Big, bold, beautiful - life with triple monitors

All three monitors arrived today and I've hooked them up in multiview (reminder: use nVidia control panel to span displays with Surround, not just Windows config, or else multiview won't be an option). They're being driven by a single 970 GTX running factory overclock to stay within budget*. I haven't yet done a lot of tuning to find the right combo, just enough tuning to know that on typical ISI tracks I can start at 50-55 fps while parked on the grid and then quickly zip to 60-80 fps by the first corner.

The one obvious advantage is being able to look out the side windows, see all the mirrors, and the competitors with a realistic field of view. In that regard, mission accomplished, everything as expected. It's a useful contribution, not overly exciting.

Where the triple setup had me saying "ooo-ahh, I had no idea it was going to be like this" was running a stadium track like Mountain Peak! OMG, until you experience triple monitors, you have no idea how glorious it is being inside the fishbowl of a stadium, with the grandstands towering over you!


*Budget got blown on three 27" IPS panels instead of three 24" monitors because the feature set on the smaller monitors just wasn't fitting with my desires (displayport, image quality). Ended up about +35% over initial budget plans. Or, another way of looking at it, it's the choice between larger, nicer monitors with a 970 GTX having marginal framerates or smaller, normal monitors with a 980 GTX having ample framerates while my budget was a 970 GTX with smaller monitors.

 

Nice E

Jealous

lol

 

Yip nice... jealous too...

 

Love to do a triple set up , I wonder , I run a 30inch Dell Ultrasharp and it would cost me a packet to buy another 2 of them , could I set up the sides with 30 inch TVs , would the sides being TVs be a totally different look than the monitor ?

And could my GTX780 run it ?

 

you should be able to. and yes your card should do it 4 gig would be better than 2 gig

 

Once you try triples you never go back.

 

Triples in rf2 is decent but iracing does a fantastic job of it, much better. Wish rf2 would make improvements over triples, I am close to pulling the trigger on buying rf2 (just messing with demo now) the main thing holding me back so far is the triple screen support. (screen angles, distance you are from screen, setting screen size/bezel size etc, like iracing does).

 

B946 brought Tripples WAY up there among the best... performance is SO much better now, you timed your investment perfectly - and I agree with the "once you go tripples" And a single HUGE monitor will never give you the feature which MultiView provides, now even able to use HDR also, on a single 780ti

 

Care to share your settings Emery? imho this build made things fps wise a lot better but fps on my rig are still mweh.

My settings:
Multiview
shadow medium
shadow blur fast
no reflections
all other settings (lod) full

this gives me 40 fps at start (24AI back of grid) and ~60 after 1 lap
not using multiview i gain 40 fps minimum but scaling on side monitors aint good obviously. (not ISI's fault)

 

You should test oculus Rift then you won't go back to triple!

 

"Will my XYZ card run triple monitors to my satisfaction in rF2?"

Assuming you don't have three monitors at hand to test with, here are a couple things to check before taking the plunge. Preferably, you have 4 GB on the card.

Test 1

1. Edit your player.json so it says:
"Max Framerate":0,
(note the original number so you can set it back once testing is complete)
2. Turn up all the graphic settings, turn on HDR, turn on FXAA, turn on the mirrors. Note the settings you changed so you can return them once testing is complete.
3. Select zero AI and make sure the session is sometime in the day rather than at night.
4. Grab a Formula Renault 3.5
5. Select Indianapolis in a practice session, click on Race
6. Use the 3 key to toggle on all virtual mirrors (if you don't have them on already)
7. Press ctrl-F to view the framerate while you're still sitting in the garage. If framerate is 140 or higher, then your card will handle triple monitors and you won't be disappointed and you can skip Test 2. If framerate is 118-140, then your card might handle triple monitors to your satisfaction; proceed to Test 2.

Test 2

1. Edit your player.json so it says:
"Max Framerate":50,
2. Load up your favorite car/track combo and a bunch of AI.
3. Have a race for a couple laps. If it bothered you, then you won't like triple monitors with your video card as that's what you might experience sometimes. The higher your garage fps, then the less likely it will happen.

Done with the tests? Edit the player.json back to the original value and reset any graphic settings you had to change for the tests.

 

@Eddy - your experience mirrors mine. Depends on how many AI and which track. I've been testing with only 9 AI opponents so it will reflect a heavy online experience rather than an offline experience. I juggled the graphic settings and found very little difference; choosing Level 1 AA on the latest driver & turning off the virtual mirrors provided the biggest framerate boost (hey, I can see around me now and the virtual mirrors use a few fps!). I'm also setting Max Framerate at 72 so the card can rest some of the time.

Portugal and Sao Paulo and Tiger Moth work well. Croft, Texas World Speedway, and Putnam Park are third party tracks that are also very friendly to triples with the 970 GTX.

I haven't tried turning off multiview. Need to finish my monitor platform first as stuff is rather wobbly.

 

thanks for you reply Emery, did you gain fps with new nvidia driver?

 

I made the move to triples over a year ago, and the increase in the immersion is amazing. Try also to get the front monitor within 30" from your eyes (if your monitors are smaller than 30", try to get them as close to your eyes as your monitor size). The closer the monitors, the higher the proper FOV, and this further increases the immersion. Use a FOV calculator (e.g. www.projectimmersion.com/fov/) to get this right. Then adjust the seat height if needed.

I am only using a 760 card with 4gig, and while I had to turn a few things down to medium (and nothing on max), it runs great with the current build. BTW, 4gig is mandatory if you are running 1980 x 1020 on triples.

Don't worry that rF2 doesn't support screen angle; after your FOV is set, turn on Multiview (a must in my book), then nose in perpendicular to a level armco or other straight horizontal line and adjust the screen angles until the line is straight across all three at about mid height of the screen. Use nVidia surround (in the nVidia control panel) to set the bezel width. Enjoy!

If I didn't have a big enough card (or less than 4gig), I would turn down the resolution so it could drive triples; triples are that good!

 

Turned off multiview and the picture is not objectionable to me. Definitely a reasonable tradeoff for fps, especially for Sebring.

For the driver, I'm using the build before the one released in the last day or three (losing track of days now!). IMHO, these newer builds, with the AA choices between 1-4 instead of 1-8, don't particularly have higher framerates, but they offer a higher visual quality so fiddling with settings doesn't gain you as much as it used to. With the older drivers, for instance, I never would have settled for Level 1 AA; it's probably closer to the old Level 4?

For the interim, I'll continue with multiview because I'm not noticing much visual interference when the framerate drops into the 50s. I'm sure the forcefeedback isn't as good, but I need time to decide if I care.

 

Congrats!

 

not true. Im back to triple. vr will be the only option for me but not now yet...

Wysłane z tapatalk

 

As mention the Z06Trackman, Bezel Correction is very important to get the right setup.

@Z06Trackman Thanks for the FOV link is great !
http://www.projectimmersion.com/fov/

 

Mine is working flawless in multiview@single 780 Just kill the shadow blur and few clicks down on reflections and opponents quality.

 

I'm not speaking about rf2! Oculus with AC ans specially LFS is fantastic.