Widescreen Gaming Forum

Thanks Aussie, that's just what I was thinking!

This is the one I am thinking I will be getting...XFX FX 795A

It should handle three monitors at 5760 x 1080, shouldn't it...sure it will :D

I'd only get XFX if their US warranty/support is a lot better than their UK one.

Yeah, PS, you may have a point...I always get caught up in believing their "Lifetime" warranty crap.

I may give ASUS a shot then...I like their Mobos and monitors. Maybe this one; Asus HD7950

Well, this board has been a ton of help, thanks to all! Only wish I'd found it a month ago :( Would have saved me a complicated RMA back to Newegg.

Haha, um, while I'd normally recommend Asus wholeheartedly, that particular card appears to have a few issues - the back of the card behind the GPU core breaks 110*C, which it shouldn't do. Word is that Asus knows about it and will sort it for later batches, but it's an oversight that shouldn't have been an issue considering the release delay and extra cost of the card!

Let me see if I can dig up the link/discussion...

http://www.behardware.com/news/12153/asus-hd-7950-directcu-ii-fault-report.html

Here we go...

It's a pity, too, as I was eying up the 7970 DCII.

Thanks for the link! Good read and good to know!!!

I am doing a lot of research...it seems the 7970s are having more than the usual issues with drivers so I am leery of getting one of them right now.

I think I will do as suggested an grab a 3gb 7950...its just which one...hopefully the one with the least problems overall.

Still looking...

7970s having issues with drivers? :~ Then surely the 7950s will do as well?

I'm not sure I'd worry too much about it without personal experience - I regularly see nVidia users going "AMD drivrz r teh suxxors!" and other such nonsense... with AMD users returning fire just as well. Check the release notes; if there are serious known issues with a game you want to play, avoid... other than that, I'd give it a go.

Again, wisdom...I will probably go ahead and get a 7950, there doesn't seem to be that much difference between 7950s and 7970s and they are both so vastly superior to what I currently have.

I am just hoping someone would have a suggestion as to a brand they trust...I know its taken a WHILE to get to this but, I am a fairly recent convert from the nVidia camp.

So, all your help is greatly appreciated.

If you can find a reference design one, Sapphire, MSI and Powercolor have served me well in the past.

That said, so have XFX... for two cards anyway. The third was an epic headache and their service/support was abysmal.

Gigabyte, like XFX and Gainward/Palit have a nasty habit of altering the reference design in ways undocumented, so that waterblocks etc don't fit. The only difference is that usually XFX, Gainward and Palit modify the reference design in semi-negative ways (fewer power phases, less robust voltage circuitry; stuff like that)... which Gigabyte have a habit of beefing them up. At least, they did the last time I bought a Gigabyte card.

edit: To be honest, unless it's a brand I've had a negative experience of - and would thus avoid - I'll usually just buy the cheapest option. Most hardware fails within the first 90 days if it's going to do it within warranty period, and EU warranties are rarely as generous as US ones... often the manufacturer doesn't seem to realise/care that the minimum warranty is two years due to EU law... and try anything to wriggle out of it.

Thats great! I have been extremely happy with the quality of this MSI 6850 I have, really nice fan no issues at all with the card or anything in the year I've had it. That's not what nVidia 'faithful' would lead you to believe and that's the main reason its taken me SO long to actually try one of their graphics cards. Been using nVidia stuff since...before the GT6600, how long has that been? Didn't Monster cards basically turn into nVidia...I had a Viper 330 so yeah, its a real accomplishment to get me fired up about a Radeon card.

I think the main thing I want are the three monitors in Eyefinity...I know two nVidia cards will do it but I am not interested in 3D gaming as much as JUST plain WIDE ANGLE vision.

Anyhoo...thanks again for all the help!

I game in 2D on nVidia Surround. No interest in 3D, either. ;)

I want to try AMD, but that's mostly because AMD actually seem to be taking EyeFinity seriously, while nVidia have so far shown no such attitude toward Surround... I'm left with the impression that for nVidia, at the minute, Surround is just a 'tick box' thing so that AMD can't say, "We can do triplewide! Those others can't..."

That said, aside from highly finnicky drivers, I've been very pleased with my nVidia Surround experiences overall.