This summary of the video was created by an AI. It might contain some inaccuracies.
00:00:00 – 00:10:33
The video explores the performance impacts of using multiple monitors in gaming and work setups, a practice increasingly common among gamers, streamers, and professionals. Tests conducted with high-end systems on games like Red Dead Redemption 2, Total Warhammer 3, and Cyberpunk 2077 reveal that additional monitors can lead to performance drops, varying from negligible to around 7%. The speaker notes that static images on additional screens have minimal impact, but dynamic content significantly increases GPU usage. Technologies like Nvidia's NVENC and NVDeck help offload tasks, yet some performance hits remain noticeable. Despite potential drawbacks, the video acknowledges that the benefits of multiple monitors often outweigh the performance costs for most users. The speaker advises caution, recommending a single monitor setup for troubleshooting ease and immersive experience, while thanking Sony for providing displays for the tests. The latter part of the video promotes Keeper, a security and password management tool, and teases additional content on motherboard performance.
00:00:00
In this part of the video, the speaker discusses how the use of multiple monitors, once a business luxury, has become essential for gamers, streamers, and workers. However, the usage of extra monitors might cost more than just desk space and power—it can affect computer performance. To investigate, the team conducted tests using a high-end system, popular games, and multiple displays (1080p and 4K). Initially, the impact seemed minimal, with only a 1% performance drop in Red Dead Redemption 2 using four monitors at 1080p. However, other games such as Total Warhammer 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 saw performance drops of nearly 7% and just over 3%, respectively, even with fewer displays. These results indicate that while the performance hit might not be drastic, it can be significant, especially on high-end setups.
00:03:00
In this part of the video, the speaker discusses the performance impacts of using multiple 1080p displays while gaming, highlighting a noticeable performance loss. Specifically, Total Warhammer 3 showed a minor improvement at 5%, but Red Dead and Cyberpunk had increased frame drops of around 7%. The performance impact is even more significant when considering 1% lows, which can result in stuttering or hitching during gameplay. While this scenario might seem extreme, it’s not unrealistic for streamers who manage multiple screens and feeds. The speaker also contrasts this with running games in 4K across multiple screens without video playback and found negligible performance differences, raising the question of why this happens. It turns out that static images are stored in system memory with minimal impact, but dynamic content causes increased GPU usage. This is demonstrated by moving a window around, which spikes GPU usage and then drops when the movement stops.
00:06:00
In this part of the video, the discussion centers on the impact of rendering animations and video decoding on GPU load. It highlights how certain tasks like using the LTT desk pad configurator can unrealistically spike GPU usage, whereas playing back a video shows more typical impacts such as increased video decode activity. The segment explains that while encoding and decoding tasks are offloaded to dedicated hardware with Nvidia’s NVENC and NVDeck technology—which initially seemed to free up the CPU and GPU for other operations—there’s still a measurable performance hit, particularly to in-game performance. Despite some drawbacks, it acknowledges that for most gamers, the benefits of using multiple monitors outweigh the costs. The speaker mentions a personal preference for a single monitor, citing reasons like ease of troubleshooting, lower power consumption, and a more immersive gaming experience. Lastly, it notes considerations for those who need a second monitor and gives a shoutout to Sony for the displays used in their testing.
00:09:00
In this segment, the video discusses a full short circuit video linked below along with other budget and premium options, and promotes the sponsor, Keeper. Keeper helps manage and track passwords and private information using a master password, autofilling usernames, passwords, and 2FA codes across devices with a zero trust and zero knowledge security model. They offer 50% off family and personal plans with code LTT50 and a 30-day free trial. The video concludes by suggesting viewers check out another video on motherboard performance tested with 10 different motherboards and one CPU.