (Ivy bridge) | Corsair Dominator 32GB | Asus P8Z77-V LE Plus Intel Z77 | Corsair H100i | 2 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 in crossfire | NXZT Phantom case | OCZ 1000W Powersupply | Samsung 840 PRO 256GB | 2x OCZ agility 3 60GB SSDs | 2x 1TB HDDs |


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 23 Apr 2013, 23:10 
Offline

Joined: 05 Jan 2013, 06:08
Posts: 13
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
I was asking alot, which is why I had to say thank you to anyone who bothered to post anything.

I was planning on an i5, its all I need. I do coding, but nothing that woudl really require anything super to compile.

I usually tend to lean towards corsair for memory myself aswell, and always start at 8g leaving room for more should things magically change in the industry. (I don't expect it in the liftime of this system, but I've been wrong before.)

I suppose my biggest question was if there were any special hardware requirements for this many pixels which from the build you are reccomending (Almost exactly the same as my half completed skeleton) says no.

So now I just need input on the GPU and monitor solutions.

So if anyone else would lke to post here I suppose my next question is.

Does anyone else have input on a 7950 holding its own on the games I play in my free time? There will be times when I'm running both SWTOR and WOW and Netflix (Each on its own screen, gotta love days off)

And I'll be doing some research into the BenQ GL2450 monitors, if anyone else has any favorites that are at a reasonable price range please point me at them. I like to do as much research as possible.


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 23 Apr 2013, 23:33 
Offline
Administrators
Administrators
User avatar

Joined: 14 Oct 2009, 03:11
Posts: 1441
I'm an Nvidia user myself, and I drive 4 x 1080p screens from a single GTX670OC. I will often play games on the Surround at 6000x1080 resolution and have other programs like browser and IRC running on my fourth monitor without issue.

I love my NV Surround setup and choose it over Eyefinity any day. I ran Eyefinity for a couple years before switching.

_________________
i5-2500K @ 4Ghz ° Asus P8Z68 ° GTX670 Windforce OC ° 8GB DDR3 RipjawsX ° 4x Viewsonic VA2703 ° Logitech G15 / G5 / G27 ° Razer Vespula ° TrackIR 5 ° Thrustmaster Warthog HOTAS


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 24 Apr 2013, 00:01 
Offline
Editors
Editors
User avatar

Joined: 08 May 2011, 18:58
Posts: 2286
If you have 3times identical Monitors you can go with Nvidia no problems! if not i'd recommend AMD!

If you want an AMD or Nvidia Card... your choice! There is not much difference. GTX670 or AMD7950/70 are kinda good Performance/Price cards and still give enough power for decent MultiMonitor gaming.
Nvidia Negativ 2gb Vram (there are expensive 4gb versions out somewhere)
AMD negativ You can only use 1xDVI+HDMI or 2xDVI but not 2x DVI+HDMI! (There are Sapphire FLEX cards out there who can do this!) and rest via DIsplayport



Changing vom Eyefinity/surround to Extended should work with both by simply pressing Windows+P button.

Check out the Red vs Green vs Blue Article made by TImmeh
http://www.wsgf.org/article/red-vs-green-vs-blue-v2

_________________
We gonna send it to outa space!


Top
 Profile  
 
PostPosted: 24 Apr 2013, 21:27 
Offline

Joined: 05 Jan 2013, 06:08
Posts: 13
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
I looked through the shootout you linked and although its version 2 it seems to be a generation behind. I know drivers and equipment requirements have changed dramatically.

I do know that ATI (And Nvidia to a lesser extent) has a micro-stuttering issue, but that seems to only be in an Crosffire/SLI setup, which I'm trying to avoid due to cost constraints.

I suppose my next question is with everyones personal experiances with current drivers, which do you prefer for usability? Surroud? Or Eyefiniti?

I need 3 monitors (Same resolution) for gaming, no additional hardware required to connect to them. But I also would like the option in the future to add a fourth smaller monitor for daignostics, web browsing, chatting, ect. ect.

Also what about price to performance ratios? Would a Nvidia 660 with only 2gb of Vram be able to play WoW/SWTOR/Skyrim/Civ V across all three or only on 1 monitor with at the least Med graphics settings perferrably high settings on its own?

I suppose my toss up right now would be between the two cards below, and any input from real world use in a single card config would be soo very much appreciated.

** EVGA 660TI **
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... =u00000181

** Saph 7950 **

I'll only buy a GPU with a blower style cooler for the sake of keeping the air currents in my PC fluid which is what dictated my choice for the 7950.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814202031


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 6 posts ] 

All times are UTC [ DST ]


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  




Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group