Thoughts on video, please

[Loren Pechtel]

This box is getting troublesome and it's about time to replace it.

I do play RTS and MMORPG games but not FPS games.

I am currently running three monitors on two video cards.

I'm looking for something good but definitely not bleeding edge.

What should I be looking for?

 

[John Doe]

This box is getting troublesome and it's about time to replace
it.

I do play RTS and MMORPG games but not FPS games.

I am currently running three monitors on two video cards.

I'm looking for something good but definitely not bleeding edge.

What should I be looking for?

As you know, Real-Time Strategy (RTS) is heavy on CPU. But it can
strain a video card too. I would consider a big monitor(s) instead
of multiple monitors. That is how I went last time, with a 26 inch
LCD. But you have not said whether you want to keep the
monitors... A huge monitor works wonders for full screen games.

Definitely quad core (or better) CPU. Good power supply and
cooling. If I were you, I would ask, and include more detail about
what you want, in the strategic gaming group.

comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.strategic

They can use the activity.

 

[Paul]

This box is getting troublesome and it's about time to replace it.

I do play RTS and MMORPG games but not FPS games.

I am currently running three monitors on two video cards.

I'm looking for something good but definitely not bleeding edge.

What should I be looking for?

ATI cards featuring "Eyefinity", can drive at least three monitors.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eyefinity#Multi-display_technologies

Nvidia announced something like that, but I think it still takes
two cards.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-surround-technology.html

A review of what Nvidia is offering, from June 2010.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3793/nvidia-launches-3d-vision-surround

With the ATI approach, you may need to buy one of these. A DisplayPort
to DVI adapter.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3879/active-singlelink-displayport-adaptors-available-soon

So it looks like ATI can do it (drive three monitors) with one video card,
while Nvidia needs two (and a software approach to driving three monitors).
But the ATI may need help from an active dongle, to convert from one
display output type, to another.

DisplayPort to Single-Link DVI-D Adapter (limited to 1920x1200) $27
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814999032

The video card should be powerful enough, to drive three monitors
at a decent frame rate. I have no idea what a MMORPG takes - it
probably still needs 3D rendering power, and you likely wouldn't be
happy, if the monitors had lag between them or with respect to
gameplay.

http://sites.amd.com/us/underground/products/eyefinity/Pages/reviews.aspx

This 5850 has a good collection of connectors on it. Including
two DVI, a DisplayPort and an HDMI. In principle, you can use
an HDMI to DVI passive dongle, but I don't know if that
satisfies the "clock signal" requirement described in the
Anandtech article (necessary to make three monitors work).
My guess would be, you'd use two DVI, plus a DisplayPort to DVI-D
active dongle, to make a third display channel, and that would allow
you to drive three DVI monitors. DVI-D means there are no VGA signals
coming from the active adapter. Cheap LCDs usually have DVI inputs,
so DVI is the most likely input type to be shared by all the
monitors.

http://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/14-150-477-Z01?$S640W$

And this 5850 has two cooling fans, with the objective of
lower fan noise by being able to run them a bit slower.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125318

The customer feedback reviews are a good source of technical info
on running the cards.

"Multi-Monitor flickering is not Gigabyte specific and is due to the
lower GPU/Memory Clock rates when not making 3d calls. You can use
a program called 'ATI Tray Tools' to force constant clocks at all
times which will remove the flickering when using multiple monitors.

I have 3 monitors with no flickering issues in Eyefinity and
non-Eyefinity modes.

On another note, if you want to use Eyefinity, you need to create
a display group. In the 'advanced view' catalyst control center,
navigate to 'Desktops & Displays.' You will find an option to
create a display group by clicking on the down-facing black arrow
next to the virtual display and navigating to
'Display Group' -> 'Create Group.' Now, your computer will think
you have a single large screen display instead of a multiple-monitor
setup."

So if you had a card like that, you could either run it in a game,
as three separate displays, or as one panoramic 5760 x 1080 display.

One other detail, is the length of the video card. You'll need
a computer case, with sufficient room for a long card. Some
of these cards now, are 10" long. You'll need to go to the
manufacturer's site, and get a length spec.

There are plenty of other articles for judging how to put together
a system. What you're looking for, is graphics performance of 30FPS
minimum, if you can get it at a decent price.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/radeon-hd5870-cpu-scaling.html

Paul

 

[Loren Pechtel]

As you know, Real-Time Strategy (RTS) is heavy on CPU. But it can
strain a video card too. I would consider a big monitor(s) instead
of multiple monitors. That is how I went last time, with a 26 inch
LCD. But you have not said whether you want to keep the
monitors... A huge monitor works wonders for full screen games.

A big monitor would be nice but gaming isn't my primary use of the
machine, I'm going to keep the existing monitors.

Definitely quad core (or better) CPU. Good power supply and
cooling. If I were you, I would ask, and include more detail about
what you want, in the strategic gaming group.

These things are a given. It's just my knowledge on video isn't on a
par with the rest of my hardware knowledge so I was asking here.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

ATI cards featuring "Eyefinity", can drive at least three monitors.

Thanks for the info. Are the ATI drivers better than the last ones
I've used?

 

[John Doe]

A big monitor would be nice but gaming isn't my primary use of
the machine, I'm going to keep the existing monitors.


These things are a given. It's just my knowledge on video isn't
on a par with the rest of my hardware knowledge so I was asking
here.

If you need specifics on video, you should state which monitors
you are using and what you want to use them for. I would consider
asking in the video card groups.

 

[John Doe]

I do play RTS

To whom it may concern... Apparently Supreme Commander 2 has been
updated to include cueing stuff without having to pay first. Lots of
people complained about that deficiency before. It should help loads
with my scripting.

 

[Paul]

Thanks for the info. Are the ATI drivers better than the last ones
I've used?

Check the reviews. If the Newegg users suffered from bad drivers,
I'm sure they'd share that fact with you.

And you really need to start looking in a forum for your particular MMORPG.
You're more likely to get focused info, on what new hardware doesn't
work right with it. Games can favor one line of graphics cards over
another, especially if the game company got help from one of the
graphics companies with their title.

In general terms, games can be "CPU limited" or "GPU limited".
If you're building a box for a particular set of games,
then you need to start studying what the games need the
most. That way, you might be able to make the new box a
bit cheaper.

My guess is, to drive three monitors properly, and get a decent
frame rate, you can't use the cheapest card that has the
connectors. But that is just a guess on my part. I'm not finding
a lot of good eyefinity reviews, to give you some idea how
much horsepower it really needs.

There are some benches here, for a 5770 in Eyefinity, and while
there are lots of "mins" less than 30FPS, it's surprising that
only a couple titles drop below 10FPS. Once the mins gets that low,
it's like "playing on a Mac"

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=20560&p=200541

Paul