I have a sickness.

The OP basically said himself that buying these cards was somewhat useless, so I told him to basically do something worthwhile. I used to the term 'life' because he does have work to get this money, I assume. Why work for money that is spent on relatively useless things? I didn't bag his hobby nor tell him not to spend money.
 
Not bagging his hobby, I've been into computers for now about 30 years, and there isn't much point in blowing $1000 on something that is next to useless.

While it may be true for you and others, there are many who will disagree with this.
 
Vegetables are not food. They are what food eats. :D Why knock yourself down a rung on the ladder that is the food chain?

In all seriousness though, it doesn't make you a better person and I fail to see how it would be "worth while." Some may cite health reasons but plenty of people who eat meat live long and healthy lives. People who don't eat meat often don't get the proteins they need either.

Thanks Dan that is going in my sig now... love that quote. :D
 
Although it's very important that I mention, if you are seriously considering TriFire with boxy-style cards, read up AnandTech's review of 6970 TriFire vs. 580 TriSLI. The 6900 series does not do well in TriFire, the cards but up so close that the middle one burns up. Make sure your MoBo is well-spaced for it.

Or just use a 6990+6970. Problem solved. Tri-Fire with only 2 cards. So not really a problem.

Faster then 580 SLI on 2 cards for the same price.

The Nvidia team often forget that you can do Tri-Fire with only 2 AMD cards, since you can't do that with Nvidia.
 
Originally Posted by Starcrossed
Not bagging his hobby, I've been into computers for now about 30 years, and there isn't much point in blowing $1000 on something that is next to useless.
While it may be true for you and others, there are many who will disagree with this.
You do realize he labeled the thread, "I have a sickness."
 
Not bagging his hobby, I've been into computers for now about 30 years, and there isn't much point in blowing $1000 on something that is next to useless.
While it may be true for you and others, there are many who will disagree with this.
You do realize he labeled the thread, "I have a sickness."
Yup, do realize the name of the thread. Just saying that some people find it worthwhile to spend all this money and get their worth out of it, that's all. :)

Get worth out of things that serve almost no purpose?
 
Get worth out of things that serve almost no purpose?

Serves no purpose to you. But I could say the same thing about your STI. There are dozens of examples of Hobbies that people have that they have hit a level of diminishing returns. But then again being [H]ard means that more then adequate isn't good enough.
 
Serves no purpose to you. But I could say the same thing about your STI. There are dozens of examples of Hobbies that people have that they have hit a level of diminishing returns. But then again being [H]ard means that more then adequate isn't good enough.

Yup, especially for people who have 3 monitor setups on this board. Multiple high end cards are a must in that case. What's that phrase - one man's trash is another man's treasure? I think that applies here.
 
OP posted this, in addition to saying he has a sickness:

Honestly it's not an upgrade I *need*. I do have a 5760x1200 Eyefinity setup but I don't play enough of my games in Eyefinity for me to warrant it. I prefer to have a proper HUD and readable text and in a lot of the games I play that doesn't work out well :(
 
I have a sickness too. I want to watercool my setup! I have 6850s and an i5 750, and my temps are totally acceptable, so I don't NEED it, but I WANT it. Its one of those things- I'd get my moneys worth just putting it together regardless of how it performs. I think the point is many of us here love the tinkering with the hardware almost as much as using the hardware later. In this case, if watercooling doesn't lower my temps by all that much, would it be a waste of a couple hundred bucks? No, because I enjoyed it. I think this is the point- it may not be necessary, but its what we enjoy, so why not? (assuming you're not going into debt for it- then its a dumb idea:)
 
Listen, I've been upgrading and tinkering with computers since forever. I'm not against the guy enjoying himself, I am simply advocating a way for the OP to better enjoy himself.
 
Listen, I've been upgrading and tinkering with computers since forever. I'm not against the guy enjoying himself, I am simply advocating a way for the OP to better enjoy himself.

I saw nothing related to "joysticks" in your post, so how could it be related to enjoying himself moar? :D
 
Listen, I've been upgrading and tinkering with computers since forever. I'm not against the guy enjoying himself, I am simply advocating a way for the OP to better enjoy himself.

I'm 21 years old and have already spent $10,000 on various computer builds, that's not even including accessories. I hate keeping track of my spending but I can't help it. I love building and I am addicted to it. I build computers for everyone just for the joy of it. I build gaming computers just to sit in my room for friends who visit.
 
A wise man listens to himself, and the OP was clearly feeling conflicted about spending money on something superfluous.
 
Listen, I've been upgrading and tinkering with computers since forever. I'm not against the guy enjoying himself, I am simply advocating a way for the OP to better enjoy himself.

This man is right. There is much to be said for moderation and introspection. That includes everything in life; computers are not somehow exempt.

See the sig in my rig? I put that together during some of the 3 months of my unemployment to stave off depression. Some of it, in retrospect, is silly and unnecessary - for one thing, I'm trying to sell off the Eyefinity monitors because, like the OP, I can see that it really doesn't work all that well for basically anything other than sims and a couple FPS. The 30" is much better overall.

Also you don't need Tri-anything for 2500x1600. If you're rolling in dough, then OK, (assuming you're not obsessed and doing it to the exclusion of everything else). But why the hell would you run three video cards to max out 2-3 games that no one actually plays after the first run-through (Crysis/Metro)?
 
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This man is right. There is much to be said for moderation and introspection. That includes everything in life; computers are not somehow exempt.

See the sig in my rig? I put that together during some of the 3 months of my unemployment to stave off depression. Some of it, in retrospect, is silly and unnecessary - for one thing, I'm trying to sell off the Eyefinity monitors because, like the OP, I can see that it really doesn't work all that well for basically anything other than sims and a couple FPS. The 30" is much better overall.

Also you don't need Tri-anything for 2500x1600. If you're rolling in dough, then OK, (assuming you're not obsessed and doing it to the exclusion of everything else). But why the hell would you run three video cards to max out 2-3 games that no one actually plays after the first run-through (Crysis/Metro)?

How did the 24/27/24 eyefinity work anyway? wouldn't that just be weird? But yes- honestly, moderation is a very good thing, its just hard for any of us to suggest it :-D
 
Eyefinity and water cooling have destroyed me lol.

If I was still running a single 24" monitor my xfire 4890s could still max every game I play.

Nope had to spend $1000 on monitors. Then had to buy a $700 5970 because it was the only eyefinity card that would be an upgrade from my 4890s. Then i decided to WC my rig and had to buy a whole loop. just yesterday I ordered a 5870 for trifire because 2 just doesn't cut it.

It's a dark spiral that I sort of wish I never went down. New i7s OC just as well on air and most games don't support eyefinity worth a damn. On top of that I'm lucky if i get to play games 5 hours a week.

But that said I regret nothing!!!! lol Any time a guest comes to my house i get to see their jaws hit the floor at least
 
How did the 24/27/24 eyefinity work anyway? wouldn't that just be weird? But yes- honestly, moderation is a very good thing, its just hard for any of us to suggest it :-D

It works really well, to be honest, within the limits of Eyefinity anyway. I'd tried 3x25.5" before, and it didn't make any sense to me that I'm supposed to "focus" on the center monitor, and yet it's the same size (smaller, actually, given the angling) as the side monitors. With the bigger center monitor, you can actually focus on it. As long as the size difference is at least 3.5", I don't notice that the content on the three monitors aren't lined up - because again, I'm focusing on the center. The only situation where it's not good is where you have a cockpit that's always onscreen and stretches across all three monitors.

Anyway...I just really don't need it.
 
It works really well, to be honest, within the limits of Eyefinity anyway. I'd tried 3x25.5" before, and it didn't make any sense to me that I'm supposed to "focus" on the center monitor, and yet it's the same size (smaller, actually, given the angling) as the side monitors. With the bigger center monitor, you can actually focus on it. As long as the size difference is at least 3.5", I don't notice that the content on the three monitors aren't lined up - because again, I'm focusing on the center. The only situation where it's not good is where you have a cockpit that's always onscreen and stretches across all three monitors.

Anyway...I just really don't need it.

Ahh Interesting... maybe I should start looking at 22" 1080p panels instead of 23". might save me some cash too :)
 
I know the feeling. :)

We should start a new Club, like the Upgradatis Anonymous. The UA. I have a sicknes also.

I just bought 3 mechanical keyboards with Cherry MX Blues, Browns and Blacks: typing with Blues, playing some games with Browns and others with Blacks. Sigh.

And my kids are playing on computers with AMD Tri-Fire set-up in them...

It's a non-ending spiral... And I'm not talking about high-end video and audio in my HT. This is alot worst for me. :( Changing projectors, speakers, pre-amp, etc like crazy. I'm in the process of buying a 4K projector. Sigh. :(
 
ROFLMAO you guys talk about it like it's heroin. "I did it once, and that was the end... now, I haven't chased women or had sex in three months, cause I've been chasing the dragon..."

If you don't want to spend the money on it, then don't. I don't see what's so hard about it. Actually, I do know what's [H]ard, this community, but just draw the line somewhere and don't cross it. I'm seriously considering getting three 1280 x 1024 panels and doing portrait three-way for word processing and desktop tasks. I hope I don't become an addict like the rest of you folk :p.
 
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Honestly it's not an upgrade I *need*. I do have a 5760x1200 Eyefinity setup but I don't play enough of my games in Eyefinity for me to warrant it. I prefer to have a proper HUD and readable text and in a lot of the games I play that doesn't work out well :(

Then what you really need is a 30" monitor. It'll give you more width than a regular monitor without going into Surround mode. Now some games execute Surround beautifully, and others not so much.
 
If you don't want to spend the money on it, then don't. I don't see what's so hard about it. Actually, I do know what's [H]ard, this community, but just draw the line somewhere and don't cross it. I'm seriously considering getting three 1280 x 1024 panels and doing portrait three-way for word processing and desktop tasks. I hope I don't become an addict like the rest of you folk :p.

I usually try to limit myself to only buying items on good sales, but that doesn't always work. If I really needed/wanted something I should be able to wait long enough for a sale. Still computer upgrading is a vicious cycle. A often leads to B which leads to C etc. For instance I bought two monitors for a bit under 50% off and suddenly I actually needed that graphics card I'd been thinking about getting to play eyefinity. Which was more money than all the money I saved off the list price of those monitors.

I really do like eyefinity portrait (1080x1920x3) for desktop workspace, I usually have a decent amount of extra vertical space so it might work at your resolution. Although if there is no gaming involved you might be better off with just two larger monitors. I find myself just using two for 85% of my work. You've got your word doc and your reference material, the third monitor just becomes secondary reference material that doesn't get used much or even worse a distraction! Comparing my setup to a 30'' monitor though the biggest difference is price. I could of gotten this for ~$500, but it ended up being about ~$580 since I bought one of the monitors over 6 months before the others. Regular prices would range from $720-$900 which compared to $1000+ for a 30'' and price/more pixels makes it a better setup imo.
 
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I just copped a Dell U2311H on sale, and thenanother Dell 2005FPW on the Ebay. Why? I don't know. I sure as hell don't even have room for three monitors. I had an old 2005FPW laying around and I thought "This... This would be fantastic to have 3 IPS monitors in eyefinity." So now, if I actually want to do that, I have to get a new AMD GPU, like a 6970.

I am mentally defective.

I
 
I just copped a Dell U2311H on sale, and thenanother Dell 2005FPW on the Ebay. Why? I don't know. I sure as hell don't even have room for three monitors. I had an old 2005FPW laying around and I thought "This... This would be fantastic to have 3 IPS monitors in eyefinity." So now, if I actually want to do that, I have to get a new AMD GPU, like a 6970.

I am mentally defective.

I

Bro I have 6 monitors and a desk that accomodates 4 of them only because I bought a 42" pole for a triple monitor mount.

To quote my wife when I told her, "Ah, yes, every good design decision begins with the phrase 'I bought a 42" pole'" :p
 
write a country song telling how upgrading ruined your life. u might make lots of money that upgrading wont be soo bad with all the money you can make. just like some country singers write about how their dog died and other sad songs.

Kind of funny, but you probably don't know this...

90% of crappy country singers don't write their own songs. They just perform them.
 
Bro I have 6 monitors and a desk that accomodates 4 of them only because I bought a 42" pole for a triple monitor mount.

To quote my wife when I told her, "Ah, yes, every good design decision begins with the phrase 'I bought a 42" pole'" :p


Well, your wife seems like she has her priorities in order, which is more than I can say for myself. I live in a tiny urban apartment, and I don't even have the room to store them, much less place them on my tiny desk. But like a fat woman at a Victoria's Secret clearance sale, I think I can squeeze them in there.
 
I was very close to selling one of my 6950's and buying a 6990 to run trifire, but I realized the smart thing to do is wait for the 7000 series. 28nm is going to be very sweet, and It wont require me to upgrade my PSU as well.
 
I was very close to selling one of my 6950's and buying a 6990 to run trifire, but I realized the smart thing to do is wait for the 7000 series. 28nm is going to be very sweet, and It wont require me to upgrade my PSU as well.

For real? I didn't know you could run a 6990 + a 6950. With my ignorance established, wouldn't you be better off with just getting another 6950 (I'm assuming you unlocked them). As long as you had adequate space on the mobo.
 
6990 isn't even a good solution for Tri-Fire. You can get two 6950s for about $550 whereas one 6990 is about $700. It only makes sense if you're not water cooling and you're using reference design 6950s that have the boxy design that makes them shitty for placing next to one another (which you would have to do running 3 of them on almost any board).
 
My 3x6950s are unlocked and sandwiched with paper spacers between them on my UD7 board and the temps on all three have been reasonable so far. Not to mention, all three cost just a few bucks more than one 6990.
 
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