Advice needed: Galaxy MDT GTX570—Can I do better?

[motayba]

Hello, all,
I've been lurking on here for about a week, and figured it was time I asked for some advice!

You see, I just bought a Galaxy MDT GTX570 from Newegg, and am not sure whether I should return it. And if I do return it, what would I get in it's place?

For those who don't know about the card, here's a link to the Galaxy product page which has a couple of interesting videos from Linus at NCIX TechTips (you have to click on the "MDT GeForce GTX570" button on the left for the videos to pop up).

And here's the link to the Newegg page.

I love gaming. So much so, that given the free time, I'd rather play a game than watch TV, watch a movie, etc. However, that's not the main reason I wanted to upgrade my GPU. I do a lot of 2-D and 3-D graphics, and needed a card that allowed me to use my 12" Wacom Cintiq in addition to my two main monitors. In short, I needed a card with 3 DVI outputs. When I came across the MDT GTX570 and saw that it had four DVI ports, I thought it would be perfect: giving me the three DVI ports I needed PLUS the ability to enjoy surround gaming (without having to unplug the Cintiq).

I should note that because my motherboard is PCIe v2.0, I was limited in my options. Also, I was trying to keep the cost under $300. On sale for $289 (and with a $20 rebate), this card fit the bill nicely.

For my art production purposes, the card is awesome: exactly what I needed. I've got three 1080 monitors for all those windows, and can use my little Cintiq freely, without having to unplug one monitor in order to use it. But as some of you may know, for gaming, it's not so great.

The main problem is that the system (or at least the NVIDIA Control Panel) sees the native resolution as 3840x720. You can set up a custom resolution of 5760x1080 using the Control Panel, but in doing so, you have to set the refresh to 50Hz. This means that while some games will run great at 5760x1080, some simply refuse to, and can only run at 3840x720.

RTS games are one of those genres that most benefit from a triple HD setup. And while I can run Total War: Shogun 2 beautifully at 5760x1080, R.U.S.E.—which earned a double-gold here at WSGF.org—will only run at 3840x720 no matter what I try. (I've tried changing the Option.ini file and have scoured regedit for a place to change the settings there, but to no avail.) And this bums me out immensely!

As a gamer, I prefer eye candy (especially detail) over frame rate—so it's not the 50Hz that bothers me. As long as a game averages at least 30 FPS, I'm pretty happy. I'm not a competitive gamer, so I'm sure I'm not as "hardcore" as most folks on this forum. And to be honest, as I mentioned my $300 budget, I can't really afford to be!

But like I said, I love detail—seeing Shogun 2 run smoothly at 5760x1080 with the settings fairly high put a huge smile on my face. It's been cool playing R.U.S.E. with the settings maxed at 3840x720, but the UI is big and clunky, and the fact that I'm not seeing the highest resolution is gnawing away at my enjoyment of the game.

My current situation is exacly what Paradigm Shifter described in the thread I linked above: "if I wanted four monitors in a production environment, I'd be torn."

So what's a guy to do? Is this card already the best bang for my buck? Or is there a (PCIe v2.0 ) single-card solution that will give me true native 5760x1080 and four outputs? Can I get it for $400 or less? (Yes, I'm willing to spend a little more on this.) Or is there a two-card (SLI/Crossfire) solution that will do the same for the same money AND without too many headaches?

Basically, I've got a window of about a week in which I can return the card to Newegg, and I would greatly appreciate any advice you all can give me.

Thanks in advance!

PS - Thanks for reading this looong post!

[Haldi]

4 Monitors ? With new GTX670 you can use 3+1 Setup ! Play on 3 Screens in Surround and have on Extended. But yeah... that Card is atm arround 400$ No idea when the GTX660 will release and if it also will be capable of 3+1.


IF you want to run surround/eyefinity on 4 monitors you need an AMD card! for 350$ you'd get an 7870 or for 240$ and 7850! With 2x mini DP, HDMI +DVI (or 2x DVI and no HDMI should also work) you can run Eyefinity 4 screens. (If i'm correct. Thought 4L or 4P is also supported....)

[Davros]

I should note that because my motherboard is PCIe v2.0, I was limited in my options.

In what way, you cant use agp cards ???
you can absolutely use any pci-e 3.0 card

[motayba]

Thanks for the reply, Haldi! A few questions for you (or anyone else who can jump in):

All the 670s, 7870s and 7850s I see are PCIe v3.0—will a 3.0 card work on a PCIe v2.0 motherboard? My understanding is that I'd have to upgrade my motherboard to use a 3.0 card. Is that wrong?

Also, can all four ports on these cards run simultaneously at 1920x1080? I don't see anything listed in the specs for the native/max resolution.

Finally, I'd need adapters for the mini DP to DVI. Can you recommend one? I've read that you have to buy the powered (active) ones, and from what I understand, they're not cheap!

Thanks again!

[motayba]

you can absolutely use any pci-e 3.0 card

Really?
So a 3.0 card will work, but it will just be a bit slower since my mobo is 2.0? Or is there no downside at all? Obviously, I assumed they would be incompatible. That would be awesome if I'm wrong!

[Haldi]

Yes PCI-E is compatible! You can use a PCi-E 3.0 Card in a PCi-E 2.0 Slot, or the other way around!
And no! you wont get any Performance loss! Yes, PCi-E 2.0 is Slower and if your card hast TO much power it will get slower. but only the GTX690 could use the full potential of PCI-E 3.0 atm! All other cards will give 100% even on PCi-E 2.0 slot!

All Cards can do 1920x1080 fine! The Problem is the Single Link DVI Port on the HD7870! Single Link DVI can do up to 1920x1080 (or was it 1920x1200?) for 1560x1440 you would need a Dual Link DVI!

About Adapters... sorry cant reccomend a specific one... maybe some1 else can.

But you DONT need an External Powered Adapter! but you DO need an Active Adapter! they're around 15-40$

[motayba]

Yes PCI-E is compatible! You can use a PCi-E 3.0 Card in a PCi-E 2.0 Slot, or the other way around!

Oh, man. I should have come here before I bought the card. Of course I didn't even know about WSGF until I saw the NCIX TechTips video.

All Cards can do 1920x1080 fine!

Haldi, by this, do you mean, each port can handle 1920x1080? Does this mean that a card with five ports (2 x DVI, 2 x MiniDP, 1 x HDMI) can run FIVE monitors at 1920x1080 simultaneously? Not being able to handle 1560x1440 won't be an issue for me as I won't be upgrading my monitors for a while...and I'll be quite happy with native 5760x1080 (plus my 1280x800 Wacom Cintiq).

So, I'll have to do more research, but I'll plan on sending back the MDT GTX570 I bought and will look into the 7870. Having tasted 5760x1080 gaming, I think I'm willing to spend a little more money on it!

If anyone has any other bang-for-the buck suggestions, please let me know. And if anyone can recommend a good, affordable MiniDP to DVI adapter that can handle 1920x1080, I'd really appreciate it!

[Haldi]

Haldi, by this, do you mean, each port can handle 1920x1080? Does this mean that a card with five ports (2 x DVI, 2 x MiniDP, 1 x HDMI) can run FIVE monitors at 1920x1080 simultaneously

Nope... here it gets complicated... you can use mini DP ports as you like! But with the DVI and HDMI Ports its more complicated on AMD Cards! You have 3 Ports! 1x HDMI, 1x DL-DVI and 1x Sl-DVI, BUT you can only use 2 of them! Doesn't matter which. 2x DVi or 1x DVI and 1x HDMI. But not all 3 at once!

on Nvidia side with the GTX670, or 680 you can use all Ports at once!




btw, just for information, the limit isnt on 5 Monitors ;) you can use an Adapter for mini Displayport and plug 6 monitors into that adapter and the adapter into a single miniDP ! But they wont all run 1920x1080 ^^




Edit: Just some Random Information to the rest of the Readers! Some1 somehow managed to run 2x DVI and 1x HDMI with a special driver in Linux! so its not so "hardware limited" as we allways belief!

[motayba]

Nope... here it gets complicated... you can use mini DP ports as you like! But with the DVI and HDMI Ports its more complicated on AMD Cards! You have 3 Ports! 1x HDMI, 1x DL-DVI and 1x Sl-DVI, BUT you can only use 2 of them! Doesn't matter which. 2x DVi or 1x DVI and 1x HDMI. But not all 3 at once!

Haha—Yeah...it is complicated. But With any of these 7870s I'd be able to do 3+1 (5760x1080 + 1280x800)?

Take this 7870, for example: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition OC

It has 2 x MiniDP, 1 x DVI, and 1 x HDMI. With only two non-MiniDP ports, I wouldn't be able to use all four for the 3+1 setup?

And how about the XFX Double D FX-787A-CDFC Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition

It has 2 x MiniDP, 2 x DVI, and 1 xHDMI—three non-MiniDP ports like you mentioned, so I would be able to have my 3+1 setup, correct?

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding what you said, I just want to make sure I'm clear on this before I buy another card.

I've just been doing some reading on Tom's Hardware, and it looks like the 7870 is probably the best card for me, though it's a bit more money than I wanted to pay (and I'll also have to buy a couple of adapters).

Edit: I'm reading the Widescreen Gaming FAQ now so I can avoid asking stupid questions like what is 1L, 1P, etc. ;)

[motayba]

A couple more questions for Haldi, or anyone else who can answer them:

Is any card manufacturer better than any other?

Is it more about customer support than product quality?

Is any company's products best avoided?

Does the factory OC make a big difference from doing it yourself? (The Sapphire one I linked above is overclocked from 1000/1200 to 1050/1250. I understand the 7870 has a fair amount of room for overclocking.)

Thanks again to Haldi and anyone who can take the time to answer my questions!

[Haldi]

Take this 7870, for example: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition OC
It has 2 x MiniDP, 1 x DVI, and 1 x HDMI. With only two non-MiniDP ports, I wouldn't be able to use all four for the 3+1 setup?

Would Work! 2 Display via Adapter on MiniDP Port, 1 on DVI and 1 on HDMI (or via HDMi->DVI Adapter)

And how about the XFX Double D FX-787A-CDFC Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition
It has 2 x MiniDP, 2 x DVI, and 1 xHDMI—three non-MiniDP ports like you mentioned, so I would be able to have my 3+1 setup, correct?

Would also work IF you use 2 Display via Adapter on MiniDP Port, 2 on DVI OR 1 DVI and 1 HDMI !

Is any card manufacturer better than any other?
Is it more about customer support than product quality?
Is any company's products best avoided?

Well, there are "Reference Design" and "Custom design" Graphic cards out there! Reference means AMD designed the card and XFX, Asus, Sapphire or who else just bought the card and put a sticker on them! Custom design means that the Manufacterer designed the card himself! So for example Asus DirectCU II cards, or MSI Lightning Series ! they most of the time use better materials and a different fan. (there are also cards in Reference Design with different Fans! For Example XFX dual dissapation!)

Customer support? You only need that wehen a GPU goes defect! and normaly it shouldn't! so "product quality" only affects Custom design Cards, all refernece design cards are 100% equal to each other!

Uh, "best avoided".... depens on the model, there are better and worse cooler/fans out there. XFX Dual dissapation isn't that good on HD7970 Cards, but might do a good job in HD7870 !

Does the factory OC make a big difference from doing it yourself? (The Sapphire one I linked above is overclocked from 1000/1200 to 1050/1250. I understand the 7870 has a fair amount of room for overclocking.)

The only difference is that 1. This clock is guaranteed! and 2. you dont lose waranty!
IF you overclock yourself you will lose waranty! (but AFAIK they cant prove that you overclocked, and normaly cards don't break from overclocking!)

[motayba]

Haldi, dude. Thank you. You are a font of knowledge and wisdom.

(I hope the other members of WSGF don't mind me being a total rep slut, but I'm very grateful!)

I'm looking into some reviews that compare the various models, but if anyone has any recommendations of one model vs. another (brand and OC), I hope y'all will let me know!

[motayba]

Thought I would follow up and report that I ended up purchasing the XFX HD 7870 DD, and am very, very happy that I did. It cost $60 more (plus another $60 for the MiniDP adapters), but it was well worth it.

As I said before, the Galaxy MDT GTX 570 is fine for multidisplay production work (and single screen gaming), but it is not suited for surround gaming. Galaxy's MDT is really just a jury-rigged solution, and pales in comparison to Eyefinity. Having a truly native 5760x1080 resolution and the ability to hot-key between desktop presets is just awesome. I have a few presets set up, and am able to flip between three-screen Eyefinity, standard three-screen, and then both of those with and without my little 12-inch Wacom Cintiq enabled. Bezel compensation is the icing on the cake.

So, to anyone considering a Galaxy MDT, be warned—it's not the same as Eyefinity!

Thanks again to Haldi (and Davros) for sharing his knowledge and advice.

[Haldi]

Glad to see you happy.

Well, nowadays ppl will buy GTX670 or such, and not old hardware like a GTX570! (at least i hope so^^)


P.S, about Hotkeys and Presets, if you set an "Application" to start with changing, you can take "C:UsersHaldiAppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsThemesHaldi.theme" (modify it so that it fits for you ;) ) and then it does automatically change from Eyefinity Tripe Screen Wallpapers to Normal Wallpapers for Extended Monitors, if you have a TripleScreen Wallpaper Theme created before!

[motayba]

Well, nowadays ppl will buy GTX670 or such, and not old hardware like a GTX570! (at least i hope so^^)

Actually, the GTX 580 is the best GPU available in Galaxy's Multi Display Technology (MDT) line—so I guess they're just not making these MDT cards with the latest tech (no 600 series available yet).

P.S, about Hotkeys and Presets, if you set an "Application" to start with changing, you can take "C:UsersHaldiAppDataLocalMicrosoftWindowsThemesHaldi.theme" (modify it so that it fits for you ;) ) and then it does automatically change from Eyefinity Tripe Screen Wallpapers to Normal Wallpapers for Extended Monitors, if you have a TripleScreen Wallpaper Theme created before!

Awesome tip. So it doesn't really have to be an application (exe)? I'll make some wallpapers and try that! Thanks!