5x1P eyefinity: Upgrading from a pair of 5770s

[fgervais]

Greetings,

I have a pair of 5770s in Crossfire (a AX5770 1GBD5-5D + another reference card) driving a set of 1080p monitors.

This is a work (home office) machine 80% of the time, but it sees some gaming use. It's really awesome to have a wall of displays when gaming.

Now that I have the time to properly finish this setup with actual mounts for my panels I'd also like to revisit my GPUs.

Older titles rock on at full resolution, like Hawx:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6a5f1SL5sp4

While newer titles prefer to be at 3000*800 to stay in high detail mode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc0KQ2m0tsM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkaP3vGDGZk

Hell, Fraps was going crazy with artefacts as you can see in the last one, I'm really pushing the cards beyond their intended use.

I'd like to send off the cards to an auxiliary machine for some well deserved rest, replacing them by a 7870 Crossfire combo (again with one of the cards being an Eyefinity edition).

My question: Should I wait for the new fangled 8000 series cards, and if so, what is the approximate time to market for them?

 

[Spaniard United]

8000 is due out 4th quarter of this year, in time for Christmas and maybe Black Friday.

I personally chose not to wait, though my purchase was made back in February. You're midway through the year, so it's up to you as to whether or not you can deal for the next 5-6 months until 8xxx releases.

Were it me, I think I'd hold off at this point and wait for them to release.

I love the 5x1 portrait. I think that is by and large the best setup. Out of curiosity, why no bezel compensation?

 

[fgervais]

8000 is due out 4th quarter of this year, in time for Christmas and maybe Black Friday.

I personally chose not to wait, though my purchase was made back in February. You're midway through the year, so it's up to you as to whether or not you can deal for the next 5-6 months until 8xxx releases.

Were it me, I think I'd hold off at this point and wait for them to release.

I love the 5x1 portrait. I think that is by and large the best setup. Out of curiosity, why no bezel compensation?

My main concern is that the E6 cards tend to be released a bit after the reference ones, so I'd probably end up getting pushed towards 2014Q1. Bah, I supposed 7870s should be good for a while at least.

As far as the lack of bezel compensation goes it was switched off at that moment, I don't want it on when I'm doing office work. Missing bits in Excel and the likes isn't a great idea

 

[bystander]

It is a shame that there are no 7950/7970's that are Eyefinity 6 compatible. At that resolution, it would be nice to have 3Gb or vram and more power.

 

[Spaniard United]

Not sure how you have your monitors hooked up, but the Asus DirectCU II 7970 is also an option to consider. Gives you 4 full size DP ports and 2 DVI ports. This would give you better performance than the CF 7870s and you could always add another 7970 when the 8xxx series comes out and the price drops.

 

[fgervais]

It is a shame that there are no 7950/7970's that are Eyefinity 6 compatible. At that resolution, it would be nice to have 3Gb or vram and more power.

I'd be nice, but my dual 1Gb setup is performing decently, albeit struggling. Upping to a dual 2Gb setup will probably cover my ass for a couple years.

It is a shame that there are no 7950/7970's that are Eyefinity 6 compatible. At that resolution, it would be nice to have 3Gb or vram and more power.

Not sure how you have your monitors hooked up, but the Asus DirectCU II 7970 is also an option to consider. Gives you 4 full size DP ports and 2 DVI ports. This would give you better performance than the CF 7870s and you could always add another 7970 when the 8xxx series comes out and the price drops.

Don't the 79** card require a DP port replicator hub, which I understand as not existent yet, to use 6 displays? I though it was capped at 4 right now.

 

[Spaniard United]

Most cards only have 1-2 DP ports, either a single full size or 2 minis.

The Asus DCII Radeon 7970 card has 4 full size DP ports and 2 DVI ports, so you could get up to 6 displays same as an Eyefinity 6 version, but full size DP instead of mini DP, so it would depend on how your monitors are hooked up now as to whether or not that would be worth the expense. If you needed new cabling or, worst case scenario, all new adapters ... then it might be worth just going for an Eyefinity 6 Edition instead. If you can make the full size DP work, ie your monitors support DP and you would just need some new cables, those can be gotten much cheaper so it might make more sense.

 

[fgervais]

Most cards only have 1-2 DP ports, either a single full size or 2 minis.

The Asus DCII Radeon 7970 card has 4 full size DP ports and 2 DVI ports, so you could get up to 6 displays same as an Eyefinity 6 version, but full size DP instead of mini DP, so it would depend on how your monitors are hooked up now as to whether or not that would be worth the expense. If you needed new cabling or, worst case scenario, all new adapters ... then it might be worth just going for an Eyefinity 6 Edition instead. If you can make the full size DP work, ie your monitors support DP and you would just need some new cables, those can be gotten much cheaper so it might make more sense.

All 5 monitors are DVI/VGA, so the first 2 miniDP are passively converted and the last three are actively converted. My guess is that I could ditch the passive adaptors and plug in 2 monitors straight to DVI, and hopefully just slap a male DP to female miniDP bit on my active adaptors to avoid replacing them.

Interestingly simple if it works that way, and I do appreciate the extra leg room I'd have upgrade wise. Pricing is also more or less in the same ballpark as a 7870E6 card.

Now to figure out if I can actually fit it on my mobo, never mind in my case