3 monitor setup advice

joejoe87 · 13-01-2014 10:06pm #1

Hi, I don't know a lot about computer building but I'm wondering if someone can recommend a Motherboard and Graphics Card to support a 3 monitor setup that won't break the bank.

Total build 600- 700 Euros excluding monitors

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:08pm

Is 700 just for the motherboard and graphics card or do you need ram, processor etc

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:08pm

Is 700 just for the motherboard and graphics card or do you need ram, processor etc

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:08pm

Is 700 just for the motherboard and graphics card or do you need ram, processor etc

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:08pm

Is 700 just for the motherboard and graphics card or do you need ram, processor etc

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:08pm

Is 700 just for the motherboard and graphics card or do you need ram, processor etc

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:08pm

Is 700 just for the motherboard and graphics card or do you need ram, processor etc

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:08pm

Is 700 just for the motherboard and graphics card or do you need ram, processor etc

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:08pm

Is 700 just for the motherboard and graphics card or do you need ram, processor etc

joejoe87 · 13-01-2014 10:12pm

I need everything, I'm getting a company called ktcomputers to build it but the build I chose doesn't support 3 monitors. Here are 3 examples but they said they're putting 3 new up to date examples up in the next few days. http://www.ktcomputers.ie/gaming-pc . I', looking for a second opinion really, I'm not confident enough to build my own computer.

joejoe87 · 13-01-2014 10:15pm

also I'm out of the country until march, so I won't build until I'm back.

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:15pm

Theres pieces of crap tbh. Hardwareversand will build the PC for you for a tenner I think it is.

****e quality parts and ****e graphics cards for the prices there charges.

A 6670 is a high end gaming PC????? they'd want a bucket of cop on.

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:18pm

Sorry Mods about the 10 posts in a row. Dont know what happened if ye could delete

joejoe87 · 13-01-2014 10:25pm

I've been looking at that site but I'm not confident enough to pick the right stuff. I've been looking at some sweet builds on youtube. Maybe I'll find one in my budget and just order the same parts?

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:33pm

joejoe87 wrote: »

I've been looking at that site but I'm not confident enough to pick the right stuff. I've been looking at some sweet builds on youtube. Maybe I'll find one in my budget and just order the same parts?

The graphics cards are rubbish so i definitely would not be ordering them! Dodgy Power supply's as well and never heard of that ram!

joejoe87 · 13-01-2014 10:38pm

what about copying someone's setup from youtube? depending on the people's opinions and so on. I really don't know a whole lot

yawhat! · 13-01-2014 10:44pm

I'll spec you up a build. Theres hundreds of threads on here with gaming builds in them

joejoe87 · 14-01-2014 1:10am

I've looked at some videos of people building there pcs so I think I'll give it a go myself... I'll put up a list in a bit when I do some pricing

ShadowHearth · 14-01-2014 1:30am

Why do you want 3 monitor setup? Are you looking to play in surround or it is for work and general Screen real estate?

If it is for work, then you dont really need a beefy GPU to hold 3x1080p screens together, if it is for gaming, then you will need some really really good GPU.

If you do plan on gaming, then I would advice to see it in action first ( if possible ). I always wanted a surround gaming setup. When I actually built it, it turned out not as cool as I expected. Thats outside of stupid amount of power needing to run it. Some people like surround setups and fair play, but I am warning you, its not for everyone.
Some games Benefit from it in some form ( EVE online, War thunder ), but a lot of other games are pretty meh. 3 monitors in surround are a bitch to use for just normal tasks in desktop. For example you will want to have full screen movie or youtube video and keep browsing on other screen. You wont be able to do this as it will full screen it over all 3 monitors. Meaning it will make side monitors pretty much useless as all they will show - Black screen. I had to break down surround back to nice 3x1080p.
Maybe instead of 3 monitor setup, you would have better having 1440p monitor + 1080p monitor as extension for random stuff.

joejoe87 · 14-01-2014 1:52am

It would be for gaming, this is a list I did on hardwareversand. Where is the option for them to build it?

Gigabyte H87-HD3, ATX

8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9

Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC Windforce 2X, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort

Asus BC-12D2HT/BLK/B Bulk Silent

Intel Core i5-3330 Box, LGA1155

Corsair CX Series Modular CX500M, 500W

MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch

Sharkoon T9 Value green edition, ohne Netzteil

Comes in at 783 euros... needs to be about 100 less. How does this setup look?

ShadowHearth · 14-01-2014 2:14am

joejoe87 wrote: »

It would be for gaming, this is a list I did on hardwareversand. Where is the option for them to build it?

Gigabyte H87-HD3, ATX

8GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9

Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 OC Windforce 2X, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort

Asus BC-12D2HT/BLK/B Bulk Silent

Intel Core i5-3330 Box, LGA1155

Corsair CX Series Modular CX500M, 500W

MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit SB-Version Englisch

Sharkoon T9 Value green edition, ohne Netzteil

Comes in at 783 euros... needs to be about 100 less. How does this setup look?

Now I dont want to sound as a Smart arse bastard, but Good luck to be able to Game in surround with that spec. I am a bit out of touch with current best Cookie cutter setups as I did not speced Systems for some time, but I bet lads will come with better setup.

joejoe87 · 14-01-2014 2:22am

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Now I dont want to sound as a Smart arse bastard, but Good luck to be able to Game in surround with that spec. I am a bit out of touch with current best Cookie cutter setups as I did not speced Systems for some time, but I bet lads will come with better setup.

I don't really know what I'm doing tbh

TireeTerror · 14-01-2014 2:26am

ShadowHearth wrote: »

but a lot of other games are pretty meh. 3 monitors in surround are a bitch to use for just normal tasks in desktop. For example you will want to have full screen movie or youtube video and keep browsing on other screen. You wont be able to do this as it will full screen it over all 3 monitors. Meaning it will make side monitors pretty much useless as all they will show - Black screen. I had to break down surround back to nice 3x1080p.

This is not the case at all. You must not have set it up properly. I have 3 x 1440p monitors and whichever screen I choose to display a fullscreen movie on, youtube or bluray, it will only affect that screen. The other two screens will show the desktop and I could go and browse the internet or do whatever I wanted, all while the other monitor is displaying the movie.

I stream my Vu+Duo2 over homeplugs onto 1 monitor most of the time. I can even play Battlefield 4 on the central monitor, with Sky Sports on my left monitor, and have facebook/teamspeak/skype etc on the right monitor.

You are correct about gaming on 3 displays, in most instances I dont bother. Its great fun in Fifa having the entire pitch on display the entire time, or in games like iRacing where, well thats why I bought them, its just incredible.

If you want it for gaming, I suggest you follow the advice in the video below, rather than doing the typical setup where the monitors are at a very shallow angle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rri19PqJ3qU

joejoe87 · 14-01-2014 2:39am

is it the graphics card and the ram that's the most important?

ShadowHearth · 14-01-2014 2:41am

TireeTerror wrote: »

This is not the case at all. You must not have set it up properly. I have 3 x 1440p monitors and whichever screen I choose to display a fullscreen movie on, youtube or bluray, it will only affect that screen. The other two screens will show the desktop and I could go and browse the internet or do whatever I wanted, all while the other monitor is displaying the movie.

I stream my Vu+Duo2 over homeplugs onto 1 monitor most of the time. I can even play Battlefield 4 on the central monitor, with Sky Sports on my left monitor, and have facebook/teamspeak/skype etc on the right monitor.

You are correct about gaming on 3 displays, in most instances I dont bother. Its great fun in Fifa having the entire pitch on display the entire time, or in games like iRacing where, well thats why I bought them, its just incredible.

If you want it for gaming, I suggest you follow the advice in the video below, rather than doing the typical setup where the monitors are at a very shallow angle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rri19PqJ3qU

Do you have it as 3x1440p set or all of them in one huge resolution for SURROUND? I got them all now set as 3x1080p instead of 5750x1080 and I can use it as you said it. It was the main reason for me going back to separate monitors instead of surround.

For 3 monitor gaming I think OP should go at least this to get bare minimum of Surround gaming. Even so that GPU wont run it that great at all. Like I said it was ages since I put Machines together, I bet lads can do a better job.
Item|Price
Gigabyte Z87-HD3, ATX|€95.43
Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150|€205.99
8GB-Kit G.Skill PC3-10667U CL9|€68.07
BitFenix Shinobi Midi-Tower USB 3.0 black, ohne Netzteil|€53.91
be quiet! PURE POWER L8 600W|€70.23
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s|€47.99
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 120GB SATA 6Gb/s|€84.99
Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X Rev 2.0 Battlefield 4 Edition, 3GB DDR5, PCI- Express|€279.71
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€925.31

TireeTerror · 14-01-2014 3:11am

In the Nvidia control panel I have it set to surround. The resolution is set at 7680x1440. Although I have my taskbar only on the central monitor as its pointless having it on the left or right. Also as the monitors are 27" in size, it saves having to turn my head, which actually does get annoying after a bit. Im not really that interested in tech for the sake of it, so if it didnt work out as I hoped, then I would have just sold them on.

If I am using VLC player for example, whichever monitor the VLC window is in when I maximise it, is the only screen it will affect. If I wanted to make it fill two screens or more for some bizarre reason, I would simply manually stretch the window out so that it spanned whichever screens I wanted it to fill, then hit the "maximize" button at the top of the window. Whichever screens the window was in at that time would be filled.

ShadowHearth · 14-01-2014 3:17am

TireeTerror wrote: »

In the Nvidia control panel I have it set to surround. The resolution is set at 7680x1440. Although I have my taskbar only on the central monitor as its pointless having it on the left or right. Also as the monitors are 27" in size, it saves having to turn my head, which actually does get annoying after a bit. Im not really that interested in tech for the sake of it, so if it didnt work out as I hoped, then I would have just sold them on.

If I am using VLC player for example, whichever monitor the VLC window is in when I maximise it, is the only screen it will affect. If I wanted to make it fill two screens or more for some bizarre reason, I would simply manually stretch the window out so that it spanned whichever screens I wanted it to fill, then hit the "maximize" button at the top of the window. Whichever screens the window was in at that time would be filled.

Well, when I do surround way, then youtube maxed out videos would go on all 3 monitors. When I play games on 1080p it shut downs side monitors.
I have to have non surround setup to be able to play games and have Netflix or other stuff on side monitors.

Anyway, sorry for off topic OP. If you are quite new to the whole PC gaming and just want 3 monitor setup, because it sounds awesome, then I would advice you to reconsider. If you are new, you better off making a solid one monitor setup and work away from there. Damn, get 2 monitors to play on one and have your "stuff" on second one. Trust me, when you go in to more then one monitor - you never ever go back. :P

Luck100 · 14-01-2014 8:35am

Back to OP's request...if your budget is around 700 for a gaming system then you should be looking at 1080p, single monitor. Running games on 3x1080 (or even a single 1440 monitor) at nice-looking settings takes a fair bit of gpu muscle. I would take high-quality graphics on a single monitor over medium/low on 3 monitors any day. Of course, that doesn't mean you can't game on one monitor at high settings and have the other for your browser/facebook/non-gaming stuff.

Personally, I have a newer 1440p monitor which I use for gaming and an older second monitor (1600x1200). I thought I would use the second monitor for displaying 'stuff' on the side but it turns out I almost never use it. And I use a 4-monitor workstation at work, so it's not like I'm not used to it.

TireeTerror · 21-04-2014 6:23pm

OP how did you get on? Have you ordered stuff?? Would love to see some photos if you have.

glynf · 21-04-2014 7:19pm

ShadowHearth wrote: »

Well, when I do surround way, then youtube maxed out videos would go on all 3 monitors. When I play games on 1080p it shut downs side monitors.
I have to have non surround setup to be able to play games and have Netflix or other stuff on side monitors.

Anyway, sorry for off topic OP. If you are quite new to the whole PC gaming and just want 3 monitor setup, because it sounds awesome, then I would advice you to reconsider. If you are new, you better off making a solid one monitor setup and work away from there. Damn, get 2 monitors to play on one and have your "stuff" on second one. Trust me, when you go in to more then one monitor - you never ever go back. :P

Check out popout for youtube if ytou use Chrome browser Shadow, problem sorted.

OP, if you want to run games in Surround/Eyefinity, one GPU won't cut it if you want decent fps'. You will need to factor in SLI/Xfire cards to your build. I currently have SLI'ed GTX 780's running 3 x 120hz monitors @5888 x 1080, and I need to overclock to get 80+ fps on newer titles, the more power the better

Not sure what Xfire support (AMD's multi card solution) is like these days-Ijumped to Nvidia last year, but make sure there is good driver and profile support for the games you plan to play. Nvidia is a lot better with multiple cards-but that's my opinion, it seems like they sorted the microstutter issues they had in newer drivers.

When it comes to games, don't assume every game released works well out of the box multi monitor, its a lot better these days but some devs are not arsed (hello Bethesda).

As a rule of thumb, I allow a month or two for all the bugs related to multi monitor games to be worked out before I buy a new release.
Checkout WSGF for fixes etc to older games as well as newer unsupported titles. Don't let this put you off, its all worth it when a game runs well in surround.

3 monitor setup advice

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