Widescreen Gaming Forum

OK, I have been gaming at 16:10 and 1920x1200 but my FOV always feels off no matter what I do. Someone suggested I try widescreen gaming, which I assumed 16:10 and 16:9 was, however they were referring to multiple wide screen monitors....

I have done some research and have many questions:
1, As I have 2 x GTX 560's in SLI I thing NV Surround 2D is a good choice but these cards are limited to 1gb of memory each so my question is if I like to play with 2-4 x FSAA what will be the suggested resolution of each monitor before the VRAM becomes an issue.
2, Recommend make of monitor with small bezel, from my research it appears LG and Compact and Lenovo have small bezels....
3, I am limited for desktop space so will prefer small monitors for gaming, what is the minimum widescreen size I should consider.
4, Which aspect, 16:10 or 16:9 or 4:3 in multi monitor mode looks most natural for gaming?

Thanks guys, multi monitor newb here....

Wow, no one wants to help!!! that sucks.....
Well, I have gone ahead and purchased one MSI 2gb 6950 Twin Frozr lll video card , three Hyundai X93LD 19" LED Backlighting Monitor - 1440x900 as they were only $109 each and have a 6mm bezel and an active dp to dvi dongle....

I have sent back my 560Ti for full refund, good old EVGA and will be able to set up Eyefinity with just the one 6950 with the second one coming when I get my tax rebate in a few weeks. I will also get a triple monitor stand to hold the three screens neatly.

Perhaps I'll report back on my findings....

OK, I have been gaming at 16:10 and 1920x1200 but my FOV always feels off no matter what I do. Someone suggested I try widescreen gaming, which I assumed 16:10 and 16:9 was, however they were referring to multiple wide screen monitors....

I have done some research and have many questions:
1, As I have 2 x GTX 560's in SLI I thing NV Surround 2D is a good choice but these cards are limited to 1gb of memory each so my question is if I like to play with 2-4 x FSAA what will be the suggested resolution of each monitor before the VRAM becomes an issue.
2, Recommend make of monitor with small bezel, from my research it appears LG and Compact and Lenovo have small bezels....
3, I am limited for desktop space so will prefer small monitors for gaming, what is the minimum widescreen size I should consider.
4, Which aspect, 16:10 or 16:9 or 4:3 in multi monitor mode looks most natural for gaming?

Thanks guys, multi monitor newb here....

1. I always suggest just turning off all that excess stuff and run native resolutions. Really, for what you want to do 1GB of video ram doesn't really cut it, so things will need to be turned off or set low.

2. I suggest Samsung, ASUS or Dell.

3. How "limited" is "limited"? You need at least 4-5 foot wide desktop for triple screen LCD. I would consider no smaller than 22" and since you're "limited" I'd also consider nothing larger than 22"

4. None of them look natural for gaming. The outer edges of most games will look stretched regardless of what you do. This has to do how 3d engine game cameras are coded in general.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

OK, I have been gaming at 16:10 and 1920x1200 but my FOV always feels off no matter what I do. Someone suggested I try widescreen gaming, which I assumed 16:10 and 16:9 was, however they were referring to multiple wide screen monitors....

I have done some research and have many questions:
1, As I have 2 x GTX 560's in SLI I thing NV Surround 2D is a good choice but these cards are limited to 1gb of memory each so my question is if I like to play with 2-4 x FSAA what will be the suggested resolution of each monitor before the VRAM becomes an issue.
2, Recommend make of monitor with small bezel, from my research it appears LG and Compact and Lenovo have small bezels....
3, I am limited for desktop space so will prefer small monitors for gaming, what is the minimum widescreen size I should consider.
4, Which aspect, 16:10 or 16:9 or 4:3 in multi monitor mode looks most natural for gaming?

Thanks guys, multi monitor newb here....

If your converned about space, there are a few things that come to mind.

1. Consider positioning your monitors in Potrait mode. This will reduce the horizontal footprint of the overall setup, enabling you to take up less space or to actually fit the setup on a smaller workspace.
2. By using a Portrait mode setup, you can achieve a closer similarity to the native rectangular aspect ratios then you can with a horizontal setup. For instance, I have 3xDell UltraSharp U2711 27inch IPS monitors. Normally their resolutions are 2560x1440, these monitors are 16:9. When you setup 3 of them, the resolution changes to 4320x2560 which is 1.6875, not the 1.78 from 16:9 but its much closer. I could also try to create a custom resolution to match more closely.

3. Consider getting a multi display stand. One big factor of multi display setups is that the physical impact of these setups increase not only with the number of monitors that you add, but with the stands themselves. Having 1 stand for many monitors is always a bonus.
4. Wall mount the monitors. by doing so, you can even iliminate the the space restrictions, as you can have your monitors mounted to the wall, floating above the desk, even wider then the desk actually is, freeing all of the space bellow it.

As far as limited space goes. You can find desk units usually that are 72" wide that are perfect for 3x22", with room left for PC-speakers. I did 3x17" (5:4) for a while. The FOV in games was great, my main motivation to switching to 3x16:10 is that almost all web pages and applications these days are made with widescreen format in mind.

What I personally did was the following :D

1. Go to IKEA!
2. Went to the Bargain section
3. Find the longest uncut countertop that you like (mine was 50$ and SUPER thick!)
4. Go to the Office section.
5. Buy 6-8 Legs for lik 4$ a pair (Your going to need 1 set of legs to support the middle or 2 additional off to the sides of the ones at each end)
6. Drive Home
7. Get all the clutter out of your room (Your going to need it!)
8. Screw on the legs
9. Insanely huge custom length desk you coudnt find or BUY anywhere else.
10. Price of Desk: 62-66$ :D

I stopped at the Office section and bought 2 small filing cabinets, i put 1 of them at each end then screwed in a pair of legs at each end.

I can garanty you, a countertop can take a hell of alot more of a beating then a desk can!

1GB is not enough my vRAM usage in GTA IV and Witcher 2 was 1200mb