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Whats Old Is New Again with Eyefinity
- Thread starter HardOCP News
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krameriffic
2[H]4U
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I was gonna say, dusting off old stuff like from last October?
What problems are you talking about?
I have Crossfire, and have since the 5870 came out.
I don't have a single issue.
There also wasn't an article about Nvidia's drivers frying cards, or the widespread failures of 7900GT cards. [H] typically only covers problems they actually experience during their evals.
Any perceived skepticism at this point is simply your inner fanboy talking. Wasn't that long ago that [H] was being called a bunch of nvidia fanboys and people claiming that [H] was being paid by nvidia and blah blah blah. Now people are claiming [H] are ATI fanboys and [H] is just advertising for ATI and blah blah blah.
Mad_CatMk2
Gawd
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FajTrYx_oO4 Halo PC in Eyefinity. I worked with Dopefish on making this one happen. The HUD still hasn't been fixed. He said that the ppl that made the game made it real hard but hes still working on it. Its still fun to play it though on a Eyefinity setup.
It doesn't work with 2 monitors.. of course the bezels bother you in that situation. With 3 monitors the bezels are practically in your blind spot.. you don't notice them because you aren't looking at them and your brain writes them off..
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Seriously. I can't find it, but it wasn't that long ago that Kyle put up an article telling AMD/ATI to go fuck themselves, and stop thinking of HardOCP as their "PR Bitch". Kyle's objectivity has been proven time and time again, but it doesn't stop bozos from coming on here saying "OMG, you guys are just XXXX fanboys!!!".
I've decided there's really not much you can do about it.
[H] seems to be pretty upfront on basing their reviews on actual performance rather than personal preference. That's why I respect them. When ATI leaped to the top with their 5xxx series, [H] gave em props. When Nvidia came out with a loud, hot, power hungry pig, [H] properly criticized them. But still gave em props for the 480 SLI performance.
Lorien
Supreme [H]ardness
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If you're referring to the Half-life 2 screenshot showing Dr. Breen, you should know that Robert Culp (the voice actor who played him) recently died. :/
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I would never accuse [H] of being anyone's fanboy/PR rep or of not being objective. However, if they are not paying enough attention to the CF + EF problem because it hasn't happened to them in their own testing then I would hope that they would do some additional testing to focus specifically on finding it. If they prove it to be an unfounded concern then so be it. But if they do find it to be a valid issue (as so many end-users seem to be finding) then it would be very valuable to their user-base to bring more visibility to this issue. If they believe that eyefinity is such an important new feature for gaming (and indeed they should), then they should be very interested in any issues which might be affecting said feature.
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HardOCP News
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What specific issues are you having? Have you brought them to our attention?
What hardware are you running, OS, drivers, etc. etc. etc.
What is the proper amount of "attention" you feel is required?
Exactly. Some of you guys are clownishly assuming that my concern is about overall ATI bias, as if I am a "fanboy." In reality, my concern is about not paying enough attention to an important issue, period.
Interesting to see, though, that when I bring up CF+EF problems, some people reflexively reach for the "fanboy" strawman and fail to address the actual problem being noted - CF+EF is simply not functional for a lot of people.
My "fanboyism" in this, as with anything else, is just about making sure reviewers pressure whatever company to fix their shit.
I know you read your own forums, where there is already an eight-page thread about the issue:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1506951
An amount bigger than zero would be nice.
My roommate and I are both running eyefinity on different setups, he has Dell's, Im on gateways. We both have zero issues running eyefnity with BC2 as well as many other games.
He's referring to the problems with crossfire scaling when using eyefinity, not eyefinity with one gpu. There have been many problems with the drivers for eyefinity, with most people ending up simply disabling one gpu for most games. Last time I checked a month or so ago, only like 4 games were working correctly with crossfire in eyefinity.
I built an i7 920 specifically with the 5870 xfire eyefinity in mind, but I waited due to the problems mentioned in these posts and because I knew Nvidia was doing eyefinity too. I went with the 480's because while ATI drivers have caught and/or surpassed Nvidia in single monitor gaming, 7 months without full crossfire support gives me a firm idea how highly they rate their need to make drivers for the small percentage of us that are using 3 monitors and dual gpu's. Let's face it, at 5760x1200 you really need two current gpu's running full out to get high frames and good graphics.. Since Nvidia requires SLI to run, I can guarantee they will have it working, and will eventually be pushing higher frames at 3 monitor resolutions due to their greater concentration on drivers.
If I were single monitor gaming, I would buy a 5870 hands down, with 2 maybe even 3 in Crossfire eventually. But in a setup where drivers are important and immature, I'm going with Nvidia for this round.
HardOCP News
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I don't know how anyone can help you if you do not answer the basic questions. You are complaining about an issue, you want results, you feel we should provide them but you won't answer:
What specific issues are you having? Have you brought them to our attention?
What hardware are you running, OS, drivers, etc. etc. etc.
I don't know what you expect me to do - I linked you to an eight-page thread with numerous users experiencing a problem in the same exact way regardless of their configuration.To summarize, the problem is apparently akin to microstutter; the framerate is higher, but the gameplay experience is worse, with notable stuttering and lagging. The problem occurs irrespective of whether they are using P45, X58, or P55 chipsets.
I don't even have Eyefinity, myself; I am a prospective buyer who is holding off because of those numerous cases where it is apparently not working properly when combined with Crossfire.
At this rate, I might as well wait for Nvidia's solution, which by definition is going to have to work with SLI since it will *only* work with SLI.
Here is a typical case from that thread I've been linking:
A lot of the users in that thread cite BC2 specifically, but that doesn't mean it's a BC2-only issue. Rather, the issue is that (much like microstutter) they notice the wonky performance only with games that won't run at a high FPS to begin with, and that category only includes a few games, including BC2.
Further, your own Brent Justice either experienced this issue and didn't notice it as much for whatever reason, or simply experienced a moderate form of it. In a recent article on EF, he mentioned it in passing:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/04/12/ati_radeon_hd_5870_eyefinity_6_performance_review/4):
A lot of the users in that thread cite BC2 specifically, but that doesn't mean it's a BC2-only issue. Rather, the issue is that (much like microstutter) they notice the wonky performance only with games that won't run at a high FPS to begin with, and that category only includes a few games, including BC2.
Further, your own Brent Justice either experienced this issue and didn't notice it as much for whatever reason, or simply experienced a moderate form of it. In a recent article on EF, he mentioned it in passing:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/04/12/ati_radeon_hd_5870_eyefinity_6_performance_review/4):
HardOCP News
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The way you talked about "inviting skepticism" and kept bringing up that "8 page thread" over and over, I thought you had actually experienced the problem. I apologize, I didn’t know you didn’t even own an Eyefinity set up. There you have it.
Spare-Flair
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Matrices - you don't even have Eyefinity yourself and have never tried it, yet you are bringing up all these issues.
It's like you don't drive a Toyota but you keep complaining to people about brakes not working.
I agree there are a lot of threads with issues with Eyefinity but I wouldn't sweat over it unless it didn't work for myself. I would probably just borrow two monitors from friends and plug them into my card and see if it worked first. Also, all the issues you are posting are referring to Crossfire scaling and Crossfire microstuttering or subjective FPS slowdown that a small minority have reported. What do they have to do with Eyefinity? You should be posting in another thread because it's really nothing to do with this topic.
It's like you don't drive a Toyota but you keep complaining to people about brakes not working.
I agree there are a lot of threads with issues with Eyefinity but I wouldn't sweat over it unless it didn't work for myself. I would probably just borrow two monitors from friends and plug them into my card and see if it worked first. Also, all the issues you are posting are referring to Crossfire scaling and Crossfire microstuttering or subjective FPS slowdown that a small minority have reported. What do they have to do with Eyefinity? You should be posting in another thread because it's really nothing to do with this topic.
King Icewind
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What?! How are ATI's drivers immature, they have been out for 6 months.
Nvidia's haven't even come out yet for Multi-Monitor support (Surround), and your calling ATI's immature.
At least Nvidia won't require Display Ports. Worst part of Eyefinity.
Also it can be used with 200 gen cards, which is nice.
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At least Nvidia won't require Display Ports. Worst part of Eyefinity.
Right, it just requires an entire second graphics card...I'll stick with the display port adapter thanks.
Don't get me wrong, I hope NVidia's surround kicks butt. If it worked better than AMD's version, I would be very happy because I LOVE the technology, and don't particularly care who makes it.
The more proper analogy would be that I don't drive a Toyota, am looking to buy a Toyota, but am wary because of brakes not working...
At any rate, I think the linked thread is very relevant, because if you read any of it, or even the quote I excerpted here, you'll see that the problem is NOT Crossfire microstuttering per se - it's SPECIFIC to Crossfire COMBINED with Eyefinity.
Now I don't know how prevalent that problem is - it's damned hard to say, because 0.1% of gamers are running both CF and EF in the first place. But given that the total cost of that sort of setup is in excess of $1,000, I'm not investing in it given eight pages of complaints.
To reiterate, I am not talking about random, scattered problems with Eyefinity. Every tech has its issues or people who have issues for whatever reason. I am talking about the SPECIFIC combo of Eyefinity PLUS Crossfire as a potentially prevalent problem.
There you have it.
Erm, there I have what, exactly? Because I don't own the tech, I can't point to a bunch of other people on this very forum who do, and are having problems? Are you going to try to confirm or replicate the problem?
King Icewind
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Right, it just requires an entire second graphics card...I'll stick with the display port adapter thanks.
Don't get me wrong, I hope NVidia's surround kicks butt. If it worked better than AMD's version, I would be very happy because I LOVE the technology, and don't particularly care who makes it.
Yea the adapter isn't too bad...Unless you plan on doing Crossfire...If only my monitors came with the cable though.
Had to order one off of Amazon with $12 shipping. I would like it by the weekend, but I highly doubt it.See system in sig. Very few issues. I am in the minority. But basically, stutter is only a problem for me in games that really bog down below 40FPS when using crossfire. And in those situations, I will get 25-30fps on a single card. But, both cases are unplayable at any rate. Crossfire/Eyefinity works in situations where you can keep your FPS above 60fps and where you don't have other bottlnecks in your system. I have carried suspicion that my lack of issues is attributed to 1) An overclocked QPI for increased QPI bandwidth which 2) references Intels reported/rumored admission disabling Hyperthreading alleviates QPI bandwidth demands and 3) I'm not using an 8x slot.
So, i'm saying, don't knock it until you've tried it. We all know the issue exists. But it doesn't mean there aren't ways around it. If you just want to keep things simple, buy a single card now and run games at lower settings. When ATI comes out with the 6xxx series, then upgrade for more power to feed eyefinity. I don't think it has to be the big deal you're making of it.
Intel_Hydralisk
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I don't see how it could since it literally just stretches for anything that's not 4:3. It technically doesn't "work" right with widescreen monitors period.
As for all the eyefinity xfire discussion... of course the people having issues are going to be the most vocal, but I'm going to admit that due to these complaints I've laid off buying a second 5870. A single 5870 suits my needs at the moment for eyefinity. Note that these non-smoothness / stuttering issues don't happen to everyone... people just haven't really figured out why it affects some and not others (or maybe it's just a completely subjective thing to begin with).
Yeah I heard about Robert Culp. I seem to remember him best as the crotchety Federal agent sidekick in the Greatest American Hero TV show way back in the 80's among other shows.
I just keep seeing 60'ish bearded men showing up in games and game artwork and lots of them look like Sean Connery (James Bond in the 60's, The Rock, etc.)
I've also noticed that I'm seeing more game artwork with knights who like Michael Dorn (Worf from Next Gen)
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Yea the adapter isn't too bad...Unless you plan on doing Crossfire...If only my monitors came with the cable though.
Dude, next time go to monoprice. You could have had the cable shipped for like $8.
Unknown-One
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Decided to take advantage of the Steam sale and grab Deus Ex. I didn't expect it to work with Eyefinity, but to my surprise...
Click for full size:
All I had to do was install an updated renderer and it worked perfectly
Click for full size:
All I had to do was install an updated renderer and it worked perfectly
HardOCP News
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Decided to take advantage of the Steam sale and grab Deus Ex. I didn't expect it to work with Eyefinity, but to my surprise...
Sweet, back on topic AND a great screenshot too!
Yeah I heard about Robert Culp. I seem to remember him best as the crotchety Federal agent sidekick in the Greatest American Hero TV show way back in the 80's among other shows.
I just keep seeing 60'ish bearded men showing up in games and game artwork and lots of them look like Sean Connery (James Bond in the 60's, The Rock, etc.)
I've also noticed that I'm seeing more game artwork with knights who like Michael Dorn (Worf from Next Gen)
LOL!
Off-topic, I know, but come on...