I have the Asus Strix GTX 970, and I am wondering how I could set-up a three-way display. Would I need one monitor on DVI-I, one on DVI-D, and one on HDMI or Display port? Or can I split one port on my 970 to run 2 or 3 monitors? If so which one's can be split, and how many times? Would there be a disadvantage to this?
I don't know right now what specific monitors I will get but what I want is 3 1440 displays for some ultra wide gaming. It seems all the cheap displays are DVI-D only....
A single 970 will have a very hard time aaa gaming on 3x 1440p displays. 3x 1080 would be do'able but it will be a stretch and will depend on the game. You can use all the gpu's output at the same time. You can also split the display port into multi outputs (eg hdmi). Splitters etc can be expensive. If your after ultra wide gaming a single 21x9 monitor is another option. Cheaper and way less taxing on the gpu.
First of all, I'd like to see some citation on why NVIDIA is no good for multi monitor. I know plenty of people running NVIDIA SLI (or just a titan) for multi monitor.
Secondly, asking for 3 monitors out of a 970 is more than a bit much. Especially at higher than 1080p. SLIing two of them would probably do it, though. But I agree that if you are after ultra wide, get a single, ultrawide monitor.
Getting some good info here, thank you. However the one monitor option does not work because sometimes I would only want to use the center screen for a game and would still want the other screens for something else, like a youtube vid, because ADD.
And can we focus more on how the various types of display ports work, and less on the abilities of the 970.
And can we please avoid further discussion of AMD vs NVIDIA, I am NOT in the market for a new GPU so please take any green vs red argument to another thread. I do not want to sound like a dick but like I said, NOT in the market for a new GPU.
Of course it's definitely possible just to game on one monitor. It'll probably work better actually, since there's no Surround setup needed. Just set your main display and have at it.
Yes and yes. I currently have 2 monitors, both 24 inch 1080p. I only game on one because I only have a 760 and 2 monitors would feel weird, 3 is the magic number. So, yes, you can have secondary monitors beside you for your ADD pleasures and a game in the center. That'd actually be easy for your GPU to do, as desktops don't take much of anything for the GPU to keep track of.
EDIT: Yes you can do the vertical thing. You'd need monitors built to do that, which means more expensive, but you can.
Second EDIT: I see now that they in the picture just physically flipped 2 regular monitors. Yes, you can do that. That's just a software/settings change. I was thinking of rotating monitors that my father had.
I have to re-arrange my displays via the Nvidia Control center every time I switch from multiple display, to display spanning, or switch back (I don't want display spanning when I am not gaming, and if I don't turn it off, I can't full screen something on just one monitor). And under each option, set up multiple displays, and configure surround, the monitors are numbered and labeled differently.
They seem to have set it up under the idea that if you enable display spanning, you're going to want it all the time, which is not true at all. It seems all they need to do, is get a general end user in there to change the software to enable it to be used in a way that someone would actually use it.
Having to switch between triple monitor surround, and multiple displays. Triple monitor surround makes your computer think you have only 1 really wide monitor, and as a result, you can't full screen something to just one display while it is active, and when you switch back to multiple display (where your computer knows you have three monitors instead of one giant monitor) you have to re-arrange the displays via the control center.
This would be solved, if you could save a profile for how you have your monitors arranged. When I switch from surround, to multiple monitor, and I move my mouse over towards the right monitor, I end up on the left hand monitor, because it doesn't remember how I had things set up previously.
Yeah. I would prefer if I could set which monitors are where, and then just set it to 5760x1080 in games only or something.
That, or be able to switch with the press of a button, and not have to fiddle about in the control center.
Back to OP's question. 1080 is about as good as you will get for triple monitor surround gaming on a single 970. I can run GTA on relatively high, battlefield hardline on the high preset, and framerates are fairly playable. Elder Scrolls Online I can run at ultra with EVERYTHING turned up as far as it can go, and it just looks beautiful.
I'd advise the OP to get a 1440p 27inch monitor. Or an ultra wide at.... whatever ultra wide 1440p is. A single 970 can handle that with good FPS. Don't push it further than that without SLI though.
