Best config for multi monitors

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dtess17

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I'm looking to get some new displays pretty soon, and would like to run either tri or quad displays.

Am I better off getting a 4850x2 to drive them all, or getting 2x 4870's?

I will be running XP for now, but I see vista in the near future.

Also it will be 2x 24" and 2x 20" monitors.
 
also yes i know i would have to disable crossfire if i went with the 4870's
 
I think if I were to buy 2x 4870 cards. I could run 4 displays, however once I put them in crossfire via control panel, I'd be down to one, or maybe two displays.

Very similar to how it was working with SLI when I had that.

I was wondering if there was any benefit to this rather than the 4850x2 which has quad DVi ports.
 
Isn't the point of SLI and crossfire to gang together more video processing power to display a single image? Multi-montitors is the antithesis of that isn't it?

I don't use SLI or crossfire myself, just multi-monitor, and as I understand it, you need to disable SLI/Crossfire to get multi-monitor support(or rather, not enable it). But that is changing. I am not really sure what the new capabilities are. It used to require a reboot to turn SLI/Crossfire on or off. I think that step was eliminated, but you still need to switch it.
 
verteron said:
Isn't the point of SLI and crossfire to gang together more video processing power to display a single image? Multi-montitors is the antithesis of that isn't it?

I don't use SLI or crossfire myself, just multi-monitor, and as I understand it, you need to disable SLI/Crossfire to get multi-monitor support(or rather, not enable it). But that is changing. I am not really sure what the new capabilities are. It used to require a reboot to turn SLI/Crossfire on or off. I think that step was eliminated, but you still need to switch it.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah I know all of that, and I don't mind having to enable/disable it. I was just wondering the better solution 2x 4870 or 1 4850x2
 
If you're running 2x monitors only, then 2x 4870's (1GB) is a far better choice then a 4850x2 in terms of gaming performance. Any more then 2x and you'll need to disable crossfire. I used to run a 30 inch and 2x 20inchers on a separate GFX card from my 30 inch
 
soulesschild said:
If you're running 2x monitors only, then 2x 4870's (1GB) is a far better choice then a 4850x2 in terms of gaming performance. Any more then 2x and you'll need to disable crossfire. I used to run a 30 inch and 2x 20inchers on a separate GFX card from my 30 inch
Click to expand...

going for 4 monitors
2x 24"
2x 20"
 
DeadSkull said:
4870x2 + 4870 1Gb.
Click to expand...

can you mix and match like that?
I thought vista only would let you use one graphics driver


I assume the two 24" go on the x2 and then the two 20" would go on the 4870...could I get a cheaper card in type of set up. One of the lower end cards in the 4000 series?
 
dtess17 said:
can you mix and match like that?
I thought vista only would let you use one graphics driver


I assume the two 24" go on the x2 and then the two 20" would go on the 4870...could I get a cheaper card in type of set up. One of the lower end cards in the 4000 series?
Click to expand...

You should be able to use HD 4870x2 and HD 4870 1Gb together no problem, considering the fact that the cards are of same generation and same vRAM size.
 
DeadSkull said:
You should be able to use HD 4870x2 and HD 4870 1Gb together no problem, considering the fact that the cards are of same generation and same vRAM size.
Click to expand...

This is true and you probably wouldn't even need to TRi fire. Unless your gaming on all four. Hell, you don't even need to use a 4870 1gb, just get like a cheapo 3870 or something.
 
dtess17 said:
can you mix and match like that?
I thought vista only would let you use one graphics driver
Click to expand...

That's called tri-fire, the vista only having one driver thing is referring to only having ati or nv drivers, ie you can't use a NV and ATI card together, thing will improve in W7. You are still down to two display when you want to game with all three GPU working on two screens IIRC. I have never seen in person what would happen to the screens on the 2nd card but I assume they would just shut off. The only thing I know for a fact is that CF can speed up dual screen 3D as I play supreme commander in dual map mode on my 4870X2 just fine.
 
I'm running 3 and sometimes 4 on a 4850+2600..it works just fine.

Personally, I would just get a nice card for the two larger monitors, and whatever is cheapest that works on the same drivers for the others unless you need the the extra graphics power on them for some reason.
 
I run a dual monitor setup with a 4870X2 right now, and when I game, unless the game I'm playing has support for multiple monitors, the second monitor will just continue displaying the desktop. You could probably just get another older ATI card capable of dual output to run the remaining monitors.
 
I think the next question is on the 4870x2. Has any of their different cooling systems shown itself to be better than the others? I've seen a few of them.
Any brands that much better than the others? I haven't had an ATI card since the old 9700 pro days. Although I do see XFX has started making them, I always liked them on the nvidia side.
 
The Asus ones supposedly work great but you'll need good case flow to get rid of the heat that gets dumped into the case.
 
soulesschild said:
The Asus ones supposedly work great but you'll need good case flow to get rid of the heat that gets dumped into the case.
Click to expand...

that shouldn't be a problem, I'm looking at cases like the coolermaster you have, or some of the nicer lian li that have 120mm fans right near the gpu's
 
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