How will a 5870 handle two 1920 X 1200 monitors?

[jdog4288]

Well the questions the title, does anyone know how well a Diamond HD 5870 will handle games on 2 1920 X 1200 24" monitors? I plan on using one for gaming and using one to look up stuff while gaming. Or possibly using both to game.

 

[JofaMang]

If you don't use the second monitor for gaming, but for 2d applications like surfing the next or other text applications, then your game performance will hardly be effected compared to using the 5870 on just a single monitor.

But, using two monitors together to game, literally doubles the resolution the 5870 needs to output. This may not mean that your FPS will drop in half comparatively, but there will be a significant performance drop, assuming you aren't already being limited by the CPU as it is.

If your CPU can feed a 5870 to its fullest potential, the difference in performance between 1920x1080 and 3840x1080 will be significant and obvious. If your CPU is already a limiting factor in your graphic performance, then the card will have headroom for extra load, that will decrease the negative effect that raising resolutions has on performance, relatively.

Maybe someone with multiple monitors can give their personal experience with it, but just remember that the entire build has to be taken into account when comparing these sort of performances.

 

[jdog4288]

I will be using a Phenom II X4 955 BE
DDR3 1600 4 GB RAM
MSI 790FX-GD70 Board
4 x 500 GB Drives running RAID 10

 

[JofaMang]

Maybe someone who has personal experience with multiple screens and a 5870 can relate their performance, I only have theory to work with, heh.

Your CPU can feed most any single GPU card, especially if it is overclocked.

A 5870 can run 1900x1200 with no difficulty on most any current title, it is a beast of a card. Theoretically, it will not run 3800x1200 with the same performance as 1900x1200, especially since your CPU will allow the 5870 to stretch its legs, and there probably won't be much untapped GPU power. At 38x12, you may need to turn down some sparkle (AA/AF/Shadows etc) to match your FPS at 19x12. Again, I am only going off what I have gleaned about how cards scale with resolution changes. Hopefully one of the fine individuals that actually runs one of these setups can give their opinion on the matter.