My ATI 5870 *Posssible Reviews/Stats/Benches*

[Dj Spiel]

So basically I don't usually do these kindz of things...I felt that this card deserved some sort of test run from me and my rig. I'll post screen shots/overclock stats,temps,bugs and w/e else I come across. I am still undecided if I am keeping the card or not. If I keep it I'll most likely just end up duming my cards on ebay or craigslist or something. Logically it makes no sense to keep the GTX cards.

One thing that I would like to touch on it what got me to buy the card. I would have to say that over 50% of my choice was based on the fact that you can now combine displays using ATI's technology. I have been waiting for something this for years without having to go the Matrox triple head. route.

More to come soon..

[Dj Spiel]

PICTURES/VIDEO


3DMark Score/Dj Spiel's RIG
21729 3DMarks
http://service.futuremark.com/resultComparison.action?compareResultId=12149562&compareResultType=14




Screen Shot of Dead Space @ 3840x1080 all settings maxed out!

http://b-13photography.com/Dead Space 2009-10-03 05-43-47-66.jpg

I took a video of--->Crysis Bench Mark/ATI Eyefinitys Technology
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O0LxIhkG1c

With the Fan Speed @ 100 this thing is way way way WAY louder than two GTX 260's

Dead Space @ 3840x1080 Resolution *SETTINGS HIGH*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBvim_6I7Jc

Dead Space @ 3840x1080 Resolution *SETTINGS HIGH/EXTERNAL VIEW*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIeRMsQTzwE

[Dj Spiel]

More Pictures


http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g49/DjSpiel/ATI%205870/DSC_1890.jpg



http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g49/DjSpiel/ATI%205870/DSC_1900.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g49/DjSpiel/ATI%205870/DSC_1898.jpg?

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g49/DjSpiel/ATI%205870/DSC_1897.jpg

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g49/DjSpiel/ATI%205870/DSC_1895.jpg?



***TRI-MONITOR GAMING***

[Dj Spiel]

**TRI-MONITOR GAMING**


All running in 3x1920x1200.


Wolfenstein 3
http://www.geniv.com/download/Eyefinity/IMG_1125.JPG

deadspace
http://www.geniv.com/download/Eyefinity/IMG_1126.JPG

COD4
http://www.geniv.com/download/Eyefinity/IMG_1129.JPG

nEED for Speed: Shift
http://www.geniv.com/download/Eyefinity/IMG_1130.JPG

PainKiller
http://www.geniv.com/download/Eyefinity/IMG_1132.JPG

UT2004 /apparently DX8 games do support higher thank 4096 resolution
http://www.geniv.com/download/Eyefinity/IMG_1135.JPG

[Dj Spiel]

-My Review

[xtkxhom3r]

so u finally got it huh lucky you.... hurry up and post the results!

[Dj Spiel]

I will dude :)

[Dj Spiel]

some stuff added

[Niku-Sama]

dead space at those settings doesent really look all that good, got some anisotropic filtering junk going on thats not too good.
and its got that look like alot of things have double edges for one object, GTA 4 does that some times.

[Badbonji]

Dead space looks funny but Crysis looks epic

[Dj Spiel]

:)

[xtkxhom3r]

wow thats awesome! take a vid of monitors while your playing deadspace like you did with crysis

[Dj Spiel]

DONE ^^^^^

Dead Space @ 3840x1080 Resolution *SETTINGS HIGH/EXTERNAL VIEW*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIeRMsQTzwE

[xtkxhom3r]

man that looks awesome must be nice having 2 screens... you should get 3 ;)

[Badbonji]

The only problem is I would need an odd number, to make the crosshair in the center rather than on the edge of 2 screens...

[Dj Spiel]

Yeah ^^ I am considering getting another screen. I wanna wait until Eyefinity works with Crossfire

[xtkxhom3r]

why doesnt eyefinity work with xfire??? thats kinda stupid

[georanma]

You make my wallet ache.

[Dj Spiel]

Ok got my display port thingy


DisplayPort to Dual Link DVI Adapter for Select Dell Latitude Laptops / OptiPlex Desktops / Precision Mobile WorkStations / Precision WorkStations / Alienware Desktop
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Cables/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=330-5521

I will be going (3) Monitor Setup

If you are in the USA you can use coupon code, but it ends Sunday 4th(Today!!!): ZTQV568L16CMBH and get 25% off making it 75 bucks down from 100.

[IcedOutCpu]

Very nice eyefinity setup on 2 monitors but that would be perfect w/ 3.. this is a teaser for me to get 2 more screens! =)

[IcedOutCpu]

Btw in order to hookup 3 screens you'll need the active display port adapter?

[Dj Spiel]

^^yes

[ghost_recon88]

This is shaping up to be a great thread :)

[MadMan007]

Ruby > Dreadlicks chick :D (I have a thing for redheads)

Nice pictures of the multiscreen setup but now you know what you have to do...get a third one!

[Dj Spiel]

Stuff on my list-


Test Some games @ Native Resolution on (1) LCD @ 1920x1080

Test 3dMark06 @ Native Resolution on (1) LCD @ 1920x1080

Test 3dMark Vantage @ Native Resolution on (1) LCD @ 1920x1080
****
Also all this will be tested most likely on 2 LCD Setup and 3 LCD Setup

[Dj Spiel]

Latest Update-I've flashed my card to the ASUS bios.
Thanks-->Brolloks

[deathman20]

Why wouldn't eyefinity work with CF? We've seen 3, 6, 9, 24 screens running already.

[xtkxhom3r]

how do they overclock with the asus bios?

[Dj Spiel]

I am assuming they are waiting to release to public in the future. I am sure AMD/ati has their reasons.


I mean hell, looks how long it took nVIDIA for SLI/dual monitors.


Why wouldn't eyefinity work with CF? We've seen 3, 6, 9, 24 screens running already.

[Dj Spiel]

Mostly to cover the questions people do not know how to ask or to give you an answer to a question you didnt even know you had.

Example - A question I had before I bought my 5870 that nobody could answer, Can you use 4 displays on the card as long as you toggle off one of the active displays on the card since the only official information was "you cant use both of the DVI connections and HDMI at the same time.

The Answer is Yes, you can hook up 4 screens and use all 4 of them but only 3 at the same time and if you use 3 at the same time one of them must be the display port connection.
***************
Interesting Findings

The 5870 has its own audio encoder built into it, when using a HDMI connection it will automatically change the windows sound playback device to HDMI, I wondered why I had no sound when playing a movie on the 37" and this is why. I had to change it manually back to my speaker out and restart the media player.

Using 3 or 4 monitors, as stated you can not use both DVI connections and the HDMI connection at the same time however via the ATI control panel you can replace an active display with a non active on to have one monitor turn on and the other go off. This inadvertently means to use 3 monitors at once both eyefinity OR just for 3 cloned/span monitors you must use the display port connection for the 3rd monitor. But this does mean you can have 4 connections to the card for a 4th monitor just never more than 3 at the same time and the 3rd one must always be display port.

Using a 2nd GPU to power more monitors. I have failed to use my old ATI 4850 card as a 2nd gpu with the 5870. No matter what I tried to do I could not get into windows after installing the new 5870 drivers. They atleast for now are not compatible with older cards. This means if you want more than 3 monitors at one time or have a reason to use more than one video card your out of luck, or could try generic drivers like the 9.9Cat drivers but not the 5000 series drivers (that you would need for eyefinity)

When changing active monitors from my 1920x1080 TV to a 1920x1200 monitor it always defaults all the monitors to 1920x1080 and you have to manually change every monitor back to its native resolution, sort of annoying.

Can not full screen a video with media player classic when in 5870x1200 eyefinity mode. Have not tested with other players yet.

When using eyefinity mode since all 3 monitors are one giant virtual monitor windows taskbar goes all the way across all 3 monitors and if you full screen something it will also go across all 3 monitors.

There is no bezel management option currently to offset the image between the space the bezels from the monitors occupy.

GPU uses 2x 6pin PCI-E connections for power, the HIS brand card came with the adapter for 2x Molex --> 1x 6pin and the card is very long the P182 case could not accommodate it without taking out the hard drive cage.

The ATI control panel can not "remember" your monitor order, so every time you turn off/on eyefinity you will have to set the monitor order again to get a proper picture.

If you ever disable all displays but one, the remaining one will become your primary display automatically, when you enable other displays again and try to make your normal monitor your primary monitor it keeps moving the virtual monitor order and making the wrong monitor the primary until you guess lucky and pick the right monitor based on identification number or name rather than where it appears on the gui.

[Dj Spiel]

Stable OverClock for ATI/Sapphire 5870 *with ASUS BIOS*
Core Voltage=1212
CoreClock=1000
Memory Clock=1300


EDIT:I did have some issues with Windows 7 /64-BIT...Once I had new BIOS, I uninstalled ati drivers/ran driver cleaner/ran cc cleaner and REBOOTED. Once I got back to login screen It was hanging at 'Windows Picture"
http://www.geek.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/ms1.jpg

I could login and I heard the sound welcome me when I logged in...but it was stuck at the above screen. So I booted into safe mode did a System Restore and then...once again uninstalled ati drivers/ran cc cleaner/ran driver cleaner. Then it wanted me to reboot again (I DIDN"T) I installed the drivers fresh then i rebooted. After that it worked! I ran my overclocked settings in 3dmark/3dvantage/Crysis and it has been stable.

[Dj Spiel]

Crysys @ Native Resolution for a Single 24 Inch Monitor

WITH NO AA
http://www.djspiel.com/crysis_noaa.jpg

[Dj Spiel]

http://www.djspiel.com/msi_tool.jpg

[Dapman02]

I will be picking up this card once prices drop a bit. Benches look good and it's a nice looking card <---- very important to me. I won't be picking up a saphire apparently though, I can't stand women with dreads :screwy:

[Dj Spiel]

:)

[jason4207]

Nice tri-monitor screenshots Dj!

I'm playing NFS:Shift right now. Is there anyway you can take another pic or just a ss of what it looks like w/ the in-car view? Can you see out the side windows?

Thanks for posting all this valuable info! Post# 30 is especially informative. :thup:

[Shiggity]

Your Post #30 is really awesome, great information there that most people don't think to talk about.

Great thread, keep it going. :thup:

Did overclocking help with your 3-monitor FPS or were you already maxed (60+)?

[xtkxhom3r]

wow i just noticed you updated your thread with the tri monitor setup **** man that looks insane!!! you should play nfs in cockpit view though dont be a p****

[ghost_recon88]

Dang man, that tri-monitor setup looks awesome!

[Dj Spiel]

Working on that this weekend most likely. I think the best thing that I coulda have did was that ASUS bios mod :) I'm really liking the overclocking

Your Post #30 is really awesome, great information there that most people don't think to talk about.

Great thread, keep it going. :thup:

Did overclocking help with your 3-monitor FPS or were you already maxed (60+)?

[Dj Spiel]

BUMP**

I am currently having issues with my "3rd" Monitor going out which just so happend to be my Display Port/Monitor

Basiaclly it goes out every few hours almost as if windows doesnt detect it. I switched DVI cables and I will let you guys know it that works. I can only assume it is a bug.

-Dj Spiel/Paul

[AlucardCasull]

Nice review, but whats with the huge knife in the pictures?
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2008/08/14/article-1045029-0056152F00000258-387_468x286.jpg
:P