Three Monitor Display for a Newbie GTX 980 SLI IPS/TN 24"/27"

[paulyh]

Hi,

My Setup

Intel Core i7 5930K Extreme - CPU Overclocking: 4.3Ghz - Extreme Overclock
Corsair H100i GTX Extreme Water for cooling
Motherboard: Asus Rampage V Extreme
32GB Corsair 2666mhz Vengeance LPX DDR4
GTX 980 SLI so GSYNC would be great


I am quite interested in a three monitor setup to play ffxiv and Elite dangerous and I am unsure of the following :-

1) Should I go 24"? as three 27" monitors maybe too immersive?
2) Will my GTX 980 SLI (it has 3 display port connectors) be sufficient to run 1920 by 1080 or 2560 by 1440.
3) IPS/TN if i read anymore my eyes will bleed

I think what I maybe failing to understand is that maybe 3 x 1920 by 1080 stretched over three display is enough? am I wrong to think I need 3 x 2560 by 1440?

Any suggestions or advice would be very welcome

 

[Suzuki@1473780084@1473780163]

1) A 23.6" and a 27" display are basically the same size. the 27" is 3 inches wider, and 2 inches taller. It's got a PPI of 81, instead of 93. To compensate, you are going to want to sit 5 inches further away.

2) Yes, you will have no problem running a 1440 display--highly recommended on that setup to get the most out of it.

3) IPS has got more accurate colors, TN look washed out in comparison--it's a limitation of it's technology. Quick summary: IPS used to have slow input lag and slow response times, but that has changed--today they are practically the same in terms of those two specs.

4) 3 1440 displays is not recommended, even on the highest end GPU setups currently on the market. Either aim for a single 1440 or a triple 1080 setup, because;

Single:

1920 * 1080 = 2073600 (pixels)
2560 * 1440 = 3686400 (pixels)

Triple:

5760 * 1080 = 6220800 (pixels)
7680 * 1440 = 11059200 (pixels)

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To give you an idea of how demanding a triple 1440 setup would be. Note that most GPU setups struggle with a single 4k display, which is only 8294400 pixels compared to a triple 1440's 11059200 pixels.

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As for G-sync, it's recommended but is not required. A 144 Hz monitor is going to minimize screen tearing. I will explain why, but I will use 120 Hz as an example, to make it easier to follow. 144 Hz would of course be 1.4 ms faster provided you can push 144 FPS in-game.


A 60 Hz display refreshes every 16.67 ms, this is because 1 / 60 = 0.016 (16.67) ms. This means that the monitor picks up the frame in the GPU's frame-buffer every 16.67 ms, meanwhile the GPU draws a frame in the back-buffer. It then copies the frame in the back-buffer to the frame-buffer as often as it can.

Okay, so we know that a 60 Hz display refreshes every 16.67, but why does it tear? That is because the monitor has a set refresh rate, and it picks up the frame from the frame-buffer, at the same time the back-buffer copies it's frame to the frame-buffer.

It's not the monitor that is half finished, it's the graphics card that is half finished and the monitor that is causing it. The monitor has a set refresh rate, again: 60 Hz = 16.67 ms. The graphics card does not.

V-sync, G-sync, FreeSync (if you use AMD graphics--you don't). By using a 120 Hz display. What happens is that screen tearing occurs twice as much on a 120 Hz display, than on a 60 Hz--but why is the 120 Hz display better? That is because the difference between 2 frames, is going to be much smaller (faster). Simple math tells us that 1 / 120 = 0.008 ms. That is indeed much lower (faster) than what a 60 Hz (16.67 ms) display is capable of.

This means that the frame that is tearing, spends half as much time as the 60 Hz display, on screen. The result is that it's very hard for us to actually notice the tearing, on a 120 Hz display, in comparison to a 60 Hz display.

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As for recommending a monitor, I cannot suggest one because it's mostly preference though do aim for an IPS panel at that budget, unless you want an affordable 144 Hz display which of course would be much cheaper, since they are TN panels.


~All the best!

 

[XMorsX]

For a three monitor setup, you need IPS monitors, because when looking TN monitors from an angle, the colors change.
My suggestion is 3 dell s2415h, it is an IPS monitor with glossy coating, which gives clearer image and more vibrant colors.

IMO, it is a shame to lose the opportunity to use G-Sync, consider the 4K TN Acer XB280HK.

By the way, great post from Suzuki.

 

[paulyh]

I think thats the confusion and apologies for being lame. If I went for 3 dells as you suggested wont I then with the 60mhz and have all the tearing and sync issues? or will the gpu just cope?

For a three monitor setup, you need IPS monitors, because when looking TN monitors from an angle, the colors change.
My suggestion is 3 dell s2415h, it is an IPS monitor with glossy coating, which gives clearer image and more vibrant colors.

IMO, it is a shame to lose the opportunity to use G-Sync, consider the 4K TN Acer XB280HK.

By the way, great post from Suzuki.

 

[XMorsX]

I think thats the confusion and apologies for being lame. If I went for 3 dells as you suggested wont I then with the 60mhz and have all the tearing and sync issues? or will the gpu just cope?

For a three monitor setup, you need IPS monitors, because when looking TN monitors from an angle, the colors change.
My suggestion is 3 dell s2415h, it is an IPS monitor with glossy coating, which gives clearer image and more vibrant colors.

IMO, it is a shame to lose the opportunity to use G-Sync, consider the 4K TN Acer XB280HK.

By the way, great post from Suzuki.

Yes you will have tearing with v sync off and a bit of lag with v-sync off. However, you can still use adaptive v-sync, so no harm done, it will just not be so smooth as with g-sync. Unfortunately, there is no 1080p IPS with g-sync, so you will have to do with the dells for a three monitor setup. This is why I suggested one 4k monitor with g-sync instead.