Soon-To-Be Triple Monitor setup, eyefinity and surround questions

[Dark Shade]

I am looking at getting a 3-monitor setup for Christmas and am comparing AMD Eyefinity and NVIDIA Surround (HD 7970/GTX 680). Eyefinity is turning out to be a MASSIVE pain though, as you need an adapter to function. I am looking at running three ASUS PA238QR monitors @5760x1080. They do have Displayport connectors, but do I need an 'active' mini dp to dp cable, or is it just a miniaturized form factor with the same signal requirements? I am personally an NVIDIA fan, but from what I have read, Eyefinity is better than surround and I seriously doubt I could run Physx on three screens in DX11 on one card anyways... Opinions? Oh and also if I go dual-gpu later on, my mobo only supports CFX not SLI... probably about the only disappointment on this board but next time I will know to shell out the extra cash first rather than a ton more later...

Here are two of the adapters I am looking at for Eyefinity:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812191224CVF
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270262

Will they work? I get the feeling they will, but would like a second opinion.

Currently I am looking at these cards:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150596
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150586

Though would it maybe be a better idea to look at these since they some with a mini dp to dp adapter already?
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127670
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127677

Then pick up one of these or something similar:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812816071
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812200602CVF

From what I have read, XFX is a great brand, but many people like MSI a lot too. I don't think I would go with the lightning, as the card MUST be under $500, preferably with all the cabling. The monitors come with DVI and VGA cables, but no HDMI or Displayport.

If I was to go NVIDIA, I would probably go with one of these cards:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130797
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127672

Opinions? Ideas? Sorry if I come across as rushed/impatient etc. I am probably stressing way too much over this

Thanks,
Dark Shade

 

[Soulcatcher668]

You do not need an active adapter of you use the DP or miniDP ports.

One of the reasons that I bought the card that I have is the four DP outs on the card, it makes eyefinity setup a breeze.

You will most likely have to buy the cables as most monitors do not come with DP cables.

 

[Pierre3400]

Well if your an nVidia fan, then stick with them.

Personally, i would get 7970 for eyefinity setup. So what you may need an active adapter! Sapphire Vapor-x's come with one, at least my 6gb version did.

I went from HD6950 to GTx590, and 1week later i was back with HD6950, nvidia software seems clueless, slow and crap when it comes to desktop handling. Nvidia does have a nice cropping feature.

Its a hate/love situation, some people love the way nvidia handles 3 screens, some dont, im in the dont camp. Nvidia seem to cost more, and your not really getting that much more.

You should really take a look at this: http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=718118
Since your looking at 2gb nvidia cards, i would like to bring to your attention the amounts of ram 5760*1080 uses, most games are above the 2Gb limit

 

[Boulard83]

I currently run a single GTX670 @ 1150mhz and it runs BF3 ULTRA ( no MSAA ) at 60FPS steady on my surround setup. The game looks awesome and the FPS never drop, the gameplay is smooth as butter in a hot frying pan ! If i put the Vsync OFF i get between 65 and 75fps.


If you read the reviews from hardocp, you will notice that they often speak about Nvidia SLI/CF and Surround/Eyfinity being smoother on Nvidia setup. In short word, you seems to need much more FPS for the gameplay to feels good on a AMD setup Versu an Nvidia setup when using SLI/CF and/or 3 display setup. This seems to be worse when using multiple GPU. (as far as HardOCP are right ! but i thrust them).

I had AMD cards in the past but i alwais came back to Nvidia cause the drivers are much better IMO. Surround too is just soo good on Nvidia. Its a plug and play experience, you install drivers, set your surround spanning and BAM your ready for gaming and desktop usage.

 

[Pierre3400]

I had AMD cards in the past but i alwais came back to Nvidia cause the drivers are much better IMO. Surround too is just soo good on Nvidia. Its a plug and play experience, you install drivers, set your surround spanning and BAM your ready for gaming and desktop usage.

I cannot agree on this. Switching between Desktop and surround was nothing but a headache when i was running my 590 surround, and my friend running GTx580 has also complained about the terrible way nvidia handles the desktop sorting of icons with dual screen setup.

Personally i like to sort my icons in all 4 corners, and every time i even turned off the pc, it would resort them on reboot, and my friend has same experience.

I run my 7970 on 3 screens daily, for gaming and desktop use. With hotkeys, switching between 3xdesktop and eyefinity is easy.

 

[Boulard83]

Im on my 3rd cards/monitor surround setup and i never had issue with Nvidia drivers. As for the rest of my last post, HardOCP seems to confirm the "issue" with smoothness on a good numbers of their testing. The "issue" seems to happen on SLI VS CF setup and even more on multiple display.