Need answer from video card pros!

[Chabs]

Hopefully zanthor reads this thread again.

Zanthor, would I be better off running one large monitor say 30 inch, instead of 2 monitors that are 22 inch? Would that be more, or less for the video card to handle?

[pengwynman]

Hopefully zanthor reads this thread again.

Zanthor, would I be better off running one large monitor say 30 inch, instead of 2 monitors that are 22 inch? Would that be more, or less for the video card to handle?

sorry i'm not zanthor, but i'll do what i can. generally the only size of the monitor that matters in relation to the video card is the resolution. Higher resolution = more pixels to render = more load on your video card.

30" = 2560x1600 = 4,096,000 total pixels
2x 22" = 1680x1050 x2 = 3,528,000 total pixels

With a 30" monitor, you have the POTENTIAL for putting more load on your video card, though there are more factors here like what resolution are you actually running the game at, driver issues across multiple monitors, etc.

[zanthor]

30" = 2560x1600 = 4,096,000 total pixels
2x 22" = 1680x1050 x2 = 3,528,000 total pixels

With a 30" monitor, you have the POTENTIAL for putting more load on your video card, though there are more factors here like what resolution are you actually running the game at, driver issues across multiple monitors, etc.

*Stretch* *Yawn* Yea, that.

[Chabs]

How does the pixel math work with multiple instances of wow running, at different resolutions? Would it be (800x600x4) + (whatever resolution my main screen is) = total?

Im wondering if I can get more mileage out of the video card by tuning down the resolution alot. Would that idea make the 30" monitor work well? And the same would go for the 22" inchers obviously. Im debating returning my 22s this morning and getting a 30 =). Thanks for the feedback.

Also, is it even possible or does it make sense to tune a 30 inch down that much?

[pengwynman]

How does the pixel math work with multiple instances of wow running, at different resolutions? Would it be (800x600x4) + (whatever resolution my main screen is) = total?

Im wondering if I can get more mileage out of the video card by tuning down the resolution alot. Would that idea make the 30" monitor work well? And the same would go for the 22" inchers obviously. Im debating returning my 22s this morning and getting a 30 =). Thanks for the feedback.

Also, is it even possible or does it make sense to tune a 30 inch down that much?

it really depends on how you want to set it all up. if all of the clones are going to be set to 800x600, then the only other thing to take into consideration is the main. if you run your main at 1680x1050 on a 30" monitor, you'll get the same performance as the same resolution on a 22" monitor. if you ran your main at that resolution on a 30", you'd be able to fit your clones around that somehow, and you should get the same performance. now if you want to turn the main up to 2560x1600, you're probably going to get lower fps because the video card has more to render. it mostly depends on what resolution you want to run your main at and whether you want 2 monitors or 1.
personally, i have a 22" right now with a 17" crt for my clones, but i'm going to get a 30" for my main and put my clones on the 22".

[zanthor]

Quite frankly you can buy 22" monitors @ 1650x1080 for $150 and free shipping, the lowest I've seen a 30" LCD is right around $1000... for that sorta difference you can buy one bitching ass video card and drive the two 22" monitors with no problems at all... or you can drop $300 on two 22" lcd's, and $150 on an 8800GT or equivilant, and save yerself $550...

[pengwynman]

Quite frankly you can buy 22" monitors @ 1650x1080 for $150 and free shipping, the lowest I've seen a 30" LCD is right around $1000... for that sorta difference you can buy one bitching ass video card and drive the two 22" monitors with no problems at all... or you can drop $300 on two 22" lcd's, and $150 on an 8800GT or equivilant, and save yerself $550...

yeah, i left that part out. 30" monitors are expensive! but oh so awesome :]

[Bovidae]

Quite frankly you can buy 22" monitors @ 1650x1080 for $150 and free shipping, the lowest I've seen a 30" LCD is right around $1000... for that sorta difference you can buy one bitching ass video card and drive the two 22" monitors with no problems at all... or you can drop $300 on two 22" lcd's, and $150 on an 8800GT or equivilant, and save yerself $550...

Precisely why I use multiple 22" monitors.

Since you've already discussed pixel count and cost, I've done the math on square inches. A 30" monitor is roughly 18"x24" or 432 square inches. A 22" is roughly 13.2"x17.6" or 232.32 squares.

232.32x2= 464.64 vs 432

winner: Double 22"s

[heffner]

Just to clarify, the 8800GT outperforms the 9500.

Also, if you are multiboxing I assume you will be splitting the larger 30" into 4-5 windows? So, buying 1X30" vs. 2 X 22" doesn't really make much sense to me unless the price is similar.

[pengwynman]

just buy 2x 30's, that'll fit all your needs and wants