Eyefinity and screen tearing

[houe]

Well I recently picked up a Sapphire 6950 2GB and set up a 3 display eyefinity using 1 display port to DVI converter, 1 hdmi to DVI cable, and one straight DVI connection. However, the screen on the display port exhibits terrible tearing both in windows (when dragging windows around) and in games. I have found a few forums that discuss this issue and it appears to be a hardware limitation. Only cards with 3 identical connection don't have this problem (i.e. 3DP on the 6990). Just wondering if anyone has anything to say about this. This is a serious problem to me and I am really considering dumping this card because of it. This is the first time getting an AMD card instead of NVIDIA and am starting to think it was a mistake. On the down side to run 3 monitors with NVidia you need SLI. Advice?

 

[SpicyTime]

I think I'm getting a similar issue. I have an XFX 5750 1GB on three monitors. Two of my monitors are connected via DVI, and the third on DP. My screen flickers when I move windows around or browse. My thought was that it was more of a 2D idle clock issue, where the idle clock is not high enough to support the 3 displays. I'm not sure if it's this, or the two DVI one DP connection you're mentioning.

It definitely gets on my nerves. I originally bought the 5750 as a temporary 3-monitor solution until 28nm comes out. Hopefully, I can deal with this until the next gen.

 

[Via]

I haven't had that issue with a 5970.

Sometimes when an internet video starts to play I'll get a brief flicker of black bars near the bottom of the display port monitor, but nothing else. That only happens when I'm surfing the net; when I play games everything is great.

I hope you can sort it out.

 

[houe]

This is the problem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saG2mr6qM_8

Depending on how i group the eyefinity monitors the problem can be on the lone DP monitor or the two DVI (hdmi is the same) monitors. Its livable in windows if i keep video playing off that monitor but in gaming it is a bit annoying.

 

[Via]

I checked, to make sure I'm not crazy.

I made some videos, I don't think my GPU has that issue (apologies for poor quality).

http://s1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/BGehrich1/?action=view&current=005.mp4

http://s1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/BGehrich1/?action=view&current=008.mp4

 

[houe]

I checked, to make sure I'm not crazy.

I made some videos, I don't think my GPU has that issue (apologies for poor quality).

http://s1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/BGehrich1/?action=view&current=005.mp4

http://s1176.photobucket.com/albums/x322/BGehrich1/?action=view&current=008.mp4

What is your connection configuration and card? I noticed you didn't move the window around the whole screen. The tearing could be at any vertical position and on my monitor it actually moves slowly.

 

[Via]

The right monitor is the DP monitor.

 

[houe]

Here is a forum thread that pretty much says it all: http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1576329

There are a lot of other threads on the net saying essentially the same thing too. No good solutions for a 9 month old problem. Seems like a pretty major flaw to me, but maybe its like micro stutter - some people it bothers and other it doesn't. Looks like I need to figure out if I can return this card or what. I already used the Deus Ex coupon code so I'm guessing newegg will have a restocking fee or something? I'll figure it out tomarrow...

 

[houe]

Hey Via i completely missed the card you have - my bad. I'm not sure this issue is present in 5xxx series cards. I think it might be mainly a 6xxx card problem.

 

[zebrax2]

Hey Via i completely missed the card you have - my bad. I'm not sure this issue is present in 5xxx series cards. I think it might be mainly a 6xxx card problem.

The video you posted is from a 5970 so its definitely present in the 5xxx series

 

[gorobei]

works fine on my 5870 eye6, no tearing here. cat 11.5

 

[houe]

The video you posted is from a 5970 so its definitely present in the 5xxx series

From reading several forum threads on the issue it looks like almost all 6xxx are affected and yes some people with 5xxx have complained about it too, but most 5xxx don't have the issue. If the card can drive 3 monitors from the same type of connectors the issue will not present itself. This leaves only the 6990 and a couple Asus cards (a 6950 and 6970) as an option. The Asus cards are out for me because they are 3 slot cards and would keep me from running crossfire in the future. Also having $100 of DP to DVI adapters is a bit costly. So unfortunately it looks like I need to either go 6990 or switch to the green team and SLI. Neither option is particularly appealing to me right now...

 

[houe]

Question - would this be possible? : Run the Asus 3 slot card (has 4 display ports) in my 2nd pcie slot and run all the displays off that with my current 6950 in the top pcie slot? Can the displays be run off the 2nd pcie slot when crossfire is enabled?