Widescreen Gaming Forum

I built a midrange gaming rig years ago. Since then I've put together a home theatre with a 720p 3D front projector. I really love playing in S3D when ever I can.

I've been wanting to try a 3-1 monitor setup for awhile. I couldn't justify the cost of monitors, for something I wasn't sure I'd love or had the power to pull off. last week the company I work for was pitching 3 old monitors so I scarfed them up. I just need a displayport->vga converter to give it a shot.

Weather or not I like 3-1 is a moot point really. I could use the upgrade for single screen and S3D gaming. I plan to upgrade to a 1080p 3D projector soon. I'm looking to start with the video card. I'll upgrade the rest from there as I go, its over due. I'm looking for advice on a card setup for 1080p S3D and maybe some 3-1 play. I play mostly MMORPGs and some FPS and RPGs.

What I have now=
Windows 7 OS
MSI 790X-G45 MB (if I remember right it only supports AMD cards)
AMD 955 BE CPU (overclocked to 3.5)
8 GB RAM (overclocked to 1600)
XFX HD 5750 XXX video card (also overclocked)
2 150GB HD in raid
Corsair TX750 PS
A good supply of cherry rum

Any advice would be welcomed, thanks.

the AMD 955BE is outdated, even with OC it will Limit quite often.

The 5750 should be able to handle 3x1 (assuming you got 3 FullHD monitors?) in lowest details at least. (1gb VRAM?)
depending on how much you wan't to spend but IMHO you should go at least with an AMD HD7870(2gb!) or a Nvidia GTX660 if you want to play in 5760*1080 and adequate details.

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We gonna send it to outa space!

The 5750 does have 1GB of vram. I figured What ever card I put in would be bottle necked by the cpu. The monitors are 1280x1024 I figure the 5750 will give enough to see how much I like 3x1. I know in the past HD3D tech didn't support crossfire, or ran poorly in it. I'm not sure if that is still the case. Since I plan to upgrade the rest anyway, I might as well get something I wont need to replace in a year or two.

Is the HD7950 3gb a big step from the HD7870? I'm seeing some for less than $300 I can live with that. If I dig 3x1 like I think I will, I'll step up to 1080p monitors.

What sort of CPU should I be looking for to keep up with the HD7870 or HD 7950 respectively? Thanks for taking the time, to help me out.

There are two Kind of 7870 around! The one with the Pitcairn and the one with the Thahiti LE (same as on HD7950) chips.
Both of them if being overclocked can reach the performance of a HD7950. (the normal 7870 does with less power drain...)
But you have the advance of 3GB vram on a 7950. Tough, mostly when you would need so much VRM because of SSAA oder other AA you will run out of GPU power before the VRAM is full ^^
Well, on Eyefinity not as fast....


about CPU, for small cash AMD FX4170 or similar,if you prefer Intel i5-3550k be sure to get at least an i5, i3 don't have Turbo mode, i7 have Hyper threading, not really essential for gaming. and when you want to overclock make sure to get a K model with open Multipliert.

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We gonna send it to outa space!

I got my displayport to vga adapter in this morning. So far I've played a few hours of defiance, using flawless widescreen to fix the hud and some FFXIV:ARR. I've had to knock my settings down a bit, fps in defiance seemed fine on high but objects where disappearing. IN FFXIV I was getting hyper transport flood errors on higher settings. Still both games look and run great. I'm sold on 3x1

I'm looking at a Sapphire HD 7970 at just over $300 it seems like a good value. Am I wrong in thinking only the Flex series has Flex? It'd be nice if all Sapphire cards could work like that. An their site only shows a HD 7950 in the line. Pricey Too.

The only problem I have with my setup is the monitor hooked to the displayport>vga converter. It has a row of pixels I guess that flicker white(thin line at the top of the screen). I don't really notice it while playing, but it is there.

Edit: changing from 3840x1024 60hz to 3072x768 85hz makes it almost disappear. I can just make out the offending line flickering(crts).

You don't need a Flex edition card.

If you have an Active DP-> VGA adapter any Card with a DP will do.
Even when you have a Flex edition card that only allows you to use 2x DVI + HDMI or passive dp adapters.
but a passive adapter is around 5-8$ and an Active around 15-25$. Not worth the trouble.

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We gonna send it to outa space!

I just thought it would be easier with Flex. Seems newer cards all have mini dp so I'll need a different converter. I have a hdmi>dvi converter and a few hdmi>dvi cables laying around, but its not worth it. I'll get the hd 7970 and an active converter, more card for less $.

3072x768 85hz only worked on the desktop, I couldn't get Defiance to run that way. For the $25 it cost me to try 3x1 though I'm very impressed.

Really looking forward to getting the new card and some bigger, higher res panels. Then on to an I5 and new motherboard/ram. think I'll grab some cheap parts to keep this set up as well(I guess the ps will be the only thing going in the new build), let my kid/friends/wife play on it.

Thanks for the help.

Edit: on further review the card I'm looking at does have a dp not a mini dp...nice.

I ended up getting an XFX Double D hd 7950 the price was right. It will be here tomorrow.

Now turning my sights on monitors. I have a 720p projector a 17" 1280x720 lcd a 19" 1440x900 lcd and a 19.5" 1600x1200 crt. while I didn't mind 1440x900, I don't like the 1600x1200 crt every thing seems too darn small(desktop icons, meuns ect). I know the same thing happens with my projector. If I set a pc game to 1920x1080 everything gets smaller.

If I run a lower res will I still see the same amount of game data as say 1920x1080? The way bezel correction works it makes me think, no I wont. Also I want 23-24" and they all seem to come in 1600pixels wide or larger. Would going with hd tvs present more problems? I could get 24ish panels in 720p that way.

In short lower res are more comfortable for me to look at. should I go with a lower res or get 1920x1080 and make my icons, text larger and deal with it in games?

You can use windows7(8) Scaling options to increase the button/text size. and ingame you can always switch to lower resolutions like 4230*800 instead of 5760*1080

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We gonna send it to outa space!

I think I'm going to grab 3 AOC I2269VW, at 21.5 they are a little smaller than I wanted. They fall right in my price range and 2mm bezels, IPS panels, 1920x1080, led back lighting seems perfect. Hope my local BB has 3 of them in stock.http://us.aoc.com/monitor_displays/i2269vw