Calculating Required Video Memory

[orionanomaly]

I'm running 4 monitors off of a SINGLE HD6990 4GB (XFX) card.

3 are 30'' (2560x1600), 1 is 24'', and I'm adding another 24'' to populate all the mDP slots the card supports.

Unfortunately though, I think I'm taxing the card even at idle desktop, as there are some very minor window redrawing issues (like ghosting of window edges when I move a window around).

Also, Windows Aero I've noticed deactivates when I have all 4 monitors on, but when I unplug one of the 30'' monitors, Aero comes back (transparencies, etc.).

I'm kind of surprised Aero would tax the card's capabilities at all, so I imagine it's a Video memory issue, since these 30'' monitors demand so many pixels (2 of them are also running through active adapters, which I have to use, so I can't imagine that's helping either).

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1. Would overclocking the card (notorious for overheating on air) help me at all?

2. I can't get another GPU because I ran out of PCI slots (I run a lot of other cards in the other ones for other stuff)

3. I was also considering just hooking up another machine next to it, and running Synergy or Input Director to power a few of the monitors, to relieve the card.

4. Am I correct in assuming this is a 4GB memory limitation, and not a GPU processing issue, since it's not even 3D graphics involved per se?

5. Are there any solutions I haven't thought of above that someone could offer?

Thanks!

 

[orionanomaly]

As to your 2GB correction - yes I forgot each GPU gets 2GB.

I only have BF:BC2 (and the very old Company of Heroes) in terms of games to test, but they've run perfectly on single screen 30'' without any issues. They're not really taxing to the card I imagine.

But that's only 1 monitor. These issues manifest when I have all 4 running, which I'm still thinking is the issue. That said, supposedly people use the card to run Eyefinity 3D games on multiple monitors and don't have issues.

I've gone through the whole driver thing, I have the latest AMD (and I've rolled back to others, always with clean erases, etc.). I do suspect it's either heat related, or something about the card/drivers/Windows/mDP adapters is interfering with the card's performance...

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It's worth noting the issues aren't 'bad' they're just annoying, and they definitely remind me that there's something up with the GPU...

Grayed out Aero seems to be a common enough problem - mainly caused by graphics cards apparently (or just Windows).

But of course, I have those blurring artifacts and occasional window choppiness on the screen when moving them around as well, implying a redrawing issue...