Triple display question

[3ogdy]

Hi everyone,
I have a doubt that I think someone from TH might be able to solve for me:
I have the Sapphire HD6950(2GB) Dirt 3 Edition
Outputs:
1 x Dual-Link DVI
1 x HDMI (with 3D)
1 x DisplayPort
1 x Single-Link DVI-D
DisplayPort 1.2
I'm currently using 2xAcer X203W hooked up to each DVI port.
Now, I'd like to get a 23" Acer monitor (the T230H).
I'd connect it to DisplayPort.
Would I be able to enable Eyefinity(to do some gaming across all 3 monitors) if I used the specified monitors?
I know the 23" display has a FullHD resolution but I have no problem running it at 1680x1050 while gaming if that's what it takes.
I've read on the official AMD page that Eyefinity would work by lowering the resolution on the higher-res display in order for it to be the same across all displays.
The questions are:
Would I have bezel compensation options?
Would I be able to play games using all 3 displays? (like an Eyefinity configuration) ?

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

I looked it up online and it said that the 6950 can support up to 3 monitors so I assume that it will work fine.

 

[jerm1027]

Hi everyone,
I have a doubt that I think someone from TH might be able to solve for me:
I have the Sapphire HD6950(2GB) Dirt 3 Edition
Outputs:
1 x Dual-Link DVI
1 x HDMI (with 3D)
1 x DisplayPort
1 x Single-Link DVI-D
DisplayPort 1.2
I'm currently using 2xAcer X203W hooked up to each DVI port.
Now, I'd like to get a 23" Acer monitor (the T230H).
I'd connect it to DisplayPort.
Would I be able to enable Eyefinity(to do some gaming across all 3 monitors) if I used the specified monitors?
I know the 23" display has a FullHD resolution but I have no problem running it at 1680x1050 while gaming if that's what it takes.
I've read on the official AMD page that Eyefinity would work by lowering the resolution on the higher-res display in order for it to be the same across all displays.
The questions are:
Would I have bezel compensation options?
Would I be able to play games using all 3 displays? (like an Eyefinity configuration) ?

I know Eyefinity does have bezel compensation and I played around with for a bit, but never mastered it (had 19" and 17"). As for the displays, if you want an even picture across the 3 screens, you definitely want to align them as best you can and make them run the same res (1680x1050). Personally, I don't have 3 monitors, but I'm pretty sure the Catalyst Control Center is pretty straight forward for setting up Eyefinity display.

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

The other thing you might want to consider is if you even want to run three displays with a 6950. You will probably get a pretty low frame rate with a graphics card like that and I would want a much stronger card for eyefinity, not that the 6950 is weak as it is a very good gaming graphics card.

 

[a little black duck]

In answer to your last 2 questions, 1) Bezel compensation is adjusted in CCC when you set up your eyefinity group. (Very easy to do)
2)Most games now support the higher resolutions needed for eyefinity, as well as there being a number of 'fixes' for older games at sites like widescreengaming https://www.wsgf.org/ if you are comfortable with changing .ini files. But you will almost definately need to turn down or off a lot of the graphics settings like AA etc.

I noticed that you say you wish to hook your 3rd monitor to the displayport. This is good because in order for eyefinity to work, the 3rd monitor must be connected via displayport. This is a requirement of eyefinity unless you're using a flex edition card. But most importantly, if your 3rd monitor does not support displayport you will need to use an ACTIVE displayport adapter. Passive adapters do not have a DAC chip needed for the higher resolution in eyefinity i.e. 5760x1080.
Good luck.

 

[3ogdy]

In answer to your last 2 questions, 1) Bezel compensation is adjusted in CCC when you set up your eyefinity group. (Very easy to do)
2)Most games now support the higher resolutions needed for eyefinity, as well as there being a number of 'fixes' for older games at sites like widescreengaming https://www.wsgf.org/ if you are comfortable with changing .ini files. But you will almost definately need to turn down or off a lot of the graphics settings like AA etc.

I noticed that you say you wish to hook your 3rd monitor to the displayport. This is good because in order for eyefinity to work, the 3rd monitor must be connected via displayport. This is a requirement of eyefinity unless you're using a flex edition card. But most importantly, if your 3rd monitor does not support displayport you will need to use an ACTIVE displayport adapter. Passive adapters do not have a DAC chip needed for the higher resolution in eyefinity i.e. 5760x1080.
Good luck.

Thanks for the info. I knew most of that stuff and I also got on the WSGF page before...because I was looking for info regarding how to run older games(San Andreas,Most Wanted...etc.) on various screens.
Strangely enough, games like CoD1 and CoD2 manage to run on a dual-display setup, but San Andreas does not correctly adjust the resolution for a dual-display configuration. Most Wanted (2005) doesn't even support a multi-display resolution unless you use a ResHack tool which does nothing but to expand the image and the result is a very strange looking game because the image is not adapted.
Games like GTA IV work fine, though. I haven't tried Vice City yet, but I will, in the next few days, as I saw people managed to get it working correctly on multi-display configurations - unlike San Andreas(which is newer...)

I know the framerate will be really low on a triple display configuration with the 2GB HD6950...I mean...with everything set to High, except some Distance Drawing, Reflections and maybe Night Shadows...GTA IV was running at about 23 - 40 FPS - Most of the time being somewhere close to 30FPS (27 - 32) - but I notice slowdowns when the image is crowded. It's not a problem in terms of VRAM, though, as the game seems to be sing under 0.8GB of VRAM...
Thank you everyone for your quick replies!!!

 

[3ogdy]

Posting an update for this:
Got an Active Sapphire DP->DVI adapter. Got all 3 screens working under 7 and 8.
XP will only work with 2 displays.
While on desktop with Eyefinity disabled, I can run my main screen (23" FullHD) at its main resolution while the others have their resolution maxed out(1680x1050).
Using DisplayFusion you can get 3 individual taskbars to work - one for each screen. DisplayFusion works nearly flawlessly under 7.

On my HD6950 2GB GDDR5 I can play GTA IV across all three screens with Water reflections & Shadows(disabled) set to minimum(otherwise FPS would drop to about 28-32 from time to time).
So, with Medium-High settings I could play @ 60 -70 FPS. Eyefinity enabled.
It's a nice experience overall but it may give you some headaches from time to time.
Strange enough - San Andreas doesn't work with Eyefinity. Vice City doesn't work with it either, from what I heard.
Most Wanted looks pretty bad and I don't remember playing Carbon on it.
It's quite obvious these games are too old and that Eyefinity wasn't even born when they were released but it would've been nice to be able to play them on a triple display configuration with Eyefinity.
I've been a huge fan of Windows XP until I found out it doesn't support more than 2 displays.
SO THE ANSWER TO MY QUESTION:
- BEZEL COMPENSATION IS AVAILABLE
-ONLY MODERN GAMES WORK WITH EYEFINITY, BUT THEY WORK WITH NO ROBLEMS AT ALL
I once experienced extreme ghosting in GTA IV but all I had to do was to quit the game and relaunch it to make that disappear - I have no ghosting at all or any other kind of issue with the Sapphire DP->DVI adapter so I guess it's all good.

Cheers.