Eyefinity + Crossfire

[RikaOne]

First off, hi all! I'm new here and have a couple questions:

First question: I'd like to upgrade my graphics card to two 5770s in Crossfire and my question is, can I run 3 monitors in Eyefinity with Crossfire enabled? I understand that I can't run say 2 monitors on 1 card and the 3rd monitor on the 2nd card. Can all 3 be hooked up to one card and still get the Crossfire benefit? One of my monitors does have a DisplayPort on it.

Second question: Does Eyefinity support monitors of different resolutions? I have 1 monitor at 1920x1200 and 2 monitors at 1680x1050. Will this have any effect on gaming?

 

[Mousemonkey]

If you're going to go multi monitor, forget that eyefinity half hearted approach and do it properly.

 

[paperfox]

as far as i know their is no support crossfire and eyefinity running at the same time. (saw a guy run a dx10 vs dx11 benchmark,on youtube, and he said he couldent get it to work with 2, 3, or 4 cards) mostlikely later drivers should fix that.

not sure about your second question.

 

[RikaOne]

Omigosh, I don't have $2000 to spend on a graphics card.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Omigosh, I don't have $2000 to spend on a graphics card.

You could always sell a couple of organs, I'm sure it would be worth it. :lol:

 

[RikaOne]

Ok, my next question then: Is it easy to switch Crossfire mode on and off? I'd like to use multiple monitors for regular use and then use Crossfire (on the 1920x1200 DisplayPort monitor) when I play a game.

 

[jay2tall]

1) When in Crossfire, you can't plug anything into the 2nd card. If you need to use the 2nd card, you would have to disable crossfire and use them independently. If one of your displays already has display port, then you can just plug all 3 into the primary card and be done with it.

2) I think Eyefinity is just their marketing gimmick name. Really all this is is the ability to have 3 displays on one card, or 6 once they have that UBER Display Port card out. You can probably set this up to run each monitor at its resolution, however your entire desktop will not span all 3, if that makes sense. You wouldn't have one LARGE desktop. If you have it configured this way rather than one LARGE desktop, meaning running the 1920,1200 display at the same res as the other two, your game will only display on the primary monitor. You need ALL 3 displays to be the same resolution for the gaming aspect to work, or have your entire desktop span all 3. Otherwise you would have to select a primary display, im guessing the larger one, and the other two as just extended displays. Meaning they are blank work areas that you can put stuff one, but when gaming they shut off.

On a flip side you could always set the 2 smaller displays to span one large desktop and use the larger monitor as an extended desktop. However, in my experience using 2 displays for gaming sucks because the center of the screen is where the 2 bezels meet. It looks much better with 3 displays.

 

[jay2tall]

Ok, my next question then: Is it easy to switch Crossfire mode on and off? I'd like to use multiple monitors for regular use and then use Crossfire (on the 1920x1200 DisplayPort monitor) when I play a game.

Yeah it is just a drop down menu from the ATI CCC console.

Personally I would just set the 1920x1200 as your primary display, and the other 2, one on either side, as extended displays. They will just be blank areas for you to work on, but when you start a game they would shut off and just your primary display would function. Plug all 3 into the 1st card and leave CF on. Then you have nothing to change or worry about.

 

[RikaOne]

Okay, thanks very much for the info!! ^_^

 

[jay2tall]

Actually I just tried this with a little 15". i plugged it in my 5870 and it detects and adds as an extended display. When I lunched a game it actually keeps a desktop on the display but no game since it is not part of the primary display group. Once you see the console its easy to figure out.

 

[RikaOne]

Thanks jay2tall! I think I'll do it as you described and just leave all 3 monitors on all the time in the 1st card with Crossfire on. Now I just need to find a good deal on 2 5770s. -_-'

 

[jay2tall]

^ Just get a 5870 and be done with it

 

[user999]

Hi so just to be super sure about that. EyeFinity on 3 monitors will work fine on 5850 with crossfire as long as I will have all monitors pluged in first graphic card?? Offcource it will use full power of 5850 crossfire or it will ignore crossfire?
Thanks