Widescreen Gaming Forum

[quote]Well, the question is, what is the ideal aspect ratio?

I would have assumed that one you're above maybe 3:1 there would be little point to continuing to go wider, but you guys have more experience than me, what do you think?

I take it the bezels are more noticeable in portrait mode setups? Unlike in landscape mode setups, the bezels aren't going to be only in your peripheral vision?

It's really a preference thing, and that is what I was trying to highlight here - all the options, with all the gives and takes.

3x1-L has the wides FOV, but you get the most "stretching at the edges". It has the fewest bezels, but physically the monitors are the smallest installation. It's also the cheapest.

My main worry with 3X1 landscape isn't the stretching, it's the games that simply don't support the necessary FOV. I believe UT3 has a 130 degree limit even when playing on servers that use the FreeFOV mutator, and one of the multiplayer games I've been excited about recently is a UT3 mod remake of Command and Conquer: Renegade's multiplayer.

Of course, given that UT3 is limited to 100 degrees without a mutator, it's probably best to stick to 3X1 portrait for that one.

I've been playing on 5x16:9 (actually 8192x1042 windowed), I must say that it does fill up your own fov, but i feel I'd rather do portrait than landscape. You don't see the edge of the outward monitors and it feel like wasted space. It also feels like a cubicle, which im not fond of. I'm thinking the sweet spot for more than 3 monitors is the 5x1 Portrait. But that's just me.

My main worry with 3X1 landscape isn't the stretching, it's the games that simply don't support the necessary FOV. I believe UT3 has a 130 degree limit even when playing on servers that use the FreeFOV mutator, and one of the multiplayer games I've been excited about recently is a UT3 mod remake of Command and Conquer: Renegade's multiplayer.

Of course, given that UT3 is limited to 100 degrees without a mutator, it's probably best to stick to 3X1 portrait for that one.

I play alot of UT3, I use the FreeFOV mutator all the way at 130. I prefer 150 - 152, which you can get with Widescreenfixer by dopefish. You'll be fine if you pick that up. It's free btw.

Feel free to kick my butt out of here and direct me somewhere else if I'm derailing the thread by accident but here goes:

You can see what I have in my sig.

For a number of reasons (space and cost mainly) I'll be staying single monitor for the forseeable future although I could see going 30 inches before too long.

That being said: Should someone in my shoes even look crosseyed at a 2GB 5870 or even a standard 5970? I'm sure the forthcoming 4GB 5970 is way into overkill territory for me to even consider and it won't be cheap.

I'm also considering the GTX480 with the obvious reservations and concerns that are very well documented. Not feeling very confident about that.

Otherwise I'll simply wait another six months and see what the lay of the land is like then. Thanks for anyone's thoughts in advance. :)

Feel free to kick my butt out of here and direct me somewhere else if I'm derailing the thread by accident but here goes:

You can see what I have in my sig.

For a number of reasons (space and cost mainly) I'll be staying single monitor for the forseeable future although I could see going 30 inches before too long.

That being said: Should someone in my shoes even look crosseyed at a 2GB 5870 or even a standard 5970? I'm sure the forthcoming 4GB 5970 is way into overkill territory for me to even consider and it won't be cheap.

I'm also considering the GTX480 with the obvious reservations and concerns that are very well documented. Not feeling very confident about that.

Otherwise I'll simply wait another six months and see what the lay of the land is like then. Thanks for anyone's thoughts in advance. :)

single monitor + 2gb ram on gpu = not worth
maaaaybe for 2560x1600 res but I think not worth as well

[quote]Feel free to kick my butt out of here and direct me somewhere else if I'm derailing the thread by accident but here goes:

You can see what I have in my sig.

For a number of reasons (space and cost mainly) I'll be staying single monitor for the forseeable future although I could see going 30 inches before too long.

That being said: Should someone in my shoes even look crosseyed at a 2GB 5870 or even a standard 5970? I'm sure the forthcoming 4GB 5970 is way into overkill territory for me to even consider and it won't be cheap.

I'm also considering the GTX480 with the obvious reservations and concerns that are very well documented. Not feeling very confident about that.

Otherwise I'll simply wait another six months and see what the lay of the land is like then. Thanks for anyone's thoughts in advance. :)

single monitor + 2gb ram on gpu = not worth
maaaaybe for 2560x1600 res but I think not worth as well
Agreed. The standard 1GB 5870 would be your best bet for a single 30" LCD.

sorry for soo many questions but card has 2xactive dp and 4x passive dp outputs
so 2x dp can run DVI with passive adapter max @ 1920x1200 and 4x dp passive need to be used with dp monitors, so thats why I am wondering if I can run 2x DVI + 4x VGA monitors (1680x1050 each) with mini DP @ VGA adapters (or mini DP @ DP + DP @ VGA)??
These adapters usually works in normal 3-eyefinity setups, so I hope in this card will be possible too

sorry for soo many questions but card has 2xactive dp and 4x passive dp outputs
so 2x dp can run DVI with passive adapter max @ 1920x1200 and 4x dp passive need to be used with dp monitors, so thats why I am wondering if I can run 2x DVI + 4x VGA monitors (1680x1050 each) with mini DP @ VGA adapters (or mini DP @ DP + DP @ VGA)??
These adapters usually works in normal 3-eyefinity setups, so I hope in this card will be possible too

Same question, only replace with 1920x1080 monitors.

Yes you can because they are active adapters converting a DP signal to VGA. Only the passive DVI and HDMI adapters use up the DVI clock signal.

This may seem to be a stupid question but I have a good reason for asking.

Do you have to connect 6 monitors on a 5870 E6 or is it possible to connect only 3 monitors on a 5870 E6 card and play in 3x1-L?

I'm asking this because I need the extra power of the extra 1GB becuase I want to play in 3D sterescopic on all three monitors.

If someone is wondering; I'm using the iZ3D-driver and it's possible to play in 3D stereoscopic on all 3 monitors.

I've tested it with a 8500GT with 2 monitors.

Nope, you can connect as many as you want (up to 6). Obviously it's a bit of a waste to go with one, though. Three will work fine. :)

Nope, you can connect as many as you want (up to 6). Obviously it's a bit of a waste to go with one, though. Three will work fine. :)

Yes it is a bit of a waste but not when you want to play surround 3D stereosopic. The extra 1 GB can make the difference (I think) on 3 monitors instead of 6.

ati not support 5x1 mode bcoz he have open GL/CL limit of 8192 pixels
but they suppoer 4x1 mode, so why when you want to use 4x30" 2560x1600 res? :twisted:

Any idea when the 5x1 Portrait setups are going to be possible? I'm trying to start saving the money now to upgrade to the E6 card and 5 U2410s.

Any idea when the 5x1 Portrait setups are going to be possible? I'm trying to start saving the money now to upgrade to the E6 card and 5 U2410s.

I do know there is a working driver inside ATI (at least I trust the person from ATI who told me that). It wasn't at a point where they would release me a one-off pre-beta driver. They are also aware of the great interest on the forum, the work-around we've found and the 5x1-P stand SKU I'm developing with Ergotech.

[quote]Any idea when the 5x1 Portrait setups are going to be possible? I'm trying to start saving the money now to upgrade to the E6 card and 5 U2410s.

I do know there is a working driver inside ATI (at least I trust the person from ATI who told me that). It wasn't at a point where they would release me a one-off pre-beta driver. They are also aware of the great interest on the forum, the work-around we've found and the 5x1-P stand SKU I'm developing with Ergotech.
Want to comment on estimated price on said stand?

I can't say anything for sure, for a number of reasons. 1) We're still ironing out the design, and 2) I don't set that pricing.

However, I know that Ergotech wants to be aggressive on the pricing so that the stand is appealing and affordable to this audience. I made a post here outlining some additional reasons why I thought it wouldn't be terribly more than the existing Heavy Duty Triple

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=19063&start=15

Check it out here, and come back to this thread to discuss.

Good review :)

Looks like a 5870 at 5040x1050 is the same as a 5770 at 1920x1200 :shock:

The thing I'm still curious about is whether or not xfire 5870's actually have these weird input lag / stuttering issues that a lot of users are reporting :?

It's actually amazing how well the "lower" cards perform. Will get the next review up in a few days. Gonna take some time to catch up on some other things on the site first.

I did not have any micro-stuttering with my 5870 E6 cards in CFX. I benched those in the E6 review.

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/ATI_Radeon_5870_Eyefinity6_-_Featured_Review

Nice review, Ibrin. I've been eyeballing a 5850 upgrade recently and will hopefully be able to pull the trigger within a month or so. The Toxic 5850 with 2GB had been where I was aiming, but after reading through this review I am reconsidering the 'need' for 2GB RAM. I will be gaming @ 3840x1024 for the foreseeable future using my TH2Go (still on XP so EF is a no-go), and based on the numbers here I think I could get terrific performance with a standard 1GB 5850 and save myself $50-80 in the process. I'm currently on a G80 8800GTS 640MB, so a 5850 of any sort should be a substantial bump in performance. I'm also not a graphics whore (kinda obvious from my machine specs).

So what do you think? 1GB or 2GB model? I'm leaning to 1GB.

Another quick question. My intent is to connect my TH2Go via DVI and also have an HDTV connected via HDMI to the 5850 for an extended desktop. I assume this will work with the card and ATI's CCC. Do you forsee any problems with this setup?

-edit-
Should I have any reservations at all about switching to an ATI+TH2Go setup from NVIDIA?

-edit2-
OK this worries me a little:

ATI Eyefinity multi-display technology2,3

* Three independent display controllers
o Drive three displays simultaneously with independent resolutions, refresh rates, color controls, and video overlays

SOURCE

So is Eyefinity required for ALL multi-display configurations or will my proposed setup work with XP?