Widescreen Gaming Forum

I built my 3 screen 3840x1024 setup about 7 years ago, and I haven't kept up on technology since then. As a result, I'm still in the DVI age, and know nothing about display ports, mini display ports, etc.

I've decided to step out of the stone age and upgrade to a 5x1 6000x1920 setup. I've done some research, and I understand nVidia is out, and I'll have to rely on Eyefinity. So I'm looking on advice on what type of hardware I should be using. I'm hoping to spend no more than $1500, but I can do a little leeway. Normal use will be Skyrim, BF3, or 3 EVE Online accounts. Of course, no use playing unless its maxed on all settings.

Here's what I've been considering:
Intel Core i7 3770K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819116501

ASUS Z77-A LGA 1155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131965

MSI R7950 Twin Frozr 3GD5/OC Radeon HD 7950
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814127667

I assume 16GB of Kingston or Corsair RAM should be enough. The rest of the components should be reusable (1200W power, 7.1 sound, water cooling, custom lian li tower, etc).

For screens, (which shouldn't be included in the $1500 price) I was leaning towards:
LG 24EB23PY-B Black 24" 5ms
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6824005491


My biggest concerns
1) Will 1 GPU be enough to keep everything running alright?
2) Will I need any additional hardware, such as active dual link display port hubs?
3) Any other concerns, bottlenecks, or problems that look like they might present a problem?

Of course, if any of this hardware is junk or there's a better "bang for your buck," I'm all ears.

They GPU you've picked won't work. You need a GPU with five or six outputs. Something like this will work:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121560

I know one of our users here is using one for his 5x1-P setup. Also, the newly released 7990 would do it, but that is more than 2x this card.

You might save some money with a slightly lower CPU, and put that in the GPU. You'll get more bang for your buck there. Also, don't forget a WSGF Edition stand for your 5x1-P.

Hi,

first advice i can give you is about you're title! an idiot is someone who does stupid things. By asking here you're certainly not acting stupid! rather call it newbie or fresh men.

2nd advice. as Skip said: to connect 5 monitors you need special arangement! Either you get a displayport MSThub 150$ or you get a special GPU with 6 mini DP or 4xminiDP +2x DVI ports
Listet Here: http://www.wsgf.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=24334

3rd advice. You want as much power as possible! Go with a Overclocked 7970 or do it yourself. (be warned that the market of 7970s is verry complicated... there are a lot of newer (and ghz edition) with locked Voltage so your overclocking will be limited) If you don't want to overclock yourself, buy a pre OC'ed card. it's worth it! for every % more clock speed you get same % more performance! roughly.... But if you want all your games in High Settings you'd better go with Crossfire 2x 7970 ! although there is a lot of ranting going on about that right now because of micro stutter in crossfire! (that said! Eyefinity is a different topic and doesn't behave similar like 1 monitor!)

4th advice. Don't buy a i7-3770K.... well not now! The intel Haswell aka i7-4770k is supposed to launch soon. So either wait till they're out and hope the price for the 3770k will drop. or buy the new generation..... its said to have around 10-25% more performance.





The Monitor looks fine. though the bezel seem really big. and the upper and lower are not the same size. You're gonna debezel them ?

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We gonna send it to outa space!

Get on the damn IRC. I am basically a 5x1P expert at this point. I'll hook you up with the info, and we can transcribe it to the forum, but I am not at all in the mood to have a back on forth through here.

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Alright, some good advice. I'll check into some of the suggestions, and post a few different pieces based on feedback. And a WSGF mount is definitely on the list! I'm not sure 5 stands would look very nice compared to one hidden mount.

I'm assuming that with a display port hub, I can get away with 4DP+2DVI? There doesn't seem to be more than about 10 cards that have 6 DPs. Besides buy needing to buy a hub, are there any benefits of buying a card that already has all the needed display ports built into the card?



I never debezeled my 3 screen setup, but I was thinking 5 screens I might. The bezel size isn't as thin as I like, but for this resolution screen (1920x1200), its hard to have much choice because there aren't a lot of WUXGA manufacturers. I considered using standard 1080P screens, but running in portrait, I would think there would he a tiny amount of width screen and a lot of screen cuts. Maybe 120 pixels wouldn't make a huge difference, but mentally it seems like 11% more screen makes sense. If I'm overthinking this, let me know.



I never had any problems with SLI and my Nvidia 8800 GTX Ultras (yes, its been that many years), but you mention crossfiring causes stutters or only applying to one screen? I was using a Triplehead before, and the computer treated it as a single monitor. Does Eyefinity treat screen separately and avoid the stutter, or did I misread that?

So same setup, but with a single ASUS HD7970-DC2 card (can always buy a second later and Xfire):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6814121560

Downgrading to a 3770 (no K) processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6819116502

That sound about right?

With 4x Displayport and 2x DVI you can power 5 Monitos. tought you might get problems with Tearing.... no guarantee on that, sometimes happens, sometimes not... still not sure why and when it does.

About Crossfire / Eyefinity and Micro Stutter, there is this Thread where all the info is stored: http://www.wsgf.org/forums/viewtopic.ph ... crostutter
MicroStutter is a complicated matter, some people are really affected and some other don't even notice it.

If you wan't to save money on CPU go with a i5-3570k ! Hyperthreading isn't that important in most games, and 4 cores are enough, if you overclock the CPU to 4-4.5ghz you will have enough CPU power for most situations.

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We gonna send it to outa space!

Overclocking isn't something I've had much experience with unfortunately.