I've never owned more than one monitor although I always thought it would be nice to have. How many people that you know have more than one monitor at home? Is this kind of setup really popular nowadays since LCDs are really cheap? Or do people still use one monitor?
I am a fan of flight simulation and up until recently I've always used one big monitor (27 inch LCD).
I have seriously been considering a 3 monitor setup recently , I own 3 monitors but 2 are old and all different makes/sizes , I decided I would test it out to see what it was like , I have a HD 5850 graphics card which supports 3 monitors.
It has 2 DVI outputs , 1 HDMI and 1 Display port output.
After reading up on it I found that I needed to buy a display port to dvi connector as you can only use 1 of the actual DVI outputs. Sadly I didn't read up enough lol , I ordered 1 , it came and it didn't work , reason being it wasn't an "active" adapter , it was a passive. (Didn't realize there were different types)
Anyway gonna order the correct one next week or also a display port to vga will work.
Sorry for the long story , was a total pain it the ass lol.
Don't know how many screens you were thinking of or how easy it is with your card , check it out before you go any further tho based on my mishaps lol.
Anyway the plan is , if it looks good then I will get a couple of new monitors to match my newest LG LED.
I mainly play car games such as Dirt 2 and 3 , NFS Shift and also FPS games such as Battlefield bad company 2 etc
I understand 3 screens gives you certain advantages in FPS games seeing as you have a much wider field of view and can see the enemies before they see you.
Not sure how it would be in flight sims , perhaps do a search on youtube for flight sim 3 screen setup's or something?
Cheers
Paul.
Don't forget or very own z3r010 (John),
Windows 7 Forums - z3r010's Album: My PC
Only have two here.
i've got four around the house, but rarely use more than one at the same time, unlike this user:
I'd just like to see the inside of the computer thay are hooked up to.
I don't think this was the real question, but I have more than one, but they are hooked up to different computers. 1 each.
I have had a dual setup with my ATI 5770 for about 8 months now and would hate to go back to single.
I use P2P to watch sports on one while doing my computing chores on the other (generally), and also as a full screen tutorial when learning new video editing techniques in various programs such as DVDLab Pro and others.
Also, my newest monitor is TV/Monitor Hi Def, so I have my satellite receiver hooked up to it as well. (Samsung Syncmaster T220HD). Very nice so far but if you get one, Google it to find out what caps you need to replace right off the bat, because they will go bad. Guaranteed. Mine were already bulging. So if you can get your hands on one not working for cheap, you can have a really nice TV/Monitor with a really easy fix.
Lovin' it.
Last edited by toddincabo; 24 Jun 2011 at 13:20. Reason: New Info
I have a GTX 570, which has two DVI ports, and one HDMI port, so I guess it would be capable of running three displays. However, when playing GPU intensive games (eg. Mass Effect 2 isn't state of the art, but it's from 2010), that I don't know how much of a performance hit I would take. I'm also not sure whether it's possible to daisy chain power bars, because my UPS is all used up, and my wall outlet only has one plug left. Don't know how much I can plug in without causing an overload.
I have run 2 screens for general purposes , and I have to agree with you its very good for general multi tasking , I used it as an extended desktop so I could monitor other things whilst playing games and it worked great , however I tried it out for gaming on both screens and oh man its a no go big time!
In racing games the middle of the track is where the 2 screens meet and it makes it a total nightmare , 3 screens is fine due to the fact you seen the main part of the track on the middle screen and the 2 other screens meet off the main field of view. I would imagine this problem to be the same with a flight sim like the OP want's to use it for.
Well since my GTX 570 supports dual DVI plus one HDMI, then maybe I should get three monitors. Like I said before, the only issue I was concerned about was plugging in too many monitors which may cause an overload. I don't know much about electricity, so maybe it's not so bad.
Lol I can say with some extreme experience you will be fine with a few monitors plugged in.
I have my pc in a big log cabin in my garden , the cabin has 2 plug sockets inside , I run my pc , monitor , speakers , printer , modem , heater , lights and also run a 2nd pc side by side including another monitor all plugged into a multi plug adapter haha.
Been running 5 years and counting without a problem
Paul.
Edited to add - Worst case scenario a fuse will blow.
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