Need feedback for proposed setup

[kondor999]

Today I discovered that my 32" LG 1080p LCD is compatible with the Dell/Bizlink/Acell DP-DVI adapter, which has opened the door for my proposed dream Eyefinity setup.

What I'm wondering is this: should I bother with 1080p for the side 32" LCD monitors? Certainly, I'd want the center LCD to be 1080p for those games that don't work with Eyefinity. But given the huge numbers of pixels that 5760x1080 (6.22 million pixels from 1080p x 3) represents, I'm thinking that Eyefinity mode would be better with a res of 3840x720 (2.76 million pixels from 720p x 3), especially with Crossfire not working (although I realize this will change).

For less demanding games, I figure I can just crank up the MSAA to make up for the loss in resolution. In my experience, 720p 4xMSAA looks better than 1080p noAA.

Opinions?

[mikeysg]

Well, all I can say is, you will be surprised at how powerful a single HD5870 is. I'm playing Serious Sam HD, COD4, NFS Shift and Dead Space @5760x1200, max ingame + max AA, smooth as silk. MW2 requires me to lower texture to High instead of Extra due to crashing issue. Dirt 2 at High setting, 2xAA and it runs just fine.

[Magic Man]

I'd rather the option of as much as possible and then scale things back on the output if required rather than being limited by the display capabilities. The next card is going to be more powerful again etc., if you limit your display options now then you can't get that back at a later date unless you also plan to ugrade the displays.

[kondor999]

Well, all I can say is, you will be surprised at how powerful a single HD5870 is. I'm playing Serious Sam HD, COD4, NFS Shift and Dead Space @5760x1200, max ingame + max AA, smooth as silk. MW2 requires me to lower texture to High instead of Extra due to crashing issue. Dirt 2 at High setting, 2xAA and it runs just fine.

I'm sorry, but I know that you're not playing NFS Shift "smooth as silk". Even with the latest 1.02 update, try setting up a race with more than 10 opponents. You'll get massive random slowdown - and that's on an [email protected] with/without Crossfire. Meanwhile, my GTX280-based HTPC with a hand-me-down Core2 runs fine with 15 opponents no matter what resolution or features you choose.

Anyway, I withdraw the entire proposal since, as of today, the LCD TV began to shut off randomly due to the increasingly infamous DVI adapter incompatibility issue:

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=17012&p=175965#p175965

ATI: Your QA dept. is awful. You don't appear to have tested the DVI-DP adapter with more than a handful of monitors, and it transpires that many monitors are incompatible. You're making me really miss my GTX280's (I'm glad I kept one at least).

[Dave Baumann]

ATI: Your QA dept. is awful. You don't appear to have tested the DVI-DP adapter with more than a handful of monitors, and it transpires that many monitors are incompatible.

Understand that an active adapter is entirely translating the signal from one format to another; the DVI output from the adapter bears no relation to the input. If the issue is DVI related, then I would suggest you seek input from the adapter manufacturer.

[Anprionsa]

[quote]ATI: Your QA dept. is awful. You don't appear to have tested the DVI-DP adapter with more than a handful of monitors, and it transpires that many monitors are incompatible.

Understand that an active adapter is entirely translating the signal from one format to another; the DVI output from the adapter bears no relation to the input. If the issue is DVI related, then I would suggest you seek input from the adapter manufacturer.

And if I remember correctly in another thread you may find the answer in DP>VGA.

And once again as I have stated in other threads you have to remember this is NEW! Things will eventually get sorted out and the technology around this will advance, eyefinity (personal opinion) isn't going anywhere, except forward.

[kondor999]

[quote][quote]ATI: Your QA dept. is awful. You don't appear to have tested the DVI-DP adapter with more than a handful of monitors, and it transpires that many monitors are incompatible.

Understand that an active adapter is entirely translating the signal from one format to another; the DVI output from the adapter bears no relation to the input. If the issue is DVI related, then I would suggest you seek input from the adapter manufacturer.

And if I remember correctly in another thread you may find the answer in DP>VGA.

And once again as I have stated in other threads you have to remember this is NEW! Things will eventually get sorted out and the technology around this will advance, eyefinity (personal opinion) isn't going anywhere, except forward.
Yes, well, it suddenly started working again. To the ATI person: Please look through the thread I linked to and hopefully you will realize that, thus far, we have found only 2 or 3 DVI-DP adapters (2 of which are actually the same thing) which are available to consumers. And none of them work properly with many monitors. Yes, I'm sure it's something to do with the adapter. That's obvious, since we don't have a single reported failure when using a native DP monitor.

But 90% of us are using the very adapter that ATI has been using at trade shows and youtube demonstrations (made by Accell/Bizlink and sold on the Dell website), and a *lot* of people are experiencing this random sleep mode issue.

The problem appears to be much more dependent on the type of monitor used, as some (including myself) are able to get the DVI-DP adapter working with a particular monitor (in my case, a 32" LG LG3260 LCD TV). On the other hand, I just happen to have six different types of monitors to try - of which 3/4 (out of the 4 I've tried) so far do not work. A 25% success rate is not what I'd call a big victory.

This is why I make my assertion of, perhaps, insufficient testing with a variety of monitors. Certainly, the end-users are doing that testing now. And without much success.

[kondor999]

[quote][quote]ATI: Your QA dept. is awful. You don't appear to have tested the DVI-DP adapter with more than a handful of monitors, and it transpires that many monitors are incompatible.

Understand that an active adapter is entirely translating the signal from one format to another; the DVI output from the adapter bears no relation to the input. If the issue is DVI related, then I would suggest you seek input from the adapter manufacturer.

And if I remember correctly in another thread you may find the answer in DP>VGA.

And once again as I have stated in other threads you have to remember this is NEW! Things will eventually get sorted out and the technology around this will advance, eyefinity (personal opinion) isn't going anywhere, except forward.
The image quality loss involved with VGA analog vs a digital source (DVI-D, HDMI, DP) is huge. If that's the solution, then it's a pretty sad one.

Most of the monitors I own are sufficiently high-end that they don't even bother to include the old d-sub connector. I've not used d-sub since 2002 or so, and am not enthusiastic about going back to those blurry images. LCD's, in particular, just look awful with a non-digital source. Still, I suppose it is just a single peripheral monitor.

I'll refrain from casting further aspersion until I see it in action. One thing I'd be curious to know is the max res that an analog VGA/d-sub connector can handle. By the time very high-res monitors (say, 1080p and above) had become available, we had all long since moved on.

[kondor999]

One last thing. I've decided to take the plunge this weekend and get 2 additional 32" LCDs for an awesome (hopefully nausea-inducing lol) Eyefinity experience.

It's unfortunate that NFS:Shift 1.02 still has serious issues with ATI hardware when running more than a few cars on the track, but it should still make for a compelling single-car simulator.

I don't want to sound like I'm "down" on ATI. I happen to think the 5870 is a wonderful piece of kit - I bought 2 of them after all. But I came from a 3xGTX280 Tri-SLI setup (talk about flaky!!), and the main reason was Eyefinity.

Anyway, I seem to have it working with this particular monitor - which is good enough. I hope that others are able to find a combination that will work as well.

[ViciousXUSMC]

lol 3x 32" I gotta see that let me know when its done and you post pics. My 3x24" is about as big as I can see wanting/needing when I am close, but if you were far away I can see 32" working. I have a 37" right above the 24's for TV viewing and stuff so I can visualize what 3 of those would be like.

[mikeysg]

I'm sorry, but I know that you're not playing NFS Shift "smooth as silk". Even with the latest 1.02 update, try setting up a race with more than 10 opponents. You'll get massive random slowdown - and that's on an [email protected] with/without Crossfire.

I played it with six other AI cars, smooth as silk. Now, whether more cars would result in a slowdown, I can't say cuz I haven't tried it yet.

BTW, I can't abide people who presume to know it all, YOU do not know what I had set it at so please don't imply that I'm lying.... :evil:

[TexasTango]

The image quality loss involved with VGA analog vs a digital source (DVI-D, HDMI, DP) is huge.......

....... LCD's, in particular, just look awful with a non-digital source......

I'll refrain from casting further aspersion until I see it in action.......

Well, actually, when in-game and looking at the 3 monitors, you can't tell the difference.
Yes, if you saw it in action, you'd be whistling a modified aspersion.

[kondor999]

I played it with six other AI cars, smooth as silk. Now, whether more cars would result in a slowdown, I can't say cuz I haven't tried it yet.

Then I would suggest actually doing what I said, rather than assuming I'm wrong.

Put 10 or more cars on the grid (like a real race, for God's sake), and see what you get: massive stuttering. This does not occur on Nvidia hardware.

Also, you're glossing over the fact that, in Career mode, all the races have over 10 CPU cars - thus rendering those races only marginally playable. This isn't some tiny little problem - it pretty much breaks the game. Unless, of course, you don't care about the single player career at all (in which case you will never get to drive 80% of the available cars since you'll never level up) , and never race with more than 6 other people.

Sorry - no way is that "smooth as silk". And my system is the same as yours, just with a better CPU. I seriously doubt you'll be getting better performance. So Yes - I think I can intelligently extrapolate that your system will choke just as badly under the same circumstances as mine. If you claim otherwise, I'd like to hear why.

[kondor999]

lol 3x 32" I gotta see that let me know when its done and you post pics. My 3x24" is about as big as I can see wanting/needing when I am close, but if you were far away I can see 32" working. I have a 37" right above the 24's for TV viewing and stuff so I can visualize what 3 of those would be like.

Yes, I know it's insane. But when I playing my driving games, I'm sitting quite a way from the screens. It's more akin to the situation of watching TV than playing a typical PC game with your face about 1-2' away. I use a Playseat setup that puts the screens somewhere over my feet. Thats, like, 5 feet away!!

Plus - hey. I'm hoping it makes me wanna puke :o

[kondor999]

[quote]
The image quality loss involved with VGA analog vs a digital source (DVI-D, HDMI, DP) is huge.......

....... LCD's, in particular, just look awful with a non-digital source......

I'll refrain from casting further aspersion until I see it in action.......

Well, actually, when in-game and looking at the 3 monitors, you can't tell the difference.
Yes, if you saw it in action, you'd be whistling a modified aspersion.
Well, then I appreciate the info! That might be a great back-up plan in case my current adapter starts acting up again.

I agree with you that the image in the side monitors is so distorted anyway that the difference would probably be negligible. I just had to think about it for a while :wink:

After all, that's why I'm going with just 720p LCD's on the side. What I'm a little worried about is sacrificing sharpness on that center monitor as well.

Wouldn't in be awesome if you could run the center monitor at a higher res than the sides?

[g00seberry]

kondor999,

Please stop triple posting. Use multiple quotes in a post rather than reposting for every comment.

[kondor999]

kondor999,

Please stop triple posting. Use multiple quotes in a post rather than reposting for every comment.

I'll try :)