Minor Dual Screen Problems with 6950 - Now a REAL reason to buy Z68

[bsix]

Summary: I purchased a new 6950 XFX 1GB dual fan GPU ($230 AB) and I am having some problems with GPU temperature. It looks like the 2D issues are caused by having two monitors at different resolutions connected. Others on this forum have had similar issues. The current solution seems to be creating a custom downclocked 2D profile and manually activating when doing 2D activities. I'd rather use the IGP from Z68 for the secondary monitor and have the GPU primarily for single screen gaming (1920x1200).

A few questions:

1) Given that I am looking to upgrade the rest of my computer from a Abit P35 and a Q6600 (OC'd to 3GHZ) to a ASUS Z68 and a 2500K, would hooking up my smaller monitor (1280x768) to the IGP on Z68 make sense? Note that when I unplug the second monitor from 6950 I get +5FPS and the 2D temp goes from 56C down to 41C.

2) Does the GTX 570 have the same dual monitor problems? With some research it seems that it does - but I am interested in people's experience if both monitors are running the same resolution it will effectively downclock.

3) I'm a bit disappointed in the 6950 performance. I'm coming from a 9800 GTX. Will the GTX 570 be significantly better when I upgrade to a 2500K processor and overclock?

Notes:
I do value price/performance to a certain degree. Most of the benches for the GTX 570 vs. 6950 seem to indicate a small improvement of the GTX 570. In Rift the FPS gain was not that high, but again I have to upgrade the processor (2500K) and get myself an SSD (probably a 120GB Vertex 3). Note also that this 6950 seems to have crazy overclocks - the core can do 970 GHZ on furmark and stay stable (tested 12H), albeit with some crazy high temps (88F+ and 100% fan).

Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

My planned build for quiet gaming PC:
Define R3 with (5) slipstream case fans at 1100 rpm
Seasonic X750 Modular
Asus Z68 Motherboard // 8-12 GB main memory
XFX 6950 or Asus Direct CU GTX 570
Intel 2500K w/Xigamtek or Thermalright 120mm cooler
120GB Vertex 3
2xWD Cavair Black 1TB HD
Asus Xonar Sound Card

 

[morbidman]

I have a 570 and it has the same issue. My main monitor is 1920x1080. When I hook up my old 1680x1050 as a secondary, my idle shoots up from mid 30s to 52C (ambient is 23 or so). I haven't tried running with the two monitors under load because I'm expecting more of the same type of results. If anything I would think the clocks are higher in dual monitor mode which is the reason for the extra heat (and fan noise).

Even so, I'm very happy with the performance I get with my card paired with a 2500k. I'm even happier that I picked it up for under $300, thanks to mfenn. Maybe you can unlock the extra shaders on your card (I think it's possible with the 1gig model?). I haven't overclocked mine yet because none of the games I play have really pushed the capabilities of the card.

I've been looking rather enviously at the r3, but the antec 300 I have now still works...

 

[yacoub]

Interesting, I hadn't heard about this issue but it's good to know. I ran a 1920x display and a 1680x display on my HD5770 without any issues and currently run two 1920x displays on it, again with no problems. But I would plan to add the old 1680x display on as a third display if/when I upgrade to an HD6950.

I wonder why there are heat issues?

Also, I wonder if using UltraMon instead of CCC to manage my displays would avoid the issue? I currently use it for my two display setup since CCC was always a pain in the butt to configure.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

1) Given that I am looking to upgrade the rest of my computer from a Abit P35 and a Q6600 (OC'd to 3GHZ) to a ASUS Z68 and a 2500K, would hooking up my smaller monitor (1280x768) to the IGP on Z68 make sense? Note that when I unplug the second monitor from 6950 I get +5FPS and the 2D temp goes from 56C down to 41C.

2) Does the GTX 570 have the same dual monitor problems? With some research it seems that it does - but I am interested in people's experience if both monitors are running the same resolution it will effectively downclock.

3) I'm a bit disappointed in the 6950 performance. I'm coming from a 9800 GTX. Will the GTX 570 be significantly better when I upgrade to a 2500K processor and overclock?

Notes:
I do value price/performance to a certain degree. Most of the benches for the GTX 570 vs. 6950 seem to indicate a small improvement of the GTX 570. In Rift the FPS gain was not that high, but again I have to upgrade the processor (2500K) and get myself an SSD (probably a 120GB Vertex 3). Note also that this 6950 seems to have crazy overclocks - the core can do 970 GHZ on furmark and stay stable (tested 12H), albeit with some crazy high temps (88F+ and 100% fan).

1) The gaming monitor needs to be hooked up to the gaming video card.

2) Yes, when running mis-matched resolutions. The 570, and maybe even the 6950, downclock further if the dual monitors run at the same res than if they run at different res.

3) If you're disappointed, you are probably CPU bottlenecked in the games you're playing. The 2500K should provide a huge boost. Some games are just CPU-dependent. And your 6950 at those kinds of clocks would be as fast as a 570.

 

[alcoholbob]

Reps from nVidia and AMD have both stated that this is a "technical limitation" and there is no change in the horizon for multi-monitors.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Reps from nVidia and AMD have both stated that this is a "technical limitation" and there is no change in the horizon for multi-monitors.

There's not much they can do as its Windows' new GUI setup that's the cause. Well, actually I think they could improve things (better power gating or something, surely). They'll need to figure something out though, as that coupled with newer hardware acclerated programs mean that GPUs are going to be under some load a lot more. Its why I'm really looking forward to these new CPUs with onboard GPU.

I'd say that if you're running multiple monitors, its a good idea to have multiple GPUs, even just integrated ones. Personally, I go for a setup that has an IGP even if I don't use it, as its good for redundancy (video card problems, or if you're upgrading and selling your old card) or if you don't need the video card you can pull it and save some money/heat (so migrating an older system to a different use).

 

[fuzzymath10]

I assume you reference Z68 because you want to overclock? You should be able to run IGP + discrete on H67 (I do) but then obviously overclocking isn't available.

In fact, I am doing this for the same reasons you are; I could just run both displays on my Radeon, but it was running hotter than normal (one at 900p, other at 1080p).

 

[JBDan]

I have a 6950 hooked up to dual monitors that run diff resolutions. Idle temps with 1 vs 2 monitors initially bothered me, but using msi afterburner solved it very easily as you can create fan and 2D/3D profiles easily.

 

[bsix]

Thanks, very helpful comments.

I was playing around with Afterburner last night and was able to bring the idle temp from 56c down to 49c by downclocking the memory and undervolting a bit with the fans at 30% (which is below the ambient noise floor on this computer). I just need to figure out how to automate this with the profiles so that I don't have to do this manually.

It looks like others are on the same page, having the IGP on Z68 will be helpful for temps and performance and gaming on a the main monitor, and if pricing on the Z68 are close to P67 it seems to be a no-brainer.

 

[yacoub]

There used to be neat tools that would allow over/under clocking profiles including fan control, like ATI Tool and RivaTuner.
I don't know if they still exist or work on newer generations of GPUs but honestly they should be easy enough to update to work because clocking and fan settings have only gotten more editable and configurable in modern generations compared to old ones where sometimes the fans were "dumb" and only adjusted by actually volt-modding the power to them.

I used to have (i think it was ATI Tool and on an NVidia card RivaTuner offered this) set up where on entering a 3D app it would load a custom 3D core/memory profile including a custom fan profile, and then on exit when temps came down it would load a 2D (underclocked even) core/memory and fan profile. Usually a good program also gave you sensor readings and logs as well as voltage control (if available on the GPU).

Aren't there any programs out there today that offer that basic level of GPU configuration?

 

[Silverforce11]

Your CPU is bottlenecking the GPU. I had to OC mine to 3.6ghz to even push a single OC 5850 to the max.

6950s are essentially 6970s. A 570 is a sidegrade. Even a gtx580 is not a worthy upgrade considering your high OCs. If you want more power, you have to go with dual GPUs.

 

[JBDan]

There used to be neat tools that would allow over/under clocking profiles including fan control, like ATI Tool and RivaTuner.
I don't know if they still exist or work on newer generations of GPUs but honestly they should be easy enough to update to work because clocking and fan settings have only gotten more editable and configurable in modern generations compared to old ones where sometimes the fans were "dumb" and only adjusted by actually volt-modding the power to them.

I used to have (i think it was ATI Tool and on an NVidia card RivaTuner offered this) set up where on entering a 3D app it would load a custom 3D core/memory profile including a custom fan profile, and then on exit when temps came down it would load a 2D (underclocked even) core/memory and fan profile. Usually a good program also gave you sensor readings and logs as well as voltage control (if available on the GPU).

Aren't there any programs out there today that offer that basic level of GPU configuration?

Yes the one that I mentioned in previous post MSI AFterburner. And it's now much simpler than rivatuner which I was a long time user of.