Widescreen Gaming Forum

I was thinking of starting a surround setup for my comp with all the money I got for Xmas, and was curious about a couple of things I hope y'all can answer.

I'm planning to use 3 Viewsonic Vx1940ws, to get the resolution, and I want to use a single stand to save some space. What stands do you recommend for this type of setup? I need it to be freestanding, because I cannot drill into the desk I'm using, since the desk isn't mine. :(

Secondly, how much power will I need in my graphics card for something like this? I would like to play games like FO3, Burnout Paradise, Dead Space, and Mirror's Edge, at moderate or high settings. My current setup is two 8800GTs, overclocked. Will this be enough to realistically do either? If not, what would be able to do so?

Thanks for any help you can give!

8800 GTs are great, the only downside would be the limited amount of VRAM (can be a problem at high res's, even more if you like AA). GF8s are also ageing fast especially for the latest graphics-intensive games but they certainly have the horspower a gaming TripleHead setup requires. Moderate settings and/or lower resolutions (3x 1440x900 for example) will help, especially since non-native resolutions don't look as blurry as usual on TFT monitors thanks to the high pixel density of widescreen 19" panels :) (In case Santa was particularly generous with you, be aware that a single one of the latest nvidia cards would eat your SLI alive, though) ;)

Regarding the stand, can you drill the wall ?

Under the terms of the lease, I could, but the desk I'm using has a stainless steel backplate on the back, which I can't remove. :(

My total budget I'm trying to hit with this is about $1,000, but I could go a couple hundred higher, so what would you recommend for a video card in that range for surround?

Thanks for the help.

Well, I think for the stand, I'm going to go with the Ergotron LX Triple, since it has some adjustability (I wish you could change the screen angles, but I guess you can't have it all...)

I think altogether I have a decent price for it, (just over 1100), so I'm probably gonna get it all together in a week or so.

BTW, have any problems with your setup? I am kind of curious.

any monitor stand is a rip period.

Infact a triple stand will prob cost more than 1 monitor.

I have 1 8800gt and i play everything at 5040x1050 with high everything on almost all games and no AA.

Run great nothing that i can't play smooth cept crysis and gta4 ofc lol!

what would you recommend for a video card in that range for surround?

Unless you find a beefy 9800 GX2 at a very low price, I'd avoid the GF9 series which brought nothing new to the table, so go for the GT200 series, with a nice 896 MB GTX260 for instance... This single card is on par with SLI'ed 8800 GTXs (and much better when SLI doesn't help), while a single 8800 GTX is on par with your SLI'ed 8800 GTs ;) If price is an issue, then stick with your GTs for another couple months, prices may drop thanks to the upcoming series of nvidia cards.

BTW, have any problems with your setup? I am kind of curious.

Somehow achieving 5040x1050 under Vista with newer nvidia drivers is a no-go for me, but it works great under XP (and my 30" panel has become my main display) so I can live with it for now. Other than that, I love my rig 8)

any monitor stand is a rip period.

Infact a triple stand will prob cost more than 1 monitor.

Yeah, that's true, but they save a little space and are a little easier when it comes to adjusting stuff with the monitors.... (except angle in most cases, it looks like.) I'm still thinking I'm going to get one though.

Unless you find a beefy 9800 GX2 at a very low price, I'd avoid the GF9 series which brought nothing new to the table, so go for the GT200 series, with a nice 896 MB GTX260 for instance... This single card is on par with SLI'ed 8800 GTXs (and much better when SLI doesn't help), while a single 8800 GTX is on par with your SLI'ed 8800 GTs If price is an issue, then stick with your GTs for another couple months, prices may drop thanks to the upcoming series of nvidia cards.

Yeah, since everyone is saying the 8800GTs will work with this, I'm gonna just stick with them for a couple of months. When the GTX 295s hit later next month, I might look into the price decreases/that card.

Somehow achieving 5040x1050 under Vista with newer nvidia drivers is a no-go for me, but it works great under XP (and my 30" panel has become my main display) so I can live with it for now.

Aw, that stinks. I guess I'll have to play with the drivers when I get everything in, but I figured there would be something like this... I can deal with it though, I love tinkering with this kind of stuff.

Wow the GTX 295 does look like a winner. I'm running two 8800GTX cards with SoftTH now, I may have to consider ebaying them and getting the GTX 295. Guess we'll know more next month.