ATI Radeon Eyefinity unveiled: up to six monitors on a single card
By Joseph L. Flatley 
posted Sep 10th 2009 7:03PM
posted Sep 10th 2009 7:03PM
At a press event today the gang at AMD unleashed their newest graphics technology on the world. To be incorporated in the next generation of ATI Radeons, Eyefinity can rock up to six displays (DisplayPort, DVI, HDMI, etc.) with a single card, thanks to a new 40-nm graphics chip that contains 2 billion transistors, capable of 2.5 trillion calculations every second. Monitors can be configured to make up either one contiguous display or six separate ones, and the card can create 268 megapixel images. That means, according to Venture Beat, that it will deliver games with "12 times the high-definition resolution." And the gang at Hot Hardware, who reports that the new graphic cards will come with either three or six display outs, put a prototype through its paces. We're pleased to report that playing Left 4 Dead on three 30-inch displays "absolutely changes the experience for the better." No word yet on a release date, but apparently Acer, Dell, HP, MSI and Toshiba already have Eyefinity notebooks in the works. We'll take two! More shots after the break.
Read - AMD introduces a graphics chip that can power six computer displays at once
Read - AMD Eyefinity Multi-Display Technology In Action
Read - AMD introduces a graphics chip that can power six computer displays at once
Read - AMD Eyefinity Multi-Display Technology In Action
And the reason why this is better than a projector of equal price is???
Because people love bezels.
If you are not a stock broker, 133t hacker or Dr. Evil just get a 50 inch HDTV.
because you have a much much much much higher resolution and workspace then buying a projector for the same price or any price for that matter.
6 monitors > 50" HDTV...
Resolution. HD projector = 1920x1080. 6 30" monitors = 7680x3200.
forget resolution, I would get this if the games allowed to adjust for perspective, so I can tilt the monitors to get a side view, but that's not happening here, at least not yet
Ummm... Imagine 6 HD projectors hooked up to this and aligned nearly perfectly with each other on a giant wall.... You could totally blow away whatever the Cinema down the road is using.
Yeah, its kindof cool. But it's also completely impractical. Who would ever do this, seriously?
ATI is going to be Pimpin' this fall. Sorry nVidia but you just became AMD's B1tch.
We'll see. NVIDIA have always dominated in sales (and also, had the best game deal contracts) for a reason ;)
Not even close, NVIDIA and ATI switch spots every few years in graphics card sales numbers, and right now ATI is taking over the market.
nice to see some ATi support. just went Crossfire with a pair of ASUS 4870 1GB cards and couldn't be happier. can't even fathom what the 5000 series will bring. oh wait... this
I guess i'll have to wait for nvidia to do the same :/
In the mean time 'Soft TH' lets me play on 3 screens :3
can't even fathom what the 5000 series will bring..
A. 1600 shaders.
I've always been an nVidia guy (never owned an ATI), but I say, IT WAS ABOUT TIME ATI!
One 40" television versus 6 Dell monitors...
The monitors will cost you less and can be wrapped around for a more immersive view.
Even the crappiest LCD monitors on the market now would cost about the same or most likely cost more than the HDTV. HDTV prices have sunk a lot since last year.
The resolution would be higher of course on the LCD monitors but if you're buying cheap monitors you're likely looking at TN panels with less than fantastic color rendition and terrible viewing angles, which actually makes stacking them in a giant wall configuration problematic.
At any rate I don't think arguing cost makes any sense here-money wise buying an HDTV is cheaper especially if you want similar color reproduction and contrast but this wins on resolution.
Definitely *NOT* a budget solution though and most of the time the HDTV would cost a fraction of setting this up properly but obviously the resolution would be limited.
Of course nothing's stopping you from running 3 HDTVs...
That might pretty cool to have.. but im happy with one screen.
That is soooooo 2008!
Nooo, more like mid 1980's when they had had the very thin border rear projection tv's lined up as one big useless 6x6 ntsc tv. Now with ATI's new card, you can have gaps in between your monitorns and view video games in sections, just like how you view things in real live....no wait a second...
I mean, it's going to be intuitive to where you can use the multiple monitors as individual HUD's, but not use the combined monitors as one ugly segmented one. I mean, you might as well buy a 50" LCD/Plasma TV and save yourself the trouble, money and eye strain.
http://www.pcper.com/comments.php?nid=7744
More shots of the tech and the 6 DisplayPort output card at this link.
Would be even better if this were coupled with an announcement from some monitor manufacturer that they were making some affordable bezel-less monitors!
Just what I was thinking, I find I can cope with the bezel when I'm just doing normal multi-tasking on 3D Studio Max, but in games it's just too distracting.
You know, they actually COULD do this already - well sort of. I mean my old 2003 Thinkpad T-30 had a 1.5 mm bezel on a 14.1" screen. It was awesome. I hate the LCD monitors these days...it is like we went back three steps instead of going forward two. Look, they have had super sexy thin LCD's for a long long time (pick any laptop) but the designs fail with the damn bezel designs. They are fugly to say the least...
start of rant
Oh speaking of laptops, why don't they ALL include a flip out LED light (or several) on them too in that wasted bezel space up top (right by the cameras)? I loved that about my Thinkpad...only problem was it was too dim.
/end of rant
This was demonstrated on some new thin-bezel Samsungs.
Half Life 2 Episode 2.
Gahhhhh that would be sick!
Great for tradeshows though...I think the brightness of this in a lighted environment vs a projector which needs a darker environment is a selling point of this technology. Though I do agree...I'd rather use this on my 52" plasma - one monitor vs many. Maybe the terrorists can use this to train their flight sims on before the next 9/11 - speaking of which the anniversary is tomorrow - crap, how time flies...
I can't even get two monitors to work properly on an ATI 4350...
Cause that card sucks. It is the bare minimum card the sell in the 4000 line and basically is for web browsing and HDMI on a standard sized computer monitor.
In short: Your doing it wrong.
Not sure about the output connections on a 4350, but regardless of ouput power, there is no reason why the card shouldnt power two low resolution screens. Heck, I have an old Geforce card from YEARS ago that powers two monitors, or did, until I upgraded. Maybe they skimped on the drivers / software, or the OS/User is at fault. But I believe your comment is invalid ^ Not sure why you were high ranked lolz
Now if only someone would develop seamless displays we would have perfection.
They have. They're called televisions.
Tell me where i can buy a 3840 x 1080 tv k thx
Tell me when you can actually see all those pixels... oh wait.
1920x1080 is the highest 90% of people can actually notice. Anything above that is just for bragging rights.
Oh and ATI I don't have 6 monitors. Just one.
Umm...at some point it would seem that more and more resolution would be imperceptible. And if it's about the screen size...I think someone suggested a 4K projector would make more sense - I'm inclined to agree. If you have the room (and wallet) for six 30" monitors, then you can most certainly spring for a high-end projector.
The point at which screen resolution becomes imperceptible is well below this (if you sit a reasonable distance away from an existing HDTV, it's already higher resolution than you can generally see); the vast majority of this resolution is worthless. You'd be much better off with a single HD-resolution projector... and six times more per-pixel graphics power.
Still, this kind of setup could be useful for a display that multiple people use at once - like say those display-walls in that film with the gesture controls that I forget the name.
Incidentally, if you really wanted displays to cover your entire field of vision, the displays away from the centre of your vision need much lower resolution, because your vision is really sharp directly in front of you, and really blurry around all the edges. You (by which I mean, a local billionaire) might be able to build some quite clever systems that fill enormous displays because only the display you're looking at needs the full resolutions; others can scale down to quarter resolution, or sixteenth if it's right on the edges of your view. So if this thing can really run six displays each at full HD resolution, it could in theory cope with about 21 screens if you combine it with that kind of concept.
6 24" monitors is 1200 dollars or less...not big enough yet?
"You'd be much better off with a single HD-resolution projector..."
No, you wouldn't be.
Sorry to be off topic but...that dude is using Logitech THX Z2300 computer speakers! I'm using them right now. THEY ARE AMAZING!
me too. best speakers for the price.
I dunno man, Audioengine is pretty sweet too...
http://www.audioengineusa.com/a2_home.php
Computer speakers suck.
Totally off-topic, but:
@Tokenekie & Towncivilian, Audioengine speakers (a5, haven't used a2) suck as computer speakers. They go into standby after 10 minutes of non-use and let you know it by making a popping sound. Then when you play sound through them again, sound is delayed and slightly distorted for a second before it resumes to normal. This doesn't work well as a computer/internet user when sound is random coming from websites, instant messengers, and other programs. I've used 3 sets of A5's (2nd was a replacement and 3rd were my friends) so the power saving features are the norm.
true, projectors could give you a similar gaming experience with no games are made atm. But lets turn off the game for a second.
Look at an icon on desktop @ 1920x1200 resolution, stick the on the top left monitor. The rest of the monitors blanked to match the same desktop color. Remove all the bezels, and viola you have one HUGE desktop of space.
Now look at a picture taken at VGA resolution vs a high mega pixel. Look at the difference in detail that you, then imagine how much of that they could fit onto a screen with such a high resolution. This is not completely thought out or logical my argument but just a very rough example of possibilities.
As a person who is currently using a 37" 1080p LCD for a monitor, the resolution has been the most disappointing part of the experience. I love my realestate but I could use much more of it if only the monitor industry didn't puss out at 1080p and stopped inovating. I have inch high icons, who needs that besides the blind. I want a desktop that I can get as many reasonable sized windows open at a time and also kick Netflix streams to full screen (which, unfortunately, the 6 24" screen options falls down abit on) .
I would love to get 6 of the Dell or Gateway hi-res 30" monitors but I think I will be happy enough with the 6 28" I-Inc.s for $260 each and three MonoPrice.com dual monitor stands for $23 each. Bamm, 38" x 85" of pure hi-res desktop realestate goodness!!!
*drools*
Just saw this on /. Looks like NVIDIA won't be getting my money this time. It's been a good run but it looks like ATi is king of the hill again. Don't get me wrong my 8800GS has been damn good; for a lowish end card it can still kick arse, even playing GRID or DiRT in 1080p at a playable framerate in high. But recently with ATi's amazing pricing (4890 is A LOT cheaper than a 285 yet still is about as powerful) I think I will go to the red side! My friend who has a 4850 said even the drivers are good now which was initally a worry as they were very bad up until recently. NVIDIA will have to do something pretty damn special with the GTX3xx series to remain on top.
A 4890 is slightly under a GTX 275. It will not come close to a GTX 285. Don't get me wrong, great card, good price, but not as powerful as you think it is.