Sapphire 6850, Xfire and Eyefinity

darkgauntlett

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Jul 14, 2010
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I recently bought a second monitor and a Sapphire 6850. Just for fun, I decided to try out the eyefinity feature and played Crysis for a few moments on it. Obviously this isn't ideal on 2 monitors due to the crosshair being right up against the edges of the monitors. Now I want an eyefinity setup...bad.

Current monitors are 24" and native 1080p. I saw a significant performance drop on "very high" settings for Crysis (1 not 2). I don't need to be very high on Crysis as playing on high with my previous video card was fine. I'm interested in playing dragon age 2, the witcher 2, battlefield 3, and Skyrim in eyefinity. i understand this hasn't all been released but i want to think about them in this process. Don't want to upgrade for at least 18 months.

My question is can I stick with the 6850 and run intense games in xfire (after buying a 2nd one)? I don't want to spend $500 on two cards and will give up on eyefinity for now if needed.

I've read about issues with xfire but can't confirm whether or not it's been fixed and/or fixed with my particular card. I bought it because I thought it was more than enough for my needs but now i'm a bit lost. I still have time to return the GPU if needed, it was purchased on amazon.


Specs Below.
CPU- I5-750 (slight OC to 1.85ghz)
Current mobo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128425
PSU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
Ram (just in case) I have 2 sets total of 8gb- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231321

this is my current video card- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908&cm_re=6850-_-14-102-908-_-Product
 

hscbandit07

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Apr 7, 2011
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I have a single HIS 6850 with 8GB RAM and a AMD X6 1090T Processor. I am currently running everything on stock settings (no OC) with three 1600x900 monitors (2 DVI and 1 DP to VGA) at a combined 4800x900. I can play Crysis at medium settings in eyefinity at a respectable 30+ fps. High settings get me around 20 to 25 fps and is still somewhat playable. I imagine that this GPU in crossfire would do just fine.
 

darkgauntlett

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I realized that my mobo's 2nd pci e slot was x4 so I upped to a 6950 and returned both 6850's. I'm was running Crysis fine at mostly high settings (2 or 3 categories at medium) and it was very playable until the last boss. I really want this set up for skyrim so i'm going to upgrade mobo and save up for PSU and 2nd 6950 for Skyrim's release. Thanks!
 

beltzy

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Jan 25, 2010
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Keep in mind that a second monitor is requiring your gpu to crank out twice as many pixels (3x for eyefinity). Expect a hit to performance. Dual 6950's should be able to drive that setup but never hurts to look for performance info from other users.

Also, dual 6950's are pretty loud if they're back to back so just be prepared for that :)
 

darkgauntlett

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Haha yeah i meant 2.85.

The 2GB 6950 has been working great! Runs crysis on mostly high settings (3 or 4 options set to medium and no AA or course) and stays around 30fps. I have tons of older games like half life 2 (low AA) and the witcher and it maxes those out. Dragon Age 2 plays at average 60fps on high setting with 2x AA. Haven't tried it higher but based on performance i'm sure it could handle it. GTA IV runs smooth at high settings. It's been an overall great experience. I have a feeling that Skyrim and Battlefield 3 are going to be taxing on this thing though. I'm currently looking to upgrade my mobo and psu to xfire the 6950. Here's hoping the 6950 drops to $200 or less by the time Skyrim comes around...


note: to play in eyefinity, the witcher has to be set to low quality lighting or cut-scenes wont play. widescreengamingforum.com can keep you abreast of quirks like that.
 

White_Top

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May 16, 2011
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I was running the HD4800 [1GB] for almost 3 years on a AMD PhenomBlack quad core, 2.6 or 2.4 Ghz, with 8 Gigs Ram [since win7 64bit, 2gigs under xp32] and I never had issues maxing games out on a single 1080p DVI monitor with 2ms response time, that includes crysis [1] averaging at over 30fps with everything maxed. When I started playing Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, I had to turn down shadows and some texture settings as well as AA down to about half for the audio to synch up during cutscenes and for the gamesplay to be smooth. I recently put a Sapphire 6950 [2gb] to replace the 4800 and took one of my monitors on the back shelf and put in back on my desk. Now I'm runing ACB on 2monitors and a TV [all 1080p] Monitor1 is DVI, Monitor2 is MDP to DVI and the TV is HDMI. Thats 5760*1080 rez, and ACB now plays on that, with max settings, just as smoothly as portal2 and halflife2. Suffice it to say that I am quite pleased, and unless anyone plans on using 6 monitors, [which would be odd for most games, in the same way that only 2 would be weird] I fail to see any reason to spend money on more than one of these cards, especially if their procecors are more recent then mine, unless they simply feel cold when sitting at their computer. I can't wait to play the Witcher2 on this setup, hoping that the support for eyefinity is as good as it is in ACB [fades the side monitors in and out during menu and cutscenes to preserve camera composition, etc]. I can't reccoment this card enough, considering it is also loaded for dx11, and the sapphire box also includes bonuses like a free hdmi cable.
 

darkgauntlett

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I'm right there with you on ACB. It's awesome in eyefinity. I'm looking forward to witcher 2!!!! Part one is ok in eyefinity... cutscenes are bad even with the low light fix to make it work. Without low light setting most scenes freeze completely. The HUD is stretched out too far as well. Makes things difficult to click in rough situations. I hope more devs take cues from the Deus Ex team. They're doing a great job pre-planing for EF.

I make the mistake of testing games at their highest settings on one monitor and then playing medium/high on three... It's 6 in on hand and half dozen in the other. If I can get a dozen in each, why not?