My Quad (3+1) Monitor Setup Review

Dubesta11 · March 5, 2016

So I have been using my monitor setup for over 3 months now and I can finally give my thoughts on them. This isn't really about the specific monitors, which are far overkill for what I need, but work exactly as I need them for (Super small bezel, good IPS image). This is more about actually having and using them with both productivity and gaming in mind in College.

Pros:

-Lots of real-estate: Since I have at least 3 monitors side by side, I am able to comfortably run 3 different program windows at the same time, which generally includes 2 chrome windows as well as a music or coding window. The flexibility to be able to have whatever is needed on each screen is VERY nice and makes everything seem quicker. I also sometimes use a TV on a shelf above the 3 monitors (connected to the motherboard output since I ran out of slots on my 970) to display videos (Netflix, streams, YouTube) that can be seen throughout my dorm room. So with 3-4 monitors, there is plenty of room for activities.

-Triple-Monitor-Gaming: So this was the reason why I wanted 3 slim-bezel monitors in the first place. Gaming would be great they said! Well, once everything is set up, playing racing games specifically has its own unique experience, and FPS games are generally more immersive. Since this was the reason for the whole idea, I will elaborate why I now think its a terrible idea in the Cons section.

-Ability to show off: This one is a given, but I have gotten quite a few compliments from passing people who look at my computer. It gives the appearance like I know what I'm doing, and for the most part I do. So yes, bragging rights is always a Pro.

Cons:

-Triple-Monitor-Gaming: This one was a huge let-down for me. So as I said, its "cool" to play games on it. Thats it, only "cool". My i5/970 system can run all of my games at decent settings at 60FPS (Except GTA5, which kills the computer), so that's not a problem. The whole thing seems more of a novelty than anything. It's almost like that "workstation" gaming rig thing that Linus has, the one with 3 monitor mounts and a racing wheel attachment. It's an awesome concept that gets boring after a while, unless it is used for more specific purposes that I will focus on in my conclusion.

-Setting up: It takes quite a process to set up gaming with 3 monitors. You have to set up your monitor orientation in the Nvidia settings (This could be biased since I don't AMD), set up your bezels, then apply it and change the resolution, then change the settings in each game you want to play. To return to a normal resolution, you have to disable the option in the settings than go and re-enable each monitor. I have gotten good at doing this and it still takes a few minutes. It's not the most painful thing in the world, but its annoying enough to make me play at a single screen resolution.

-Cost: Was it worth the cost? Hell no. I only really wanted 2 matching monitors, and since the ones I originally had were either not very good or hard to find an identical replacement, I wanted to get at least 2 new matching ones. After I was done purchasing all 3 monitors and the mount for them, I was out almost 700 USD. If cheaper monitors were used, such as 120 dollar monitors, the price could have gone down 200 or so dollars, but even for 400 dollars, this is not an incredible deal.

Recommendation:

Do I recommend this? Probably not if your dedicated to gaming. For productivity, this is a decent option, but even 2 monitors is enough for me. I use my single screen laptop for most of my school work and I have no problems switching between windows, or snapping 2 windows on either side of the screen (Mainly Visual Studio and my homework on google docs). So for most people, 2 monitors should be enough, considering gaming on 3 is slightly a hassle and not as amazing as it seems. I definitely wish I would have gone for one good monitor, then probably have another one on the side for my web browser. With my experience of going from 60Hz to 75Hz, I would definitely invest in 144Hz gaming for added smoothness, and potentially G-sync if the price ever goes down. So if you need a lot of windows open at once, dual or triple screens is a decent option. For most other people or gamers, a single, good monitor is probably a much better investment, considering it can be expanded in the future.

___________________If you don't agree with me, have questions, or want to see what this looks like, let me know in the comments.____________________________

givingtnt · March 5, 2016

PICTURES ?

Dubesta11 · March 5, 2016

7 minutes ago, givingtnt said:

PICTURES ?

Unfortunately I never really took a lot of pictures of the setup since it's quite large and my room was messy, but this is what it generally looks like:

givingtnt · March 5, 2016

Just now, Dubesta11 said:

Unfortunately I never really took a lot of pictures of the setup since it's quite large and my room was messy, but this is what it generally looks like:

nice !