Three displays or 1 really good display?

aaron3323

Commendable
Jun 2, 2016
2
0
1,510
I'm thinking of purchasing a new monitor and I started to look at multiple displays and now I'm torn. I am currently running a single R9 290 card and a monitor that's making the card look like trash. I've read that eyefinity setups are largely simulation based and rather disappointing in the first person shooter setting especially in the framerate department. I feel this single card would negate the benefits of having a 144hz monitor if I tried to run 3 of them at once.
Would I be better off with just one really nice monitor?
I also read that display port has a bandwidth cap so in reality I couldn't run all 3 through a single Displayport and stay at 144hz but this left me to question if using different display types if 3x 144hz monitors could be achieved or if the bandwidth cap is more than just the display port cap.

Basically, one of these, or three of these?

Also I might be upgrading to the 8gig version of the Rx 480 depending on where it lands on the benchmarks once aftermarket coolers are introduced. Not sure if this will change your answer so I thought I'd add it. I don't think any other parts of my build are required but that can be found here.(fans not included)
 
Solution
It would be more about your personal preferences and usage scenarios.
Bearing in mind you mentioned online FPS games, an eyefinity extended display will NOT increase your field of view. It is, as you mentioned, simulated. You will basically get a stretched screen. They did this on purpose in these games so that you don't have an advantage of a wider FOV.
Other games would have a great effect from having an expanded field of view. A good example of this is Quake and other games based on that engine. The effect would be extremely noticeable in Minecraft (just an example, don't hate) where there is actually a FOV slider that, on a single screen, will just distort the image. On a multi-display setup, the distortion is countered by the...

Starcruiser

Honorable
It would be more about your personal preferences and usage scenarios.
Bearing in mind you mentioned online FPS games, an eyefinity extended display will NOT increase your field of view. It is, as you mentioned, simulated. You will basically get a stretched screen. They did this on purpose in these games so that you don't have an advantage of a wider FOV.
Other games would have a great effect from having an expanded field of view. A good example of this is Quake and other games based on that engine. The effect would be extremely noticeable in Minecraft (just an example, don't hate) where there is actually a FOV slider that, on a single screen, will just distort the image. On a multi-display setup, the distortion is countered by the stretching.
In normal productivity settings, multiple monitors thrive.

Displayport can support 2 monitors per port. If you have a dual-DP model, just get a splitter for one of them. My R9 is a dual-DVI model, which is the same concept. Up to 4 monitors can be run from these 2 DVI ports.
 
Solution

aaron3323

Commendable
Jun 2, 2016
2
0
1,510
Yeah preference seems to be the number 1 answer. There are a few things that are leaning me away from an eyefinity setup.
Low fps- avg I've seen are in the 40 range for this card anything below 60 has always been extremely noticeable for me.
Multitasking- I have a tendency to use my other monitors for things like netflix and web browsing while my main display is the only monitor being used ingame. I feel this would be self defeating and I'd feel guilty if I was playing a game and was not spanned across all 3 monitors.
New resolutions- the one 27inch monitor I linked up there is 1440p, I don't know much about it but I do know that when given the choice between the two quite a few forums said they would rather have 1440p than eyefinity setup.

Cost- being realistic about this if I get an eyefinity setup i'll probably spend an extra $100 on a stand putting the cost roughly around $700 plus I'll probably end up upgrading my graphics card within a year being annoyed at the framerate placing me closer to $1100-$1200 range. If i just get the 1 monitor I will probably be satisfied with my current cards framerates, I won't need a stand meaning I'll be at around $400, $800 if I upgrade the graphics card anyway which it will probably be at 8gigs vram (so I'll want more ram since half of it will be address space after the upgrade) so $70. Totaling $870