Eyefinity Questions

[E_man]

Hey, saw this forum when I was looking for displays, lots of good info

But I still need some help. I have a 5770

First question is this. How does CF work in eyefinity? I know it didn't used to at all, but a few months ago, a few games started supporting it. This getting better? What about older games, does it still need to be white listed on a per game basis?

Second question. If I buy a 24" 1920*1200 and 2*1600*1200 20" and have the setup go 20-24-20, will eyefinity go to 5120*1200 (1600*2+1920) or will it squish the 24" and make 4800*1200 (1600*3)

Thanks for the help. This'll decide me between the above setup, and a 30" refurb.

Heck, while I'm here, what setup would you prefer, gaming aside? 20" would be HP LP2065's (can get for $112, if there is a better deal on an IPS 1600*1200, I'd take it), and 24" would be Dell u2410.

Alternative is Dell 3007 most likely (or something in that price range on the 'bay), and a 17" 5:4 as a second (pitiful) monitor, but one thats served me for 6 years and still chugging. I'd probably eventually get the 20" 4:3 monitors on this setup too, for portrait, but don't have the cash for that right now.

Thanks for the help!

 

[USMCGrunt]

1. I'll go ahead and throw my experiance in before all the haters come flying in...have 2 5870s running for about a month and ive had zero problems running a 3x1 setup (1920x1200 monitors) in the games ive been playing which are BFBC2, C&C4, Eve Online, DOWII. Tried running Fallout 3 and that has required a bit of tweaking which I havent completely gotten around yet but I also havent spent any amount of time trying.

2. Because your resolution differences are on the horizontal level, it will span across all 3 just fine. My current resolution with bezel management is 6012x1200 instead of 5760x1200 with 3 identical monitors. That tells me that the software is intelligent enough to manage different horizontal resolutions. If it were Vertical, say a 1920x1200 monitor and 2 1920x1080 monitors, it would letterbox your 1920x1200 monitor to make a seamless image.

3. Bigger really is better even with gaming aside. For instance, although it is still gaming, I am currently running two instances of Eve Online windowed at 1920x1200 one on each monitor and then have the 3rd monitor on the desktop running internet explorer and obviously anything I would want. Doing schoolwork, I can easily have word, excel, and internet explorer all open and have a dedicated monitor for each program. I had to use my g/f's computer the other day and with just 1 monitor, even at 22 inches I felt cramped like I had no space to work. Your able to be so much more productive with more monitors.

Also, if you go eyefinity and need a DP adapter, this is the one to get, its the one that is known to work without issues and I havent had a single issue with it the entire time, no flickering no random shutoffs nothing. Accell UltraAV B087B-002B about 100 bucks off Amazon.

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

@USMCGrunt:

1 - Good to hear that xfire works, but 4 games isn't very representative. Can you possibly try out more games since I want to know as well. I've personally tried around 40 games in eyefinity with my single 5870. Fallout 3 doesn't play nice in triple wide regardless of crossfire. There are however ini file settings you can tweak to get it to work properly. More info @ widescreengamingforums.

2 - That's not really true. Each monitor still needs the same resolution - in this case his 1920x1200 will likely be forced to 1600x1200.

 

[noquarter]

Second question. If I buy a 24" 1920*1200 and 2*1600*1200 20" and have the setup go 20-24-20, will eyefinity go to 5120*1200 (1600*2+1920) or will it squish the 24" and make 4800*1200 (1600*3)

Eyefinity always sets all 3 monitors to the same resolution. If you mix the monitors like that it will set the 1920x1200 monitor to 1600x1200. You could then use it as a side monitor and slide the pillarboxed portion behind your other monitor, or put it in the middle and slide the other 2 monitors in front of it over the pillarboxed portion. I played like this for a while and it felt fine, but if you are buying new monitors it'd be better to aim for 3 matching resolutions so you can set it up properly.

Heck, while I'm here, what setup would you prefer, gaming aside? 20" would be HP LP2065's (can get for $112, if there is a better deal on an IPS 1600*1200, I'd take it), and 24" would be Dell u2410.

Alternative is Dell 3007 most likely (or something in that price range on the 'bay), and a 17" 5:4 as a second (pitiful) monitor, but one thats served me for 6 years and still chugging. I'd probably eventually get the 20" 4:3 monitors on this setup too, for portrait, but don't have the cash for that right now.

Me, I'm all about the extra FoV with landscape Eyefinity, I love it. If you were doing portrait Eyefinity I'd probably just go 30" instead but there's a some arguments for portrait Eyefinity too.

 

[USMCGrunt]

@USMCGrunt:

1 - Good to hear that xfire works, but 4 games isn't very representative. Can you possibly try out more games since I want to know as well. I've personally tried around 40 games in eyefinity with my single 5870. Fallout 3 doesn't play nice in triple wide regardless of crossfire. There are however ini file settings you can tweak to get it to work properly. More info @ widescreengamingforums.

2 - That's not really true. Each monitor still needs the same resolution - in this case his 1920x1200 will likely be forced to 1600x1200.

1. I totally agree that 4 games is nowhere near comprehensive but it does touch some of the major games in the genres right now. I did try Crysis as well which worked perfectly, can run the game on medium settings in the mid-40s to 50s in the opening scenes. I know there are ini settings to tweak in Fallout 3 but like i said, havent taken the time to tweak them that much. Any specific games that you would like to see as I dont have a huge inventory of games but I do have a few more.

2. I stand corrected...booo on how it does that.

 

[E_man]

1. I'll go ahead and throw my experiance in before all the haters come flying in...have 2 5870s running for about a month and ive had zero problems running a 3x1 setup (1920x1200 monitors) in the games ive been playing which are BFBC2, C&C4, Eve Online, DOWII. Tried running Fallout 3 and that has required a bit of tweaking which I havent completely gotten around yet but I also havent spent any amount of time trying.

2. Because your resolution differences are on the horizontal level, it will span across all 3 just fine. My current resolution with bezel management is 6012x1200 instead of 5760x1200 with 3 identical monitors. That tells me that the software is intelligent enough to manage different horizontal resolutions. If it were Vertical, say a 1920x1200 monitor and 2 1920x1080 monitors, it would letterbox your 1920x1200 monitor to make a seamless image.

3. Bigger really is better even with gaming aside. For instance, although it is still gaming, I am currently running two instances of Eve Online windowed at 1920x1200 one on each monitor and then have the 3rd monitor on the desktop running internet explorer and obviously anything I would want. Doing schoolwork, I can easily have word, excel, and internet explorer all open and have a dedicated monitor for each program. I had to use my g/f's computer the other day and with just 1 monitor, even at 22 inches I felt cramped like I had no space to work. Your able to be so much more productive with more monitors.

Also, if you go eyefinity and need a DP adapter, this is the one to get, its the one that is known to work without issues and I havent had a single issue with it the entire time, no flickering no random shutoffs nothing. Accell UltraAV B087B-002B about 100 bucks off Amazon.

That's very good to hear, about CF. BC2 would be a big important one. The fact that it works is a major plus!

And I hear you about cramped on one monitor. Ever since I got a second I've been unable to go back to one. Never tried 3 though, would be interesting, if nothing else. But a huge res 30" would be new too :\. Decisions., decisions.

Eyefinity always sets all 3 monitors to the same resolution. If you mix the monitors like that it will set the 1920x1200 monitor to 1600x1200. You could then use it as a side monitor and slide the pillarboxed portion behind your other monitor, or put it in the middle and slide the other 2 monitors in front of it over the pillarboxed portion. I played like this for a while and it felt fine, but if you are buying new monitors it'd be better to aim for 3 matching resolutions so you can set it up properly.



Me, I'm all about the extra FoV with landscape Eyefinity, I love it. If you were doing portrait Eyefinity I'd probably just go 30" instead but there's a some arguments for portrait Eyefinity too.

That's too bad I hoped it would work. Oh well. And 3 monitors of matching resolution is either too much $$$, or the monitors have to lose enough features to be cheap enough, that desktop usage (higher priority) suffers. Sigh. And yep, landscape eyefinity is the goal. Leaning towards it, but idk, that 30" keeps calling my name...



Here's a thought, if anyones tried it/can try it. Would I be able to use bezel management to trick eyefinity into letting me set a separate res for my middle monitor? Say, make it so that it thinks that the extra 320 pixels are behind the bezel, but they are really on the screen? Not sure if it can be done, never seen how bezel management is implemented. If not, hopefully future eyefinity revisions will make it smart enough to only depend on vertical, not horizontal res. Would be nice.

 

[Ulysses 31]

Eyefinity + CrossFireX works if you don't use more than 2 GPUs.

There's still an issue with v-sync not working right in Eyefinity+CrossFireX. In my case v-sync caps fps to 120 while I use 60 Hrz monitors, this does create stutter and tearing because my monitors have to handle frames it isn't ready for yet. The only "fix" to getting v-sync working right so far is to disable Catalyst A.I. but that's practicly like turning off CrossFire.

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

1. I totally agree that 4 games is nowhere near comprehensive but it does touch some of the major games in the genres right now. I did try Crysis as well which worked perfectly, can run the game on medium settings in the mid-40s to 50s in the opening scenes. I know there are ini settings to tweak in Fallout 3 but like i said, havent taken the time to tweak them that much. Any specific games that you would like to see as I dont have a huge inventory of games but I do have a few more.

I'm actually curious about crysis. Can xfire 5870 run crysis at very high and warhead at enthusiast? Right now with a single 5870 I can only get playable frames at high and gamer respectively. This may be relevant to crysis 2 as well.

You may or may not have Just Cause 2 - but there's a free demo on steam. I'm curious about the performance / compatibility with eyefinity in this game. It's one of the more demanding games to come out recently on the highest settings.

Also, what settings are you using in BC2 right now? I'm able to play with everthing on high with HBAO and AA off on a single card at 5760x1080, but the frames dip a tad low - so I set everything to medium right now for MP. The IQ difference isn't very noticeable so I've settled with medium for now.

 

[digitalgunfire]

Also, what settings are you using in BC2 right now? I'm able to play with everthing on high with HBAO and AA off on a single card at 5760x1080, but the frames dip a tad low - so I set everything to medium right now for MP. The IQ difference isn't very noticeable so I've settled with medium for now.

What kind of framerate do you get with everything on medium? I'm contemplating a 5040x1050 setup with a single 5870 but I'm worried about framerate.

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

What kind of framerate do you get with everything on medium? I'm contemplating a 5040x1050 setup with a single 5870 but I'm worried about framerate.

On 32 player servers, the frames are usually between 45-70. However, it will dip into the 30's when a lot of explosions / smoke effects happen at once - but not for very long. In terms of gameplay experience, it's perfectly smooth except for those times when it dips into the 30's.

This is in Dx11 mode though. Dx9 will drastically increase frames. However, Dx9 has some texture flickering issues (not that bad) and I really really hate the poor quality shadows in Dx9. If you don't care about that, then 5760x1080 @ high Dx9 ran at 60+ fps for me.

Here's a thought, if anyones tried it/can try it. Would I be able to use bezel management to trick eyefinity into letting me set a separate res for my middle monitor? Say, make it so that it thinks that the extra 320 pixels are behind the bezel, but they are really on the screen? Not sure if it can be done, never seen how bezel management is implemented. If not, hopefully future eyefinity revisions will make it smart enough to only depend on vertical, not horizontal res. Would be nice.

I actually thought about that. But I think the thing about bezel management is that it does two things: A) hide pixels B) always maintain the same resolution on each monitor.

So no matter what resolution you force it to, each monitor will still display the same resolution as prior to bezel management. Therefore, the aspect ratio of the 1920x1200 monitor will always be forced to 4:3 to match 1600x1200 and the extra pixels are simply hidden.

 

[E_man]

Eyefinity + CrossFireX works if you don't use more than 2 GPUs.

There's still an issue with v-sync not working right in Eyefinity+CrossFireX. In my case v-sync caps fps to 120 while I use 60 Hrz monitors, this does create stutter and tearing because my monitors have to handle frames it isn't ready for yet. The only "fix" to getting v-sync working right so far is to disable Catalyst A.I. but that's practicly like turning off CrossFire.

Good to know, thanks

I have a feelingeven with xfire 5770's I won't be passing 60fps eyefinity too often

I actually thought about that. But I think the thing about bezel management is that it does two things: A) hide pixels B) always maintain the same resolution on each monitor.

So no matter what resolution you force it to, each monitor will still display the same resolution as prior to bezel management. Therefore, the aspect ratio of the 1920x1200 monitor will always be forced to 4:3 to match 1600x1200 and the extra pixels are simply hidden.

I see, too bad. Ah well, 1600*3 is still quite good. I'll just move the other monitors in front when I enable eyefinity.

Thanks for everyones help!

 

[USMCGrunt]

I'm actually curious about crysis. Can xfire 5870 run crysis at very high and warhead at enthusiast? Right now with a single 5870 I can only get playable frames at high and gamer respectively. This may be relevant to crysis 2 as well.

You may or may not have Just Cause 2 - but there's a free demo on steam. I'm curious about the performance / compatibility with eyefinity in this game. It's one of the more demanding games to come out recently on the highest settings.

Also, what settings are you using in BC2 right now? I'm able to play with everthing on high with HBAO and AA off on a single card at 5760x1080, but the frames dip a tad low - so I set everything to medium right now for MP. The IQ difference isn't very noticeable so I've settled with medium for now.

Just ran through Crysis/Crysis Warhead's first chapters and at 1920x1200 I was able to run the games at their highest settings (Very High/Enthusiast) with no AA and never drop below 30fps...lowest I hit was on the beach resort looking over the entire resort in Warhead I dipped to 35fps. At Eyefinity resolutions it has to be dropped down to medium/gamer settings to maintain the same fps

BFBC2 at 1920x1200 resolutions in DX11 mode I could turn everything on and x4 AA and keep the game at playable resolutions. Reason I say playable is when there wasnt much going on, it was cruisin along at 60-80fps but when there was a lot of smoke and debris from tanks and explosions and whatnot, it would drop to around high 30s to mid 40s. Without AA on, it never dropped into the 40s. Eyefinity resolutions will need you to drop the settings down to medium with HBAO off to maintain playable settings.

Downloading the Just Cause 2 demo right now to give it a spin and ill let you know what kind of numbers I can pull out of it at whatever settings I can get it to.

For me, AA doesnt make a huge difference...at least not in FPS games where your constantly on the move and the performance hit in any game isnt justifiable to have it turned on...again thats just me though.

 

[magoo]

Hello there:

I have Crossfired 5870 E6 models.
I use three 24" Dell monitors in EF.

Games I've played with no trouble, all at the highest settings and very playable:
FarCry2,any Source based game,any FEAR game, Battlefield: BadCompany2,Borderlands,any Stalker,AvP(the newest one).

I had to adjust the FOV in BC2 to 65.
I had to use a guys tweak program for Borderlands.
I can run Metro 2033 on DX10 at medium, anything more an the thing grinds to unplayable, I had to adjust the FOV to 65.

 

[USMCGrunt]

Tried the Just Cause 2 Demo....got it working twice...first time it BSODed on me and then the second time was stable...cant get it running anymore...just blanks the screens out and becomes unresponsive, have to shut the game down through taskman to get out of it. When it was running though, I was able to max everything out no AA at 6012x1200 (bezel managed 5760x1200 resolution) and the benchmark and the first 5 minutes or so of the game never dipped below 40 fps.

Also, forgot I had run HL2 a little bit ago in eyefinity resolutions and it ran silky smooth.