Eyefinity screen tear guaranteed?

[darkphox]

Hello everyone,

I'm purchasing a gfx card for a 3 screen gaming setup and am concerned about the screen tearing issue with amd's 69xx series. Does anybody know if the screen tearing is guaranteed, or is it luck/hit and miss?

I've got 3 Acer G235hAbd monitors, and all are DVI, so I would be connecting two via DVI and one via DP adapter. From my understanding the screen tear is caused by timing issues between the output types. I plan to hold out for an eyefinity 6 edition, or possibly the 6990 to have all monitors on the same output (with 3 single link dvi adapters at $30 a pop) but would like to know if a standard 6970 is guaranteed to cause the tear issue or not.

Lastly, I don't like AMD over Nvidia or vise versa, and I know NV surround connects via 3 dvi's. However, I am fairly set on the 69xx series because I like the 2gb of ram over 1.5 the gtx580 has, and 6970 xfire will be cheaper than 580 sli (even after adapters). I am completely open to comments, insights, and suggestions but would like to keep this from turning into a classic red vs green debate. Thanks!

 

[bystander]

While using google to search, I've found that most people are having issues with vsync not working with eyefinity. It seems to be a driver issue.

However, I ran across one guy who says drivers 10.7 work (but a 6970 won't be able to use those drivers).

 

[scotu]

do nVidia cards also have this problem?

 

[jockey]

AMD video driver version 11.1 is just now out. This is the most recent since v10.12 in Nov.,2010. Hopefully it's fixed issues with 6xxx series. Many of us have downloaded it tonight and will be able to post effects in the next day or two.

 

[darkphox]

Thanks for responding everyone,

I've heard that screen tearing is present with & without Vsync (triple buffering no help either), and that's why its such a concerning issue. Having screen tearing would take quite a bit from away from the 3 screen experience. Nvidia cards do NOT have this problem, because NV surround connects all 3 through DVI, removing any issue of unmatched timing between the outputs. This is also why i'm contemplating an Eye6 version, so all outputs would be the same.

If anyone has an Eyefinity setup with 69xx cards and is not having any screen tear, I'd be interested to hear. Also if drivers have made any impact for better or worse? Thanks again for the responses!