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Advice for Triple Monitor Upgrade

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Excited for my first post! I've been saving up and I really want to give my pc a kickass upgrade. Here's a list of my current specs:

Asus B85M-E Motherboard

Intel i5 4570 quadcore 3.2Mhz CPU

AMD Radeon HD 7870 GPU

8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM 1600Mhz

Thermaltake 700W PSU

Windows 7

 

Unimportant Specs (I could be wrong so I'll list them anyway):

Western Digital blue 1TB 7200RPM

Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD

 

I'm looking to get a triple 1080p monitor setup for gaming and I'm looking to spend $1500-$2000 USD (really looking to keep it as low as possible). I want to play at high-ultra graphics on all three monitors. I play all kinds of games, including AAA top notch graphics titles.

 

I'm thinking two GTX 970s in SLI. From my understanding, my current MOBO will bottleneck two cards in SLI, so I was looking at the MSI Z87-G45 MOBO for its SLI compatibility and good onboard sound for my Sennheiser G4me One. Please correct me if i'm wrong!

 

I don't know what monitors I want and I need suggestions, as I don't know too much about current monitors. Probably the best monitors I can get with the money left left over. 120-144Hz would be nice, as I doubt I can find three IPS panels with decent response time at my budget. I don't think I want to go any smaller than 24 inches and with the thinnest bezels possible. With the current supporting monitors, unfortunately, I'm pretty sure G-Sync is out of the question.

 

I was also worried about potential bottlenecks with my CPU and PSU. I think both will perform adequately, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

What do you think? Is there a better, more cost-effective setup? Am I dreaming too big with my budget?

 

Thanks for the help!

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Your motherboard won't support SLI, it's not a bottleneck issue. 

 

Two 970s probably can't drive 5760x1080 @ 144hz, so I'd go with something like three Dell U2414H's. And don't worry about response times as they're pretty much meaningless as there is no standardized way of measuring them -- more important than response times is ghosting, which the U2414H doesn't have an issue with. 

 

And depending on what games you play would potentially change my opinoin about what you should do....If you play racing games, than surround is awesome. If you're playing FPS then I'd rather have a single monitor -- a single 4k monitor. Although, I would wait for AMD's R9 300 series to go 4k. 

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2 970's should be fine for 5760x1080 @ around 60hz. Your cpu and power supply should be good enough to run the set up without having to upgrade. For monitors, you could get 3 asus vg248qe 144hz modded with gsync modules. Since 2 970's can't run games locked at 144hz at that resolution, having gsync will help reduce tearing and increase smoothness. Or get 3 dell u2414h's for nice IPS colors and viewing angles with minimal ghosting.

CPU: Intel i7 4770k 4.3ghz MOBO: Asus Z87 Sabertooth RAM: 2x8GB RipJaws 1866mhz GPU: 2x GTX780ti SLI 1.2ghz SSD: 960GB 2x Intel 730 RAID0 CASE: Fractal Design Define S COOLING: Custom EK watercooling loop

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Hey man thanks for the suggestions!

 

You're right, for AAA games i never planned to reach 144Hz. However, I do play League of Legends and Counter Strike. I think a setup like this would more than handle that. I should have been more specific about the games I played  :P

 

I also love racing games! I have a Logitech G27 wheel and think three monitors would make it a breath taking experience! As for FPS games, however, you're right. I'll probably just play those on on monitor at the highest framerate I can achieve.

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Hey man thanks for the suggestions!

 

You're right, for AAA games i never planned to reach 144Hz. However, I do play League of Legends and Counter Strike. I think a setup like this would more than handle that. I should have been more specific about the games I played  :P

 

I also love racing games! I have a Logitech G27 wheel and think three monitors would make it a breath taking experience! As for FPS games, however, you're right. I'll probably just play those on on monitor at the highest framerate I can achieve.

Well, if you're fine with mixing and matching monitors, then I would go with an Asus VG248QE/BenQ XL2411Z (whichever is cheaper), and then put a U2414H on either side. The only negative is that surround racing games may look weird with the different monitors. For League 144hz will make no difference, for CSGO on the other hand, it could be nice. 

PSU Tier List | CoC

Gaming Build | FreeNAS Server

Spoiler

i5-4690k || Seidon 240m || GTX780 ACX || MSI Z97s SLI Plus || 8GB 2400mhz || 250GB 840 Evo || 1TB WD Blue || H440 (Black/Blue) || Windows 10 Pro || Dell P2414H & BenQ XL2411Z || Ducky Shine Mini || Logitech G502 Proteus Core

Spoiler

FreeNAS 9.3 - Stable || Xeon E3 1230v2 || Supermicro X9SCM-F || 32GB Crucial ECC DDR3 || 3x4TB WD Red (JBOD) || SYBA SI-PEX40064 sata controller || Corsair CX500m || NZXT Source 210.

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Excited for my first post! I've been saving up and I really want to give my pc a kickass upgrade. Here's a list of my current specs:

Asus B85M-E Motherboard

Intel i5 4570 quadcore 3.2Mhz CPU

AMD Radeon HD 7870 GPU

8GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 RAM 1600Mhz

Thermaltake 700W PSU

Windows 7

 

Unimportant Specs (I could be wrong so I'll list them anyway):

Western Digital blue 1TB 7200RPM

Samsung 840 EVO 250GB SSD

 

I'm looking to get a triple 1080p monitor setup for gaming and I'm looking to spend $1500-$2000 USD (really looking to keep it as low as possible). I want to play at high-ultra graphics on all three monitors. I play all kinds of games, including AAA top notch graphics titles.

 

I'm thinking two GTX 970s in SLI. From my understanding, my current MOBO will bottleneck two cards in SLI, so I was looking at the MSI Z87-G45 MOBO for its SLI compatibility and good onboard sound for my Sennheiser G4me One. Please correct me if i'm wrong!

 

I don't know what monitors I want and I need suggestions, as I don't know too much about current monitors. Probably the best monitors I can get with the money left left over. 120-144Hz would be nice, as I doubt I can find three IPS panels with decent response time at my budget. I don't think I want to go any smaller than 24 inches and with the thinnest bezels possible. With the current supporting monitors, unfortunately, I'm pretty sure G-Sync is out of the question.

 

I was also worried about potential bottlenecks with my CPU and PSU. I think both will perform adequately, but please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

What do you think? Is there a better, more cost-effective setup? Am I dreaming too big with my budget?

 

Thanks for the help!

djd is correct. contrary to cpopular belief, SLI still requires a compatible motherboard, not just one with two slots. crossfire on the otherhand is motherboard independent(mostly)

I would probably recommend instead going with a high res curved ultrawide(LG 34UC97) instead for the lack of bezels. for racing sims etc, 3 monitors would be good, but if you play FPS, RTS, MOBA, or MMO to an extent, it's really less than ideal.

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2 970's should be fine for 5760x1080 @ around 60hz. Your cpu and power supply should be good enough to run the set up without having to upgrade. For monitors, you could get 3 asus vg248qe 144hz modded with gsync modules. Since 2 970's can't run games locked at 144hz at that resolution, having gsync will help reduce tearing and increase smoothness. Or get 3 dell u2414h's for nice IPS colors and viewing angles with minimal ghosting.

Wow that dell monitor looks perfect! Extremely thin bezels and IPS! I didn't think I could find anything like that at that price. I'll have to look at some reviews! I think I'd prefer the better viewing angles and color accuracy over 144Hz, but I'll have to ponder on that a bit more.

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Well, if you're fine with mixing and matching monitors, then I would go with an Asus VG248QE/BenQ XL2411Z (whichever is cheaper), and then put a U2414H on either side. The only negative is that surround racing games may look weird with the different monitors. For League 144hz will make no difference, for CSGO on the other hand, it could be nice. 

I thought about mixing monitors. I even thought about going for a 1440p center monitor, but I think any slight difference in picture will bother me too much.

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djd is correct. contrary to cpopular belief, SLI still requires a compatible motherboard, not just one with two slots. crossfire on the otherhand is motherboard independent(mostly)

I would probably recommend instead going with a high res curved ultrawide(LG 34UC97) instead for the lack of bezels. for racing sims etc, 3 monitors would be good, but if you play FPS, RTS, MOBA, or MMO to an extent, it's really less than ideal.

Yeah that's what I think I read, that it would work with Crossfire but not SLI. I was thinking about that curved LG monitor, but I think I would prefer the triple monitor experience in racing games. Even if it means having to settle for 1080p.

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Wow that dell monitor looks perfect! Extremely thin bezels and IPS! I didn't think I could find anything like that at that price. I'll have to look at some reviews! I think I'd prefer the better viewing angles and color accuracy over 144Hz, but I'll have to ponder on that a bit more.

The U2414H has one of the best IPS panels, and is regarded as being one of the best 1080p IPS monitors you can get. I myself have the P2414H (which uses the same panel), and it's really great. 

PSU Tier List | CoC

Gaming Build | FreeNAS Server

Spoiler

i5-4690k || Seidon 240m || GTX780 ACX || MSI Z97s SLI Plus || 8GB 2400mhz || 250GB 840 Evo || 1TB WD Blue || H440 (Black/Blue) || Windows 10 Pro || Dell P2414H & BenQ XL2411Z || Ducky Shine Mini || Logitech G502 Proteus Core

Spoiler

FreeNAS 9.3 - Stable || Xeon E3 1230v2 || Supermicro X9SCM-F || 32GB Crucial ECC DDR3 || 3x4TB WD Red (JBOD) || SYBA SI-PEX40064 sata controller || Corsair CX500m || NZXT Source 210.

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I'd also like a triple monitor stand, as I don't have enough desk room for three monitors to be on their own individual stands. I would love to have a quadruple monitor stand to make use of the screen I'm using right now. I think it'd be nice to have it above the three new monitors, but I don't think my monitor (Samsung S22C300H) can even be mounted to anything. It doesn't have VESA mounts. Is there anyway to still accomplish it?

My monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001796&cm_re=samsung_1080p_monitor_21.5-_-24-001-796-_-Product

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