AMD eyefinity

[alrobichaud]

So I think my next upgrade will be a 3rd monitor to try out multi monitor gaming with AMD eyefinity. I have never used it or even seen it. Is it as cool as I have read about? I plan on playing bf3 in ultra at max resolution which i guess will be something like 5760 x 1080 for 3 1920 x 1080 monitors. I currently kill the game with a single 1920x1080 monitor on ultra with 4xAA at an average of 117FPS. What can I expect for a framerate with 3 monitors? Any thoughts or relative experience would be appreciated.

Thanks

 

[redeemer]

What videocard are you running?
Anyway for framerates with 3 panels, you can forget about running any kind of AA. I think you will be getting anywhere from 25-35 fps! Unless you got quad 6990 or mars 2 something crazy like that

 

[inzone]

With the two cards you are currently running you should get fairly decent fps , although three AMD gpu's is only pulling an average of 117 fps on ultra in BF3?

 

[alrobichaud]

I think they are on par with what I should have. bf3 on ultra with 4xAA at 1920x1080 is a resource pig. BTW, redeemer, I am running crossfire 6990 and 6970 which is essentially 3 way 6970's. I think my setup will perform better for high res gaming vs low res with high framerate.

 

[guskline]

Those are really very powerful cards. I have 2 5850s in crossfire running 3 24" monitors in Eyefinity and it is AWESOME! Get a powered displayport to run the third monitor. Since my 5850 had a full size display port I got this from Newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158198

You probably have the mini displayport in the 6970 or 6990 so get this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815158262

you hook 2 of the monitors to the DVI ports on your primary video card and hook the 3rd monitor to the display port device, USE an active device eventhough it is more expensive than the passives. You get better resolution.

GOOD luck!

 

[alrobichaud]

Hmmm. Was not aware I needed to purchase another dongle to activate 3rd monitor. Copied this from AMD website 'Use of 3 or more displays with AMD Eyefinity technology requires a DisplayPort-capable panel or an AMD Eyefinity validated dongle' in the system requirements section of the hd 6990. So this is from the PowerColor website http://www.powercolor.com/us/products_features.asp?id=333#Specification. It says display port is onboard. The 6990 has one dvi-d and 4 mini display port connectors and between the 2 cards I have two dvi-d mini display port dongles. Do you still think I need another dongle to activate a 3rd monitor. I am currently using the dvi-d port and one of the mini display port to dvi-d dongles on the main card for my second monitor.

 

[alrobichaud]

AMD setup FAQ section is a clear as mud.

 

[alrobichaud]

So I set it all up without the need for another dongle. BF3 looks pretty cool. With 5760 x 1080 ultra settings AA off I got an average 54.3 FPS. With AA on it was 40FPS. At 40FPS I found things were not as smooth as I like so I have to turn off AA. I bet this would be cool as hell on a game like dirt3 or a flight sim. Not sure if bf3 has been done as well as it could have. It gives you a much larger field of view but I find the two side displays are a little stretched which is a bit annoying. I am also not used to turning my head while gaming and I find that If I look at another display I lose my focus and end up dying a lot. I will give it a chance to try and get used to it.

**edit**

I thought about it on the way to work and maybe I don't have the proper angle on my side monitors, in regards to the stretching. I had to disable eyefinity so that I could set up the desktop with the center display as the focus with the two side displays as secondaries. When I went back to enable eyefinity afterwards to play with the settings the option was no longer there so I had to set up eyefinity all over again. What a pain in the ass! After playing with eyefinity, I disabled it again to switch back to the normal desktop. Guess what happened!! My displays reverted back to the default which is my desktop showing on all 3 displays at the same time. Totally useless! Not suprisingly, after setting up my desktop again, when i went back to eyefinity it needed to be set up again. Is there anyway to set up my desktop and also eyefinity and just swtich between them? Eyefinity is really useless for anything but gaming and having my desktop on 3 monitors simultaneously is also useless. redeemer, I thought you were just being a smart ass in regards to needing quad 6990 but I think that statement was fairly accurate aside from the quad 6990 which is not possible. 2way only which equates to quad 6970's. After I bought the 6970 to go with my 6990, I thought that it may have been overkill but now I am actually thinking about picking up another 6970 and maxing out my display capabillities.

 

[alyoshka]

Which CCC version are you using?
I tried the 11.12 and that particular on really sucks if you removed the older drivers and supporting software.
If you have 11.11 with the whole package of softwares and stuff, it's pretty simple to get them to run all three monitors as one screen. And a game profile for eyefinity can be created so that it doesn't need to be switched on and off by you.
You could also try the windows desktop personalization tab, select the monitor you want as the primary focus monitor and stretch the display to the rest.
Having the Desktop on the center monitor might be like a sliding puzzle, but it works.... and elongating the taskbar to all three monitors takes a little bit of registry editing or third party software.

 

[alyoshka]

Why not dump the HD6970 and pick up another HD6990?
That'll give to Quad CF...

 

[alrobichaud]

I am using 11.12. As an afterthought, another 6990 would have been a better choice but I kinda thought the 6970 was overkill. Anyway, my motherboard supports 4 way crossfire and it has four pci-e x 16 capablel slots. I believe in 4 way crossfire it would be something like four pci-e x 8. Running 2 x 6970 and 1x 6990 should not be an issue with the 6990 is slot 1 and the 6970's in slots 3 and 4. The only thing that I am not sure of is how well the card in slot 3 will breathe being so close to the back of the card in slot 4. This setup will essentially be quad 6970's which is as fast as AMD's current released tech will allow.

 

[alrobichaud]

Hmm. Intersting. I really don't want to have one desktop spanning 3 monitors which is what eyefinity does. I can set it up with the center monitor as a standalone desktop and the two side monitors as secondaries. I would like to keep that setup and simply turn on eyefinity when I want to game and then simply switch back to my custom desktop afterwards. This is where I am having a problem now. Sorry for editing that post while you were replying, alyoska.

 

[alyoshka]

If you have the dough, the 6990 is certainly the way to go.... but why in such a hurry, wait for the 7970 and cf it with the 6990..... you'll get the best of both worlds then and it's not a very long wait now either.

 

[Mousemonkey]

If you have the dough, the 6990 is certainly the way to go.... but why in such a hurry, wait for the 7970 and cf it with the 6990..... you'll get the best of both worlds then and it's not a very long wait now either.

What makes you think that those two cards will be able to be crossfired?

 

[alyoshka]

Oh, that's ok, happens to me all the time.
Firstly, download the 11.11 CCC package too. Install it and see the difference, only install those components which need installation, for those which say already existing newer versions don't let them be overwritten.
That stupid XGM or whatever 11.12 calles a display group will go away...
And you'll be able to setup the group to turn on eyefinity only when you want to, in the way you want it to.
Other wise it goes straight back to the way windows has setup the desktop in the extended fashion and not the cloned fashion.

Mouse, I'm keeping my fingers crossed so that they could be crossfired..... well if they can't then the OP will have to come back to the 6970 or the 6990 which, by then would drop a few more bucks.... either way the wait is a win win....

 

[alrobichaud]

Umm. Is that even possible? I believe the gpu needs to have the same codename to be compatible. Manufacturer, gpu speed, memory speeds don't matter but the same gpu does.

 

[alrobichaud]

i will see if I can still download 11.11 and try it. It must be possible to run a custom desktop and switch between eyefinity and back again.

 

[alyoshka]

Nah, they've come out with the Hybrid thing.... so hopefully it works across generations not too (2) many generations apart but ..... Crossfired cross fingers.....sitting crosseyed

 

[Mousemonkey]

Nah, they've come out with the Hybrid thing.... so hopefully it works across generations not too (2) many generations apart but ..... Crossfired cross fingers.....sitting crosseyed

Links please.

 

[alrobichaud]

Oh, that's ok, happens to me all the time.
Firstly, download the 11.11 CCC package too. Install it and see the difference, only install those components which need installation, for those which say already existing newer versions don't let them be overwritten.
That stupid XGM or whatever 11.12 calles a display group will go away...
And you'll be able to setup the group to turn on eyefinity only when you want to, in the way you want it to.
Other wise it goes straight back to the way windows has setup the desktop in the extended fashion and not the cloned fashion.

Mouse, I'm keeping my fingers crossed so that they could be crossfired..... well if they can't then the OP will have to come back to the 6970 or the 6990 which, by then would drop a few more bucks.... either way the wait is a win win....

I just happened to be browsing the local used adds and came across someone selling an xfx radeon hd 6970 for $250 with 23 months left of the 24 month warranty. Apparently, he bought the card and is now hard up for cash. Going to call him right now. That card still sells for 374.99 plus taxes locally.

 

[alyoshka]

Yeah, I know, I'm waiting for them too, and hopefully might just give it a try myself....I mean the Hybrid CF thing...
Hey come on! this is speculation, we're thinking if it were going to be possible, it would be worth a try though.

 

[alrobichaud]

Success! Managed to find some online instructions on how to use CCC. Still using ver 11.12. Not as user friendly as it could be. I usually don't pull out instructions unless I am stuck. Gave BF3 more time....this game is cool as hell in eyefinity!! The single player missions anyway. Multiplayer is still a bit tough to play since your weapon stats are on the far right monitor and the minimap is far left. nice to be able to be looking straight ahead and see someone to your left or right without getting shot at first and turning. It almost feels like cheating.