Opinions on Eyefinity

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kompis

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Long time lurker, first time poster signing in!
So here's the deal, I'm putting together a new system in a month or so and I've been wanting to try Eyefinity for ages now. I think surround gaming would be awesome and 30 inchers are way too expensive for me but I'm a little wary of taking the plunge with Eyefinity for a few reasons.

I've looked at some reviews and in general it looks like driving 5760x1080 even with fairly top end cards is no small feat and this is making me nervous as I cant really afford to upgrade GPU's every 6-12 months but more like every 18-24 months. On the other hand though I've seen tons of positive feedback from users with seemingly not all that powerful GPU setups but I've also seen users complain about driver issues and games that don't play well with Eyefinity. I mostly play FPS,RPG's and some RTS games.

I feel it's important to note that I'm not overly sensitive to things like input lag or tearing and I have a fairly high tolerance for low fps (30-40 seems to do the trick for me). I also don't mind turning some settings down such as AA and HBAO and some I simply turn off by default because I can't stand them (any kind of motion blur and DoF). I plan on running something along the lines of 6950 CFX or an OC'd 7950 across 3 Dell U2312HM monitors.
I would really appreciate some first hand feedback from users running a similar setup GPU wise and their experiences with FPS and RPG games.
 
You sound like a good candidate for Eyefinity/Surround. What is your GPU budget? You'll need at the minimum one top end AMD card, or 2 mid/high Nvidia cards to make it enjoyable. Yes, I know its technically possible on a single low end card, but you won't like it.

I run 3x1080p with 2 GTX 570, and am really loving it now. A few things to keep in mind...

Not all games work well with 3 monitors, or at all.

This is going to be something totally new to you, very different than what you are accustomed to, so it will take some time to get adjusted. Took me about 3 days or so.

Be prepared to spend some time fiddling with drivers, ini tweaks, FOV fiddling, etc..

Now that I'm used to it, I would have a tough time going back to a single monitor....
 
My budget for the GPU's is about 650-700$ but I don't in the US so it's not all that relevant.
Currently my best options would be either 6950 2GB CFX or a single 7950 with a good OC like I stated in the OP. As for tweaking and fiddling I don't mind that too much i'm more concerned about framerates at 5760x1080, worst case I can always just play on a single monitor but that would feel like a waste.
 
it's better to run a single fast gpu in all situations. I would go for an OC'd 7950.
 
suiken_2mieu said:
it's better to run a single fast gpu in all situations. I would go for an OC'd 7950.
Click to expand...

This. Also, you might want to consider waiting for the 7990 to release in the next month or so, if you're set on Crossfire. Even if you don't decide to buy a 7990, at least the prices of everything else will drop slightly.
 
I'd be lying if I said that my initial experience with eyefinity was perfect. It was in fact, not much fun at all. One thing worth mentioning is that if you haven't bought the monitors yet, get them with displayport capabilities. I spent a lot of money to find out that the $30 "active" adapters wont work with my setup. I had to buy the ones that cost $110. But if you're patient, you can have a lot of fun with eyefinity. I know I am.

To be sure, I'm not condemning eyefinity. I'm just sharing my experiences with it.
 
Appreciate the replies! I don't think the 7990 will be in my price range since the price gouging here is pretty bad at times and in general I'm not a fan of dual GPU cards, would much rather go single card or a proper CFX setup. I wish I had the money for 7950 CFX but AMD really killed it with the pricing this gen and I just recently got out of the army and money is somewhat tight. Also can't wait too long as my current rig is nothing but a joke.
 
Haha, in that case I would say 7950 OC gives you the most bang for your buck if you can afford it.
 
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