I made a really silly mistake and ordered a Matrox Triplehead2Go and then found out my 5870 can support 3 monitors (I was able to save myself, luckily), with a DP adapter or something required for one of the monitors. However, can I get the same performance just hooking up the 3 monitors to the card, or do I need to get the Eyefinity as well? Sorry if these seem like silly questions.

You don't need to "get" Eyefinity: Your HD 5870 comes with Eyefinity! It's your lucky day! :-)(Eyefinity is the name of the technology supporting your multiple outputs.)Cheers,- jahman.

Oh, wow. *smacks forehead* Thanks!

So now I've corrected myself. I've got track ir plus 3 monitors on the way (still have to get the adapter). I'm going on vacation at the end of the week (before they're likely to arrive) so ironically I will be super excited to get back from vacation and get all this going. :P

Nothing like some simCandy (hardware/software) to get us excited!Check your video card for the types of outputs. Reason: Eyefinity is designed to support up to only two passive ($8, cheap!) mini-DisplayPort-to-DVI Adapters, beyond that you need active Apapters ($75, expensive!).The reason for the 2x Mini-DP passive adapter linitation is the current supplied by the video card Eyefinity chip.The reason for the price difference in the passive vs. active Adapters is the passive one just routs wires straight through between the Mini-DP input and the DVI output, while the activa adapter contains an amplifier of sorts.Also note that depending on monitor resolution/color depth (bits per Pixel) and refresh rate, your monitor may require Dual-Link DVI (e.g. if running a dispklay larger than 1900 x 1200 at more than 60 Hz), so if you need an active Mini-DP adapter to DVI it needs to support Dual-Link-DVI, like this one (The USB cable is to provide power to the adapter).Finally, make sure the DVI connector is always female!So, if your video card has:

1. 2x DVI and 4x Mini-DP, you're set (only one passive Mini-DP-to-DVI adapter needed).
2. 6x Mini-DP outputs and your 3 monitors are DVI, you will need 2x passive Mini-DP-to-DVI adapters and one active.
3. 6x Mini-DP outputs and your 3 monitors are Mini-DP, you will need no adapters at all!

Make sure you order the proper adapteers so all the hardware will be waiting for you when you get back from vacation! :Big Grin: Cheers,- jahman.

Just be aware that the first time you fly into a cloud bank with three monitors hanging off that 5870, you're probably going to think you hit a mountain. I found it challenging to get even marginally acceptable performance with my 5870 pushing a single wide-format monitor in clouds. I would imagine tripling the pixel count is going to severly tax frame rate performance unless you really dial back the AA and autogen.

Just be aware that the first time you fly into a cloud bank with three monitors hanging off that 5870, you're probably going to think you hit a mountain. I found it challenging to get even marginally acceptable performance with my 5870 pushing a single wide-format monitor in clouds. I would imagine tripling the pixel count is going to severly tax frame rate performance unless you really dial back the AA and autogen.

You running Bojote's Shader 3 mod? (just checking)Cheers,- jahman.

With the shader 3 and bufferpool mod, a recent driver, a "good enough" AA setting, optimized cloud textures (REX) and disabled cloud water reflections, the cloud/ATI problem is no longer what it used to be.If you hit a mountain when going into the clouds you likely have some tweaking left to do.I was running Eyefinity using an overclocked 5870 with the FPS locked to 35 and I can't say that I noticed any cloud issues.

You running Bojote's Shader 3 mod? (just checking)Cheers,- jahman.

I was using the Shader 3 mod when I had the 5870 on my FS machine...I've long since switched to a 480, and now a 580. So maybe things have improved (hope so). Part of the problem was I that needed FSAA to get the shimmering under control. The nVidia multi-sample modes do that a lot more efficiently.