Man, it is sooo hot.

[shadow001]

Originally Posted by Muppet

I to would much rather have one large screen, than 3 smaller ones. Even when Nvidia's 3 way 3D screen sloution comes out, I won't be getting it. I would much rather have one large 40" or larger screen.

Though you'd have to settle with a fairly low resolution relative to the display size,as consumer displays top out at the same resolution as the average 24" Computer display does(1920*1080),even though they can reach up to 60" in size,so it makes the use of AA mandatory for games,and a little rougher on the eyes when trying to read text in 2D mode,unlike a computer display.


What would be perfect would be a display in that size like you mentioned,but supporting resolutions much higher than 30" computer LCD displays(2560*1600),so they can be used in both 2D and 3D modes,but such displays don't exist.

[Muppet]

Originally Posted by shadow001

Though you'd have to settle with a fairly low resolution relative to the display size,as consumer displays top out at the same resolution as the average 24" Computer display does(1920*1080),even though they can reach up to 60" in size,so it makes the use of AA mandatory for games,and a little rougher on the eyes when trying to read text in 2D mode,unlike a computer display.


What would be perfect would be a display in that size like you mentioned,but supporting resolutions much higher than 30" computer LCD displays(2560*1600),so they can be used in both 2D and 3D modes,but such displays don't exist.

One can only dream of that. Maybe sometime in the years to come. For now though 1920x1080 will just have to suffice.

[Xion X2]

Originally Posted by shadow001

It doesn't work as it should and i know by first hand experience,even when using the latest drivers,as the basic problem is creating a display group using 3 monitors while crossfire remains enabled,which the Catalyst control center doesn't allow it,so i have to disable crossfire and rely on a single HD5970 to drive 3 displays,which in most games,still has enough grunt to pull it off with good performance,but the second HD5970 isn't contributing at all,which would be usefull for the most demanding games(think Crysis,Crysis warfare,battlefield bad company 2).


I'm told that a fix for that is coming in a future driver update,but no ETA is given at this point,so for those demanding games,i disable eyefinity and re-enable crossfire to use both cards with one display.

WTF, this is retarded. Stupid move, ATI. If Quad-Crossfire is made for anything, it's Eyefinity. And it doesn't work with it?

[Xion X2]

Mike - good testing. It's nice to see that there's still some room for the fan to ramp up in order to keep the temps down. You just tested with one 480, right? I wonder how much different it would be for SLI.

[shadow001]

Originally Posted by Xion X2

WTF, this is retarded. Stupid move, ATI. If Quad-Crossfire is made for anything, it's Eyefinity. And it doesn't work with it?

For now,that's the overall situation.....Only 1 HD5970 can work across 3 displays with the current drivers,but i've been hearing rumors that might change with the 10.4 or 10.5 driver set.

[Xion X2]

Originally Posted by shadow001

For now,that's the overall situation.....Only 1 HD5970 can work across 3 displays with the current drivers,but i've been hearing rumors that might change with the 10.4 or 10.5 driver set.

I want to hear more than rumors. They should have had this fixed by now. Eyefinity's been out for nearly six months.

[shadow001]

Originally Posted by Xion X2

I want to hear more than rumors. They should have had this fixed by now. Eyefinity's been out for nearly six months.

It works with single HD5970 cards and up to 2 seperate single GPU cards in crossfire mode,but triple and Quad crossfire using eyefinity simply isn't working.....We are a very small market in the big scheme of things as few are willing to spend 1400$ on a pair of video cards,and another 750~800$ for 3 displays.



Combined,that's more money than most spend on their entire PC these days afterall.

[Ninja Prime]

Originally Posted by MikeC

I've been busy the past few days, but you're not missing a thing

More test results.

GPU TEMPS AND FAN SPEED TESTING

Based on having tested the GeForce GTX 480 for the past couple of weeks, I would say that a fan speed of 80% is the threshold where the noise level becomes significant. At high GPU temperatures, typically starting at 95° Celsius, fan RPMs ramp up quickly. Once the GPU temperature stabilizes, fan speed tends to remain constant or drop slightly from that point forward.

I put my observation to the test by running a series of benchmarks from a variety of games and applications. In addition to the results below, I provided screenshots that contain GPU temperature and fan speed. Results indicate the GPU stabilization temperature and the fan speed that was needed to achieve those results.



Screenshots:
Just Cause 2, World in Conflict, Crysis, Dragon Age, Far Cry 2, FurMark, Lost Planet, Neverwinter Nights 2 and Batman.

In Batman Arkham Asylum, a 57% fan speed was needed to maintain a GPU temperature of 89° Celsius. On the other hand, a fan speed of 78% was needed to stabilize a GPU temperature of 91° Celsius when running FurMark.

There are a couple of points to take away from this exercise. First, the GeForce GTX 480 GPU runs hot under load. NVIDIA didn't beat around the bush here, as Drew Henry, General Manager of GeForce products, had this to say on NVIDIA's nTersect blog.



The second point, is that no test required a fan speed of 80% to stabilize the GPU temperature. As I mentioned previously, fan noise becomes slightly noticeable around the 55% mark. Upping the speed to the 70% or 75% mark certainly increase the noise level, which I can take when compared to the fan noise that's produced at 80%.

Keep in mind that this testing was done with the side of the enclosure open. Your mileage will vary...

PS: Not sure what to make of the fan speeds when compared to GPU temperatures. It would be interesting to learn more about the type of algorithm NVIDIA uses in this area.

Nice tests. How long did you run each one mike? I would be curious if someone would run furmark or crysis or metro for 3-4 hours, just to see if it says level at some point or keeps going up.

[Viral]

Originally Posted by MikeC

I've been busy the past few days, but you're not missing a thing

More test results.

GPU TEMPS AND FAN SPEED TESTING

/snip

Good testing Mike. That really doesn't seem too bad with Crysis being the worst there for fan speed and temp both taken into account. It's good that the fan speed can remain under the 80% threshold. Kind of reminds me of my 4870x2 which would commonly go straight to the mid-high 80C's under load just so that the fan wasn't too loud. Same situation there, the GPU's were made to handle it apparently.

One thing though, was this testing done in a closed case or on a bench? Were any side intake fans used if it was in a case or any pointed at the GPU in either scenario?

[Ninja Prime]

Originally Posted by Viral

Good testing Mike. That really doesn't seem too bad with Crysis being the worst there for fan speed and temp both taken into account. It's good that the fan speed can remain under the 80% threshold. Kind of reminds me of my 4870x2 which would commonly go straight to the mid-high 80C's under load just so that the fan wasn't too loud. Same situation there, the GPU's were made to handle it apparently.

One thing though, was this testing done in a closed case or on a bench? Were any side intake fans used if it was in a case or any pointed at the GPU in either scenario?

Looks like it was done case open with a 120MM fan blowing on the card. I would be curious to see with the case side on and benched for a few hours on something heavy, to see how much the heating inside the case causes it to go up. I can understand though if you don't want to nuke the card.

[Muppet]

[Viral]

Originally Posted by slaWter

haha like I said before... "coming in a future driver" is a constant state of mind for ATI users

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=149520

Oh, the ironing

Agreed about eyefinity though, I'd rather use my 46" HDTV. I do think 3 monitor eyefinity has some validity with the side monitors serving for peripheral in games only, that's the sort of thing that helps a lot with immersion. 6 monitor with bezels in the middle of your view... lol... no thanks! Something could come of the functionality in the future though.