My first foray into Multi Monitor Gaming

[SuperBitsandBob]

Hi all,

I'm soon going to take my first steps into Multi Monitor Gaming. I've look at the pro's and con's and have decided that the plus points out-weigh the minus points for me.

I recently bought an ASUS VG278H and plan on getting 2 more. For some years I have bought Nvidia cards but its not exclusive so I have no problems with change.

The main question I have is are there any differences, in real world gameplay terms, between Eyefinity and Surround? I get the impression that its all pretty much even. I currently have a couple of 580gtx's in my rig (1.5g ones) and so they may be ok for now but with AMD's new parts due fairly soon, I would be up for a change.

Thanks in advance.

[suiken_2mieu]

Well the biggest difference is that Surround Requires SLI where Eyefinity can be done with 1 card.

With SLI you can get a lot of problems if the game is not optimized for SLI. So if the game doesn't run well with SLI, you don't get surround.

With Eyefinity, since you only need one card, you don't have to deal with crossfire issues if you want to, but can still run crossfire if you have two cards and if the game supports it.

Also bear in mind that amd/ati cards tend to have more VRAM, which is useful at high resolutions, better texture detail settings, and AA.

[sjh]

As someone in a similar position as the OP, can I ask why someone would then go nvidia surround over eyefinity? I was leaning towards the former in part because I am going to be playing Guild Wars 2 and they have made quite a bit out of their support for nvidia 3D surround for the game. But now I am questioning which way to go.

[suiken_2mieu]

Eyefinity is much more flexible about what monitor configurations and how many monitors you can use. AMD / ATI cards tend to have more available VRAM for Higher Resolutions, Anti-Aliasiing, and Texture Quality. You can run Eyefinity with just one card. On a whole, AMD keeps adding more multi-monitor features where as nVidia seems to be at a stand still.

With nVidia, you are required to run at least 2 cards and you can only run two configurations: 3x1 Landscape or Portrait. You cannot run 2, 4, 5, or 6 monitor modes. NVidia's solution only works well with games built with SLI support, so sometimes you will only be able to run a game on 1 monitor. In my experience, SLI only works with popular games and the more unknown games have terrible performance (oftentimes negative scaling).

Now, not to say nVidia is all bad. Setup is easier, 580's can kick some ass especially if you get the 3GB models and running a large resolution, and drivers seems to be more polished, or rather, have less hickups.

If you want to run 3x1 and you only want to play popular AAA games, either is good, but if you want more flexibility I'd go with eyefinity.

[sixshot]

I must agree on the fact that nvidia is not doing much in terms of "making par" with AMD's Eyefinity tech and methods. Even though they've matched it on a basic level, over the months it seems to me like it's more of a hack job than a technology development or implementation.

I have probably mentioned it elsewhere but here's what I have been saying all these times: As long as nvidia requires SLI in order to run triple-monitor, AMD will have the advantage in options. Until then, I can't see myself buying another nvidia card until they can match AMD feature for feature without the need of SLI configuration.

[SuperBitsandBob]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'll probably take a look at the series 7000 when AMD release them.

[MEAHT]

Im waiting patiently as well!

[Haldi]

Im waiting patiently as well!

Sure about that ? XD i'm not!

[Vorpal]

With Nvidia, there are only two single-card solutions I'm aware of: the GTX590 and the GTX295 (for Surround 2D only). I use two GTX560 TI cards, though; they work well and I don't think I've ever had a problem with them in SLI or the drivers.

[Gilly]

With Nvidia, there are only two single-card solutions I'm aware of: the GTX590 and the GTX295 (for Surround 2D only). I use two GTX560 TI cards, though; they work well and I don't think I've ever had a problem with them in SLI or the drivers.

People normally require 2 cards to push 3x1080p and it seems nV don't suffer as much from micro-stutter. So really, from what I have read, nV surround might be limited, but that is what also makes it good, it does everything it says it can.

How long did 5x1P take? Micro-stutter? Crossfire profiles for Skyrim? etc etc? AMD are trying to do a hell of a lot, maybe too much?

[SuperBitsandBob]

A quick question on monitors.

I've been testing out a Samsung s27a750d and like it a lot. It only has a DP connection though. Is it possible to use three of these for either eyefinity or surround? I know some of the AMD cards have three DP connections but if you don't have one of these, can you go from a DVI from the GPU to a DP on a monitor? How about at 120hz?

Thanks in advance.

[Moose]

Before you poor all your money into an AMD card, make sure you know everything there is to know about a particular problem called screentearing. Look at the AMD Eyefinity thread to see what I mean.