questions about 2 x 30" monitors

[Squid]

I am planing to get 2 x 30" as i need them for my work, but currently cannot have a second system dedicated to gaming, have to use the same PC for both work and gaming.

 

Will my single 7870 support two 2560x1600 monitors?

 

Is the 7870 enough to play DCS / FC3 on one of the two monitors at 2560 x 1600 with the same fps it does on my current 24" 1920x1200 monitor (i never use the highest resolution cockpit textures in DCS / FC graphics settings, in general my settings are middle-ish)

 

Is it possible to play DCS / FC3 @ 1920 x 1200 on one of the two monitors at 1:1 full screen mode but not scaled, i guess with black framing surrounding the image?

[pbishop]

I'm really not sure if this will help you, but I run it in 3840 x 1024 with a 6850, so I don't think you will have any issues with 1 monitor (mid to high settings). I hope someone with the exact setup will show up to help you.

 

As for just running the two monitors, I don't see any problems. It can support the monitors, its only in game you may have issues, or even with the type of work you are doing. Here is a link which you may be able to deduce what kind of fps drop you will experience in game with the change in display. Although dcs is not on the list, it should help give you a rough idea. Make sure to flip through the pages to compare.

 

http://www.techspot.com/review/550-best-gaming-graphics-cards/page2.html

 

Best of luck.

[Squid]

What's the situation with CrossFire, are current drivers and / or DCS updates make use of Crossfire now?

[Erforce]

Cfx / SLI useless in DCS as far as i remember, not sure ED can do something about this actually. (but i can be wrong heh). Now can you take advantage of 2 cards for 2 screens? i don't know.

 

your 7870 equals a GTX 660+, but there's chance you'll take a CPU hit again with 2 displays. so as long as your VRAM is not filled, your card should be happy.

from another side, dual screen is just not recommended, because your hud is split right in the middle, and it's very uncomfortable.

I can't even remember any game i enjoyed playing with 2x screens, because the central information is always in the middle.

 

The best choice is 3 screens. which i'll hopefully do before 2014.

now is your 7870 will enjoy 3x30" ? or 1x30"+2x23" ? i doubt.

[Squid]

no i don't ever intend to play on dual monitor configuration, it would make no sense in any aspect. I had for some time crossfire and i gave it up as it was of absolutely no use for flight simulators and AMD didnt give any kind of sign of creating CF profiles for flight simulators. that was about 1.5 year ago. In case that this has changed by now, and DCS can make use of dual cards i'd get a second one again to cope properly with the load of two 30" monitors. I need two monitors only for my work. I intend to keep on flying on a single monitor .

Edited September 9, 2013 by Squid

[Erforce]

I'm sorry Quid, just re-read and had a better understanding now.

 

For your question, it depends your model / brand. Some have 2 dual link DVI, some have 1 dual link and more mini display port, which can go to 4K if i'm right (rev 1.2).

 

but you should be good in every case. even if you need an MD adapter.

 

so now can DCS go down to 1200p while keeping 1:1 scale? i freaking don't know that lol ;) but i would bet it's a no. Virtually forcing an app to run underscaled, in window mode, why not, but in fullscreen...

i suggest you'll have better chance to look in windows stuff. not dcs.

[Squid]

lol i remember vaguely many years ago i was able to run some applications on this mode by using some option in drivers i think, GPU scaling i think it was? When i was choosing in-game a resolution lower than the native and Full Screen , it was running on centre of the monitor at 1:1 with the rest of the screen being just black.

 

Would be maybe safe to assume that with AA to 2x (or none at all) and AF to 16x, the performance @ 2560x1600 wont be noticeably worse (except in numbers) than 1920 x 1200?

Edited September 9, 2013 by Squid