3 1920x1200 or get a 2560x1440 display

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mlcarson

Limp Gawd
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I've had 3 HP ZR24W's (1920x1200) setup in both Eyefinity and NVidia Surround depending on my current video card for the past 3 years. I just got 2 of the HP ZR24W's replaced just as the warranty was about to expire so have 2 new HP ZR24W monitors. The 3rd HP ZR24W monitor didn't really have any problem worth replacing but given the brightness differences now, I wish I would have found something. Monitor degradation is sort of like getting bad vision -- you don't really notice it until you get a pair of glasses or in this case -- a new monitor.

I've been wanting either a 2560x1600 or 2560x1440 monitor since they were released and am now looking at actually purchasing something -- probably a Viewsonic VP-2770 LED. For any of the gamers out there who've used eyefinity and have jumped back to a single higher resolution monitor -- was it worth it? Is 2560x1440 > eyefinity? I'm leaning toward the 2560x1440 because of the price and the aspect ratio in games -- 16:9 > 16:10 in gaming but I love 16:10 in everything else. Two big advantages in dumping eyefinity I see are compatibility and reduced hardware requirements/higher FPS. 6000x1200 (bezel compensated) takes about twice the GPU resources as 2560x1440 and eyefinity is almost always a pain to get running properly.

I'm planning on turning two of the 1920x1200 monitors vertically and using them as side monitors. The 2560x1440 would be the center. I used to run eyefinity portrait at one point and loved non-gaming stuff this way. A 30 inch monitor and two 1600x1200 side monitors would probably be ideal because of the resolution matching but will what I am proposing work? Any recommendations before I purchase something?
 
It depends on what you want it for. Do you care about refresh rate? If you do and play games, 2D Lightboost is a game changer..
 
A 27" or 30" monitor always seems small after trying Eyefinity on 24" monitors. I tried Eyefinity5 with 24" 1920x1200 in portrait and it dwarfed my 30" monitor. The only problem is the damn bezels, productivity software sucks on multiple portrait monitors.

Your 24" monitors have a PPI of 94, which is considerably lower than a 30" (100 PPI) or a 27" (108 PPI). That makes them a poor choice for wing monitors as they don't line up well. As you commented yourself a 20-30-20 PLP is the optimal choice but you would have to scrap every monitor you currently own to do it. You have to also remember that PLP isn't supported in Eyefinity/nVSurround.

Once you have been bitten by the Eyefinity bug you have a very hard time going back. In my case I went from 5x24" portrait to 3x30" landscape (with 4x22" 1080p thrown in for good measure). You might want to think about 3x27" - I know, you want to cut down on pixels to improve FPS, but you are running GTX 680's in SLI so it's not like you'll be able to do only slide shows with those.

If you are balancing real estate with FPS you should go with your first idea and get another 24" to do nVSurround.
 
I'm assuming the new Dell U3014 is the one recommended for the lighter anti-glare coating, LED backlight, and the Displayport MST hub. It's twice as costly though as a 2560x1440 and will have lower PPI and smaller FOV. I could justify going 1920x1200 rather than 1920x1080 3 years ago for the extra vertical space but the 1440 will have more vertical space than the 1200 and I'm not sure that 160 pixels more is worth double the price. I think I need to find some place which has both resolutions so I can actually see it. The inherent problem though is that the industry seems to have standardized on 16:9 rather than 16:10 -- probably due mainly to cost reasons.

eallan said:
Get a 2560x1600 :)
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You will love surround gaming. Get the 3x 1920x1200s. Single monitors seem so confining after playing in surround.
 
Once you've used multi monitor it's hard to go back to single. But, I would not use TN panels for surround ever. Landscape is not usable, and will look like shit in surround. Unless you do some wacky shit like removing bezels and running triple portrait.... as far as the triple IPS 1200s vs a single 1440p, it's a tough choice-I reallly like high resolution, but I use dual monitor most of the time.
 
xoleras said:
Surround TN lightboost panels? Yeah that would be interesting with the awful viewing angles.....

Oh wait excuse me. You can remove bezels yourself, void the warranty, and run triple portrait. Because normal landscape is unusable and looks shit on TN panels in surround.....
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You're absolutely right - of course the OP also thought of that and had gone with IPS for his 24".
 
Yep, to answer the question: triple 1200p with the ZR24W's would be pretty sweet. I think you'll like it.

As mentioned once you go multi monitor you'll never want to do single again. While I love 1440/1600P, I don't think i'd do it without at least 2 monitors. Preferably 3.
 
xoleras said:
Yep, to answer the question: triple 1200p with the ZR24W's would be pretty sweet. I think you'll like it.

As mentioned once you go multi monitor you'll never want to do single again. While I love 1440/1600P, I don't think i'd do it without at least 2 monitors. Preferably 3.
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Always 3 - bezels in the middle are too annoying by half.
 
Apparently I wasn't as clear as I should have been. I've got 3 HP ZR24W monitors and have had this setup for 3 years. I've done both portrait and landscape eyefinity/NVSurround and do know that it can be very nice. The only thing that's changed in my setup is that I got two of the three monitors replaced with brand new panels as a warranty repair. I'm just wondering now if the higher resolutions panels like the 2560x1440/1600 are a worthwhile upgrade over eyefinity/NVSurround and if so -- what's the better resolution?
 
The latest batch of games won't run with max settings at 2560x1600 with two 680s and maintain 60fps min, so they're going to struggle at 6000x1200. You should find some place with at 27" to try out, it may not feel big enough. A 30" is a nice compromise between eyefinity and a 27" and works out of the box with any game. Keep the two newer 24" panels to use with windows.
 
rtangwai said:
You're absolutely right - of course the OP also thought of that and had gone with IPS for his 24".
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Depends on whether you're more sensitive to the color shift problem, or the motion blur problem.
...How much of your monitor's use is going to be stationary (apps/dev/photoshop)
...and how much of your monitor's use is going to be in constant motion (fps gaming)?
If the former, consider 2560x1600.
If the latter, consider LightBoost surround (IMHO, landscape surround is better)

There is 12 times more motion blur on IPS panels than on optimized LightBoost LCDs. e.g. the length of the motion blurring trail is more than 10 times as long during fast motion. This means even 2560x1600 IPS unfortunately goes into a big low-def VHS-quality motion-blurred mess during fast motion (high-speed strafing, high-speed pans, high-speed 180 degree turns, etc); while CRT's and LightBoost's stay crystal sharp during fast pans, with the same sharpness as stationary images. If you are extremely sensitive to motion blur, it can significantly outweigh the color quality difference between IPS and TN. (some people even get eyestrain from motion blur) This depends on the person; and what your eyes prefer, and if you play "fast" video games.

baseline - 60 Hz mode (16.7ms continuously-shining frame)
50% less motion blur (2x clearer) - 120 Hz mode (8.33ms continuously-shining frame)
60% less motion blur (2.4x clearer) - 144 Hz mode (6.94ms continuously-shining frame)
85% less motion blur (7x clearer) - 120 Hz LightBoost, set to 100% (2.4ms frame strobe flashes)
92% less motion blur (12x clearer) - 120 Hz LightBoost, set to 10% (1.4ms frame strobe flashes)
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willdearborn said:
You will love surround gaming. Get the 3x 1920x1200s. Single monitors seem so confining after playing in surround.
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This. It's hard to go back to a single monitor.

264m5j5.jpg
 
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Skakruk said:
And immersion isn't only gained by expanding your viewing area horizontally. A 30" 16:10 monitor provides a very immersive experience.
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Agree, for displaying photos and slow games, like the new Simcity or Civilization. Or just doing simple solo exploration.

However, for competitive FPS gaming and racing games (first-person view mode, where everything zooms by fast), the motion blur of all 30" displays I've tried, completely ruins the immersive experience. Playing 120fps@120Hz on a single small 24" LightBoost monitor can be far more immersive for the purpose of FPS gaming, if you are sensitive to LCD motion blur. Again, depends on the person. In this case, a 24" display can be massively more immersive than a 30" display, because fast motion is 12x clearer/sharper, due to the sample-and-hold issue of most LCD's.
 
Well... I dumped 5x23" monitors for a 30" and I quickly picked up 2 more 30" monitors off craigslist. Using a single large monitor is too cramped whether is be for play or for work. I've also been using 3 monitor since the TH2Go on XP, so my work flow hinges on 3 displays or more.
 
I might be biased, but I'd go for the 2560x1600...and keep a 24" or two to go one the side(s). Or maybe see if there's a couple cheap 20" 1200x1600 floating around your local craigslist.

Even with a 2560x1600 display, I find I like having a second monitor for productivity purposes (email, reference material, status monitors ect). I would definitely recommend keeping some sort of multi-monitor setup no matter what "main" display you choose to go with.
 
I could never go with a multi-monitor setup and deal with the monitor frames in the middle of the picture. I'm too much of a visual purist. I don't know how you guys do it.

Skakruk said:
Single monitor over eyefinity/surround always.
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This.
 
I'm a bit concerned about the choices of 2560x1600 30" monitors. Most have an aggressive antiglare coating and the new Dell U3014 has a better antiglare coating but suffers from a non-adjustable overdrive setting which can cause some motion/ghosting issues.
 
I went from Eyefinity 3 x 23" Dell ultra sharps to a single U3011 2560x1600 and can't see myself going back. Tried portrait and landscape.

1. Bezels suck horribly.
2. Lack of video cards that can realistically drive newer games with all eye candy turned on.
2a. Triple Crossfire or SLI may drive it but that introduces even more technical issues with my next point.
3. You need to hack many games FOV and various other settings to make it look right.

Driving triple monitors for spreadsheets, desktop realestate, etc is no problem. The real life enjoyment of video games went down hill after the initial WoW factor wore off and I had to live with them. I don't mind spending two days overclocking a new system but having to wrench on software settings to get the FOV, SLI, Crossfire, etc working every time a new game came out was tiring.

Edit: Mixed up crossfire and eyefinity in a couple spots.
 
mlcarson said:
I'm a bit concerned about the choices of 2560x1600 30" monitors. Most have an aggressive antiglare coating and the new Dell U3014 has a better antiglare coating but suffers from a non-adjustable overdrive setting which can cause some motion/ghosting issues.
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A good 30" monitor has yet to be made for non-work related use. Best to stick with 27" 2560x1440 monitors, especially if you want proper colors since the 30" models are all wide gamut and the only ones with decent sRGB emulation (NEC/Eizo) have aggressive AG.
 
I went from 3 x Dell P2310H's in surround, to a single U2713HM. I miss my surround... wish I could get a 15.4" 1440 x 900 in PLP, but over all I love the sharper images of 2560 x 1440 (since it has smaller pixel pitch).
 
I think I'm right back where I started. I don't like the current 30" 2560x1600 monitors -- it's a choice of overagressive AG or overagressive Overdrive for about twice as much as a 2560x1440 monitor. I like the idea of a fast monitor using lightboost to eliminate motion blur but don't think I'd be able to guarantee a minimum 120fps to support it.

So, now it's a question of keeping my current setup of 3 HPZR24W monitors in an NVSurround setup or go with a new center 2560x1440 monitor and keep two of the 24" monitors as side monitors. I guess I'll have to make a trip to Best Buy to see one of the Apple displays that are 2560x1440 to really know how this looks.
 
You need to look at it beside a 24" monitor as well - some people don't care about PPI, some people cannot tolerate differences in PPI (I'm in the latter camp). The 24" is 94PPI, the 27" 108PPI - that's a really big difference.
 
I'm sort of going through this decision point myself. I haven't quite decided which way to go...

I have like 11 monitors in my office right now.

27" IPS, 30" IPS, 3 x 1080 (60HZ) for surround, one Asus 144Hz to test.

I have absolutely NO IDEA what i'm going to wind up keeping.

I was using surround for the last 6 months or so, and I hands down LOVE IT for some games: SWTOR, MWO, Even Skyrim with the fix.

But in some games, it's not that great or impressive. It's also a total nightmare to have windows 8 on ONE big 5760 wide monitor. Metro is even more useless, all the maximizing and snap productivity features are worthless, so in this case, having 3 distinct monitors is a productivity boon.

I'm leaning towards 30" in the middle, 27" on the side and one ancillary monitor (1080) for video watching maybe.

Or, Surround + a 30"

I CANT DECIDE
 
I've been following the other thread about the U3014 and see that the actual owners are claiming that the overdrive setting is not a noticeable issue so now I'm back to considering the 2560x1600 again.
 
PLP! Go 2560x1600 - PLP! Seems like you have the hardware for it. Just be like me. I have PLP and PPP/LLL.
 
mlcarson said:
I've been following the other thread about the U3014 and see that the actual owners are claiming that the overdrive setting is not a noticeable issue so now I'm back to considering the 2560x1600 again.
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Ever thought of going 4K? :D
 
I already feel like I made a mistake but I ordered the Dell U3014 with the special coupon codes before they expired.
$1334.87 with 5 yr accidental warranty - $120 more from the 3 yr limited.
$70.90 tax -- this sucked
$0 - shipping
Total - $1405.77

My reasoning was that this monitor will have larger text than a 27" 2560x1440, it has a gaming mode for lower latency if needed, it has a displayport out for connectivity to my other displayport monitors, built-in USB3.0 hub, better resolution for non-gaming needs being both larger and 16:10 aspect ratio. If I want to, I can still get some 1600x1200 side monitors as suggested above for PLP and there really isn't a good equivalent for the 2560x1440 monitors. The owners of the 2560x1440 monitors aren't really admitting too many issues in actual use so I hope that's the case with me too. The previous Dell 30" monitors also really seemed to hold their value which is a plus.

I really wanted the 5-year warranty on this since I was able to use a 3-year warranty on my old HP monitors and getting this plus the accidental coverage for just $120 seemed like a good deal. I also know that I'll be moving before this period ends and accidents do happen.
 
It seems like you made the right decision overall. I ran 26" 1920x1200 in eyefinity followed by surround for more than a year, and never really enjoyed it that much. It was tedious getting games to work with it properly, and actually have the proper fov. The one genre that really benefited was MMO's. I switched over to 2560x1440 with two 26" side monitors, and have been much happier gaming on this setup. I am now contemplating trying out lightboost though to try to get back that CRT-like silky smoothness.

I probably wouldn't have picked the U3014 though as it is largely unproven, and first revision Dell monitors are usually plagued with issues. Most of the Rev.01 Dell monitors are a "buyer beware" type situation.
 
Resurrecting this thread only to indicate that my Dell U3014 died 11/17 so it lasted about 7 mo's before it's premature death. This is a Rev A01 manufactured 2/2013. Glad i got the extended 5yr warranty if this is any indication of its lifespan.

It worked last night but today it came out of screen saver mode with just some sheets of blue and pink and some vertical moving lines. Turned off/on -- no difference. Replaced HDMI cable - no difference. Rebooted PC - no difference. Switched from HDMI to Displayport -- no difference. Finally tried to just get to a menu on the monitor itself and it couldn't display that so back it goes to Dell for repair/replacement. Maybe I'll get a newer rev but suspect I'll now get a refurbished one of the same early rev.
 
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