Triple Monitor setup

[DaleB]

So I've finally have a system that can run 3 monitors. I've got them up and running working great for games, my question is I would prefer not to use the 3 monitors when doing things other then games. I see there is a profile menu where you pick which programs you want but I can't seem to get it to do what I'm asking it to do, I know shocker!!! I have Windows 7 installed, I have gforce GTX 660 ti video card, any help, suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Dale

[Kat]

Honestly Dale, no point at all restricting yourself to a single monitor when not in games.

It's a proven fact that things are MUCH easier on multiple monitors. In a work environment people work more efficiently with multiple monitors and it just makes things so much smoother.

For example :-

email on one screen
main browser on another
video on another

When I'm writing articles I often have reference material on 'side' monitors.

All in all - well worth it.

[DaleB]

Kat, you're so right. It took me a while to see all the benefits of the three screens. Honestly I had thought about it just for racing but yes, having 3 screens whether it is for just browsing and keeping screens visible or moving files from one place to another or when I'm working at home and having multiple windows open is so much easier now.

[Mitch Simon]

Just installed a triple screen setup and wanted to know what FOV are most using. I feel very overwhelmed with the setup settings that I have so far of 43. Running (3) 24" dell monitors, win7, Ram 8gb, ATI HD 6970, using DVI D on all ports. Also I am still stuttering with 8 gb of ram. Actually have 12 gb but board is not reading the other four for some reason. Any suggestions, advise, tutelage?

[Kat]

Regarding Ram/Stuttering... 8gb is almost an excessive amount so that's not your cause ( can't explain the 12gb issue).

Regarding the stuttering, it could be your CPU is a bit of a limiting factor. It's always advisable to 'lock' your frame rate to a maximum ( 80ish is fine but even 60 will work ) as any faster doesn't actually improve appreciable smoothness as such and indeed, a fluctuating frame rate can be more noticeable than a slower, but stable one.

My setup can easily top 100fps, but at busy times gets close to (and very occasionally below) 80fps.. so I lock it to 80fps and 90% of the time have a nice amount of headroom to help the physics engine etc.

[Frank Oreskov]

Sadly I've never tried a tripple-monitor setup, but regarding locked FPS then I've read setting a specific number will help decrease/elimininate controller input lag. Niels Heusinkveld (spelling?) have said FPS should be locked to 2x the monitor refresh rate set with alternate timing (60Hz equals a setting of "-120" in the player.ini). Another person have said to set the same as monitor refresh rate but with GPU lock (which seems like something else than V-sync?). I think the later might've been for rF2 but not sure.

In the meantime I found this in my links folder:
http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/7 ... tup-Theory
http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/4 ... ator/page3
And something about smooth framerates:
http://isiforums.net/f/showthread.php/6 ... by-100-CPU

Hope it helps, good luck and have fun

Frank

P.S. 8GB is excessive? I got 16 (4x4)

[JohnW]

Just installed a triple screen setup and wanted to know what FOV are most using. I feel very overwhelmed with the setup settings that I have so far of 43. Running (3) 24" dell monitors, win7, Ram 8gb, ATI HD 6970, using DVI D on all ports. Also I am still stuttering with 8 gb of ram. Actually have 12 gb but board is not reading the other four for some reason. Any suggestions, advise, tutelage?

Mitch, on the RAM issue;
- any over clocking?
- What version of Win7 do you use?
- which motherboard?

Unfortunately there's a number of ways 4gb can fail to be seen, so the above would help narrow it down.

Nice on the triple screens - I've always meant to get around to trying that

John

Edit: Silly question, but I have to ask. In MSConfig under the Boot tab, if you click "Advanced options" there's a box you can click to limit the maximum memory. It should be unchecked, but may be worth confirming.

[Mitch Simon]

Mitch, on the RAM issue;
- any over clocking?
- What version of Win7 do you use?
- which motherboard?

Unfortunately there's a number of ways 4gb can fail to be seen, so the above would help narrow it down.

Nice on the triple screens - I've always meant to get around to trying that

John

Edit: Silly question, but I have to ask. In MSConfig under the Boot tab, if you click "Advanced options" there's a box you can click to limit the maximum memory. It should be unchecked, but may be worth confirming.

John

No on overclocking, Win7 Home Edition, Asus Sabertooth 58x, ram is Corsair XMS3 DDR3, 1600, C9 latency. Found out a little something about DIY installations. Make sure all your components are compatible. Apparently I missed that in my teachings. I will have to get recommended product number to make sure it all the memory will read. Going to see if I can find the weakest link and pair them together to get what I can out of them.

Yes, I am not using the limit on max memory. My case is that memory is not reading in all in bios either.

[Leo]

Just installed a triple screen setup and wanted to know what FOV are most using.

Why not use a realistic FOV? Simply measure the angle between your eyes and the outer edge of your L and R monitors. That's your ideal FOV, giving you a completely natural perspective for the first time (in sim driving).

[DaleB]

Just installed a triple screen setup and wanted to know what FOV are most using.

Why not use a realistic FOV? Simply measure the angle between your eyes and the outer edge of your L and R monitors. That's your ideal FOV, giving you a completely natural perspective for the first time (in sim driving).

Leo & Mitch, I use 30-32 FOV depending on the mod, which I know shouldn't make a difference but sometimes if the FOV is to low it looks not quite right. With my triple the in 30-32 range I'm seeing almost 160-180 degrees worth. What's cool is in yesterdays race at Mid Ohio coming off the little left handed hump turn after the straight and heading into the right handed corner I just turned my head a bit and I could see if I was gaining on the car in front. I had marked where he was lap after lap, pretty nice option to have, plus just the immersion factor.

[Leo]

Not sure if I follow you, Dale, but if your monitors form a 160° arc, shouldn't your in-game FOV be set to 160° too? That would give you the natural perspective.