Widescreen Gaming Forum

I'm looking into eyefinity and have a few questions.

Given that I currently I have a Dell 2007WPF 1680x1050,

S1) Buy another 1680x1050 with displayport, buy some other 1680x1050
S2) Buy a new central monitor +24" with displayport and some other 1680x1050. Use 24" as centre monitor and run eyefinity at 5040x1050
S3) Just buy a new big monitor and don't worry about eyefinity

I will be gaming, but also work too which is why I like the idea of a 24" monitor.
I was considering not bothering with displayport but there seem to be quite a few people having issues without it, but please correct me.

Q1) Would there be any issues in mixing panel types?
Q2) Is a 5850 good enough for 5040x1050

Thanks in advance

PS - Don't tell my wife yet!

If you mix panel types you might have a problem using bezel management in its current driver implementation.

For the best eyefinity results get 3 matching monitors or as close to matching as possible. Matching screen size and resolution is important for compatibility with Bezel management and for the best visual results.

A 5850 is fine for 5040 x 1050.

I'm taken with the idea of a 24" monitor but I don't have the founds for three of them.

Would this be workable?

[1680x1050] + [1920x1080] + [1680x1050]

I would presume (from what I've read here) that eyefinity supports this and I would ensure the 24" has display port to avoid using dongles.

Finally, would get monitors with the same pitch only mean that I have adjust the stand height to get them aligned?

I'm taken with the idea of a 24" monitor but I don't have the founds for three of them.

Would this be workable?

[1680x1050] + [1920x1080] + [1680x1050]

I would presume (from what I've read here) that eyefinity supports this and I would ensure the 24" has display port to avoid using dongles.

Finally, would get monitors with the same pitch only mean that I have adjust the stand height to get them aligned?

I have 1 24" and two 21,5" and sure i would prefer 3 x 24 but i cant afford nor wanna spend money at that atm because it does not bother me that much. Im not sure what resulotion you will be able to run but i think those screens would end up in 3 x 1680 x 1050. As for bezel management we just have to wait and see until tomorrow when the 10.3 is released but i feel that i can live without it. My smaller screens are places in the middle of my 24 and i dont even think of it until some one points that out.
Hope this helped a little bit atleast.

I'm taken with the idea of a 24" monitor but I don't have the founds for three of them.

Would this be workable?

[1680x1050] + [1920x1080] + [1680x1050]

I would presume (from what I've read here) that eyefinity supports this and I would ensure the 24" has display port to avoid using dongles.

Finally, would get monitors with the same pitch only mean that I have adjust the stand height to get them aligned?

Eyefinity doesn't work with mixed resolutions. All 3 monitors have to run at the same resolution. Different sized monitors would look a little wonky...

Yes also 1680 x 1050 is 16:10 aspect ratio and 1920 x 1080 is 16:9 aspect ratio so it will look bad.

If you really must do that combination you will need a 1920 x 1200 16:10 24" monitor.

I know the 20" are 16:10 and the 24" would be 16:9 but looking at the vertical resolution of them would give me 1050 across all three, i.e. I would loose 30 pixels from the 24". I'm certain I could live with the black bars given that I will have eyefinity.

So leading onto another question, what would I need to look for in a 24" monitor to support this? Is it 1:1 pixel mapping?

I've been eyeing these three up:

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&sku=320-8321

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&sku=320-8325

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&sku=320-8103

No. The resolution in eyefinity is based on the weakest link. All the resolutions on each monitor have to be matching.

For example if one of the monitors has a maximum resolution of 1680 x 1050 and the other 2 1920 x 1200 then the eyefinity group will be made using 1680 x 1050 x 3 = 5040 x 1050.

Running a 1680 x 1050 16:10 resolution on a 1920 x 1080 16:9 display will look bad. That is why I said you would need a 1920 x 1200 16:10 monitor.

On most monitors you won't get black bars the image will be stretched horizontally on the centre display. 10% image stretching is very noticable. If you did use 1:1 pixel mapping then you would have huge black bars on either side of the screen splitting up your eyefinity. It would be like eyefinity with 15cm bezels.

You can mess around with the monitor sizes to a degree to fit your needs but the aspect ratio of each monitor should be the same if you want to get a good experience.

so i have one dell monitor that is 1920x1200.

i just ordered 2 from the dell store that were 1920x1080. My current dell can be set to that resolution as well. Will this setup work, or should I just get another identical one.

thanks

In my excitement for eyefinity AND a bigger monitor I entered a state of ignorance over that. I did know the resolution had to be the same on all 3 monitors, but I really fancied a +24" monitor.

So Ideally I need a need a 1680x1050 monitor with Displayport that's 20.5".

The dream was nice whilst it lasted, but I think a stretched resolution would be awful especially on the central monitor.