Rog Swift monitor issues and Nvidia Surround questions

Besides them being nearly impossible to find, I'm having an issue with my new Rog Swift monitor.

My setup is this:

Dual Sapphire AMD 290x Vapor X video cards. They each have one full sized DP port, one HDMI, and two Dual Link DVI ports. I'm currently running the ports as follows: Two Dell U2711s are run off of one DP port using a multistream hub, one more is being run off the Dual Link DVI port (all three at 1440p 60hz). The HDMI port on the primary video card is used for either running an Oculus Rift or a projector in another room.

So after getting my first Rog with the intention of swapping out all three if the first one works out, I'm having some issues. First, the hub doesn't seem to work properly with it. I realized after I got it home that I wouldn't be able to run three of these at 144hz because the DL DVI ports can't drive that rate at 1440p. Also, a single DP port using multistream can drive three 1080p monitors at 60hz -or- two 1440p monitors at 60hz, so hooking up three of these monitors at 144hz when I essentially only have two usable ports isn't going to happen. That's fine, but I -should- be able to use this monitor in addition to two of my Dells for now.

When I try to run the Swift on the multistream hub, the video card won't let me enable the other monitor on the hub at the same time. The hub won't drive the monitor at full speed, but it should at least show up at 60hz. I tried running the Swift off of the HDMI port using a DP to HDMI adapter but it doesn't show up at all when it's plugged in like that. Does anyone have any idea why these two configurations don't work?

Soooo, it looks like I'm going to need new video cards if I do decide to go all Rog. Originally I was planning on using the AMD cards I have with the understanding g-sync and probably 3d and I was fine with that, but if I can't drive three then that's a dealbreaker. The -only- reason I went AMD in the first place is because multimonitor is a priority for me and this is one area where AMD had traditionally been much stronger. Running five or six monitors off of a single AMD card is no problem, and you can configure and arrange them in any number of different ways and it works in nearly every game. I'm not opposed to the idea of switching from a Crossfire rig to an SLI rig, but I need a little bit more info before I pull the trigger.

How is Nvidia Surround support these days? Is it still restricted to a three monitor configuration? Can you run a fourth monitor in addition to the Surround config? Is the game support as strong as it is in AMD?

-Byshop

Really, nobody has any ideas? Not even @klunt_bumskrint?

-Byshop

Sorry mate never had multi Mon. The swift won't work with an adaptor I do know that. Off the top of my head I'd say it sounds like a driver issue. Tried an older driver?

Other than that I have nothing :( I'm pretty sure Nvidia cards support more than 3 screens because when the 680 came out I saw an Nvidia video of Skyrim on 3 screens plus another one on top, they were showing how powerful the 680 was.

If you have questions about Nvidia - you may be better off directing your questions to https://forums.geforce.com/default/board/47/nvidia-surround/

I haven't had any issues with 2D Surround running on dual GTX 570s. Any game that will support 5760x1080 works fine in surround. My only issue is that the 5xx series only supports 2 video outputs at a time, this was adjusted in the 7xx series. While I use surround, I'm not very knowledgeable about it which is why I suggest you direct your questions to the Nvidia forums.

I like the monitor so far, but the move from my expensive IPS panels feels more like a lateral move than a significant upgrade. I can see the difference between the 60 and 120+hz displays and but over a good IPS panel it's not what I'd call a huge step forward. I'm not a big FPS player, much less a competative online FPS player so that additional fraction of a second reaction time I would get out of it is not a big deal for me. The monitors get me higher refresh rate but at the cost of a slightly reduced viewing angle (not a huge deal and it's still very good) and fewer overall bells and whistles on the display itself (only one input). However, the greatly reduced bezels are very appealing for a multimonitor config and IPS panels typically have large bezels and my Dell U2711s are no exception. They have been the only real downside to my particular multimonitor config.

If the multimonitor support is more flexible now than it has been in the past then that's something I can work with. The only reason I went AMD over Nvidia was because Eyefinity was a much better feature than Nvidia Surround.

What about cables? So far, I haven't been able to get the Rog working with any DP cable other than the one it came with in the box, including cables that claim to be for 144hz monitors. Other cables connect and show an image, but then when I try to run any games the signal starts to drop out. The provided cable is only six feet which is a bit short and that length won't work for all three monitors if I go that route. I have all three monitors running now by using two dual link DP cables to the Dells so I'm running at full resolution. The colors are off between them, but I have a calibrator on order that'll get here today so hopefully I'll be able to get them in better sync.

-Byshop

I never got into multi-monitor gaming because of the bezels. Wouldn't something like a nice Ultra Wide 21:9 be sufficient?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcaktV1iiGk

No.

-Byshop

@Byshop: I couldn't handle those bezels. I think VR is what you need if you have that setup. Unfortunately, the VR tech just isn't at the right level yet.

Multi-monitor is way better for work productivity because you quickly maximize windows to different monitors. Having one wide monitor is great for gaming, but it sucks for work because if you want to divide up the space between different windows you have to manually move them around and resize them or use a window manager app. They are thick with these monitors, but the setup is for more than just gaming. One of the things that appeals to me about the Rog Swift is that the bezels are only 6mm.

BTW it's not clear from the scale in that pic but those are 27" 1440p monitors with about a 2 foot viewing distance, so the rig is well suited for single monitor games, too.

-Byshop

@Byshop:

I actually have 4 monitors but only use 2 (stacked vertically) because I have beastly speakers on my desktop. I only use the Swifty for gaming though. I agree that multi-monitor setup is great for productivity.