Mounting triple monitor setup on top of desk (not floor or wall mounted)

I have finally decided I will be updating my home cockpit to include a permanent 3-monitor setup.
I have tried this out temporarily with 3 pretty ancient x 24" monitors simply standing on piles of books to get the “angles” right and the monitors all touching as necessary, and at the same height.
I am thrilled with the results, after playing around with setting up the three monitors under the “Experimental” option within MSFS.
As a result I will shortly be buying 3 x 27" monitors - much as I would like to have 32" or even bigger, I cannot sensibly fit anything larger than 27" for space reasons.
I am concerned as how best to set them up on my desk.
I know there are monitor arms available, and whilst I might go down this route, I am anxious as to how strong they will be, bearing in mind the two outer monitors will be “forward and angled”, if you get my drift.
Does anyone with a home cockpit setup with 3 monitors feel able to offer guidance/recommendations?
Ideally with pictures?
Might it be simplest for me to just use the standard single monitor stands that come with each monitor, and put these on something (such as piles of books!) to get the right height and angles?
Thanks in advance,
Alasdair (aka FlyBasher…)

usually those stands can be rated up to a couple hundred pounds. It’s more about your desk material. I Have a tempered glass L-Shaped desk and i would never use a clamp mount on that.

Typically as long as your arm is rated for 3 monitors up x inches (in this case up to 27") it should be okay.

Once you find an arm that’ll work, be sure your desk is sturdy enough.

1 Like

I have mine on their own bases, on a fairly large L-shaped desk. To level them and get good vertical bezel “joins” I pack under the bases appropriately with “shims” of old greeting cards.

My three are curved, which is great, but plenty of others report that flat screens work well.

With 3 x 27" you will probably not angle the side ones much, maybe 45 deg? You don’t need that angle to match the one you enter into the software, which seem to like 90 deg or close to. The centre one needs to be very wide, like 45 - 50 inch to use a physical angle of 90 deg, otherwise there is simply not enough room for all the other desk paraphenalia.

1 Like

As mentioned above, size matters - these are my 32" screens at 60deg angles. I started off with 50" but could not get on with them plus the power to drive 3x4K screens is immense, these ones are 1440p. The stand is made out of a load aluminium beam I got when i left a job. Regardless of screen size, in the sim setup, the angles are always within 1 deg of 90 - the tiny change is used to hide the bezels.

1 Like

I have this https://www.amazon.ca/Mount-Computer-Monitors-Compatible-MI-1753/dp/B01M2AJMOH/ref=sr_1_32?crid=17ZHUKS9ARNTT&keywords=triple+monitor+mount&qid=1672791642&sprefix=triple+monitor+mount%2Caps%2C131&sr=8-32 in my office with 3- 24Inch monitors and i could not use this for my Sim - Motion platform, But I don’t think that any triple monitor stand unless you spend alot of money is going to be able to hold the monitors straight. Mine are at Barely 30 Degree’s and they tilt ever so slightly and Also I have the top of the stand screwed to an over head cupboard so the main standard is very secure. Picture of my office 3 screens its nice to have to have nothing under neath the monitors


helps with free desk space.

1 Like

Good point - just measured my desk and it is a little over 1 inch/26mm thick, so should not be a problem if I go down the route of monitor arms.
Thanks for the input.
Regards, A

Very useful information - thank you.
I hadn’t thought about this, so will test out angles from 89 to 91 degrees to see what works best for my setup.
Your input is much appreciated.
Regards, A

Very nice setup.
I agree that I am unlikely to find a strong enough “single arm” setup, and am thinking that using three “standard” stands (i.e. not arms) is the way to go.
I ideally will also want the desk space underneath them for other bits, so will experiment with height once I have them all set up.
Thanks for the pic and information - much appreciated.
Regards, A

I like the idea of “shims” very much - and with my limitation on maximum 27" screens will play around with the angles as you suggest.
Noted that the actual physical angle will be less than 90 degrees - at the moment my test with the old 24 inch monitors has them a little under 40 degrees - I think once I have the 27 inch monitors this will probably increase a bit to the 45 degrees as you indicate.
Thanks for the reply and information.
Regards, A

nope should be plenty. especially if it’s a denser wood, not that cheap Ikea particleboard

1 Like

I’m pleased to say it is solid wood, not veneered chipboard or anything like that.
Regards, A

1 Like

chad status

“Chad status” ???
I’ve no idea what this means?

it’s a good thing. You are awesome for using solid wood is all i’m saying lol

Ah, now I understand! :+1::grinning:

Thanks for the post. I’m in the process of building my new home sim and tossing up between 3 x 50" or 3 x 32". For years I’ve run a single 50" 4K Sony TV with great success, I’ve loved it. However for the new cockpit setup I’m looking to expand to triples. I’m very mindful of the performance hit of running 3 x 4K or 2 x 2k and 1 x 4K, even with a 4090.

On your 32s, how close are you to the side and front screens? Obviously the close you are the less the size of the monitor is an issue. What sort of performance do you see at somewhere like KLAX or EGLL with some AI Traffic running 3 x 1440p? Can I ask what your graphics card and CPU is?

Thanks!

Here is the 3x50" build, you can see there is more space below to put other stuff like the cockpit displays

Here is my support frame - the outer frame was for the 50" and the inner one was added to save the hassle of a full rebuild when i added the 32" screens.

With my 60deg FOV I sit with my eyes at 24" distance from all three screen centres, on the 50" setup it was 37.5" so its a fair bit closer on 32’s but for me it suits my eyesight (glasses) much better as the 50" setup was too far for close lenses and too near for distance lenses. The FOV is identical from my POV.

I ran the 50" as a 2K-4K-2K setup but you can really see the lower image quality at 2K on a screen that close - it looked rough. The 32" are 1440p native and variable up to 180Hz whereas the 50" was fixed at 50Hz. I would not go smaller than 32" now and not go lower than 1440p - as i read in my second-round of research this really is the sweet-spot it seems. The pixel density is actually higher on the 32" screens than it was on the 4K screens :slight_smile:

My system is windows 11, Intel i12900K, RTX3080ti, 32Gb, all M2 NVME storage, water cooled. I generally get between 55 and 30FPS anywhere and i only fly GA, currently the CJ4/WT so I can’t comment on the bigger planes. I run with AI traffic on, PG on, nearly all settings on ultra but TLOD and OLOD at 105 as these instantly kill my FPS. As long as I see 30FPS + the sim appears smooth to me.

1 Like

You have the set up I want, with 32" 2K screens - do you mind me asking, what monitor model did you get?

1 Like

These ones…

LG UltraGear 32GP850

nice, any pros / cons on them? Do you use either the G-Sync or FreeSync variable sync settings?