Taking the plunge, Going for Eyefinity Will this card be strong enough?

dalehitchy1 · 15 Sep 2011 at 23:57

J-I-M said:
Hey overclockers:
I'm going to purchase 2 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MO-032-AS&groupid=17&catid=510&subcat=

To go with my Samsung SyncMaster B2430 but i'm unsure of the power of this card - I'm looking to run 3 monitors on eyefinity but will this card be powerful enough? I'm on a 450 budget and really could do with saving as much as possible however i obviously want the best performance. The card in question is this : http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-039-HS
Any feedback would be helpful please.

I'm buying the 6950 graphics card for eyefinity! ... I think I'm gnna get the toxic version as they have the 6970 bios if I'm correct. I dnt mind not havinv max settings.... More then likely I'll be playing guild wars 2 / the old rupublic anyway... So nit graphically demanding games.

Hate it when u ask for advice on the forum and people suggest something stupid.... He asked for eyefinity... Not one screen.... So why suggest it ???? Lol.

Marine-RX179 · 16 Sep 2011 at 00:02

dalehitchy1 said:
I'm buying the 6950 graphics card for eyefinity! ... I think I'm gnna get the toxic version as they have the 6970 bios if I'm correct. I dnt mind not havinv max settings.... More then likely I'll be playing guild wars 2 / the old rupublic anyway... So nit graphically demanding games.

Hate it when u ask for advice on the forum and people suggest something stupid.... He asked for eyefinity... Not one screen.... So why suggest it ???? Lol.

Because Eyefinity on one card for three-screens gaming is mostly for marketing, when in practise a single card doesn't have enough grunt to run any slightly demanding game at 5760 res, unless turning the graphic details to WAY down?

dalehitchy1 · 16 Sep 2011 at 00:12

Marine-RX179 said:
Because Eyefinity on one card for three-screens gaming is mostly for marketing, when in practise a single card doesn't have enough grunt to run any slightly demanding game at 5760 res, unless turning the graphic details to WAY down?

Not if your playing games like Warcraft or rift etc... I've also seen many videos with the 6950 running games like dirt 3 fine... Likely not the best settings but good enough

Marine-RX179 · 16 Sep 2011 at 00:34

dalehitchy1 said:
Not if your playing games like Warcraft or rift etc... I've also seen many videos with the 6950 running games like dirt 3 fine... Likely not the best settings but good enough

I'm pretty sure WOW and DIRT are not considered as graphic demanding games.

J-I-M · 16 Sep 2011 at 02:48

Well i can get that 2GB and those 2 monitors, sell my GTX460 and put the cash towards a second ATI 6950 2GB So that should be fine? I'm currently mainly playing wow and COD MW2 with some old games, nothing majorly graphics intensive, my CPU/ram etc are all very up to date and strong enough to handle all of todays gaming. Thisll suffice for wow and older games for the time being untill i can get the second card?

Buchanan0204 · 16 Sep 2011 at 03:06

I would avoid having two monitors the same and one different. You will find it impossible to replicate the colour across the three screens. This would be very annoying (for me anyway) It would also look weird.

Stick to three screens the exact same model and revision. Ensures correct colour across the monitors... also looks cool

Just to add my bit regarding the Xfire. I currently have 3 Dell u2311 monitors. 5760x1080. I have one single 6970. I can play BFBC2 on pretty high settings with a very respectable frame rate... no juddering or lag what so ever. It also maxes out Black Ops at 60FPS at this res. What else... NFS Hot Pursuit, yes it's a console port... but it looks amazing on three screens.

Don't be put off using a single card. They are more than capable of playing your games at very playable rates. I'm speaking from experience as I'm sat in front of them... not reading it off a review site.

I will no doubt grab another 6970 in a while second hand when the prices come down and it starts to really struggle with games next year.

So... that's my views on it anyway... do with them what you will

SKILL · 16 Sep 2011 at 07:10

Buchanan0204 said:
I would avoid having two monitors the same and one different. You will find it impossible to replicate the colour across the three screens. This would be very annoying (for me anyway) It would also look weird.

Stick to three screens the exact same model and revision. Ensures correct colour across the monitors... also looks cool

Just to add my bit regarding the Xfire. I currently have 3 Dell u2311 monitors. 5760x1080. I have one single 6970. I can play BFBC2 on pretty high settings with a very respectable frame rate... no juddering or lag what so ever. It also maxes out Black Ops at 60FPS at this res. What else... NFS Hot Pursuit, yes it's a console port... but it looks amazing on three screens.

Don't be put off using a single card. They are more than capable of playing your games at very playable rates. I'm speaking from experience as I'm sat in front of them... not reading it off a review site.

I will no doubt grab another 6970 in a while second hand when the prices come down and it starts to really struggle with games next year.

So... that's my views on it anyway... do with them what you will

This tbh, except my setup is even worse:
Core 2 Duo @ 3.8GHz
5850 1GB
3x Samsung 26" 1920x1200 monitors

My main game is iRacing, so not overly graphically demanding but I still run almost everything on high at a capped 60fps (uncapped I get horrid tearing when it goes over that), but I've also played several other games at med-high settings over all 3 monitors, most recently being Deus Ex: Human Revolution which was just about playable.

I believe that even with the lowly 5850 the problem is VRAM more than GPU speed itself, 1GB just about works, 2GB (per card) should be the minimum these days if you want to go triple screen.

Marine-RX179 · 16 Sep 2011 at 07:50

J-I-M said:
Well i can get that 2GB and those 2 monitors, sell my GTX460 and put the cash towards a second ATI 6950 2GB So that should be fine? I'm currently mainly playing wow and COD MW2 with some old games, nothing majorly graphics intensive, my CPU/ram etc are all very up to date and strong enough to handle all of todays gaming. Thisll suffice for wow and older games for the time being untill i can get the second card?

Yea for older games it should be fine...just don't expect it to get decent frame rate in BFBC2 or more recent games. Here's a review on 5760 res on 5870 2GB...which is more or less around same speed as 6950 2GB:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-5870-eyefinity6,2595-10.html

I would imagine WOW would be fine on 3 screens, since it's not really graphic intensive...but has always been more CPU dependent. MW2 should run ok too.

J-I-M · 16 Sep 2011 at 07:51

Thanks, i'm pretty much just waiting to order now, since the online payment method doesn't seem to be working for me. Not tried paypal, though i'd like my monitors and card here tomorrow so don't really know if paypal will pay up immediately.

J-I-M · 16 Sep 2011 at 07:52

Thanks a lot for the feedback aswell, i'm running an i5 at 4.4 ghz and 8gig ram, so wow itself and any other games not majorly GPU intensive run at pretty much max settings, I feel the GTX460 lacked oomph anyway but still all the games i seem to play run perfectly smooth.

Marine-RX179 · 16 Sep 2011 at 08:06

With take CPU you should be laughing through WOW I would imagine

Still a shame that the game still pretty much mainly only run on one core, or WOW players will get much better frame rate on their quad-core CPU.

But yet...to get in the advise by other members about getting the same monitors...otherwise adjusting the colours right would be really difficult.

old gamer · 16 Sep 2011 at 09:18

A single 6970 is fine for eyefinity. Sure you wont max out all games but it will do a pretty decent job. I added a 6950 to mine and whilst my framerate doubled it was not that noticable and im thinking about selling it and go back to just 1 card

evilmatt · 16 Sep 2011 at 10:18

Yeah I'm currently playing DX:HR with all graphics options medium to full at 6048x1080 on a single 6970, runs nice and smooth.

dalehitchy1 · 16 Sep 2011 at 10:26

What monitors did u go for if u dnt mind me asking

old gamer · 16 Sep 2011 at 11:33

im using three LG E2360V-PN

dalehitchy1 · 16 Sep 2011 at 17:39

old gamer said:
im using three LG E2360V-PN

oo i was looking at the e2260v... how do you find these monitors
if you get the chance... i would be very appreciative of a picture of all 3 monitors together

old gamer · 16 Sep 2011 at 20:49

The lg monitors are pretty good for the money and being led they dont get hot giving your face a suntan.cant post a pic im using my phone but i have posted a pic in the show us your tft thread in monitots. If you search posts by me you shold find it

Buchanan0204 · 16 Sep 2011 at 22:46

Here's my setup if anyone cares. Three Dell U2311H's

dalehitchy1 · 17 Sep 2011 at 00:29

Nice... I looked at them monitors too.... But 8ms respond? Do you get any ghosting? I rele do like the look of that dell monitor... Im zoo struggling what monitor to pick aghghg..

Budget £150.... Can stretch to 180 if it's a rele good monitor... Ideally £150

Buchanan0204 · 17 Sep 2011 at 02:51

dalehitchy1 said:
Nice... I looked at them monitors too.... But 8ms respond? Do you get any ghosting? I rele do like the look of that dell monitor... Im zoo struggling what monitor to pick aghghg..

Budget £150.... Can stretch to 180 if it's a rele good monitor... Ideally £150

You can get the Dells for £180. I did. In fact... I think it was £185... one of the two.

No ghosting what so ever. I've tried literally every game and not experienced it.

There's plenty reviews on the monitors which also reports them to be fine for gaming. 8ms isn't as bad as you think. These 2ms monitors are all just marketing IMO...

Here is the review