3x 1080p (Eyefinity) VS 1x 2560 (Catleap/Shimian/Crossover)

platinums

I have been on the fence for about a month deciding on getting a Korean 2560x1440 display. They look amazing the real estate is great, but the €600 you save on getting say a 27" Dell, comes with its own risk of getting dead pixels or a major failure within 1-2 years. This then means probably having to pay €120 shipping charges to get a replacement.
We dont know how hardy these screens will be as they are out less than a year and the Dells usually come with a 3 yr warranty.

So which have people tried and tested, I've heard a few complaints about Eyefinity and its rather particular setup. Although, having 3 monitors seems better for productivity in general.

Would it be better to go the Eyefinity route, I could get 2 1080 screens at 23 inches now and buy another later on for the same money as the Korean 27. There would be a lot less risk involved.

Screen Pixel Sizes
2 monitor setup is 3840x1080
3 monitor setup is 5760x1080
Korean 2560x1440

2 monitors seem the best value for money from a pixel point of view but will most games work with it.

Just having trouble deciding myself and the risk factor is worrying.
If you vote add a comment on what's your setup is and its pros cons from your mind.

Thanks, Im sure this will help others too.

Edit - thanks indough

indough

a 3 x 1080 monitor setup will still only be 1080 vertical resolution unless you have them above each other, ie it will be 5760x1080

edit: i have the dell u2713hm myself but havent had the chance to use it to its full resolution yet, the build quality seems great though

Tij da feen

I wouldn't go for a 2 monitor set-up for gaming because you have the gap in the middle which is annoying for fps in particular. I would go for the 1440p myself to have the extra vertical pixels.

platinums

Tij da feen wrote: »

I wouldn't go for a 2 monitor set-up for gaming because you have the gap in the middle which is annoying for fps in particular. I would go for the 1440p myself to have the extra vertical pixels.

yes i thought about this, initially the 2 monitor would be a stop gap to getting 3, there needs to be a central monitor flanked by one each side for gaming definately.

Dcully

Honestly i would go with a U27 or the ASUS PB278Q.
My U2412M blew my catleap out of the water in terms of image quality, the catleap looking so dull and washed out by comparison and thats taking into account the U2412M has a matte finish and the catleap glossy.
Looking on the overclock.net catleap owbers club and the 1440 owners club both of which is subscribe to and follow closely more people seem to be developing issues after a few months.

Having said that it doesnt mean one will certainly have issues, for example a lot of people seem to be having issues with OCZ SSD drives after short periods yet mine has never given me an issue in 12 months i have it.
But my next SSD will be a Samsung maybe as id worry about getting another OCZ.

Seriously though after all i had read about the catleap i was very disappointed when i put it up beside the U2412M, even with the higher res id looked nowhere near as good , that wasnt just me, i had atleast another 5-6 people 3 of which are avid PC gamers take a look before i sold it and all 100% agreed.

I also suffered mild eyestrain with the catleap but i put it down to the smaller text as i have weak eyesight.
There are plenty of people on the owners clubs with monitors approaching 12 months old and are reporting no issues so dont quote me as gospel but lets jsut say there are concerns.
If your sure you want a 1440 monitor the Catleap,Shimian,Crossover etc are great value IF you get a good one and IF it proves reliable.
Personally if i was to change in the morning from my U2412M 1920X1200 and wanted a 2560X1440 id probably go with the U2713hm which is the U2412M`s bigger brother as i know the quality is in the panel,the build,has tonnes of features or id go with the ASUS PB278Q.
I myself will be interested in what arrives to the market in the next 12 months.

HellboundIRL

If it's productivity you're after then you'll never be disappointed with the 3 monitors, I couldn't go back to having one screen (got 5 of them now :P ). I'm not a fan of eyefinity though, a lot of games don't support it and the ones that do often don't make good use of it, profile switching can also be a bit of a pain in the arse. If you're into racing sims or something similar then it's probably worth it, they always seem to work quite well with multi monitors.

It's a tough decision to make. Just make sure you buy 3 and not 2 if you do decide to go down the multi monitor route.

platinums

Dcully, good insight, thanks as for the future, I see 4k on the horizon but price wise the current one out is $5,500 so that price wont budge much over the next year.
I say there will be a lot more 1200p screens and the price will come down on them somewhat. Id also say the manufacture process for the 27" screens will improve leading to less catleap variants, at least at the price point they are at now. All guess work though.

titan18

Depends. Eyefinity can be pretty nice for gaming and having the extra monitors is excellent for productivity (if you work in software development or anything along those lines, it's a lifesaver), however for normal pc use, it's kind of useless imo. I have 3 23" screens, and tbh I barely use 2 of them unless I'm doing some form of development.

platinums

HellboundIRL wrote: »

If it's productivity....

Desk space might not afford 3 monitors comfortably , but I would put up with it, plus theres the extra power consumption, not much but tell that to ESB, €300 for the last 2 months! gf blames teh 42"tv, she wont be happy to see 3 more 23" screens - lol.

Mainly going to be for BF3 and ARMAII, there the only 2 i seriously play.

profile switching seems like a pain as i prefer things to just work and need the minimalist of tweaking once set. Does that mean constantly having to assess profiles?

Tea_Bag

most of my opinion will be biased, so I'll leave it out, but I can say that you mention BF3 and arma, neither of which will be in any way competitive online in eyefinity if that's what you're looking for.

ShadowHearth

Tea_Bag wrote: »

most of my opinion will be biased, so I'll leave it out, but I can say that you mention BF3 and arma, neither of which will be in any way competitive online in eyefinity if that's what you're looking for.

this. i tried eyefinity in BF3 and arma.

BF3 was complete waste as the side monitors are useless due to angle they use. Just a huge performance hit for feck all benefit.

Arma - completely broken. Even if it works i bet it is more of distraction.

I did not voted on this poll, because i do have 3 monitor setup and i really really LOVE it, but i dont use eyefinity for playing games. My pc is a gaming device, but its my entertainment centre too. So 3 monitors are great for multitasking. i play 2 games and watch a movie. or have a movie, website with info n game and game it self. all on 3 monitors.

Perfectly i would just go with 1x1440p + 2x1080p. that would be my perfect setup.

Procrastastudy

Went down the eyefinity route - then bought a Catleap. I couldn't be happier with the Catleap in all honesty. Good picture, no dead pixels great real estate.

Eyefinity does this weird stretch thing - I could never get used to it. Borderlands for some odd reason didn't stretch the side images and I still didn't like it. For pure productivity I'd actually go with a landscape 27" and two portrait 23" (or what ever will give you a 1440 resolution) tacked on the sides.

platinums

Procrastastudy wrote: »

... landscape 27" and two portrait 23" (or what ever will give you a 1440 resolution) tacked on the sides..

This i like, seen it over at OC.com and its very nicely done. Geglamesh's Bridge.

Procrastastudy

This is what I'd like - note the PC built into the desk.

glynf

2x 1920x1080p (Eyefinity)

I'm a big fan of eyefinity, so I voted 3x 1080 but it's very much try before you buy though platinums. I have 3 x 27" 120hz samsungs running at 5928x1080 bezel corrected and I love it. I hate playing on one screen now-it feels like going back to a 21" 4:3 TV from a 40" 16:9

Multi monitor generally works much better in racing, flight sim and 3rd person games than FPS' type games. FPS's can have a lot stretching on the side screens. Its due to the way games render frames and camera angles used (and not to simulate peripheral vision as some say), and some games are good others are absolute sh!te.

Most can be fixed to a degree by adjusting the field of view using third party programs to adjust it, and they can also and the weapon FOV to suit. Some people hate the stretching/magnification but I like it as I can see movement from farther away. Tbh I rarely even look at side screens esp. in an FPS, they do give a lot of immersion in game though as you can see a lot happening peripherally.

I had a u2711 for a while (for a work build) and loved it, but still needed a few more either side The ideal setup for me would be 7680x1440 @ 120hz, though apart from a serious beast of a PC, 120hz capable 1440/1600p monitors are not yet available. I would love to see those modded Catleaps happen too.

Also if you are thinking surround or eyefinity you will need SLI'ed/crossfired cards if you want decent frame rates, one card just does not cut it if you want to keep in game graphics set to high.

srsly78

Missing options for 7680x1600 and 2560x1600 - which are the top ones.