5x1 portrait card recommendations?

[jedigeorge]

I am looking for recommendations on what model card (or cards) to get for 5x1 portrait. I have a 1GB XFX reference 5870 running 3x1 portrait now on 3 x 1600x1200 (Samsung Syncmaster 213T), for 3600x1600. I have two more 16x12 screens, and just saw that 5x1 portrait is now available. 6000x1600 would be pretty immersive. I just need a card that will get me there.

These screens are all DVI, but the active DP->DVI adapter I have now works great. No flickering. I assume I'll need to pick up new mini-DP to DVI adapters.

I mostly play LOTRO; not much FPS these days. The 5870 handles that really well (60fps everywhere) with all the settings maxed out, but alas it doesn't have 5 outputs. I wish I had bought the Eye6 2GB 5870, but didn't have the monitors back then. I did attempt a search, but didn't find any recent reviews focusing on 3x1 performance comparisons.

Would xfire be worthwhile? My Asus P8P67 Deluxe should support that. I have a core i5 OC'd to 4.2, and 16GB, enough power and cooling headroom.

I will probably also try out Skyrim and Guild Wars 2 once those are out.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

Your talking 9.6 Mega pixels. That's just beneath 3x30 inch demand. I wouldn't ask which card, I'd ask which cards. Only way one would really enjoy that with a single card is if they are playing really old games and at the worst case some source based games.

The minimum performance I would find acceptable would be 6950 trifire but I demand a lot. Maybe 6870 Crossfire may be the minimum or if you get a second 5870. I cringe when I think of the experience with that though. Your going to want some serious horsepower for that resolution.

 

[JMCB]

3x 6950s won't cut it, I believe. I have a 6990+6970 trifire, and I had a hard time running a few games at 5760 x 1080. You have to do quadfire, so 4x 6950s, 2x 6990s, or a 6990 + 2x 6950s at the least.

 

[jedigeorge]

Thanks for the replies so far. From what I've read about xfire scaling, I definitely won't try that with another 5870. Is there much difference between dual 6970's and one 6990? It appears to me that the 6990 is xfire on one card. I'd probably try one new card first and see how well that works. If necessary, I'd add a second card.

One thing I don't usually configure is really any kind of AA. Between the dot pitch on the screens I have, and the distance I sit from them, I can't tell the difference between having AA on and off. The AA settings seem to be what make the difference in how well a game plays, according to the reviews I have looked at, and my own observations. LOTRO, for example, had some stutter until I turned off the AA. I think 1GB just isn't enough RAM for all the textures and the AA, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

I guess I need a card that is at least 66% faster than a single 5870, because I'm adding 66% more screen space? That does look like it requires 2 cards. It doesn't appear that a 6970 is 66% faster than a 5870.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

3x 6950s won't cut it, I believe. I have a 6990+6970 trifire, and I had a hard time running a few games at 5760 x 1080. You have to do quadfire, so 4x 6950s, 2x 6990s, or a 6990 + 2x 6950s at the least.

I agree but keep in mind what you and I like for performance is not necessarily what another person can tolerate.

I see people gaming in eyefinity 5760x1200 on a single 5850 1gb card with details turned down getting 28-44 fps and happy with it.

This is the type of person I see the op as based on his original post. Maybe not to the extreme in my example but definitely leaning on that side of the fence as I would not be happy with my performance and image quality in that resolution he uses without 2 5870 2gb cards.

The absolute minimum recommended by me for 6000x1600 resolution would probably be 6950 trifire. However Quad Fire would get my money based on my own preferences.

Op what I would suggest is that you look deep into the future anticipate any MMO's coming out that you may play. Get 1 6990 and try out your performance with that. LOTRO is not very demanding as you can see from your own experience. Surely it'll overwhelm your setup at 6000x1600 but the 6990 may squeeze you by. If not get a unlocked 6950 for trifire or of you want to go all out in the best way you can get 2 unlocked 6950s for quadfire.

 

[chithanh]

Your mobo runs in x16/x0 or x8/x8 mode. x8 may hold a 6990 back, especially at Eyefinity resolutions. So the ROI for Tri-Fire won't be so great.

I suggest that you get a Sapphire 6950 Flex as primary card, and CF with some other 6950 2GB card. That should run LOTRO fine.

 

[Lord_Exodia]

Thanks for the replies so far. From what I've read about xfire scaling, I definitely won't try that with another 5870. Is there much difference between dual 6970's and one 6990? It appears to me that the 6990 is xfire on one card. I'd probably try one new card first and see how well that works. If necessary, I'd add a second card.

One thing I don't usually configure is really any kind of AA. Between the dot pitch on the screens I have, and the distance I sit from them, I can't tell the difference between having AA on and off. The AA settings seem to be what make the difference in how well a game plays, according to the reviews I have looked at, and my own observations. LOTRO, for example, had some stutter until I turned off the AA. I think 1GB just isn't enough RAM for all the textures and the AA, but I'm not 100% sure on that.

I guess I need a card that is at least 66% faster than a single 5870, because I'm adding 66% more screen space? That does look like it requires 2 cards. It doesn't appear that a 6970 is 66% faster than a 5870.

You are 100% correct, you will need more vram to enable AA. I can notice aliasing really badly so I must have antialiasing of some kind running otherwise it just looks like shit to me. As far as 5990 that's a awesome upgrade as it's much more powerful than a single 5870 1gb and about 190% as powerful as a 6970 depending on the game and crossfire scaling which is excellent on the 6900 series.

Your mobo runs in x16/x0 or x8/x8 mode. x8 may hold a 6990 back, especially at Eyefinity resolutions. So the ROI for Tri-Fire won't be so great.

I suggest that you get a Sapphire 6950 Flex as primary card, and CF with some other 6950 2GB card. That should run LOTRO fine.

PCIE 8x is fine and will not bottleneck even a 6990 and even in eyefinity, worth noting. He'll lose maybe 3 fps. If he had a pcie 1.0 slot running at 8x, that's a different story but still not a deal breaking bottleneck.