I would like to move from FSX on one screen to a three screen span which means buying a third screen and upgrading my 4870x2 to a 5000 series card. It was recommended that I buy a 2GB 5870, but $500+ dollars is just too expensive when I've only got about $600 to work with in the first place. So the question is, considering the fact that my current card with a 3.8GHz processor can output 30fps on one screen, would a 2GB 5850 manage something similar across three screens?Thanks

I would like to move from FSX on one screen to a three screen span which means buying a third screen and upgrading my 4870x2 to a 5000 series card. It was recommended that I buy a 2GB 5870, but $500+ dollars is just too expensive when I've only got about $600 to work with in the first place. So the question is, considering the fact that my current card with a 3.8GHz processor can output 30fps on one screen, would a 2GB 5850 manage something similar across three screens?Thanks

Regardless of card, all the data for the three monitors must first be processed through the CPU- of which there is only one. Depending on what you want to display, CPU is more likely to be the limiting factor rather than GPU. This is particularly true if you wish to display triple views- LFwd,Fwd,RFwd, for a combined wide field of view. My experience with FS9 would suggest that you should have 30-60 FPS on a Single Monitor to be able to drive triple views satisfactorily. (The FPS drop appears to be about 50% going from single monitor view to triple monitor views.) Mileage will likely vary with different machines.Alex Reid

Regardless of card, all the data for the three monitors must first be processed through the CPU- of which there is only one. Depending on what you want to display, CPU is more likely to be the limiting factor rather than GPU. This is particularly true if you wish to display triple views- LFwd,Fwd,RFwd, for a combined wide field of view. My experience with FS9 would suggest that you should have 30-60 FPS on a Single Monitor to be able to drive triple views satisfactorily. (The FPS drop appears to be about 50% going from single monitor view to triple monitor views.) Mileage will likely vary with different machines.Alex Reid

Well I do already get decent fps, and I expect that will improve just by upgrading the video card since it is a factor. That being said, when I talk about a three screen span, I mean the type of thing you get with triple head 2 go or eyefinity, where the three screens are being displayed as one big, wide, monitor. If that makes any difference...

Can you get a 1gb 5870 instead? IT should work just fine. I got it working with that card with no complaints.There are some limitations in AA with ATI cards, but that would be the case irrespective of which ATI card you have.

Well I do already get decent fps, and I expect that will improve just by upgrading the video card since it is a factor. That being said, when I talk about a three screen span, I mean the type of thing you get with triple head 2 go or eyefinity, where the three screens are being displayed as one big, wide, monitor. If that makes any difference...

I read your reference to three screens as being for three different Flight Sim view images rather than just a single view/image spread across triple monitors. My apology. As far as I know, TH2GO doesn't affect CPU use since only one image is being created. However, TH may need a higher resolution since the image is blown up to triple size- and that will burn up CPU power. The larger each image becomes, the higher the necessary resolution.Using small monitors in triple tandem with low resolutions is why I can get away with a six year old computer.Alex Reid

Can you get a 1gb 5870 instead? IT should work just fine. I got it working with that card with no complaints.There are some limitations in AA with ATI cards, but that would be the case irrespective of which ATI card you have.

I've been told that the major factor in being able to drive 3 monitors is the amount of VRAM, so while a 5870 > 5850, I think that I have to have the 2GB...

I read your reference to three screens as being for three different Flight Sim view images rather than just a single view/image spread across triple monitors. My apology. As far as I know, TH2GO doesn't affect CPU use since only one image is being created. However, TH may need a higher resolution since the image is blown up to triple size- and that will burn up CPU power. The larger each image becomes, the higher the necessary resolution.Using small monitors in triple tandem with low resolutions is why I can get away with a six year old computer.Alex Reid

That was my thinking too, until I found that a TH2G unit costs about as much as a 5850, so I'd probably go with the latter since it would be an upgrade from what I've got already anyway. I'm still just trying to figure out if the 5850 would be able to deliver 30fps average on 3 screens or if it would grind to a halt and waste all my money...

I am a little embarrased to admit this, but over the last few months I have had a 5870 2gb, a 5970 2gb(1 per gpu), a now two 5870 1gb s in Crossfire, in a quest to get my 5040 x 1050 display to run well, I can assure you the 5870 1Gb is completely capable of rendering the resolution.ATI cards do not do antialiasing as well as the nvidia offerings, but with the latest 10.5 drivers you will have good image quality, where they really get wonky is with clouds and autogen. Both will cripple the card, for example I cannot run Orbx scenery well at all, requiring a major drop in sliders, but other sceneries like Switzerland Pro and the new NL2000 which are photoscenery + limited autogen run very nicely(and look amazing!). I keep my frames at 24/second BTW.I cannot run the REX weather engine and usually have to settle for one single layer of clouds, but those clouds spread over the whole display are very convincing.What excells is the Eyefinity itself, it runs perfectly, no glitches, no problems...seamless widescreen, easy setup.If I could give you a hint, try to put your displays at eye level, so that your eyepoint looks at the center of the middle screen without having to look down or up, this has increased my level of immerson tremendously.Tonight I am going to pop in 2 GTX 480s and triple-head 2 go and see how they do...wish me luck

I've been told that the major factor in being able to drive 3 monitors is the amount of VRAM, so while a 5870 > 5850, I think that I have to have the 2GB...That was my thinking too, until I found that a TH2G unit costs about as much as a 5850, so I'd probably go with the latter since it would be an upgrade from what I've got already anyway. I'm still just trying to figure out if the 5850 would be able to deliver 30fps average on 3 screens or if it would grind to a halt and waste all my money...---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yes, I found 2GB RAM to be well worthwhile. I have Virtual set to "Let System Manage"------Can the 5850 drive 3 monitors? ie does it have 3 ports?------ I can tell you that driving 2 monitors (each with a different FS view) from my ancient GeForce FX 5200 card, drops frame rate by about 30%. Using a second similar (PCI) card to drive the third monitor/view, drops it further to about half of single monitor FPS. HOWEVER- this is displaying THREE DIFFERENT views- LFwd,Fwd,RFwd- so the FPS impact is due to working the CPU harder. If I delete the outer views, L/R Fwd, and show only popups/Overhead/COM/FS Build etc, the impact on frame rates is barely detectable. That's because most of that stuff is quite static. It's the constantly changing scenery that works the CPU hard & affects frame rate.I cannot display a single view nor panel across all 3 monitors- that is a job for TH2GO. This gadget blows up the main screen to triple size for display across three monitors. In doing so, it shears off top/bottom to fit the new triple wide format. The View itself remains as View Forward- albeit now with a three monitor perspective but still having only a 45

ATI cards do not do antialiasing as well as the nvidia offerings, but with the latest 10.5 drivers you will have good image quality, where they really get wonky is with clouds and autogen. Both will cripple the card, for example I cannot run Orbx scenery well at all, requiring a major drop in sliders, but other sceneries like Switzerland Pro and the new NL2000 which are photoscenery + limited autogen run very nicely(and look amazing!). I keep my frames at 24/second BTW.I cannot run the REX weather engine and usually have to settle for one single layer of clouds, but those clouds spread over the whole display are very convincing.Tonight I am going to pop in 2 GTX 480s and triple-head 2 go and see how they do...wish me luck

That's one thing I need to keep in mind then... I'm currently getting 30fps (with fps limiter of course... it often shoots up over 100 without it) and about 20fps-26fps in high scenery areas with most sliders maxed. What I'm not willing to do is trade quantity for quality, ie I'm not going to trade all that autogen and HD clouds (REX 2048x2048) for more monitors. Whatever I get needs to be a straight improvement, where I don't have to touch my sliders and I can just expand my display.And, GL :)

Yes, I found 2GB RAM to be well worthwhile. I have Virtual set to "Let System Manage"------Can the 5850 drive 3 monitors? ie does it have 3 ports?------ I can tell you that driving 2 monitors (each with a different FS view) from my ancient GeForce FX 5200 card, drops frame rate by about 30%. Using a second similar (PCI) card to drive the third monitor/view, drops it further to about half of single monitor FPS. HOWEVER- this is displaying THREE DIFFERENT views- LFwd,Fwd,RFwd- so the FPS impact is due to working the CPU harder. If I delete the outer views, L/R Fwd, and show only popups/Overhead/COM/FS Build etc, the impact on frame rates is barely detectable. That's because most of that stuff is quite static. It's the constantly changing scenery that works the CPU hard & affects frame rate.I cannot display a single view nor panel across all 3 monitors- that is a job for TH2GO. This gadget blows up the main screen to triple size for display across three monitors. In doing so, it shears off top/bottom to fit the new triple wide format. The View itself remains as View Forward- albeit now with a three monitor perspective but still having only a 45