Eyefinity

[gamerguy2]

Hello.

I have been window shopping videocards. I dont have enough money to buy both a videocard and screen. I was saving in a few months to upgrade.

I have a 24" MVA panel screen and wanted to buy a 24" TN screen then use them togethor with a 5850 or 5830 in Eyefinity mode instead of buying a single expensive screen as my budget will be around $500-600 dollars but closer to $500.

Will the videocard stutter or crash with a mix of screens or have other driver issues if I use a 5800 card with 2 screens both 24" but with different panel types?

 

[Yuriman]

I don't think there will be an issue. As far as I'm aware, Eyefinity's only limitation is that all screens must use the same refresh rate?

 

[ther00kie16]

Same resolution, not refresh rate. So either get a 1920x1200 panel or you'd have to run 1080p on both. My suggestion is get a 2nd P-MVA Soyo or Westinghouse (model L2410NM). They aren't so common nowadays on ebay but they usually go for <$200, which is around what you'd expect to pay for a TN panel anyway.

 

[NoQuarter]

I've used various mixed combinations with the biggest stretches being 1280x1024 TN, 1920x1200 IPS, 1920x1080 TN, and also 1280x1024, 1680x1050, 1920x1080 together in Eyefinity with no problems, it just sets the larger screens to the lowest resolution, response time/refresh rate isn't an issue.

I will say, I didn't care for 2 screen Eyefinity much, but if you have 2 very similar screens it probably wouldn't be bad. It is hard to balance the colors between a TN and IPS panel which can be slightly distracting on only 2 screens.

On 3 screens it didn't matter to me mixing any size screens (ie 24", 23", 19" 16:10 screens) or color balance or anything, once they are peripheral monitors the differences weren't distracting to me and the experience was still great.

So I think 2 more 24" TN panel would work very well for you, but only 1 more 24" TN panel might be distracting until you can afford a 2nd 24" TN.

 

[RaiderJ]

Any preference for running Eyefinity with the monitors in portrait versus landscape? If the bezels aren't distracting, I'd think portrait mode would be nicer, give a squarer field of vision.

 

[ther00kie16]

You are not using Eyefinity if you are running different resolutions. The point of Eyefinity is running games and other apps across all monitors, which requires grouping multiple monitors in 1 group in settings, which requires matching resolutions.

 

[RaiderJ]

You are not using Eyefinity if you are running different resolutions. The point of Eyefinity is running games and other apps across all monitors, which requires grouping multiple monitors in 1 group in settings, which requires matching resolutions.

You didn't read the posts.... Eyefinity will force all monitors to use the smallest resolution of the monitor group, regardless of the screen's native resolution.

 

[ther00kie16]

You didn't read the posts.... Eyefinity will force all monitors to use the smallest resolution of the monitor group, regardless of the screen's native resolution.

True, I missed the part where you mentioned that's what you did. My point is that you want the similar sized monitors with reasonably close pixel pitch. Otherwise, you'll have one screen displaying images much larger than another in games using Eyefinity, which doesn't look so good.
If you don't need it for gaming, then any video card will do. There are also some software solutions I thought (no it's not ultramon and don't have it bookmarked anymore since I fried my boot hd).

 

[PCTC2]

I think it would be better off waiting until you can afford a third monitor because main games will have the crosshairs or similar control split across the bezel.

 

[NoQuarter]

True, I missed the part where you mentioned that's what you did. My point is that you want the similar sized monitors with reasonably close pixel pitch. Otherwise, you'll have one screen displaying images much larger than another in games using Eyefinity, which doesn't look so good.
If you don't need it for gaming, then any video card will do. There are also some software solutions I thought (no it's not ultramon and don't have it bookmarked anymore since I fried my boot hd).

That's what I'm saying.. In landscape mode with 3 monitors, different size monitors isn't a deal breaker if that's all you have available at the moment - it still works great since your main focus is on the center screen and the left and right act as peripheral screens.. It would not work at ALL in portrait mode of course.

When I had 2 16:9 screens with a 5:4 screen I just set the widescreen monitors to pillarbox mode and slid them partly behind the 5:4 center screen, it looked fine even though there was still a height mismatch. Course it looks better with matching size screens.. but I still preferred playing 3 mismatched screens than 1 single screen.

Also the software solution is called SoftTH but it kills performance.

 

[RaiderJ]

True, I missed the part where you mentioned that's what you did. My point is that you want the similar sized monitors with reasonably close pixel pitch. Otherwise, you'll have one screen displaying images much larger than another in games using Eyefinity, which doesn't look so good.
If you don't need it for gaming, then any video card will do. There are also some software solutions I thought (no it's not ultramon and don't have it bookmarked anymore since I fried my boot hd).

lol, you STILL didn't read the posts... I haven't done anything! I'm not the one with Eyefinity! Still rockin' a 7900GT, definitely due for an upgrade!

 

[ther00kie16]

lol, you STILL didn't read the posts... I haven't done anything! I'm not the one with Eyefinity! Still rockin' a 7900GT, definitely due for an upgrade!

Yea... sorry but I didn't pay close attention to who was posting what. The new forum visual layout doesn't agree with me.

 

[gamerguy2]

Thanks for the help.

I will look for the Westinghouse or the Soyo MVA panel. I have looked for the Westinghouse before, they both will be hard to find. Also, most 24" panels are being designed for 1920x1080. My Soyo is 1920x1200. But its good to know that if I upgrade, that I should find something close to what I have.