40 replies to this topic

[Brollocks]

My samsung 40 inch main screen has kicked the 'mech, and it's only 18 months old. I like big screens, even if the picture quality isn't as good as a decent monitor, but I'll be damned if I'm wasting more money on a more expensive screen that will kaput again in a year or so. Don't trust tv's to last now. This samsung was already replaced a day after I bought it, had a blue line going down the screen after 30 minutes.

So I've been thinking about triple monitors, it's something I've always wanted to try so now might be the time. Anyone run it? What's it play like in MWO, is there a lot of stretching on the outer screens? I'm guessing I will need a second GTX 970 since that struggles in 4k DSR and triple monitors isn't that much less pixels than 4k. 30 FPS all maxed out isn't good enough, I'm usually happy with 50+.


One question about display ports. Will a display port cable plugged into the gfx card work with a vga adapter then plugged into the monitors? I've read it won't work with vga to display port on monitor, but not sure if what I need will work. The no bezel monitors I'm looking at only have a vga/d-sub and hdmi port. My 970 only has one hdmi, one dvi and two display port, so I need to figure out what works with the display port. I'm assuming the second gfx card in SLI can't be used to connect to any monitors.

[Kira Onime]

Used to until the new maps came out.
They killed the already poor FPS performance for triple monitors on said new maps.

[Troutmonkey]

I run triple 1080ps on a single 970. Get frame rates between 35-60 with everything on Ultra, except for AA which I disabled. With AA the fps hover around 30 but dips too low for my liking.

There still is a bug with Nvidia surround where objects will flicker, but it's a lot better than it was in previous patches.

Warping is noticeable if you look directly at your side monitors, but they work great as peripheral and let you see a lot more.





Some cockpits are better than others

Spoiler

Lots of the UI stuff doesn't scale properly either. In the mech lab all your mechs are on the left, while the colour picker and everything else is on the far right

Spoiler

Edited by Troutmonkey, 18 November 2015 - 08:49 PM.

[Makenzie71]

I'm using a 32" insignia tv as a monitor...been doing it for two years I think...no problems.

I can't see the benefit of triple monitors. Before I gave up my desk (TV is mounted on the wall) I also had a 20" monitor to the side that I kept chrome going on during load screens...never used it with the game, though.

[Troutmonkey]

Makenzie71, on 18 November 2015 - 08:44 PM, said:

I'm using a 32" insignia tv as a monitor...been doing it for two years I think...no problems.

I can't see the benefit of triple monitors. Before I gave up my desk (TV is mounted on the wall) I also had a 20" monitor to the side that I kept chrome going on during load screens...never used it with the game, though.

Playing with triple monitors is great. You can see far more than anybody else. It's also far more immersive. It's an expensive way to go though, especially with Oculus / HTC Vive on the horizon. My setup cost my $900AUD for the 3 monitors and the stand (stand was $200)

Edited by Troutmonkey, 18 November 2015 - 09:53 PM.

[Makenzie71]

I guess I can understand it if it opens up peripheral view.

[Troutmonkey]

Makenzie71, on 18 November 2015 - 08:57 PM, said:

I guess I can understand it if it opens up peripheral view.

There's been a few times where I've been spectating a player, only for them to not see an enemy player just to the side of them when it seems obvious to me. A memorable time was in Canyon when it was down to 2v1 and they were hunting a light. The guy I was watching was running along the top of a ridge, and the last enemy was running in the valley below - neither saw the other until I told him over VOIP.

[xeromynd]

Interesting thing is that I still get flickering objects and warping textures while running two monitors, and MWO is only on one of them.

[Sabazial]

@Troutmonkey, is it just the photo that makes the side views look stretched in that pic? or is that how it tends to look? Not tried using multiple monitors myself so far.

[Kira Onime]

Belphegore, on 18 November 2015 - 09:15 PM, said:

@Troutmonkey, is it just the photo that makes the side views look stretched in that pic? or is that how it tends to look? Not tried using multiple monitors myself so far.

No, actual in-game appearance. Around 50~66% of your side monitors in this setup will be highly distorted.

Edited by Kira Onime, 18 November 2015 - 09:27 PM.

[Brollocks]

Troutmonkey, really like your setup there, thanks.

Even if MWO runs just fine with a single 970, I think I'd need one for the very rare single player games that I get hooked on. Witcher III is the only other game I play at the moment and that is a lot harder on the vga than MWO. I really should have gone with a 980ti when I built this pc a month ago, but I hadn't planned on gaming any higher than 1920x1080.

[Troutmonkey]

Muddy Funster, on 18 November 2015 - 09:43 PM, said:

Troutmonkey, really like your setup there, thanks.

Even if MWO runs just fine with a single 970, I think I'd need one for the very rare single player games that I get hooked on. Witcher III is the only other game I play at the moment and that is a lot harder on the vga than MWO. I really should have gone with a 980ti when I built this pc a month ago, but I hadn't planned on gaming any higher than 1920x1080.

Tried playing Witcher 3 with triple, and it's terrible. Not only did performance suck with a single 970, but everything on the side monitors was warped and fish-eyed to the point where characters appeared at near right angles.

Some games are made for triple setups. MWO, Driving Games and Space Sims are some of those games. Witcher 3 isn't one of these games.

[Kira Onime]

Troutmonkey, on 18 November 2015 - 09:48 PM, said:

Some games are made for triple setups. MWO, Driving Games and Space Sims are some of those games. Witcher 3 isn't one of these games.

There are some programs you can download to get a proper triple monitor setup working correctly on some games.
widescreenfixer being one of 'em.

[Troutmonkey]

Belphegore, on 18 November 2015 - 09:15 PM, said:

@Troutmonkey, is it just the photo that makes the side views look stretched in that pic? or is that how it tends to look? Not tried using multiple monitors myself so far.

Kira Onime, on 18 November 2015 - 09:26 PM, said:

No, actual in-game appearance. Around 50~66% of your side monitors in this setup will be highly distorted.

Kira's correct. There some fish-eye / streching along the sides that's very obvious when you look at it, but it doesn't really matter as it's only your peripheral vision. In some mechs the way the cockpit is designed is annoying. For instance the Stalkers side monitors gets stretched across the side screens, and on the Jaegermech the cross bar has a low rez texture which looks really bad when stretched.
I'll try and remember to take some more photos when I get home.

[Kira Onime]

Troutmonkey, on 18 November 2015 - 09:52 PM, said:

Kira's correct. There some fish-eye / streching along the sides that's very obvious when you look at it, but it doesn't really matter as it's only your peripheral vision. In some mechs the way the cockpit is designed is annoying. For instance the Stalkers side monitors gets stretched across the side screens, and on the Jaegermech the cross bar has a low rez texture which looks really bad when stretched.
I'll try and remember to take some more photos when I get home.

King Crab has the potential to look amazing while the atlas is a nightmare to be in.
I you don't know if you're claustrophobic, the Atlas will make sure to test it out for you.

[Jeffrey Wilder]

I have been running triple setup for quite awhile now 6400x1080. Works well unless you are in larger maps in CW or the newer ones with destructible terrain.

I use one DP and 2 DVI connections.

[Valdherre Tor]

I had 28" monitor that I was running on and then I swapped that out for an ifinity set-up with three 24" monitors.

The side views were awesome and I was more situationaly aware of my surroundings due to the extended field of view, I found it easier to run light mechs but running 3 monitors did have some draw backs.

Using the three monitor set up some mechs had a very limited view out the side cockpit windows, ex- The Grasshoppers right side is completely obscured, Blackjacks cockpit side glasses are very small and v-shaped not giving much of an edge, and I can't remember if it was the Stalker or Catapult but in one of those mechs both side glasses are useless because of monitors in the cockpit. The thing that I found most annoying about running a three monitor setup was field of range became more limited and actually hurt my game performance. I found it hard to see targets at 500meters or more and react fast enough, I also found my self squinting alot.

In the end I ended up swapping back to my old 28" monitor.

[MauttyKoray]

Troutmonkey, on 18 November 2015 - 08:43 PM, said:

Some cockpits are better than others

Spoiler

That made me laugh til I cried. Beautiful...

[Jeffrey Wilder]

xeromynd, on 18 November 2015 - 09:13 PM, said:

Interesting thing is that I still get flickering objects and warping textures while running two monitors, and MWO is only on one of them.

Most flickering problem with multiple monitors setup is because of the different clocks used on different ports. It happens in my case because the DP clock is a different one from the DVI clock.

[Troutmonkey]

Jeffrey Wilder, on 18 November 2015 - 11:06 PM, said:

Most flickering problem with multiple monitors setup is because of the different clocks used on different ports. It happens in my case because the DP clock is a different one from the DVI clock.

It's not the whole screen. Just random objects/mechs on any screen. It does it on one screen as well, it's just more frequent on higher resolutions