Reviews - Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB FleX review - making Eyefinity simple

[HEXUS]

Got three DVI-equipped monitors lying around? This may be the card for you.

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[Singh400]

Eh, I can't see any really going for this. I got my HD6950 for 189 quid. And I can run three monitors off that if I wanted to. It has enough bloody connections.

Besides if someone has 3 monitors chances are they would probably have a very high end card already.

[Jimbo75]

It's not about the connectors, you still need an adaptor. I'm still not convinced it's worth it, 10% over a normal card but you can buy an active dvi > dp adaptor for about £25 at scan or ebuyer.

[scaryjim]

For a 6950 you'd need an active mini-dp -> DVI adapter. And this way you don't end up with at least one useless port on your graphics card. Plus some people plain don't like dongles. And don't forget this is a vapour-x card, so some of the increase is for that as well as the ability to use 3 monitors without active dongles (don't forget that with 2 mini-dp ports it can run 5 monitors simultaneously, whereas other 6950s can only run 4).

I don't think anyone's suggesting this is a must buy product over a standard 6950, but it has a lot of features that make it an interesting proposition...

EDIT: also, was that a 2GB card @ £189 or a 1GB card? Doesn't make a big difference at 1 screen res but if you're powering 3 screens....

[Singh400]

For a 6950 you'd need an active mini-dp -> DVI adapter. And this way you don't end up with at least one useless port on your graphics card. Plus some people plain don't like dongles. And don't forget this is a vapour-x card, so some of the increase is for that as well as the ability to use 3 monitors without active dongles (don't forget that with 2 mini-dp ports it can run 5 monitors simultaneously, whereas other 6950s can only run 4).

I don't think anyone's suggesting this is a must buy product over a standard 6950, but it has a lot of features that make it an interesting proposition...

My point is that if you have 2+ screens you probably have other specialist hardware that will allow you to run an insane amount of monitors at once. This card changes nothing, it's purely a gimmick

EDIT: also, was that a 2GB card @ £189 or a 1GB card? Doesn't make a big difference at 1 screen res but if you're powering 3 screens....

2GB, unlocked to a HD6970 now aswell.

[scaryjim]

My point is that if you have 2+ screens you probably have other specialist hardware that will allow you to run an insane amount of monitors at once.

Potentially, but if you don't have > 2 monitors already this card provides a consumer-friendly entry into multi-monitor gaming / productivity, without having to worry about whether you need specialist monitors, dongles etc. You can buy this and any 3 DVI screens of your choice, and you're good to go - potentially for < £500, which doesn't strike me as a prohibitive cost for the screen real estate you're getting

[ed^chigliak]

I'm OK with this card. It's an enabler of sorts to work around the fact that monitor manufacturers are clueless or disinterested in multi-screen gaming. Where are the affordable LED (low power vibrant) 120Hz TN screens with DP & uniform ultra thin bezels for portrait or landscape orientation??

[Tunnah]

i know for benchmark purposes you have to put on full settings so they can be stacked against other benchmarks but maybe would have been good to include a seperate set of results to show what settings are optimal to play it at an acceptable framerate, just to let people know what sort of image quality they need to sacrifice in order to get a smooth run

i personally can't see the difference between 2x and above AA in games so for me i always turn that down before sacrificing other settings

just seems nowadays benchmarks need more real world options than simply statistics

[Bubbachew]

Hiya,

Just ordered a new PC system! Been playing on consoles for the last 10 years, before that i was happily rebuilding PC after PC, started with a 486SX and after 10 years got totally fed up renewing my PC year after year to keep up with the latest games!
But i recently set up a triple display for Forza 3 and decided that it is such a waste having 3 screens just for Forza, when there is a world of triple screen gaming available on the PC, so here i am again!

I've gone for the 6950 eyefinity 4, the screens have VGA, DVI and HDMI connections, was hoping to keep the hdmi for the xbox's and use the dvi connections for the pc.

Can i use any combination of output from the 6950 to get the 3 screens or do i needs to be careful which ones i use?

thank you!
Bubba