Triple Monitors / CPU Guidance

iamatiger · March 23, 2017

I am currently in the research/waiting phase of building my next BIG PC build. I have everything except the main parts (CPU, GPU's, and Motherboard) picked out, and am deciding on what gear to choose. I ultimately want this rig to run games on a triple monitor setup. If I wanted to be REALLY immersive, I would just go and get a VR headset, but there aren't a lot of games that VR really works well for (with vr sickness in mind). Thus my ultimate goal is to play Star Citizen on high settings on 3 monitors.

I currently am contemplating the Ryzen cpu at this moment, since the capabilities for streaming are intriguing (although it would be for casual streaming). The only hesitation I have is what i've heard about it's gaming performance. From what i've heard, currently the Ryzen chips perform lower when the game is less graphically intensive and the workload is less dependent on the GPU (i.e. 1080p). Thus I've heard you can get better performance in gaming if you play at higher resolutions (like 1440p) which shifts the work load from the CPU to the GPU(s).

This being said. I'm thinking about cost efficiency in terms of how I will build my setup. I currently have a nice Dell U2414H 24" 1080 monitor that I would not mind stretching to 3 screens. However if the above is true and 1440p might be better, Then I would have to get 3 monitors instead of just 2. If I would get 3 monitors I would be considering dell's TN 1440p gaming monitor since it's cheaper. (Yes the ASUS ROG Swift is nice, but way over my price point for 3 monitors).

Now this being said, I am still deciding on the CPU as well. If not the Ryzen 1700X, then I would most likely go for the Intel i7-7700k. I was very close to purchasing the 7700k recently, but I'm still holding off in my decision as more reviewers are testing out Ryzen's real world gaming potential. As well even if I don't normally stream, it is nice to have the extra cores to handle that extra workload if I occasionally decide to. As well I believe this might help playing games on the Steam link? (someone can correct me on this).

Also to note: If the VEGA GPU's seem like a better alternative to the NVIDIA 1080's, then that would require me to get freesync if I go the 1440p route.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts and feedback!

OldHoster · March 24, 2017

I am not a gamer but an engineer and I have a couple of three display setups.

I am running a 5400 on dual 970's on my smallest system and it dual 1080P's with a 1440P . It performs just fine with ProE or Autocad. I have tried Halo on it a couple of times and it had 0 problems.

On my most intensive system, I have thought about upgrading processors I would never go to the Ryzen from the problems I have heard about them from friends that look at them from time to time. They are AMD fan boys/girls and they are not using them. I am running 3xUP2715K's on Titan X's this is on an I7-6700, the processor really doesn't get killed unless I am doing something very intense.