New PC - How much power

[Telengo]

I currently play ED on a laptop (due to space restrictions in the past), but hoping that I will soon be able to get myself another full on PC.

How much power do I need to run ED with three 24/27" monitors? I keep spending my days with Overclockers and CyberPower UK configuration tool and they always seem to be very expensive. Do I need to run Crossfire or SLI or is one 280/290X or GTX970 good enough to run the game as a good speed?

Been a while since I understood PC hardware, so used to playing games on my Xbox in recent years.

[Somerled]

I have a 3 monitor system, resolution 5760x1200, and use a single Radeon R290.

In ED I get around 35-45 FPS in stations and 75-95 FPS in space. Not sure what I get in a combat zone or other busy place - somewhere betweeen 40 and 80 FPS. All this is with Ultra settings

ED is very good with a triple monitor setup. Combine it with headtracking and your in heaven!

[Roger Wilco Jr]

If you haven't tried head tracking, I'd recommend you try that before you go to 3 monitors. You'll want it regardless of how many monitors you use. I swear that it plays tricks with your mind. As I'm flying around, I just turn my head a little to the side, with my eyes tracking on what I was looking at on screen, and in my mind I feel like my head turned 90 degrees and I'm looking out the side window. You get totally lost in the screen and what's happening and you don't even notice all the crap on your desk. A similar trick happens when you don't see the bezels on a multi-monitor setup.

If that works for you, then you can look into getting a better single monitor. I was looking at the wide screen versions, but they were still too expensive for the 34" high res versions. I got an Acer 32" 2560x1440 for only $400, with a GTX970, and it looks stunning at ultra settings. With the head tracker, I don't miss the wide screen at all. I usually sync at 60FPS, but it does drop at times. I wouldn't recommend multiple monitors at higher resolutions with a single card, but it may be OK at 1080.

[Caliclo]

I would say the game as it is right now will do OK with one vid card and 3 monitors. I do think though, that as it grows and you come more and more in contact with other ships, commanders, planets.. only one card with that setup is going to be pushing it.

[Telengo]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I currently have a EDTracker, but have not put enough time into getting it to work. For some reason I tell it, it is pointing and located in a certain place and it goes all strange. I need to get it sorted out.

That sounds good Somerled, I will just go with a single card then. I was not sure if it could cope with three monitors. I need a new desktop machine, now that I am back in a position to get one. So will get a standard desktop/screen and then add from there. Generally my little laptop copes well (think it has a 2GB gpx card as well as the normal onboard card), but the moment a conflict zone comes along it runs out of power.

Thanks for the information guys.

[Roger Wilco Jr]

Here's some added info, fwiw. I played the last 2 hours with the frame rate counter on.

I normally play with vsync on and frame rated limited to 60. After an hour, it was 60 just about the whole time, but would drop to 57 or 58 sometimes. I would get an occasional judder or stutter, whatever it's called - like a micro pause.

Then I turned off vsync and the frame rate limiter. Out it space, I'd usually get about 160-170 FPS. Pointing out to a dark area, it would be 215 FPS. Approaching a planet, or a station, it would start dropping off at a linear rate until it was about 80 FPS going through the slot. In a station, it was usually in the high 70's, but it would drop into the 60's and even saw it in the 50's a few times. I'd still see the occasional judder, but I never saw any tearing.

Honestly, I really couldn't tell much of a difference. That was at 2560x1440, which is about 10% fewer pixels to drive than two 1920x1080 monitors.