Video card add on or replacement

[DerRabe21]

Hi guys,
mainly for flightsims I would like to use three 22'' monitors in a row and one for the cockpit instruments (the forth one). For this purpose I do need either a new vid card with four ports for the monitors OR an additional vid card in crossfire with my existing one (MSI R4870).

Here my existing system:
Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 ,Intel X48, ATX, PCI-Express
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Tray 6144Kb, LGA775, 64bit
MSI R4870-T2D512E-OC, 512MB, PCI-Express
Western Digital Caviar 640GB, SATA II, Western Digital6400AAKS
Corsair TX650W 650 Watt
4GB-Kit Mushkin SP2-6400, CL5
Vista Home Premium 64bit SP1 - SB-Version
NEC Opti AD7201A bulk

Questions:
- Would you advice to REPLACE my existing vid card?
- If yes, which one would be good for good fprs in flight sims (Flight Simulator X) (I consider HD 5770 Flex with four ports)?
- If no, which one could be good for the CROSSFIRE with my MSI R4870 (I consider HD 5770 to HD 5870)?

Thank you in advance!
DerRabe

[DerRabe21]

Hi guys,
mainly for flightsims I would like to use three 22'' monitors in a row and one for the cockpit instruments (the forth one). For this purpose I do need either a new vid card with four ports for the monitors OR an additional vid card in crossfire with my existing one (MSI R4870).

Here my existing system:
Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 ,Intel X48, ATX, PCI-Express
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Tray 6144Kb, LGA775, 64bit
MSI R4870-T2D512E-OC, 512MB, PCI-Express
Western Digital Caviar 640GB, SATA II, Western Digital6400AAKS
Corsair TX650W 650 Watt
4GB-Kit Mushkin SP2-6400, CL5
Vista Home Premium 64bit SP1 - SB-Version
NEC Opti AD7201A bulk

Questions:
- Would you advice to REPLACE my existing vid card?
- If yes, which one would be good for good fprs in flight sims (Flight Simulator X) (I consider HD 5770 Flex with four ports)?
- If no, which one could be good for the CROSSFIRE with my MSI R4870 (I consider HD 5770 to HD 5870)?

Thank you in advance!
DerRabe

Hey guys,
c'mon :doh nobody can help in this case??? :cry:

[Tamlin]

I'd wait a week before making purchase. Rumor has it that the new ATI 6000 series support 4X screen configurations:



In any case, I think that cards might be cheaper after launch, so no loss in waiting. :)

[Wiz33]

Unfortunately. although there are 4 ports on most ATI cards. only 3 can be used at the same time. The HDMI port will not work while other ports are active since it has HDCP for content protection. Your best bet without going to a 2nd card would be to use one of the USB monitor like a Mimo for the instrumentation.

[Tamlin]

That MSI card on the picture have 5 ports, where 2 of them are DP ports. That points to a minimum of 4 displays (2 displays on DP, 2 displays on DVI). :)

[Abram]

So if we're supposed to be able to daisychain displays, does this mean there are monitors with DP inputs?

[Tamlin]

If the 6000 series support daisy chain (which they almost certainly do), monitors with support for DP 1.2 is required for the standard daisy chain. DP 1.0 screens can be the last monitor, but since the DP 1.0 screens lack DP out (only have dp in) they cannot be screen 1 and 2. There might be some hub solution, which connects the DP in and out on the hub instead for daisy chain, which would be just as functional I think, provided that the hub is powered.

As for DP port monitors, there are more now then what used to be, but all of them are DP 1.0. So, a hub is required if you, as example have 3X Dell U2410 which seems to be popular Eyefinity screens. :)

[Wiz33]

Didn't notice that. but wonder if eyfinity will support tri-screen and one extra mon. That would be interesting.

[DerRabe21]

Hello guys,

as far as I can see, the specs of the 6870 are lower than the 5870. I am not well known in the meanings of the specifications - could anyone tell if there are any significant differences between these two cards in terms of the fps-rate? The use of the card is discussed abowe.

Thank you! :wink:

[DaFox]

Hello guys,

as far as I can see, the specs of the 6870 are lower than the 5870. I am not well known in the meanings of the specifications - could anyone tell if there are any significant differences between these two cards in terms of the fps-rate? The use of the card is discussed abowe.

Thank you! :wink:

The 6870 is the new mid range card, Technically replacing the 5770.

The cards that will be replacing the 5870 will be coming next month and will be named 6970.

[DerRabe21]

Hi all,

since my last comment I still didn't buy a new system... :tired:

Next month I plan to buy 3 x Iiyama ProLite B2206WS - monitors for eyefinity setup: 3 in the raw, and connect them later on with an additional small monitor (for flight sim- instruments)

So far as I could research on the web, the affortable graphic card serie, which would be not too costy (within 250-300 Euro) and still would be a quite good performance card for eyefinity - would be the 6950 series.

Would you aggree on that? Or there is a better choice within this budget range?

If so, I wonder which card would be better from these both:
http://www.chip.de/preisvergleich/180772/Sapphire-Radeon-HD-6950-Toxic-2GB-PCI-E-11188-07-40R.html
or
http://www.chip.de/preisvergleich/176228/Sapphire-Radeon-HD-6950-2GB-PCI-E-11188-05-50G.html#

The second one has only one Display Port, the first - two. - Does it affect the usage of the cards with 3 +1 monitors?
Are there any advantages?

Could you please help me with the choosing of the right adapters for this setup? (sorry, I am not familiar with the specific terminology)

Thank you very much for any comments!

[Haldi]

Hehehe. And i'd wonder who dare to Nekro such an old Thread! ^^

For 4 Monitors you need 2 DP! Because you can use either 2x DVI or 1x DVI+HDMI. But not 2xDVI+HDMI!
Then 2 MiniDP to DVI Adapter should work fine (Active Adapter!)

The 6950 is a good Card. But for 300€ shouldn't there be a HD7870 around that price? AFAIK Gtx580 was around 320€ right?

7870 might be better choice.