ATI Eyefinity...set-up, functionality, and games.

[cadaveca]

You bet I'll be folding...winter is pretty much here, and I need the extra heat!

Got the replacement monitor, but have been extremely busy. 4 kids eat up alot of my time...never having both my mom, and my mother-in-law, here at different times this month, sure is slowing things down!

This build in itself has taken about 8 months to get to the state it is now...Had to wait for the Silverstone Raven case to be released, then the motherboard...then the cpu(which will be upgraded to BE Phenom2-965)...

Had to wait for the vga release(I knew about eyefinity for many months before release, was hard to stay quiet!)...

Now waiting for OCZ Black-Edition ram to be available locally...

Had to wait for the right monitors with displayport...my first P2310H monitors did not arrive in final packaging, and hence the broken monitor. All monitors shipping from now forward will have proper packaging.


So, I've got a G25 wheel for this build, the pc, the monitors...all of it will get a cabinet built around it, a racing seat, and in a few months, I'll have a dedicated racing sim!

Having palyed a bit with eyefinity now, I think that dual cards, or an "X2" card may be needed for my uses. I had considered just trying 5850's at first....but they turned out not quite powerful enough as single cards. Crossfire is currently not supported in Eyefinity...the release of the "X2" cards awaits a working driver.

But then, I was thinking...was about Lucid's hydra chip? MSI's P55 "BigBang" motherboard should be here soon...will Lucid's magic chip fix the performance problems I have now, and work with eyefinity?


Will I be running an nVidia card for Phys-X, and ATI cards for Eyefinity?



This is a fairly large investment, this simulator building...I might be in for a long journey with this build!

[Daniel ~]

I can wait for your report! ":O}

[raphael2040]

/jealous.

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by raphael2040

/jealous.

LoL. Don't be. While it works well, I am not completely happy with it as of yet...need to have the monitors at the proper distance for full immersion, need decent cpu power, need this, that, and the other thing...

The dell monitors use 22W max, so the three of them use less than half the power that the 30-inch does(which uses 150W, max), 2w idle on the new monitors really rocks as well. Dell 30-inch used 27w idle..more than one of the P2310H under full usage!

By my calculations, my HD4890's were drawing about 410w together, using FarCry2 as load tester, single 5870 is about 200w, overclocked. This, with the monitors added in, has dropped power consumption nearly in half, and the BE965 I have here now seems to use far less power than the BE720, for the same clocks.

So, in the end, I've lowered system power consumption, but not gained any real performance. In fact, due to the extra monitors, framerate is a fair bit lower than it was before I went with eyefinity.

That means I'm still not done building yet. I think I might return the 5870, and await the vga coming next month. Not too happy with XFX anyway.


Next couple of months will be very busy for me...Christmas is coming; time to open the store again! Hopefully I'll get some time, but it depends on how well hiring goes...I might be stuck in the store 9am-9pm.

[Samuknow]

Can't wait to see this setup. Thanks Dave.

[chrisbard]

Hey Dave ma man hows things?

[Daniel ~]

Just growing pains Dave! ":O}

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by Samuknow

Can't wait to see this setup. Thanks Dave.

No problem. Once I get it working properly, I'll post up alot more info. Seems that a single 5870 is not quite enough yet, so I've got to wait for Crossfire/Eyefinity working together.

Originally Posted by chrisbard

Hey Dave ma man hows things?

Things are as good as I make them!

Originally Posted by Daniel ~

Just growing pains Dave! ":O}

Yeah, for sure. I've got the added benefit of a wife that is as interested in this stuff as I am, and we are both willing to work through those growing pains, and see this tech mature into adulthood...it's not quite there yet.

We are currently investigating TrackIR-5, and nVidia's 3DVision. While i've met nVidia's marketing team, and had dinner with Brian DelRizzo, I still find it hard to support nVidia by buyingthier products though...I've gone silent the past few months while researching things, and talking to peopel to find out the real story...when I can peice it together I'll do a write-up...


I've been banned from XtremeSystems, and HardwareCanucks...oh, there is such a story behind all of that...anyway, marketing guys don't like me being honest, and have worked to shut me up, and take my opinion out of the public eye. HardwareCanucks banned me after hiring me as a reviewer, and not giving me anything to review for 5 months.

Microstutter in multi-gpu configs? Overclocking's F1OC?? Lucid Hydra? Larrabee? Eyefinity? Cloud computing? I've had my finger in alot of pies recently. BUt now I've got pie on my face, and people have noticed!

So I'm leaving eyefinity, and tech, behind for a bit. My oldest daughter has surgery in a few weeks, and she needs me 100%, so I'll be a bit silent in the next couple of months while I focus on my home life.

It's great to see ya'all still around...since I left my life has changed greatly, and so have I!!

[Daniel ~]

You were ALWAYS a asset and a friend. Were glad of your return. Sorry your child is in need of care, happy you can give it! Blessings upon her.

When you find the time, We publish what other want hidden with glee! ":O}