Q&A to ATI's Dave Baumann and SunSp*t

Post by **Tamlin** » 11 Oct 2009, 18:28

Nobody minds questions, and we like to answer them if / when we can. Heck, if there really is a number of questions that many users want to ask then I'd suggest putting a "non-Eyefinity" Q/A sticky up, just so long as people understand that a.) We won't be able to answer everything b.) some may not like the answers that are given, c.) The questions do not become demands.

So, the basic rules are these:

a) They won't be able to answer everything
b) You may not like the answers, but there they are. Keep it civil.
c) Post questions, not demands.
d) Offensive posting is not tolerated. Such posts are not constructive and just ruin it for the rest of us.

You now have a chance to ask questions directly to key ATI personell. Enjoy!:)

Edit: Originally, this was ment to be a non-eyefinity Q&A thread, but Eyefinity is the topic most of us wonder about and so people naturally asked. I've changed the headline to reflect that Eyefinity quesitons are not excluded from this thread.

Post by **Tamlin** » 11 Oct 2009, 18:32

My first question is:

In 3d -> AF help, it talks about activating HQ AF (but its not supported on all cards). I just bought a 5870 to test the new features. Doesn't this card support HQ AF?

All I see is the standard slide for 2x to 16x AF.

Post by **thales100** » 11 Oct 2009, 20:51

Thanks for the chance. :P
My questions :

1-Any idea about when the 5800 series drivers will support triplehead resolutions, i.e. 5040x1050, so its possible to run a matrox triplehead2go and the new GPUs ?

2-In this solution above (matrox + 5800), will crossfire be supported, as the 4870 that are supporting this technology and run triplehead at 5040x1050, after Catalyst 9.7 ?

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 11 Oct 2009, 21:22

Cool, here's mine!
I have had NVidia cards for the last three goes (7900, 8800, now 280) and one thing I really like is the ability to set quality setting independently in the Ctrl Panel. For example I still play a lot of BF2 so I set that to max in the CP, obviously that wouldn't be ideal for when I am playing Crysis Wars or GTA4! So when will ATi support this feature, I only realised when EF came out that it didn't!

Dave Baumann · Post by **Dave Baumann** » 11 Oct 2009, 23:08

My first question is:

In 3d -> AF help, it talks about activating HQ AF (but its not supported on all cards). I just bought a 5870 to test the new features. Doesn't this card support HQ AF?

All I see is the standard slide for 2x to 16x AF.

I think this help entry is referencing some legacy options from the X1000 series. Previously we had two levels of Anisotropic filtering - see here. After from the HD 2000 series and onwards we only offered the high quality option as the default, and now with the HD 5000 series we've further improved the default algorithm - as seen here.

We probably should put a note in the help that this relates to X1000.

Dave Baumann · Post by **Dave Baumann** » 11 Oct 2009, 23:11

Thanks for the chance. :P
My questions :

1-Any idea about when the 5800 series drivers will support triplehead resolutions, i.e. 5040x1050, so its possible to run a matrox triplehead2go and the new GPUs ?

2-In this solution above (matrox + 5800), will crossfire be supported, as the 4870 that are supporting this technology and run triplehead at 5040x1050, after Catalyst 9.7 ?

I'm still trying to get to the bottom of 5040x1050 support; its not trivial and there are some questions as to how 4800 supported it.

Dave Baumann · Post by **Dave Baumann** » 11 Oct 2009, 23:12

Cool, here's mine!
I have had NVidia cards for the last three goes (7900, 8800, now 280) and one thing I really like is the ability to set quality setting independently in the Ctrl Panel. For example I still play a lot of BF2 so I set that to max in the CP, obviously that wouldn't be ideal for when I am playing Crysis Wars or GTA4! So when will ATi support this feature, I only realised when EF came out that it didn't!

Catalyst supports static profiles - you can assign the settings that you want for a particular game and then create a desktop icon for that.

Post by **skipclarke** » 11 Oct 2009, 23:15

[quote]Thanks for the chance. :P
My questions :

1-Any idea about when the 5800 series drivers will support triplehead resolutions, i.e. 5040x1050, so its possible to run a matrox triplehead2go and the new GPUs ?

2-In this solution above (matrox + 5800), will crossfire be supported, as the 4870 that are supporting this technology and run triplehead at 5040x1050, after Catalyst 9.7 ?

I'm still trying to get to the bottom of 5040x1050 support; its not trivial and there are some questions as to how 4800 supported it.

Are there any existing tools for creating custom resolutions? I know that full 5040x1050 on the 4800 series was just recently implemented. We've got a Matrox guy here on the forums if you'd like to get in touch with him.

whismerhill · Post by **whismerhill** » 11 Oct 2009, 23:22

Hello, and thanks to Dave Baumann & Sunsp*t for their contribution to our community!

Question: Is there any future plan to allow access to catalyst AI executable detection, for advanced users ?

edit: I just saw that this probably relates to a previous question lol
sorry about that :? and feel free to ignore it

Post by **BHawthorne** » 11 Oct 2009, 23:41

Is there a long term and short term list of EyeFnity feature improvements for addition to the drivers? If so, are there any general things you're allowed to say about what is on those lists yet?

I'm assuming CrossFire and bezel correction are there. What others tentatively are on those lists?

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 12 Oct 2009, 00:39

[quote]Cool, here's mine!
I have had NVidia cards for the last three goes (7900, 8800, now 280) and one thing I really like is the ability to set quality setting independently in the Ctrl Panel. For example I still play a lot of BF2 so I set that to max in the CP, obviously that wouldn't be ideal for when I am playing Crysis Wars or GTA4! So when will ATi support this feature, I only realised when EF came out that it didn't!

Catalyst supports static profiles - you can assign the settings that you want for a particular game and then create a desktop icon for that.Thanks Dave, learn something everyday :)

Dave Baumann · Post by **Dave Baumann** » 12 Oct 2009, 18:50

Is there a long term and short term list of EyeFnity feature improvements for addition to the drivers? If so, are there any general things you're allowed to say about what is on those lists yet?

I'm assuming CrossFire and bezel correction are there. What others tentatively are on those lists?

Correct - we have already communicated Bezel Correction and Crossfire. There are a couple of other features already scoped and in progress and a further set of asks is being hammered out right now and that will go into a roadmap. It is actually not my place to communicate the software roadmap, thats under the domain of Terry Makedon and his team of software product managers.

Samiad · Post by **Samiad** » 12 Oct 2009, 23:05

[quote]Thanks for the chance. :P
My questions :

1-Any idea about when the 5800 series drivers will support triplehead resolutions, i.e. 5040x1050, so its possible to run a matrox triplehead2go and the new GPUs ?

2-In this solution above (matrox + 5800), will crossfire be supported, as the 4870 that are supporting this technology and run triplehead at 5040x1050, after Catalyst 9.7 ?

I'm still trying to get to the bottom of 5040x1050 support; its not trivial and there are some questions as to how 4800 supported it.

Thanks for the update Dave, it's very encouraging to simply hear that you have an eye on this particular problem.

It might not affect many users, but as one who is affected it is a show stopper for me. I bought and RMA'd my 5870 (with much pain!) so I am simply waiting for this support to get back into the 5800 series :D

Post by **BHawthorne** » 13 Oct 2009, 07:03

[quote]Is there a long term and short term list of EyeFnity feature improvements for addition to the drivers? If so, are there any general things you're allowed to say about what is on those lists yet?

I'm assuming CrossFire and bezel correction are there. What others tentatively are on those lists?

Correct - we have already communicated Bezel Correction and Crossfire. There are a couple of other features already scoped and in progress and a further set of asks is being hammered out right now and that will go into a roadmap. It is actually not my place to communicate the software roadmap, thats under the domain of Terry Makedon and his team of software product managers.

Would that be someone willing drop in around here every now and then? If not, where would be the best place to keep up to date on his EyeFinity press releases and communication? Does he blog like SunSp*t and you do?

CMetaphor · Post by **CMetaphor** » 13 Oct 2009, 15:43

Hey all, I'm still a new guy around here (but I actively read all the time).
Anyways, my question:

In the 4870x2 a feature called "sideport" was always shown on the slides and whatnot but never implemented, and it was widely believed that if sideport were to be enabled the 4870x2 could have surpassed Nvidia GTX295 (since the sideport was a direct interconnect between both GPU cores and may have helped performance greatly). Well, it's been ages since anyone has even spoken about it, but what will happen to Sideport? Will it be enabled on the 5870x2 and the 4870x2 at the same time?

Thanks for the opportunity to ask some questions! :D

guidryp · Post by **guidryp** » 13 Oct 2009, 19:32

I already saw that 3 monitor Eyefinity doesn't work in Win XP.

But I am just looking for a single low power card (5770) to drive three monitors for regular desktop usage (not Eyefinity gaming).

Does this work in WinXp, or do I need to wait till I upgrade OS to upgrade.

Post by **Gilly** » 13 Oct 2009, 19:48

eyefinity doesnt work in XP

but i think 3 monitors set up on their own would work. wouldnt like to say 100% though

thatdude90210 · Post by **thatdude90210** » 13 Oct 2009, 20:31

I couldn't get 3 monitors working at the same time in XP. I have a 5870 with 2 DVI to monitors and a 3rd monitor from a Dell active DP adapter. I could only get 2 working at a time, in various combination.

Edit: and yeah, no Eyefinity stuff in XP, it's not in the display control panel at all.

guidryp · Post by **guidryp** » 13 Oct 2009, 21:02

I couldn't get 3 monitors working at the same time in XP. I have a 5870 with 2 DVI to monitors and a 3rd monitor from a Dell active DP adapter. I could only get 2 working at a time, in various combination.

OK, that is what I was afraid of. I have no interest in installing a new OS at this time.

Well I guess I will look at it as a money saving feature, saving me the cost of a new graphics card and new Monitor.

Status quo it is.

Cygone · Post by **Cygone** » 14 Oct 2009, 10:02

Good morning

So my question is as follows.

We have already been told that Eyefinity does not currently work with CrossFire and that it is being worked on so that it will work (supposidly before the X2 cards are released)

When Eyefinity and CrossFire work together, will we be able to use the output connectors on both the primary and secondary cards, ie use 3 (or 4) DVI monitors, or will it work like the current SLI where only 1 of the outputs work on the primary card?

Example, having 2x 5850's in Crossfire, have a SLS 3 monitor setup, and have 2 of the monitors connected to the DVI ports of the primary card, and the 3rd connected to a DVI port on the secondary card.

If this feature was enabled, it would save alot of hassle and money in having to buy an active adaptor, which then could be spend on a 2nd ATI card for better performance, (CrossFire 5850's > 1x5870 + active adaptor)

Regards

Widescreen Gaming Forum