5970 to.... ?

[samuelc]

Hello Everyone,

I'm looking to get some advise on which GPU I should go for from my trusty 5970 BE. I will be upgrading my monitors to a 27" + 2 19"'s in the near future and I was wondering which GPU I should be looking at. Reason for the upgrade as well is that I have been told that the 5970 will not be able to support a 27" + 2 19"'s. I have been looking at the 7970 to power the 27" and the prices of the cards on OCUK seem rather reasonable. I will not be gaming on eyefinity.


Your thoughts are much appreciated.

Ta,
Sam

 

[Muel]

I have been told that the 5970 will not be able to support a 27" + 2 19"'s

Whoever told you that was either lying, or misinformed. You can run 3 monitors from any 58**/59** card with display port.

What is the exact make/model of your current card?

 

[varkanoid]

OP might mean speed wise/capability and not necessarily by connections. He does say "7970 to power 27"
Please clarify what you mean by "not support"

I would have thought 5970 could power 27" and 2 x 19" easy.

 

[samuelc]

Hello Muel - Whoa! Thanks for that mate you've probably saved me a good £300.00 ish!

XFX 5970 Black Edition

 

[samuelc]

OP might mean speed wise/capability and not necessarily by connections. He does say "7970 to power 27"
Please clarify what you mean by "not support"

I would have thought 5970 could power 27" and 2 x 19" easy.

Hello Varkanoid - Support as in connectivity. He was telling me that the 27" would need 2 DVI ports. I thought of going for the Dell 27" U2711 I think its called. Apologies for the noobish questions chaps.

 

[varkanoid]

Why two DVI ports for 27" were they getting confused as this monitor has two dvi's ?

It has one DP port though so just use that ? Or the HDMI port.

CONNECTIVITY
High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI)
2 Digital Visual Interface connectors (DVI-D) with HDCP
DisplayPort (DP)
Video Graphics Array (VGA)

 

[Muel]

Maybe something to do with dual-link DVI? I know nothing about it though.

Suffice to say, I have 5830 crossfire with 3x28" running eyefinity with no trouble at all. Easily enough for most modern games so if you're just wanting it to power your monitors in windows, I can't see there being an issue.

You'll probably need a Displayport to DVI adapter though. I have one of these, and it's great. Only single-link DVI though so only supports 60hz, not 120hz monitors.

 

[Vir]

The 27" 2560x1440 monitors need a dual-link DVI cable, should come with the monitor, single link doesn't have enough bandwith for that resolution And yes, it's only one cable.

 

[Surveyor]

DisplayPort or dual link DVI will support 2560x1440.

If you're getting a Dell U2711, or a similar monitor with DP, then it's quite simple.

Connect the U2711 using a miniDP to DP cable or adapter.

That leaves the 2 DVI connectors on the graphics card for the 19" monitors.

As these are DVI-I you'll be able to connect to the 19" monitors using DVI, HDMI or VGA (with suitable adapters as required).

27" + 2x19" will be fine for extended desktop use but I don't think they'll work properly in Eyefinity as all the monitors have to run at the same resolution.

 

[varkanoid]

so ideally whoever told you its not possible wants a slap.

 

[Uncle Petey]

There's a guy selling a 5970 on gumtree for £250. Optimistic?