Monitor & Crossfire question

[Ichy]

Hello Forums- I didn't see a "monitor" section in the graphics & displays section of the forums so I hope I'm posting this in the right place, and now for the situation:

So during a move, my current monitor; a Samsung 226BW, has been damaged an no longer produces an image. Thus I will need a new monitor and need suggestions. Asus seems to be the current favorite of the community right now, so a quick Newegg.com search nets me 2 in the 24" bracket that I like but am unsure of:

Asus Vs248H-P - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236153

Asus VW264-H - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

Also:

Asus VE248H - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236102

The other question is does MS matter? From what I remember it did, and the lower the better (if I'm wrong please correct me) which is why I'm ruling out Samsung this time around, that and price compared to asus. Which ever we come up with here as being the best option via community, I will buy 3 of of an eye-inifity setup.

That leads to my 2nd questions: I currently have an Asus 6950 DCII 2gb, not unlocked (been afriad of bricking the card) but over clocked to 950 (up from the default 810 mhz). I do want to cross or tri fire the system. My current main board: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131736 (yup all asus and amd- I've had better luck with them).

According to specs Cross is supported at 2x16 or tri at 1x16 2x8. My real Dilemma is the choice of Card. I understand that I should really get a 2nd DCII and overclock it so that it matches my current setup. However, that would limit my expansion options considerably.
Edit:

Was reading the Sli/Crossfire FAQ- according to it brand doesn't matter, I just have to make sure 2nd card is the 2gb version and match clock speeds. So the question then changes is tri-fire worth it? or will I be better off with Crossfire running at 2x16?

Thank's for reading the long post.. and I apologize for any spelling errors and misinformation I may have.

 

[azeem40]

The ms you see is grey to grey response time. The actual color response time will be around 10ms or so.

 

[geofelt]

The grey to grey response time is not a standard, and can be measured differently by different vendors. I would mostly discount it.
5ms is a rate of 200 cycles per second, not a very restrictive number. I don't think it matters.

Do not discount Samsung. They make the panels for many other monitor vendors. I think they keep the best samples for themselves. I have never had a single dead pixel from them on either monitors or tv's.

If you are gaming on a single monitor, I think you would be better off marketing your 6950 and applying the proceeds to a single 7970. Or, perhaps kepler in april if is competitive. You will have less heat issues, require less power,avoid any microstuttering issues, cooling issues, and not worry about games that are not optimized for dual gpu's.

 

[Ichy]

Geofelt and Azeem, thanks for the replies.

Wasn't sure about any thing regarding ms, I at least now have some clue.

I'll take another look at Samsung, but price will be a factor in my choice. As to your suggestion Geo. I won't be gaming on a Single monitor. My current Samsung that's damaged was my Main monitor of 2. The other 2nd monitor is a very old AOC 19' that is also needing to be replaced as well. From what I understand one can't Dual monitor eye-infity (at least all the setups and documents I'v seen show a min. of 3) Because I do a lot of scripting for and work in Autodesk's maya Software, having a 3rd would help out in that aspect as well as for gaming.

As for your upgrade suggestion, I'm going to have to decline. the 6950 is preforming spectacular for me, and its barely 3-4 months old. Thus I can't really rationalize ditching it for the "newest, hotest" hardware out there, even if it will save some power consumption. Cooling hasn't been an issue for me because of my case and the model of 6950 I purchased. Also, the reasoning behind grabbing a 2nd one is for support of the Eyefinity setup I'm wanting to create. As for the microstuttering issues- I don't know if I'll have one or not because I have never done a crossfire setup to know if it affects me or not.

However, a article done by Tom's in December/January addressed the very issue of microstuttering issues in (the then) current sli/crossfire setups. I don't remember every thing the article said, but I gathered that it came down to how sensitive you are to the phenomena and that many of the "kinks" had been worked out through hardware and software updates.

Lastly, thanks for the info and suggestions again, but I like how you say not to discredit Samsung but don't provide any suggestions for comparison.