Along with its introduction of the
HD 5830, ATI announced the
HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 card yesterday, which predictably comes with six DisplayPort outputs and enables that hallowed six-screen gaming overload that the Eyefinity branding has been about
since the beginning. Some lucky scribes over at
PC Pro have been treated to a live demonstration of what gaming at 5,760 x 2,160 feels like, and their understated response was to describe it as "far more immersive." No kidding. They did raise the spectral figure of those monitor bezels, however, pointing out that bezel correction -- where the image "behind the bezel" is rendered but hidden making the overall display look like a window unto the game world -- habitually obscured text and game HUD elements. In their view, the sweet spot remains a triple-screen setup, and we're inclined to agree (particularly if they look
like this). For those interested in getting their multi-monitor gaming up and running, we've linked an invaluable guide from
HardOCP below, which breaks down how much you can expect from ATI's current
HD 5000 series of cards, and also provides a video guide to setting your rig up.
posted February 26th 2010 4:17AM
If you have so much space, get a huge monitor and do the same thing without the bezels
I clicked on the link to the three-monitor setup. The wraparound effect is sweet. I think that's where this will be awesome. I agree with everyone else here that the bars are distracting though.
So, where's the FATAL flaw?
@loocas
i had this question too, until I read the review.
Their new "bezel correction" that enables hud elements to be pushed closer to the player so they don't have to move their heads around to the corners of the screens, doesn't always work correctly and sometimes unables you to see vital information.
At least, that's what I got from it.
Maybe I'm wrong, in which case, someone please correct me.
@SmoothMarx
No, the bezel correction doesn't move HUD elements at all. It treats the bezels like the mullions on a window, and renders the image behind them. If the HUD happens to fall where the bezel is, it will be obscured, like it's hiding behind it.
To me, the obvious answer is to simply disable bezel correction; whatever distortion is introduced will be minor.
@loocas
SmothMarx is correct - the fatal flaw is that the bezels can obscure critical game elements.
I like the idea of rendering content behind behind the bezels to make everything scale better, but that would work best for movies and games with a lot of movement and very little text. There should be a way to toggle between bezel correction on and off.
When will there be no bezels but still arc for a more immersive experience?
I think they need to start releasing alternatives in games which would automatically allow movement of the HUD items so that they wouldn't be obscured. Or so that they would all show up on the same screen at once (not split between two, or hidden completely). It's not very hard to make a HUD item movable if its independent, just a matter of creating a sub-menu in the game (extra time and money) to allow a cursor or some sort of utility in the game to adjust the positions.
Um, it seems to me there is a pretty obviously solution here. 3 screens are better? Want the screen estate without the bezel? Get three huge wide screen monitors and orient them vertically.
Just get a projector... No bezels and up to 100" of 1080P.
How much FPS will drop if you move to multi-monitor?
Its good for productivity purpose but gaming???
Come-on, we cry for good FPS, we look for at least 60 FPS. Even going from 16x12 to 25x16 drops FPS to 60-70%. How much will it drop when moving to multi-monitor?
Why not hook your pc onto an projector?
Way bigger.