Fixed: Yeah, not happy with this HD6950 (excessive heat with multimonitor problem)

[bryanW1995]

looks like apoppin had sound advice.

 

[WelshBloke]

looks like apoppin had sound advice.

No, its that modern cards apparently cant handle more than one monitor properly.

/peeved


It would be nice if a few websites would maybe mention this issue in their reviews.

/hint

 

[bryanW1995]

yes, apoppin, why don't you evaluate multi-monitor performance/nvidia surround/eyefinity with one and multiple cards from both camps in a future article? with the recent round of new cards that is definitely getting more people either curious about it or even adopting it.

 

[WelshBloke]

yes, apoppin, why don't you evaluate multi-monitor performance/nvidia surround/eyefinity with one and multiple cards from both camps in a future article? with the recent round of new cards that is definitely getting more people either curious about it or even adopting it.

The really annoying thing is, I've been using two monitors for years and now I find ,after all the hype, that it doesn't work anywhere near as well as it used to.

Yes using a bunch of monitors as one display is cool, but if my video card temps go up by 20c just by plugging in a second monitor I'd consider that broken.

 

[WelshBloke]

The only thing I did here is enable my second monitor.

How come stuff like this doesn't annoy anyone else?

That 44c to over 60c just by having a second monitor that's doing nothing but showing the desktop!

 

[shangshang]

The only thing I did here is enable my second monitor.

How come stuff like this doesn't annoy anyone else?

....

That 44c to over 60c just by having a second monitor that's doing nothing but showing the desktop!

oh crap that sux! Was not aware of this! I remember back in the days Matrox used to make dual-output cards and I never notice anyone complaing about temp rise issue. Maybe cards back then were low powered to begin with... but still, today's cards are more heat efficient and design has progressed since then.

I have a 6850 and i'm planning on running another monitor, but now this is bumming me out. I wonder if the 6850 would have such a "temperature penalty" for just plugging in another monitor?

Oh yeah stuff like this would annoy the hell outta me! Reviewers are so busy posting frame rates that they forgot all about dual monitor usage. It's time the reviewers start doing multi monitor reviews with temperature rise..

I wonder if NV cards (particulary the gtx460) has such issue?

 

[WelshBloke]

oh crap that sux! Was not aware of this! I remember back in the days Matrox used to make dual-output cards and I never notice anyone complaing about temp rise issue. Maybe cards back then were low powered to begin with... but still, today's cards are more heat efficient and design has progressed since then.

I have a 6850 and i'm planning on running another monitor, but now this is bumming me out. I wonder if the 6850 would have such a "temperature penalty" for just plugging in another monitor?

I wonder if NV cards (particulary the gtx460) has such issue?

If they don't I'll be willing to pay the price premium to get one, although from what I've heard it the same with all modern cards.

 

[Grooveriding]

The only thing I did here is enable my second monitor.

How come stuff like this doesn't annoy anyone else?

That 44c to over 60c just by having a second monitor that's doing nothing but showing the desktop!

Yes it stinks.

This is not just AMD, Nvidia cards also idle at a high temp/core clock/voltage with two monitors attached.

My main card with my monitor/HDTV attached idles at around 67-70C, whereas with a single card, or my other cards, all idle around 47-49C.

 

[shangshang]

If they don't I'll be willing to pay the price premium to get one, although from what I've heard it the same with all modern cards.

currently my system has a gtx460. I will test it out tonight with a 2nd monitor and will report back here the rise in temp. I'm curious now.

then later when I have more time, I will test out the 6850 with dual monitors.

 

[WelshBloke]

currently my system has a gtx460. I will test it out tonight with a 2nd monitor and will report back here the rise in temp. I'm curious now.

then later when I have more time, I will test out the 6850 with dual monitors.

That would be cool :thumbsup:

Ideally I'd go for gtx570 level, but if 6850/gtx460 does the job properly I'll go for them, save me some money too.

 

[Matrices]

Save yourself the trouble, I can tell you now that Nvidia cards have the same problem. It's funny because if you are running identical monitors in Surround, downclocking works. But if you are just running random multiple monitors, the clocks and temps rise.

 

[apoppin]

yes, apoppin, why don't you evaluate multi-monitor performance/nvidia surround/eyefinity with one and multiple cards from both camps in a future article? with the recent round of new cards that is definitely getting more people either curious about it or even adopting it.

My advice would be to stick with WHQL drivers and "preview" betas if you are curious but be prepared to do a Window restore or roll back drivers.

Yes, from keeping up with especially HardOCP threads, i am aware of the multi-monitor issues and the clocks - with both vendors. As far as i am aware, both AMD and Nvidia are working to completely solve these issues.

After CES, my SSD review is next which is going to be focusing on game loading times (yes, i'll tell you now it improves immersion by cutting reload times way down; i wouldn't want to give mine up now) After that, i am going to do a SLI vs. CF in depth scaling comparison (with several CPUs, probably) with SLI > GTX 580/GTX 480/GTX 460/GTS 450 versus CF > HD 6970/HD 6950/HD 5870 and (hopefully) HD 6870.

Now we are talking February for multi-monitor. i am hoping that the drivers for Eyefinity and Surround will be very matured and i will need to get another 1080 LCD; i only have 2 x 24" LCDs now plus my 2560x1600.
- and if i can pull it off, the LCD will be 120 Hz for testing 3D Vision.

@apoppin: damn you for getting free cards!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ok, I feel better now. [

You can hate me more now. A single HD 6970 plus a HD 6950 can be used now to test HD 6970 and HD 6950 Crossfire; not to mention FrankenFire benching.

And i just got a belated Christmas present from Nvidia a couple of hours ago; they sent me a GTX 580 so that i can test GTX 580 SLI against the CrossFired cards.
--i'll tell you, it is tough to get back to benching my SSD with GTX 580 SLI just waiting for me to play some games.
:$
. . . Last night, in Crysis, i averaged 35 FPS with HD 6970 CrossFire with all settings "Very High", 2xAA/16xAF - at 2560x1600 (!)

 

[Burpy]

This had me puzzled for the past week since getting my 6950. Temps just didn't match review temps.

I have it hooked up to my HDTV as a secondary extended display and my temps idle at 62c.

This saves me a lot of troubleshooting. I hope it's fixed soon, 62c idle is a bit too warm.

 

[ZimZum]

If they don't I'll be willing to pay the price premium to get one, although from what I've heard it the same with all modern cards.

Are both of your displays using the same resolution?

 

[Nintendesert]

That would be cool :thumbsup:

Ideally I'd go for gtx570 level, but if 6850/gtx460 does the job properly I'll go for them, save me some money too.

Nvidia had worse issues with the card actually not ramping up enough to support the second display and causing all sorts of issues. So the cards now do run hotter to prevent the stuttering and other stuff caused by a card not clocking up enough to drive the second display.

 

[WelshBloke]

Are both of your displays using the same resolution?

No

 

[WelshBloke]

So what's the best card that doesn't have this problem?

My gts8800 was ok so I guess the gtx8800 would be ok anything newer?

 

[mnewsham]

I'm idling with two monitors (1600x900 and 1920x1080) at 43C on a 5770 however. Glad i am waiting for 7xxx/6xx series for my next graphics upgrade. Hopefully the multi monitor support will be completely resolved by then.

 

[ZimZum]

No

In that case the NV 5xx series will give you the same problem. As mentioned earlier basically every modern video card has this issue.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-570-gf110-performance,2806-2.html

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1258/15/

 

[mnewsham]

In that case the NV 5xx series will give you the same problem. As mentioned earlier basically every modern video card has this issue.

not my 5770 I don't know if that is just luck but i have never had problems running multiple monitors

 

[WelshBloke]

In that case the NV 5xx series will give you the same problem. As mentioned earlier basically every modern video card has this issue.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-570-gf110-performance,2806-2.html

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1258/15/

So how far back do I have to go to get a card that works?

 

[mnewsham]

So how far back do I have to go to get a card that works?

two 5770's in CF might be what you want if you want good performance to hold you over until 7xxx/6xx

 

[WelshBloke]

two 5770's in CF might be what you want if you want good performance to hold you over until 7xxx/6xx

If I have to go duel card I'd just get a cheap card to run my second monitor and keep the 6950, its ok apart from the ridiculous temps with a second monitor plugged in.

 

[mnewsham]

If I have to go duel card I'd just get a cheap card to run my second monitor and keep the 6950, its ok apart from the ridiculous temps with a second monitor plugged in.

well if you can deal with medium graphics in most games at 1080p then a single 5770 seems to do that fine with multi monitor

 

[RavenSEAL]

Normal idle for dual monitors is 50C.....

I'd be worried, maybe you got a bad card. The RMA dept. is your friend.