- Dec 3, 2009
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So I decided to give ATi a try. Nvidia is so late to the party, I sold both of my 285s and bought an Asus EAH5870.
Initial results seemed pretty good I was enjoying the card.
Then when I turn my computer on I find that every once in a while my second monitor does not show a picture, it is on, and has a signal but the picture itself is black. If I go into CCC and do anything to the monitor it shows up (generally I will choose flip and then press no to save changes and it returns to normal.) Heh kind of buggy I guess, I blame early drivers and move on.
I loaded up my Batman:AA save from my previous OS install and was pumped to finish the game. I go into the menu to crank settings and there is no in game AA setting for the card, so I have to use CCC to push it which means I am not really seeing a performance increase in that game. Okay, I already knew I was giving up Physx which I enjoyed in the game (see the scarecrow levels) but seriously no in game AA setting? A little research shows that Nvidia worked with the company to hack AA into the game and that there used to be a way to trick the game into thinking you have an Nv card and the AA working. A little pompus of Nv not to share it but I can understand their point if they worked on it personally. I guess you don't give stuff to your competitor if you can help it.
I later see there are a ton of games that if I want to use AA effectively I have to rename executables etc. Wow, I never had to worry with my 285s
Alright no biggie, I think to myself I got a card that comes with voltage settings and eyefinity. I currently have only 2 monitors but since BFBC2 supports eyefinity I am toying with the idea of a third. I go into CCC unlock overdrive and push the card 30mhz up. The screen starts flickering and shaking like crazy.
I notice that my idle clocks are dropping to 157/300 instead of 400/1200 that they are supposed to drop to. A search on the web for 5870 flickering dual monitors leads to MANY results. A lot of the results are laughable claiming, wait until 10.1 drivers I am sure theyll fix it. Well that certainly didn't happen - I have 10.1.
There are some solutions that involve flashing your BIOS and totally eliminating the power saving features of the card, another thing that is supposed to be awesome about the 5 series - 18w idle anyone? I didn't buy a space heater, I just want to unpack the card and have it work out of the box
So I have this card that is marketed for multiple monitors and being overclocker friendly, and it has a bug that won't allow both at the same time. Seriously?
Fermi, you'd better live up to the hype because I am jumping ship asap.
Initial results seemed pretty good I was enjoying the card.
Then when I turn my computer on I find that every once in a while my second monitor does not show a picture, it is on, and has a signal but the picture itself is black. If I go into CCC and do anything to the monitor it shows up (generally I will choose flip and then press no to save changes and it returns to normal.) Heh kind of buggy I guess, I blame early drivers and move on.
I loaded up my Batman:AA save from my previous OS install and was pumped to finish the game. I go into the menu to crank settings and there is no in game AA setting for the card, so I have to use CCC to push it which means I am not really seeing a performance increase in that game. Okay, I already knew I was giving up Physx which I enjoyed in the game (see the scarecrow levels) but seriously no in game AA setting? A little research shows that Nvidia worked with the company to hack AA into the game and that there used to be a way to trick the game into thinking you have an Nv card and the AA working. A little pompus of Nv not to share it but I can understand their point if they worked on it personally. I guess you don't give stuff to your competitor if you can help it.
I later see there are a ton of games that if I want to use AA effectively I have to rename executables etc. Wow, I never had to worry with my 285s
Alright no biggie, I think to myself I got a card that comes with voltage settings and eyefinity. I currently have only 2 monitors but since BFBC2 supports eyefinity I am toying with the idea of a third. I go into CCC unlock overdrive and push the card 30mhz up. The screen starts flickering and shaking like crazy.
I notice that my idle clocks are dropping to 157/300 instead of 400/1200 that they are supposed to drop to. A search on the web for 5870 flickering dual monitors leads to MANY results. A lot of the results are laughable claiming, wait until 10.1 drivers I am sure theyll fix it. Well that certainly didn't happen - I have 10.1.
There are some solutions that involve flashing your BIOS and totally eliminating the power saving features of the card, another thing that is supposed to be awesome about the 5 series - 18w idle anyone? I didn't buy a space heater, I just want to unpack the card and have it work out of the box
So I have this card that is marketed for multiple monitors and being overclocker friendly, and it has a bug that won't allow both at the same time. Seriously?
Fermi, you'd better live up to the hype because I am jumping ship asap.