ATI 5800 Eyefinity

[Spite]

There are not a lot of Displayport monitors available at the moment, but Dell has several.  The Canadian site lists a 23in currently for $169.

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&sku=320-8325

I did see it listed on the US Dell site for $208.  The 24in monitors from Dell in the video I posted are $750 Canadian.

As mentioned, you need an adapter for Displayport to DVI for a 3 DVI monitor setup, but it must be an ACTIVE adapter, not a passive one, and yes, they are expensive. 

[Wraith_TMS]

Actually, ATI/AMD has been very forthcoming about the requirements for Eyefinity.  Take a look at any of the reviews.  If any one of them does not mention the Displayport requirement, then I would question the credibility of the site, as ATI's own press release does mention it.

The monitors must all have the same resolution support is a bit of a no-brainer if you understand how ATI/AMD is approaching the multi-monitor support.

Not sure what you mean about the Xfire point.

Thanks Skuzzy.  As I mentioned, I was just reporting what I read, and didn't purport to it's accuracy.   I'm not an expert on such things, so the way AMD approaches multimonitor support is definitely beyond me. 

Regarding Xfire support, I read some posts in the WideScreenGaming forum that said that if two 5800s are installed together, Xfire will--and must-- be enabled full time, and not be something that can be disabled. 

What prompted my post was the issue of the mixed resolutions because it hadn't come up in the thread yet, and I thought it should be mentioned in case someone made a purchase based on assumptions or misconception about that feature.  For instance, I have mixed size monitors, and in my ignorance I might have bought the card on that basis (and would have been wrong) had I not investigated that; no-brainer indeed  .  Just putting it out there for others to consider too.

FWIW (as always),

[skribetm]

i apologize for the lack of set-up pro's and cons. if i may add, i found this exhaustive set-up video. i hope it helps everyone interested.

http://hardocp.com/article/2009/09/28/amds_ati_eyefinity_technology_review
http://hardocp.com/article/2009/09/28/amds_ati_eyefinity_technology_review

[Krusty]

The downside is it's solely for Vista or Windows7.


Pity.

Not that I have enough monitors or the video card to run it, lol!

[MrRiplEy[H]]

The downside is it's solely for Vista or Windows7.


Pity.

Not that I have enough monitors or the video card to run it, lol!

I wouldn't knock down windows 7 for gaming. While it may give 20-30% hit in fps the gameplay is generally more smooth than in XP. Especially audio related stuttering was visibly gone with 7.

[Spite]

Regarding Xfire support, I read some posts in the WideScreenGaming forum that said that if two 5800s are installed together, Xfire will--and must-- be enabled full time, and not be something that can be disabled. 

And in reading that forum, (just so it's clear), you will find:

"EyeFinity is currently NO CrossFire and NO multi-card and NO multi-GPU."

So, no Crossfire with Eyefinity at the moment; it's a driver issue that AMD is working on and should have resolved in the future.

[Skuzzy]

Hey Wraith, what sites or site did you get that information from?  I would like to put it in the list of sites to avoid for credible information about hardware and software.

[Spite]

I'm thinking it's perhaps just semantics.  widescreengaming.com is generally respected for what they do; it could be argued they are the central resource for this technology. As with any forum, you have to waddle through to get to the truth, though.

Semantics ... the only thing I could find on this was the following:

"a 5870X2 IS actually using CF to work which means what was quoted : one can't disable CF on a 5870X2...)"

There are only 2 currently shipping AMD 5800 series cards, the 5870 and 5850.  They both support Crossfire, but neither supports Crossfire with Eyefinity as of yet. They are slated for support though. The card mentioned in the post (5870x2), is an as yet unavailable dual GPU product due for release in a month or 2, but the prototype was demoed and this is where the discussion in regards to being unable to disable Crossfire for THAT card was coming from.  Or so I believe ... Wraith can confirm or not.
 

[Wraith_TMS]

Hey Wraith, what sites or site did you get that information from?  I would like to put it in the list of sites to avoid for credible information about hardware and software.

Knock yourself out there, Skuzzy     :
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/index.php

http://www.kegetys.net/forum/index.php?board=1.0 (SoftTH forum)

...The card mentioned in the post (5870x2), is an as yet unavailable dual GPU product due for release in a month or 2, but the prototype was demoed and this is where the discussion in regards to being unable to disable Crossfire for THAT card was coming from.  Or so I believe ... Wraith can confirm or not.

Yes, I believe that was the context of the discussion in that forum.