Triple Monitor Setup

[frequentflyer03 0]

Hi I am new to the forums and I am looking to purchase P3D and I'm wondering if I should buy 3 monitors or 1? What are the pros and cons of both?

[rdtv91 73]

Pros - immersive environment & Brilliant wide visuals seeing the entire cockpit... is perfect when taxiing and when landing because of the peripheral view it's perfect - works great with TrackIR

Cons - reduced performance (It can eat the GPU, especially with clouds! - although my 980TI manages it fine) and some stretching at the sides but this can be reduced slightly with a higher zoom point (I use 1.0)

[Forkboy2 27]

Hi I am new to the forums and I am looking to purchase P3D and I'm wondering if I should buy 3 monitors or 1? What are the pros and cons of both?

There is a 3rd option.  One HUGE monitor.  I got a 43" 4K TV/monitor several months ago which replaced two 24" monitors.  The large monitor is way better than having two smaller monitors.  You should be able to pick one up for about $500.

[scottb613 1,187]

Hi Folks,

 

Or the new Ultra Wide 21:9 monitors which - I believe - provides a wider FOV than a 4K...

 

Regards,
Scott

[MarkDH 234]

Or the new Ultra Wide 21:9 monitors which - I believe - provides a wider FOV than a 4K...

 

I don't understand what you mean by this - the largest 21:9 displays commonly available are 34", which is only 80cm wide. A 55" 4K display is about 50% wider (and hence so is the horizontal FOV).

[Angelo Cosma 61]

It's all about the aspect ratio, 21:9 vs 16:10 or even 16:9. That is exactly why the FOV is so much better on the 34'' vs the 4k 55''.

[racklefratz 4]

Hi I am new to the forums and I am looking to purchase P3D and I'm wondering if I should buy 3 monitors or 1? What are the pros and cons of both?

 

A few answers already, but nothing definitive.  I'm out of real aviation now, but have a couple thousand logged PIC hours in single-engine prop airplanes, so I have a frame of reference.  In simming, realism is my first priority - it's where the enjoyment comes from.

 

I used only a single monitor in simming for many years, and being limited to just one view at a time detracted from the realism in a big way for me.  Real airplanes have windows.  You look out the side windows to see to your left or right, and you look out the windscreen to see what's ahead.  Using 3 monitors approximates that; whether in a real cockpit or a simulated one, your peripheral vision allows seeing more than just one of those windows at a time. 

 

I own TrackIR and never use it because with it, you're only seeing one direction at a time.  It's a cute trick, moving the view around to match your head movements, but it's unlike being in a real cockpit, where your peripheral vision allows you to see in several directions at once.

 

I use three monitors, because it's the closest thing to being in a real cockpit I can find.  With only one monitor, I'm limited to one view.  With 3, I have all three views at once, as with a real cockpit.  Seeing the world moving past in the 2 side monitors as well as the middle monitor is about as much realism as I know how to reproduce on my sim, given the constraints of the software.

 

It's true that you need some processing power to run three monitors in windowed mode, especially large ones with lots of pixels.  I have plenty of RAM, a liquid-cooled i7-4930 CPU, and a Nvidia 980ti, and my frame rate gets pretty slow in areas with heavy scenery, but it's mostly flyable.  My 3 monitors are Acer XB280HK, advertised as "4K" monitors, with a native resolution of 3840X2160.  P3D won't run acceptably at that resolution with just one video card; I run them at 2560X1440..

[scottb613 1,187]

Here's a good comparison of aspect ratios... This guy has a couple more related videos as well...

 

 

 

 

Regards,

Scott

[frequentflyer03 0]

Thank you all for the quick responses!

[Forkboy2 27]

 

 

 

Here's a good comparison of aspect ratios...
 

 

Except the virtual cockpit is not shown in the video.  When you include the VC, 21:9 might still look better, but since the monitor is smaller you would have to zoom in farther to see the same detail on the gauges or you would have to constantly be using the pop up gauges. With larger monitor size at 16:9, you can zoom out farther and, which then displays more out the window but you can still see the gauges.

 

Obviously, ideal solution would be a 55" 21:9 monitor....but those are probably still a few years away.

[MarkDH 234]

That is exactly why the FOV is so much better on the 34'' vs the 4k 55''.

 

The FOV on the 34" is 1/3 narrower than on the 55". It's hard to see how this is 'so much better'.

[BMagann 11]

I use three monitors in a "bent back" configuration to stimulate and simulate peripheral vision as it is in a real plane. I find it much more immersive than just using one big monitor, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I use monitors with small bezels and i stopped noticing the bezels very quickly.

[racklefratz 4]

I use three monitors in a "bent back" configuration to stimulate and simulate peripheral vision as it is in a real plane. I find it much more immersive than just using one big monitor, but everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I use monitors with small bezels and i stopped noticing the bezels very quickly.

 

I agree.  Without experience in a real aircraft cockpit, peoples' "opinions" about what works best are just that - opinions.  I always chuckle at the "opinions" that assert that sim virtual cockpits are preferable.  None of them I've ever encountered come anywhere close to looking like the panel in the real airplanes I've owned.  So much for "opinions".  :Shame On You:

 

But bezels in cockpits are non-players.  Real airplanes have physical structures around all the windows.  Bezels don't matter, if realism is the objective.

[A340Bangla 40]

3 x 55" screens (1920x1080) here since 3 years, now running on 6700K and 980Ti (I have a second 980Ti in the box but cannot get SLI to function propoerly).

I would not want anything else. Sure, sometimes frame rates go down, but I can live with it, bezels are not an issue.

But I am running Project Magenta, so I do not need to display a cockpit.