Eyefinity ponderings

ASLayerAODsk · **Eyefinity ponderings -** 08-06-2012, 01:53 | posts: 516 | Location: Canada

so...how would running eyefinity on my 5850 pan out? All I really play is bf3..so...I know id be turning a few things down/off for details...im looking at getting 3 27" Asus LED's just wondering if i should throw a new video card in with that as well...

AMD Phenom II 3Ghz x4 Deneb
8G 800mhz Ram
700W PSupply

Sapphire 5850 1G
Memory Type GDDR5
Core Clock in MHz 725 MHz
Memory Clock in MHz 1000 MHz

Asus Essence STX
W7 64 Ult

Driver currently installed:

Driver Packaging Version 8.98-120611a-142035C-ATI
Catalyst Version 12.6
Provider Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
2D Driver Version 8.01.01.1253
Direct3D Version 9.14.10.0920
OpenGL Version 6.14.10.11733
AMD VISION Engine Control Center Version 2012.0611.1251.21046

Any suggestions? bigger power supply? how are the 7xxx series for performance vs eyefinity? any good articles?

far-cough · 08-06-2012, 07:41 | posts: 67 | Location: Brisbane QLD AU

new card for shore that old girl wont cut the mustard with that 3 screen set up at 1 gig mem

lenne · 08-06-2012, 08:34 | posts: 344 | Location: Germany

i run a highly oced 6950 @ 4000x1080 ( borderless windowed mode; got 27 inch full hd panels ) and with medium / low settings it works ok ( even then i got dips into the 30ties ).

That card wont cut it for sure and multi gpu with eyefinitiy will run into heaps of issues so the best bet will be a single 7970 or a 680. depending on the price i would preferably get a 680, had too much problems with my 6970 to really recommend amd at the moment.

mikeysg · 08-06-2012, 11:47 | posts: 1,799 | Location: Babylon 5

For EF gaming with 3x 27" monitors, you'd need 2x HD7970/2x GTX670/680 (or a GTX690, or a single HD7990 when it's released). I have 3x 24" monitors son my res with bezel management is 6048x1200, this is quite a strain on 2 newer and more powerful cards, let alone an older mid-high card. I had 2x HD5870 in CFX before getting the HD7970's, and even with two of them I doubt BF3 can run well in EF mode, firstly they aren't powerful enough.....and 1GB VRAM isn't gonna 'cut the mustard'.

Poster above had issues with his card, but I had very little problem with my HD5870's, and now my HD7970's. Minor hiccups (like borked CF support for newer games) here and there.....but nothing that would prevent me from recommending them to anyone who's looking to buy them.

ASLayerAODsk · 08-06-2012, 13:35 | posts: 516 | Location: Canada

very interesting feedback so far....yeah..my mb sucks too....one slot....Asus m3a78-cm

i know ill have to replace that at some point to go CFX....if not to start with..just trying to feel this out a bit more before i jump in.....

lenne · 08-06-2012, 22:53 | posts: 344 | Location: Germany

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeysg

For EF gaming with 3x 27" monitors, you'd need 2x HD7970/2x GTX670/680 (or a GTX690, or a single HD7990 when it's released). I have 3x 24" monitors son my res with bezel management is 6048x1200, this is quite a strain on 2 newer and more powerful cards, let alone an older mid-high card. I had 2x HD5870 in CFX before getting the HD7970's, and even with two of them I doubt BF3 can run well in EF mode, firstly they aren't powerful enough.....and 1GB VRAM isn't gonna 'cut the mustard'.

Poster above had issues with his card, but I had very little problem with my HD5870's, and now my HD7970's. Minor hiccups (like borked CF support for newer games) here and there.....but nothing that would prevent me from recommending them to anyone who's looking to buy them.

minor hickups ? most games are unplayable for months if ever. And if u do some research ull find that a single 680 is in almost every situation enough for 3x1080p displays, whatever size they are.

cw_mike · 08-07-2012, 04:07 | posts: 3

Here is my experiences...

Been running eyefinity for 3 years across different hardware. And play BF3 exclusively.

I was running 3 screens on my 6970 xfire and an i7 950 prior to my new rig.

With eyefinity you cannot have enough vram the difference from the 2gb 6970 to the 3gb 7970 was like chalk and cheese when it came down to the microstuttering and the settings I could acheive as well. One of the most suprising things though was the cpu bottleneck. Now some including me would find it hard to believe that a i7 950 would be a bottleneck but as soon as i went to the sandybridge i run now i gained an average of 20 frames....

My advice... You will get your eyefinity with one 7970 but before jumping to 2 I would change the cpu to a stronger performer...

Hope this helps

ASLayerAODsk · 08-07-2012, 04:48 | posts: 516 | Location: Canada

yeah..going to an i7 has been discussed already...it will be very expensive at that point..but i do realize that may be THE road to take...spending $1k on a cpu though...thats just not an option...was thinking more the extreme quads or something....$3-400 then...sigh..i wish AMD hadnt dropped the ball so badly with bull****dozer....grr.

Night Walker · 08-07-2012, 20:09 | posts: 28 | Location: Argentina

I have one Sapphire 7950 OC ed with a I5 3750K and 32gb of ram and i have no problem to play almost anything with my current resolution (5960x1080)

k4sh · 08-08-2012, 08:54 | posts: 78 | Location: Naoned

Quote:

Originally Posted by Night Walker

I have one Sapphire 7950 OC ed with a I5 3750K and 32gb of ram and i have no problem to play almost anything with my current resolution (5960x1080)

Yeah but don't expect to play latest releases like BF3 all maxed out.
All i can play maxed out with 7950 overclocked and a 2500K @ 4.5Ghz are DX9 games (6048 * 1080 res).
After all it's not so bad.