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Minimum 5XXX card for 3x24" eyefinity ?

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,188
Checkout the reviews but my gut feeling says that setup will struggle in quite a few games. I'm thinking 5970

Yup, 3x the pixels 3x the power, the 5850/5870 have a little power to spare for almost all games out there at 24" screen resolutions, you want to run 3 of them, you'll need more power. Not for all games, but for some you certainly will.

Right how the best value is 2x5850's overclocked, then a 5970, then 2x5870's will be the fastest(all overclocked) but cost the most, 2x5850's should basically be awesome.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3621/amds-radeon-hd-5870-eyefinity-6-edition-reviewed/7

Those results don't show crossfire performance exactly, but show triple screen performance on a 5870, from those benchies I'd personal interpret only L4D being fast enough on triple screens, Hawx has a high fps but also doesn't use any AA at all, most of the other games aren't using AA at all, frankly in a lot of those games 50-80% higher performance from crossfire is only going to drag you up to the minimum framerates you want, still without AA.

Eyefinitys a great idea in theory, but you basically have to use crossfire, and probably not go that high on AA in most games(though frankly its diminishing returns, 2xaa makes a huge difference, 4xaa makes a smaller and barely noticeable difference, at speed in games its rare you can actually tell the difference between 4/8xaa except by the framerate.

I'd actually seriously consider three 5850's, but not sure how well eyefinity is working on triple/quad fire setups right now.

Personally I think eyefinity is a novelty for now, I'd happily grab 2 more screens and 2 more gpu's if I was rich but for those with a limits on spending, I'd wait a generation or two before moving to a eyefinity.
 
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Associate
Joined
5 Apr 2009
Posts
303
Would a single 5850 handle triple 24" screen gaming and keep playable framerates ?

Whats the mininum ?

Cheers.

I'm using a 5870 at stock running 5760*1080.
All these games run really well:

LFD2
BFBC 2
Dirt 2
TF2
Dragon Age
Just Cause 2.

After the initial adjustment of using 3 screens, for me as a gamer it's the best thing that's happened for me in the pc space since the 3dfx cards.
Some might not like it, but I now can't go back. Playing games without three screens is just:(
Of course if you can afford it get a 5970. For me at the moment a 5870 is enough for the games that I play (except gta4 which you will need a 5970 minimum for eyefinity)
 
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Associate
Joined
30 Jul 2009
Posts
175
I have been actively using an Eyefinity 3x24" screen setup for a while now (until my active displayport busted and there doesnt seem to be any replacements in the country!!) using a standard Sapphire 5870. All games that support it run as smooth as ice (no problems whatsoever with the latest drivers).

DEFINATELY recommend it!!!!!
 
Permabanned
Joined
31 May 2007
Posts
10,721
Location
Liverpool
I have been actively using an Eyefinity 3x24" screen setup for a while now (until my active displayport busted and there doesnt seem to be any replacements in the country!!) using a standard Sapphire 5870. All games that support it run as smooth as ice (no problems whatsoever with the latest drivers).

DEFINITELY recommend it!!!!!

Have you tried getting a warranty replacement on that?
 
Associate
Joined
22 Sep 2009
Posts
245
I run eyefinity on 3 x 24 inch monitors at res of 5760 x 1200. My system is an i7 @ 4ghz.

A 5870 does not have enough power to drive eyefinity at that res on BC2 on maxed settings.

With my 5970 I get about 60fps with everything maxed. With my 5970 + 5870 I get about 100 fps @ 5760 x 1200 with everything maxed.

As for the guy saying eyefinity aint all that lol... I can only assume he does not have it as eyefinity and BC2 or dirt2 is just amazing.
 
Associate
Joined
22 Sep 2009
Posts
245
I run eyefinity on 3 x 24 inch monitors at res of 5760 x 1200. My system is an i7 @ 4ghz.

A 5870 does not have enough power to drive eyefinity at that res on BC2 on maxed settings.

With my 5970 I get about 60fps with everything maxed. With my 5970 + 5870 I get about 100 fps @ 5760 x 1200 with everything maxed.

As for the guy saying eyefinity aint all that lol... I can only assume he does not have it as eyefinity and BC2 or dirt2 is just amazing.

EDIT : my gfx cards are running at stock no OC
 
Permabanned
Joined
22 Feb 2010
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I have been actively using an Eyefinity 3x24" screen setup for a while now (until my active displayport busted and there doesnt seem to be any replacements in the country!!) using a standard Sapphire 5870. All games that support it run as smooth as ice (no problems whatsoever with the latest drivers).

DEFINATELY recommend it!!!!!

Yea but you got AA? AF and max settings on? dont think so :p
 
Man of Honour
Joined
16 May 2005
Posts
31,299
Location
Manchester
I'm running 3600x1920 (portrait mode ft_w) on a 5870. I've ran it at stock and oc'd to 950/1300.

It plays a lot of games fine but BFBC2 struggles at highest settings. You'll probably want something a bit beefier really.

From what I've read, there's quite a significant drop off in performance when using 1920x1200 monitors rather than just 1920x1080. More than you would expect with that kind of increase in resolution.
 
Associate
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1,225
for those who ALWAYS end up in a thread about a system they wont dare try or cant afford i will say eyefinity is awesome
really, people who have tried it or use it know how great it is.


secondly remember you sit a bit further away and have between 6 and 7 million pixels as opposed to 2million if you run 1080p or even less if your on legacy resolutions.
my point being that AA is hardly required.. a little bit of x2 is all that is needed if anything because you have the pixel pitch and the width + seating distance.


finally when you see a huge FOV with high detail like a whole landscape in front of you then you may have to run medium shadows and no aa, perhaps although not usually high shaders instead of ultra etc.. but reality is that the added benefit of eyefinity means you actually dont miss the slightly lower settings as you are seeing 3 times the awesomeness and the graphics are already way in front of consoles and still run well.


btw.. if you really want to run a game on MAX @ 60FPS then just run one of your screens like anyone else for that game or just find a lower custom resolution that scales really well like on my 1080p monitor i can run 1280 x 1024 and sat a few inches back it doesnt look massively inferior to native resolution.. in fact its nice and clear


there really is no reason to dismiss eyefinity there are work arounds with options, resolutions and screen configs for single, double or tripple.. if you can afford it get it.



btw 5850 CF or 5970 is what you need.. or wait for a 6 series and run "MAX" settings ;)
 
Associate
Joined
30 Jul 2009
Posts
175
Have you tried getting a warranty replacement on that?

Phoned Sapphire who said "speak to OcUK". Phone OcUK who agreed to RMA it. Sent it back and they advised it will be replaced when new stock comes in. 2 weeks later phoned them again and was advised that Sapphire have no stock in UK and its going to take another 6 weeks :(

Result 2 months without eyefinity and 3 screens I cant probably make use of in games :((

Oh well things happen. Its still an awesome setup, a revolution in my eyes and definately the way things will be going especially now ATI are going to start offering 3d'ness as well, makes me wish I had bought 3x120Hz monitors instead!!
 
Associate
Joined
30 Jul 2009
Posts
175
Have you tried getting a warranty replacement on that?
Phoned Sapphire who said "speak to OcUK". Phone OcUK who agreed to RMA it. Sent it back and they advised it will be replaced when new stock comes in. 2 weeks later phoned them again and was advised that Sapphire have no stock in UK and its going to take another 6 weeks :(

Result 2 months without eyefinity and 3 screens I cant probably make use of in games :(

Oh well things happen. Its still an awesome setup, a revolution in my eyes and definately the way things will be going especially now ATI are going to start offering 3d'ness as well, makes me wish I had bought 3x120Hz monitors instead!!

just purchased a 5850 to go with 5970 cus my games are slow at MAXX on eyefinity :D

You can run 2 different ATI cards in the same machine and use eyefinity as well?? please confirm this? (eyes light up)
 
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