looking to go w-i-d-e

[Kartajan]

I keep seeing these outstanding widescreen setups, and jealousy is starting to overcome my senses. I did some looking about and am strongly considering the following monitors:

qty:03 ASUS VH242H 23.6" 1920 x 1080 5ms W/Speakers D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI $180 ea
!!! which resolves to a 5760*1080 resolution !!!
the only issue is I know my current video would be woefully insufficient.

recommendations are requested for something reasonably equivalent to my current system in respect to performance only on the significantly wider screen real estate.

System Specifications:
I. Processor/CPU: LGA1156 i5 750
II. Current Graphics Card: Radeon HD 5770
III. Display Resolution:1680*1050
IV. Power Supply Unit Specification (Brand, Wattage, Ampage, Age). If possible, please provide a link to a website containing the power supply specifications:
Antec EA-650 650W 10A @ 115V Approx 3 yrs old, http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=MjAzNg==&lan=en
V. Case Specifications(N/A, Model, Length, Low Profile, Cooling, HTPC, Water, Silent): Case is from an Asus V3-P5G33 (Basic mATX case with semi decent airflow)
link to the manual: http://support.asus.com/download.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=8&s=15&m=V3-P5G33&os=&hashedid=biwC5cR1KFeHkbEL
Purchase Details:
I. Budget? Please be sure to include currency (If not USD), retailer preferences & specify whether rebates are a viable option.
USD non specific budget. given there is almost $600 worth of monitors to be driven, I would love to keep it lower, but not at the expense of decent performance.
II. Any particular preferences (Manufacturer[nV or AMD], Brand[XFX, Sapphire, EVGA, etc], Cooling Solutions)? none
III. Do you plan to have any Multi-GPU solutions such as Crossfire or SLI? not if it is avoidable
IV. Have you previously looked at a product(s) which you feel would fit your needs? no
V. What are your needs for this GPU? Which games(If any)do you intend to play? If you have this information at hand, what are the desired detail levels?
Casual gaming at native monitor resolution (Civ5, UT3, Media Center video)
VI. Do you plan on overclocking the card you intend to purchase?
NO OVERCLOCKING. (too much heat and wear)

 

[nitromullet]

If you really want to do this with a single card at a reasonable price you need to look into monitors with a DisplayPort input. There is no single card out that can run three monitors via DVI or HDMI (well, not many). Even cards that you see with dual DVI connecters and an HDMI port only support 2 outputs at a time, either DVI+DVI or DVI+HDMI.

 

[paperwastage]

If you really want to do this with a single card at a reasonable price you need to look into monitors with a DisplayPort input. There is no single card out that can run three monitors via DVI or HDMI (well, not many). Even cards that you see with dual DVI connecters and an HDMI port only support 2 outputs at a time, either DVI+DVI or DVI+HDMI.

sapphire has their "Flex Edition" that has the tech built-in so yo udont have to use an active adapter... but i think it only goes up to 6870

but active DP->single link DVI (up to 1200p) is around $30, dp->dual link DVI ~ $80

 

[Kartajan]

that just blows. I was hoping to do the dvi x2 and hdmi x1 for a setup configuration.

 

[paperwastage]

you can convert DVI to HDMI using a $5 pinhead converter... dont remember if all 5xxx/6xxx/7xxx series have any audio through HDMI with some manufacturer provided converter

 

[RavenSEAL]

You would still need an active DisplayPort adapter to run the 3rd monitor. Hmmm...I would say a 7950 would be the way to go, 7970 would be able to drive Eyefinity in games like BF3 at really good FPS.

 

[Lonyo]

Active DP -> DVI adapters are reasonably priced now, so I don't see the issue in buying one.
Under $30 for a Sapphire active DP -> DVI (single link, which is sufficient).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999030

 

[wahdangun]

yeah you need atleast HD 7970 to drive that eyefinity setup

 

[paperwastage]

http://www.rage3d.com/reviews/video/amd_hd7970_launch_review/index.php?p=8

some benchmarks about UT3, Civ5 with single and CF ATI/nvidia cards, using 3 displays

 

[nitromullet]

The adapter is ~$30 and the price difference with shipping between three ASUS VH242H's and three ASUS VE248Q's is $78. I'd personally rather invest the extra $50 to get native DP built into the monitor than buy an adapter.

Sure, there is a $10 rebate on the ASUS VH242H, but that's probably a one per household deal. I don't really think a $10 check you'll get 3 months down the road should really factor into your purchase decision when you're talking about a $600-700 purchase.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

I would recommend a 7970 for that setup. A factory overclocked 7970 would work best.

 

[Joseph F]

you can convert DVI to HDMI using a $5 pinhead converter... dont remember if all 5xxx/6xxx/7xxx series have any audio through HDMI with some manufacturer provided converter

AFAIK, All Radeon cards since from the HD 3000 (Maybe HD 2000) series onward support audio over HDMI.
However, I believe that you need a proprietary DVI>HDMI adapter for the audio to work if the card doesn't have an onboard HDMI connector.

 

[exdeath]

I recommend not bothering with this setup and start working toward 30" displays, if you are prone to jealousy. Might as well go to the top and eliminate any source of jealousy for now and forever.