Solved Sifting through the b-s

[ThrashZone]

Hi all,
After this last episode of the Titan X Hybrid and the release of the 980TI line up,
Keeping in mind I have No intention of buying or selling a kidney to buy a or pair of 4k monitors...
Which card/ gpu is the most stable understanding that if a driver is crap so is the card

I'm new to the whole gaming deal and high end cards for that matter,
I do plan on buying a couple of games driving and of course Call of duty I'm not into all of the other weird ones witcher...
I always thought the Classified versions were the most stable but seems they rely on tweaking which isn't in my mind an easy thing to do bios is almost a plant based fuel

I do like the concept of liquid cooling or the Hybrid line up coming out but they seem to be adding them to the bottom line cards what I believe to be the Reference cards :/
Is this just a way to sell unpopular cards
They do max the base and boost clocks on them = pretty much why I've read they don't oc well ?

Any how I'm looking for a new easy to use gpu to justify adding to my new build
http://www.sevenforums.com/pc-custom-builds-overclocking/368724-partial-build-started.html
Just hard to constitute 1100.us for the Titan x to accomplish it :/
Cheers.

4th of July sells is my window.

Newegg evga 980 hybrid = 599.us went ahead and bought it picking up tonight at UPS 6/23.

Got this one too clocks a lot better than the about 619.us
ASUS GOLD20TH-GTX980-P-4GD5 GeForce GTX 980 4GB 256-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready SLI Support 20th Anniversary Gold Edition Video Card - Newegg.com

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep Ken some of the gPU's are well out of my range - not that I game that much at all but it seems ridiculous to spend more on one piece of hardware than the entire build itself.

As for the monitors I am sick of the sell point viewing angles - I mean I sit in front of my monitors and I think one has to be obsessed with gaming to the point of boring to have a multi screen set up.

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi Mike actually
I've been using multiple monitors for some time now and can't live without it now = officially spoiled
Although the 4k monitors are well out of reach.

Prices are dropping a bit since the 980TI was released
EVGA can't keep any card for too long and poof gone,
They have more (Auto notify) listings than (add to cart) listings on any 980....

So venders I might have to change to ASUS rather than EVGA and relying on Amazon or Newegg..... for which ever gpu I decide on.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Sorry Mike know too many folks on here (hoping to remember name) and cannot keep up

Yes well I don't game that much as I said but even if I did I don't see (no pun LOL!!) the need for multiple monitors as logic tells me you can only look at one image at a time - unless the screens are set as a panoramic view?? If that were the case I would if I could afford it go for one of the ultra wide's that are curved like some HD TV's I priced up while buying a HD TV. Come to think of it why not spend a bit less on one of those instead of getting dedicated monitors??

 

[ThrashZone]

No problem

Well to mainly use all of the real-estate of both monitors for 2 programs
Or if using 3 monitors 3 programs

Right now I use a 1600 x 1200 for mostly browsers for the extra height,

My other monitor is 1600 x 900 that I use for mostly open graphic programs or searching and opening library .... so I don't have to minimize the browser screen... to get to them
It's really great to have two different open object I can switch too simply by moving the mouse to and from without minimizing the other

Now having 2 the same size might not show the same advantage for browser but nothing says I have to give up the 1600x1200 I can still use it as always it will just be a different size than the other s that I'm quite used to now

Not sure if the 144hz 1920x1080 and the older 1600x1200 being 59-60hz will screw anything up ?

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I'm also addicted to multiple monitors, even though I'm not a gamer, and consider them to be essential.

Gamers use multiple monitors to get a panoramic view of what is going on, both from the sides and from higher up (kind of nice to see that flaming dragon coming before it is on top of you).

Whether one is a gamer or not (I'm NOT a gamer), multiple monitors with a 16:9 or 16:10 aspect ratio, give one far more screen real estate than a single same height ultra widescreen, such as a one with a 21.9 aspect ratio. A single really large monitor, even a curved one, will have serious parallax issues at the edges whereas three monitors can be angled so one has a perpendicular view of each monitor from a normal work position.

Here are a couple screen shots of the desktop I see from my three monitors (24" 1920 x 1080 16:9):





The first shot shows what the desktop looks like when it's idling. The left third is my primary monitor. I keep my taskbar there as well as monitoring utilities, calendar, sticky notes, shortcuts for frequently accessed documents and other documents in progress. I rarely work from that monitor but keep it unused so I can see my notes, calendar, and my computer vitals. Urgent sticky notes I stick on the center monitor so they will jump out at me. I also have my TV cloned to the primary monitor for reading and watching movies so I can access the task bar when operating the computer from my bed.

The center monitor (center third of the desktop) is where my primary work gets done. In the case of the second shot, I'm just surfing the internet. I use the right third of the desktop for displaying documents I'm referencing when working in the middle third. I will occasional use the primary monitor for the same thing if I need more space. A frequent work flow (daily, actually) would have me surfing the internet on the center monitor while running four scans displayed on the right monitor. When ripping CDs and cleaning up the tags, I have Media Monkey open on the left monitor and I'm researching tagging data on the other two monitors. Sometimes, I watch a DVD on the left monitor (which I watch from TV) since the rips can take a while, so I will have Media Monkey on the center monitor and use the right monitor for the research. There are numerous other scenarios where I have multiple tasks running on all three monitors, sometimes with more than one window open on each monitor (I've had as many as eight windows active at a time).

I've thought about getting a fourth monitor to mount above the center monitor and use it for my primary but I would have to replace my graphics card with one that would support four streams but it just galls me to replace a perfectly good card that's only two years old.

I had wanted to get 1920 x 1200 24" monitors but I would have been unable to clone my TV to the primary monitor. I have to use a powered HDMI splitter to do the cloning and those are available only in 1920 x 1080 (trust me, I tried with my old 16:10 22" monitor and everything went horribly wrong). 16:9 in 24" does allow me to view two letter sized Word docs full page side by side on a single monitor as long as I zoom out to 83% (27" monitors would be better but, even if I had room for them—I had to be creative to make room for the 24" monitors—I would also need a new graphics card).

 

[ThrashZone]

Yep,
2 of these is what I was thinking of,
Sorry for the location popup just close it and the page will refresh without it,
ASUS VG248QE 24" 1080p 144Hz 3D Gaming LED Monitor 90LMGG001Q022CUL - Micro Center

Won't have to sell a kidney

Which the supported resolutions are a bit odd for a 1920 x 1080
It does not show 1600x900 but that is a perfect scale down resolution for 1920-1080 :/

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Got you now and for monitors I am in the market for a general purpose 23" to run HD from the Asus ROG lappy (in HD 1920x1080) I have and cannot make up my mind between AOC , Samsung, Benq. My own monitors at my own place are Benq (very good for a TN) Samsung 27" good but VERY fiddly adjustments, and Philips again good colour and not fiddly.

Any advice - please share.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Yep,
2 of these is what I was thinking of,
Sorry for the location popup just close it and the page will refresh without it,
ASUS VG248QE 24" 1080p 144Hz 3D Gaming LED Monitor 90LMGG001Q022CUL - Micro Center

Won't have to sell a kidney

Which the supported resolutions are a bit odd for a 1920 x 1080
It does not show 1600x900 but that is a perfect scale down resolution for 1920-1080 :/

That's the kind of monitors I have. I chose them (TN) over IPS to avoid the notorious IPS glow and because it got better reviews than most monitors, especially when it came to dead or stuck pixels. I had three stuck pixels on one monitor (Asus considers up to four or five stuck or dead pixels to be acceptable ) but two of them freed up after a bit of use. It's up near the top of the center monitor and I rarely see it (it doesn't even show up in my second screen shot; it's at the bottom of the center tab) so I'm not losing sleep over it. IPS panels are supposed to get better color accuracy than TN and have wider viewing angles but I get great color from my monitors. I did look up settings for this monitor online and used them instead of the stock ones and set the brightness down considerably. The more limited viewing angle isn't an issue because the center all three monitors are horizontally perpendicular from where I sit at my desk and are only, maybe, 20° north of perpendicular vertically (vertical perpendicular is at the top of each monitor), not enough to cause any color fade by a fair amount. I find that setting a bit easier on my neck; I can go up only 1.5" anyway.

 

[ThrashZone]

Yea the 24" are plenty big enough for me my Acer 1600x900 is 20"
I asked Steve and he likes them too he has the 27" and a couple of 24" too not sure if the same model though ?

Anyway they have plenty of them so far

 

[GokAy]

Another triple monitor user here, although I only have 2 of them active at the moment. Will need a DP to DVI-D active converter first .

I did push a bad/stuck pixel in with my finger 4 years ago True story! Just some pressure was all it needed. Some people use pencil erasers (the ones at the end of the pencil).

For most games the surround monitors are just for peripheral vision, you don't look to them directly (they are distorted anyway). However, usually sims can have multiple cameras for each monitor and those you do look at (i.e., rFactor).

 

[ThrashZone]

Yea I probably would only game on one anyway to keep sights properly in the middle of one screen,

Neat trick I'll have to remember the eraser trick
I would only use 2 screens anyway it's plenty,
The third might be my 40" t.v. though.
It's a bit too far away for gaming but good for watching t.v.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

...I did push a bad/stuck pixel in with my finger 4 years ago True story! Just some pressure was all it needed. Some people use pencil erasers (the ones at the end of the pencil)...

I've tried both pushing it with a pencil eraser and my finger. I also have a pixel checking program can "exercise" a small area of the screen by flashing it rapidly through the colors in hopes of jarring the stuck pixel loose; didn't work. It's one tenacious wee bugger.

Here is a screen shot showing all three monitors in use:

View attachment 361392

 

[AddRAM]

Aww, your attachment is invalid Jean

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

(mutter, mutter, mumble, mumble) Let me try again:

 

[GokAy]

Now we know your secrets as per left screen contents :devil:

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

Now we know your secrets as per left screen contents :devil:

LOL! Not really; I hid the sensitive stuff before taking the shot.

 

[ThrashZone]

Pretty wild having multiple scans going on at the same time

 

[Windows Sniper]

If you are not so serious about playing games and just looking for a card that will power the real estate.

Why not go for a GTX770 or R9 280(X?) both can support multiple streams and both will play most games in max specs at the moment (BF4, Cyrsis on High). Call of duty will have no problems on these cards. However they are not bleeding edge, so they may drop off in a few years.

If you want to slightly future proof your GPU, get something with at least 3~4GB of VRAM. Most games are now taking advantage of the GPU RAM, and this is where you will find the most benefit. Especially if you want to run multiple monitors at high resolution. (1920*1080 is still a 2k resolution with 2 monitors you are techincally running 4k anyway)


My current rig is running 2*24" 1080p monitors and a third 1440*900 (Documents). And it runs everything I could throw at it. But when I get my 3rd monitor (tommorow ) I'll be looking at a second card for SLI.

 

[GokAy]

You should be able to run surround with 1 card. Unless you want SLI specifically. 2xdvi + 1 hdmi or dp.