HD6870 with 3 monitors?

[Cr0nJ0b]

Hey everyone.

I have an XFX 6870, that I want to tryout with 3 monitors. I'm guessing that the performance will not be great, but I want to see what it will look like.

My question is/are:

1) I have used the 2 dvi ports already (i'm running dual), which of the other ports should I use? there are 2 mini ports and a HDMI port.
2) If I want to get good performance can I do it with just one card? What card?


Generally I'm playing DIablo III, and BF3 as the common game platforms.

thanks

 

[KingFatty]

You'll need to use one of the mini displayports. So, if your 3rd monitor supports displayport, you can get a cheap cable or it will already come with one. Otherwise, to drive that 3rd monitor, you'll need to get an active adapter, should be less than $30.

As for performance, it should be fun and you may have to drop your resolution or anti-aliasing settings. But fire up an old game like Portal etc. and it can be fantastic fun and very high framerates.

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

so you are saying that I can't just use the HDMI port on there or get a displayport to HDMI connector?

 

[KingFatty]

Without using a displayport, only 2 of the DVI/HDMI ports will be usable at the same time on your card. That is true for most AMD cards with eyefinity. So you could connect 2 displays to DVI and 1 display to HDMI, but you won't be able to get all three of them all active simultaneously. You just need to get the active displayport adapter.

There are some AMD specialty cards that incorporate an active displayport adapter into the card itself to allow you to use 3 DVI/HDMI outputs at the same time, but they aren't cost-effective because they usually increase the cost of the card more than what it would cost to just get a separate displayport adapter.

I guess your 3rd display doesn't have a native displayport input? Another option would be to sell your AMD card and get an NVidia 6XX series card. I'm not sure which support it, but I believe they can do multi-monitor without needing a displayport adapter. However, financially, I think the AMD route would be less expensive - why pay an extra $100 to change cards to avoid having to spend $28 on an adapater?

 

[aaksheytalwar]

Gaming is out of the question even with minimum settings.

 

[p_monks33]

Gaming is out of the question even with minimum settings.

Ive seen Crysis II run on a 6850 with 3x1600x900 monitors in a local store. The settings were turned down to medium/low , but the fps was hanging in the playable range definitely above 25fps. With that said, I would think that less demanding games could be run, you will have to do without AA for sure though due too the lack or available Vram.

 

[p_monks33]

Just tested out BF3 all low settings at 4800x900 on my HTPC which is an I3 2125 and a HD7770 which is a bit slower than OP's sig rig. I can get 35-40 FPS so you should be able to see whether or not you like it, if so I recommend a 7950 at least to play with some good settings turned up.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

40 fps isn't playable to me.

 

[KingFatty]

It is nice to cite quantifiable, objective stats we can all agree upon. Whether a gaming experience is acceptable or not is subjective and varies from person to person, so telling them "you get X frames on Y resolution using Z card" is great to let each person make their own decision.

Anyone else with some good numbers, and how you felt about playing on it? My experience is with older hardware and software, so not sure how my overclocked 5850 compares to the 6870 of OP. But I enjoyed playing Bioshock 1 and Chronicles of Riddick 1 and 2 on my 5850 eyefinity. I completely maxed out Bioshock 1 resolution and still could turn on anti-ailiasing on top of it with over 60 FPS, but Riddick 2 I had to run a lower resolution than native. But it was still very nice.

 

[Face2Face]

40 fps isn't playable to me.

Yep, that's why you got a sweet gaming rig. Everyone's different. Playing Crysis 1 @ 30 FPS is very playable to me.

 

[p_monks33]

40 FPS is pretty decent for most games to my eye. If I am playing FPS I tend to want over 100 as I use a 120Hz monitor. As Face2Face said thats why we spend so much lol. I have 3 120hz screens and to run 100+FPS is a PITA even with highly overclocked top tier cards. Im just saying that he should be fine to use 3 monitors to see if he likes it before he spends more money on a card upgrade. Eyefinity sickens some of my friends who tried out my setup.