4 Dell 30 inch U3011 monitors in a 1 over 3 configuration: Best Videocard Solution?

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NACZ3

Gawd
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I think Eyefinity and a single ATI 6970 will work based AMD/ATIs site but have some questions that I can't find answers to on their sites. Any help is appreciated.

I'm going with 4 Dell 30 inch Dell 3011 monitors in a 1 over 3 configuration with the top monitor centered over the bottom 3.

From AMDs site below, this is the 3x1 Display Group Plus 1 Extended
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/gpu50-ati-eyefinity-display-configs.aspx

Looks like the below setup:


____[ 2 ]____
[ 1 ] [ 1 ] [ 1 ]

Based on the picture at the site above, am I right in that the lower 3 monitors are a streched desktop with the 4th monitor above being the second desktop?

My questions are:

1. Will 1 6970 be enough: I will be using the 2 display ports and 2 DVIs. From what I read, you have to give up the HDMI or one of the DVIs so the max number of monitors is 4 on one card. Or am I wrong.

2. Will all 3011's be able to be ran at their max resoluton of 2560X1600? Or is there a limit on the max resoluton per monitor. I'm talking about for using the desktops though, not gaming across all of them.

3. Will 2 6970's give more flexibility in configuring independent desktops vs stretched?

Is there an NVIDIA solution for this 4 monitor setup. From the NVIDIA search I did, I can only find 3 monitor setups for gaming. I have 2x460GTX in SLI at home but have only run a 2 monitor NView setup. I can't find as much info on NVIDIA multi monitor config possibilities as ATI's Eyefinity.

Would a workstation card be a better choice? If so which one? We're not doing rendering work but doing work where we need to show merging of multiple sources of data on maps, video feeds ties to map locations, etc all at once.
 
Depends whar you're doing with it. For running desktop environments, sure. For gaming, not a hope in hell. Three 30" monitors are really the domain of $2000 triple/quad 3GB GTX580 SLI setups.
 
I could be wrong, but it was my understanding that only one of the two dvi ports was dual link, which is required to run 2560x1600. So a single card should be able to run 3 30" lcds at their native resolution assuming you connected two to the display port connectors, and the third to the dual link dvi connector. The max rez supported for the single link dvi connector should be 1920x1200.

As to whether or not a 4th display is allowed outside of the eyefinity display group, I don't know. I know that is not possible on Nvidia cards without a seperate card not in SLI for the peripheral display (that doesn't help, but is the grounds of my skepticism).
 
You don't need the second DVI port. Afaik the HDMI port will still be full-bandwidth, so you can use two displayports, the dual-link DVI and the HDMI port. I don't think that's an issue. However, I might be wrong here.
 
samuelmorris said:
Depends whar you're doing with it. For running desktop environments, sure. For gaming, not a hope in hell. Three 30" monitors are really the domain of $2000 triple/quad 3GB GTX580 SLI setups.
Click to expand...

It's for a desktop environment at work, not games, but I might test it out :) for 3 monitors for games

Roger that on using the HDMI instead of the single link DVI. Wasn't aware of that issue. The U3011 has HDMI so it'll support it for the 4th monitor.

We could do the triple 580 route also but I can't seem to find a lot of info on what kind of monitor configurations are allowed by NView for NVidia. The Eyefinity info on monitor configurations has been more informative. Also, 3x 580's for just a desktop environment most of the time seems like a huge waste (not that 2x 6950s isn't a crime for just a desktop environment but the cost is much less)
 
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You cannot do 4x 2560x1600 on a single 69xx series card. HDMI does not support that resolution. You would need two cards. If your not gaming, just get a single Eyefinity 6 edition 5870 and your golden.

http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Radeon-Eyefinity-PCI-Express-5870PE52G/dp/tech-data/B003EYV0PI


AMD web site specs on 6970:
Cutting-edge integrated display support
DisplayPort 1.2
Max resolution: 2560x1600 per display
Multi-Stream Transport
21.6 Gbps bandwidth
High bit-rate audio
HDMI 1.4a with Stereoscopic 3D Frame Packing Format, Deep Color, xvYCC wide gamut support, and high bit-rate audio
Max resolution: 1920x1200
Dual-link DVI with HDCP
Max resolution: 2560x1600
VGA
Max resolution: 2048x1536
 
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Vega said:
You cannot do 4x 2560x1600 on a single 69xx series card. HDMI does not support that resolution. You would need two cards. If your not gaming, just get a single Eyefinity 6 edition 5870 and your golden.

http://www.amazon.com/Diamond-Radeon-Eyefinity-PCI-Express-5870PE52G/dp/tech-data/B003EYV0PI


AMD web site specs on 6970:
Cutting-edge integrated display support
DisplayPort 1.2
Max resolution: 2560x1600 per display
Multi-Stream Transport
21.6 Gbps bandwidth
High bit-rate audio
HDMI 1.4a with Stereoscopic 3D Frame Packing Format, Deep Color, xvYCC wide gamut support, and high bit-rate audio
Max resolution: 1920x1200
Dual-link DVI with HDCP
Max resolution: 2560x1600
VGA
Max resolution: 2048x1536
Click to expand...

Thanks, I wasn't sure if a 5870 with the 6 display ports would do 2560X1600 on all 4.
 
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NACZ3 said:
Thanks, I wasn't sure if a 5870 with the 6 display ports would do 2560X1600 on all 4.
Click to expand...

Thats what its made for. Its not like DVI being single or dual link, DP can always do that res.
 
They might be releasing a Eyefinity 6 edition of the 6970 if your not in a rush. But then again you really don't need performance if your not gaming or doing something like CAD work.
 
why bother, when you can probably find a XFX 5770 single slot eyefinity 5 for around $170... single slot ftw5(well, yours is $180 after rebate, so maybe yours is better lol... unless you want like 2x5770 singleslots for 10 outputs... )

http://www.behardware.com/news/11050/xfx-radeon-hd-5770-eyefinity-5.html

http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=_0ZnTbKnOI-u8Ab5v-zKCw&ved=0CEgQ8wIwAA# (pic is wrong, should be below)


(it's hard to find it, but its available somewhere...) ebay "HD-577X-Z5F3" for a few

but yeah, you need to buy those $80 active Displayport->DualLink DVI adapters


http://www.waybeta.com/uploads/img/20100803/0931/201008030932311738.jpg
 
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FYI, doing 3x30 + a 4th monitor is very finicky w/ the 6xxx series, constant issue if you are running games off of the 3x30 and w/my experience a 2007fp hooked up to the single link for poops n giggles.

so go w/ the 5870 6 edition
 
paperwastage said:
why bother, when you can probably find a XFX 5770 single slot eyefinity 5 for around $170... single slot ftw5(well, yours is $180 after rebate, so maybe yours is better lol... unless you want like 2x5770 singleslots for 10 outputs... )

http://www.behardware.com/news/11050/xfx-radeon-hd-5770-eyefinity-5.html

http://www.google.com/products/cata...=X&ei=_0ZnTbKnOI-u8Ab5v-zKCw&ved=0CEgQ8wIwAA# (pic is wrong, should be below)


(it's hard to find it, but its available somewhere...) ebay "HD-577X-Z5F3" for a few

but yeah, you need to buy those $80 active Displayport->DualLink DVI adapters


http://www.waybeta.com/uploads/img/20100803/0931/201008030932311738.jpg
Click to expand...
Fry's normally has them in stock (in store). Though I don't think they are restocking them... the few at the roseville store have gone, now.
yang88she said:
FYI, doing 3x30 + a 4th monitor is very finicky w/ the 6xxx series, constant issue if you are running games off of the 3x30 and w/my experience a 2007fp hooked up to the single link for poops n giggles.

so go w/ the 5870 6 edition
Click to expand...

are the issues with your current setup, or a HD6000 series card?
 
I had 2x6970's in CF for my 3x30 + 2007fp (for poops n giggles), I disconnected it as the 4th display would become disconnected whenever I exited a game. ie everything would be working fine in 2d and when I boot up a game and then as soon as I finished the 2007 would lose signal.

I did it mostly to test if it could run a 4th display..yes it can, but it is not bug free

I hope to be receiving my palit 3gb 580's in the next couple of weeks, not having to deal w/ flickering dp issues is going to be a dream come true =D
 
Why is the HDMI on the 6970 limited to 1920x1200? I gather because it's being fed from the single-link DVI out?
 
http://www.amd.com/us/products/desk...6970/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6970-overview.aspx#2

6970 GPU Feature Summary


Cutting-edge integrated display support

* DisplayPort 1.2
o Max resolution: 2560x1600 per display
o Multi-Stream Transport
o 21.6 Gbps bandwidth
o High bit-rate audio
* HDMI 1.4a with Stereoscopic 3D Frame Packing Format, Deep Color, xvYCC wide gamut support, and high bit-rate audio
o Max resolution: 1920x1200
* Dual-link DVI with HDCP
o Max resolution: 2560x1600
* VGA
o Max resolution: 2048x1536
Click to expand...

just because? HDMI 1.4 itself supports higher resolution, but i guess how they implemented HDMI on the chip doesn't allow it
 
If you disable SLI on your 2x 460's you should be able to push 4 monitors off of them (2-each, but I'm unsure about the dual link thing). I run 3 monitors off of a 5870 and have had success running a 4th off of my old 8800GT. No reason to get high dollar cards if you aren't gaming (and don't need an eyefinity group) -- you can just run multiple cards.
 
Agree, if you're not doing anything much on the 4th screen, it's probably a good idea to have a second card for it, you could get away with something basic like an HD5450.
 
I agree w. The above statements. When i ran 5 screens, i ran 3x2007fps w. A 5850 and 9500 gt to power a 3007 wfp hc and a 2001 fp
 
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