Eyefinity / Surround & different displays (same res/size)

[Impulse]

I'm trying to decide what cards/displays to buy for my 3-display setup and I've got a few questions. It'll be paired with a SB build I'm putting together, not the system in sig.

As I understand it Eyefinity will work with any 3 displays running the same resolution, but bezel management will be disabled unless the displays are identical or near identical... From what I've read you can kinda sorta get around this by messing with the EDID's but it seems pretty hit or miss. Now NV Surround will apparently work with any 3 displays and will even allow for bezel managment, provided they have the same res, refresh rate, and sync polarity... Therein lies the rub, that last fact doesn't seem to be very well advertised and it's near impossible to find that spec for a lot of displays.

So is all of this info correct or have I got something wrong? Anyone know the sync polarity of the HP ZR24W?

The reason I ask all this is that right now I've got a 24" Samsung 2443BWX that I thought I could pair with another two 24" displays. Now I realize that it being an older TN display it may not look the best as a side display but I thought it was a good way to cut costs for now, at 'least until I figure out whether I will really like Eyefinity.

I was debating adding two HP ZR24W or just getting three NEC EA231WMi, the cost would actually be about the same either way... I think the HP's a somewhat better display all around (better QC too), and it's 1920x1200 as opposed to 1920x1080 which I thought would be nicer if I decide to use them in Portrait mode (a big part of the reason why I want IPS displays anyway). The cards I choose would limit this decision to an extent, so I'm pretty torn about what to do...

 

[Impulse]

So after putting all that out there, any thoughts? Anyone using three 23" 1920x1080 displays in portrait? Anyone think 1920x1200 would look a lot better? The HP ZR24W is like 1.25" taller than the NECs (i.e. 1.25" wider in portrait)... Anyone using different displays w/Eyefinity? I guess if I opt for AMD cards it's kinda moot and I should opt for the NECs? Unless bezel management is not that big a deal... I suppose that's a personal choice.

Right now I'm leaning towards either 2x 6870's or 2x6950's, seems to be the best value... $400-ish vs $520-ish. I'm kinda scared of the 1GB RAM on the 6870's being a bit bottleneck but I don't mind sacrificing AA, just not anything else (as far as IQ). I just haven't been able to find very many 6870 CF+EF reviews...

I've been trying to extrapolate from [H]ard's old GTX 460 SLI/Surround articles and this (several games tested in EF w/CF 69xx & 68xx, but only shows avg fps), this (3 or 4 games tested in EF w/CF & SLI, min/avg/max fps), or this (single card 68xx CF/EF tests). If anyone's got a good review of the 6800 series in CF+EF please share...

 

[samuelmorris]

Yeah you don't want 1GB cards for 5760x1080 that's too little memory really, I'd strongly recommend two HD6950s.

 

[Intel_Hydralisk]

If anyone's got a good review of the 6800 series in CF+EF please share...

Even better... 6800 vs. 6900:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/AMD_Radeon_6970_6950_-_Featured_Review

I haven't found 1 GB of ram to be an issue except for over 4xAA.

As far as portrait vs. landscape, 1920x1200 vs. 1920x1080 and bezel management:

I personally don't care about bezel management in landscape. Bezel management is personal preference the way I see it (since I prefer not to have it on after all). It's a trade off between seeing everything that's being rendered or having stuff line up exactly. It might be a bigger deal in portrait since the bezels are more immediate. I don't use portrait at all, I never saw the point of doing that since the aspect is very similar to a normal 16:9 or 16:10 monitor so you aren't getting any increased FOV.

1920x1200 vs. 1920x1080. Keep in mind that 1200 is 11% more than 1080. Might not sound like much, but at such extreme resolutions it adds that much more horsepower requirement. Overall the difference isn't going to be that big in terms of aspect. If you're hell bent on portrait, I guess 3x10:16 is better than 3x9:16

 

[Impulse]

Thanks Hydra, I'd already seen that review (it's actually one of the reviews I linked in my 2nd post), but I appreciate the comments. The problem with that review at WSG is that they don't list minimum fps, so it's kinda hard to gauge how much stronger the 6950s are... Altho some games just seem to crush the 6870's (Stalker). I agree that bezel management is probably a bigger deal in portrait mode...

I mostly wanted to have the flexibility of using portrait mode for stuff like RPGs (UI elements all over three landscape screens = PITA), strategy games and whatnot (maybe Diablo 3??); then again I don't know if I'd want to use bezel management in those type of games as it'd hide important game elements I might want to click on behind the bezels (and I wouldn't really care if the image is broken up anyway, at 'least for games w/a top down POV).

I'll also be wall mounting these things since I found some relatively cheap ($19) mounts at Monoprice that seem ideal (all sorts of range of motion/adjustment), and it beats buying a new desk (concrete walls means I can mount 'em wherever too).

Good arguments here tho... This helped, I might end up going w/the ZR24W's regardless of the cards I pick. If lack of bezel management reeeally bugs me I guess I can always pick up a second refurb ZR24W down the line anyway! Investing another $340 later beats lamenting going 16:9 for several years.