ATI Eyefinity special report

Post by **GeneralAdmission** » 11 Sep 2009, 11:40

Greetings all,

I just returned from AMD/ATI's special launch event for their new GPUs with Eyefinity technology. The event was quite an experience--the best part being the opportunity to see Eyefinity in action firsthand. I've got some pictures and information to share with you tonight, and I'll be adding video clips tomorrow as fast as I can cut/compress/upload them.

AMD had multiple Eyefinity stations set up in different configurations. The first being a 3x2 setup featuring Samsung monitors with thin bezels:

The card has 6 mini-displayport outputs that feed into fullsize DP cables for the screens:

Here's a look at the card itself (single GPU doing all the rendering):

Next is a 3x1 HDTV 1080p setup featuring 46" JVC screens:

This card has 2 DVI outputs, 1 HDMI and 1 DP. With this setup it uses the DVI and DP ports to connect to the screens via HDMI adapters:

A couple shots of the card itself:

As I'm sure most of you have seen elsewhere, there was also a 24-LCD Eyefinity display running X-Plane on Linux:

Here's a look at the inside of the rig. I was impressed that 4 cards running such ultra-high resolutions required only a 1200W PSU:

This system uses 4 of the same cards as the 3x2 system, adding up to 24 mini-displayport connections to drive the monitors:

Each card (single GPU) was responsible for rendering one quadrant of the overall display, and they were actually running separate instances of game to do so. This was not a crossfire setup, and I was told that CF support has not yet been integrated with Eyefinity.

When I spoke with the ATI dev presenting this display he explained that the entire frame was closer to 63 megapixels--rather than the 55 noted on the table card--because the GPUs were actually rendering all the scenery hidden by the bezels but cutting out those pixels with bezel management. As you can see, this bezel management does not "shrink" the image towards the center of the overall display--making it far superior to the TH2Go method. It remains to be seen whether Eyefinity on Windows will offer this feature or not. I was told that Eyefinity GPUs *should* have bezel management, but based on the displays I saw tonight it appears that it is not yet implemented into Eyefinity for Windows (see screenshots on page 2).

Other tidbits of information:
-Eyefinity on Windows will support any symmetric display configuration. All landscape? Great. All portait? Great. 3x1, 3x2, 2x2, 4x1, 5x1, 6x1? Good to go. 4 landscape and 1 portrait? No deal. Whatever the configuration, Windows must be given a single, symmetric, rectangular (or square) display by Eyefinity. On Linux you can mix and match to your heart's content.
-There will be no special drivers or programs required for game compatiblity. Just like the TH2Go, if the game can support the resolution and AR, it will work with an Eyefinity display. All the hacks/tweaks/configs/etc. we host here should thus stay very relevant for Eyefinity users.
-When I asked about maximum resolution I was told that crossing the 8000 pixel boundary starts to cause hardware issues, but with single-GPU Eyefinity displays easily able to render @ 7680x3200 it doesn't seem like much of a problem for the near future.
-Eyefinity GPUs will support Windows XP[edit-apparently XP is not supported by Eyefinity: LINK]/Vista/7 and DirectX 9/10/11.
-There are no particular refresh rate restrictions on Eyefinity. Running displays >60Hz is possible, but can introduce performance issues based on all the different variables involved in rendering and delivering ultra hi-res images to the screens. For reference, the 24 X-Plane LCDs were all running @ 60Hz.

I think that's all for now...can barely think straight at this hour. I'm sure most of this info is already burning up the net. If what I was told turns out to be bunk then I'm not responsible. :mrgreen:

If you guys have questions I'll do my best to answer them. Will get to the videos as soon as possible tomorrow, though I will have rugrats to contend with.

I might also need to post a little rant somewhere about the not-so-awesome parts of the event.

Before I forget: thanks to Ibrin for making it possible for me to attend!

-Edit-
Videos: (links removed)

Post by **thales100** » 11 Sep 2009, 11:48

Man, thanks a lot, i was waiting for your report and its great, so it can run DX 9 / 10 / 11 + 60 Hz ? :shock: Thats perfect, much superior than our current solution, the ATI Eyefinity and the new 5800 cards gonna be winners for all surround gamers. :D

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 11 Sep 2009, 12:31

Thanks for taking the time, GA. Awesome.

Even more enthusiastic about this now.

I think it can be said without fear of contradiction now that ATi just made Matrox redundant.

DaFox · Post by **DaFox** » 11 Sep 2009, 12:46

wooo I was getting worried about you!

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 11 Sep 2009, 12:58

Been thinking.

This shows very nicely that ATi have got both the idle and load power draw for RV870 down from that of RV770... otherwise we'd be looking at a 1500w PSU because a 4890 would draw something like 280w of juice, meaning that four of them sucks nearly 1200w all by themselves...

whismerhill · Post by **whismerhill** » 11 Sep 2009, 13:01

thanks a lot General Admission
you totally fucking rock ! 8)

dinmaster · Post by **dinmaster** » 11 Sep 2009, 13:13

thanks for the great information, im sold on this series, im just thinking either getting 1 or 2? i hope they get crossfire working with this tech, it shouldn't be hard... even tho these cards should power huge games and stuff, you still might get lag at the highest settings and thats why i want crossfire, i hope the lads at ati inform us of the crossfire eyefinity situation and if its resolved.

on a side question, the case of the "This card has 2 DVI outputs, 1 HDMI and 1 DP" what computer case is that, im finding my case to be too small even tho its a full tower, i need a nice clean case with a window. thanks

Unknownsock · Post by **Unknownsock** » 11 Sep 2009, 13:31

This is a bummer, i was just about to buy a TH2go Digital for £150 off a m8.

ya recon its still worth it, or should i wait for the 58** cards. Really confused what to do atm. As i'd ave to tell him asap.

Although i've read the bezel management isn't very good on the eyefinity.

dinmaster · Post by **dinmaster** » 11 Sep 2009, 13:38

dont buy his th2g, these cards are way better. thats my opinion, the bezel thing is software related and could be fixed later on. they just haven't implemented it yet.

DaFox · Post by **DaFox** » 11 Sep 2009, 13:45

I think it can be said without fear of contradiction now that ATi just made Matrox redundant.

It really is looking that way. I'm sure there will still be a small market for nvidia fanboys that want TH2G though. But I would definitely be worried if I was Matrox. (not to mention nvidia)

Unknownsock: The bezel management sounds awesome on the Eyefinity from what ive read.

I think that's all for now...can barely think straight at this hour.

I blame the alcohol. Glad that you had a good time.

The case is a Lian Li PC-P50

Post by **thales100** » 11 Sep 2009, 13:48

i hope they get crossfire working with this tech, it shouldn't be hard... even tho these cards should power huge games and stuff, you still might get lag at the highest settings and thats why i want crossfire, i hope the lads at ati inform us of the crossfire eyefinity situation and if its resolved.

Yes, i hope too, i want crossfire so i can play all maxed any game at 5040x1050 + DX 10 and 11 with decent FPS.

Post by **Paradigm Shifter** » 11 Sep 2009, 13:50

On the CrossFire front... I'm not sure. With EyeFinity, it'd probably be better to run 'one screen per card' if you needed a performance boost, rather than trying to get CrossFire to do it. That way you've only got to worry about the EyeFinity driver situation, rather than needing to worry about both EF and CF. CF scaling might be better than SLI, but it's still not perfect. In theory EF scaling would be perfect. I doubt it will be, as the cards will have to have some cross-talk so that they don't get out of sync, but if done right the EF performance hit for three cards driving three screens and needing to crosstalk would be... what, about 5%? Just to keep frames in sync.

So, for example, if you're doing three screens off one card, rather than going dual card CF, you go tri-card. I want to see a 5870X2 with six of those mini-DisPort adaptors capable of doing EyeFinity properly, though. :D

Unknownsock · Post by **Unknownsock** » 11 Sep 2009, 13:54

i've currently got a gtx275, should hopefully be able to get £150 off ebay as its not too old(and ebay is way overpriced :) ), and i have £150 put away for the TH2go.

Just buy the TH2go or wait for the 5870x2 which i should be able to afford.
Just throw all your opinions at me.!

Post by **thales100** » 11 Sep 2009, 13:59

Just buy the TH2go or wait for the 5870x2 which i should be able to afford.
Just throw all your opinions at me.!

lol forget this th2go. :wink:

On the CrossFire front... I'm not sure.

Interesting point, maybe itll be possible to run i.e. the left monitor with one 5870 and the central + right monitors with the second 5870.

Unknownsock · Post by **Unknownsock** » 11 Sep 2009, 14:08

[quote]Just buy the TH2go or wait for the 5870x2 which i should be able to afford.
Just throw all your opinions at me.!

lol forget this th2go. :wink:

Yea well its a fair amount of money, i dont wanna make a mistake :)

Post by **skipclarke** » 11 Sep 2009, 15:41

ATI has a new page up for EyeFinity.

http://www.amd.com/us/products/technologies/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity.aspx

Fatmotti · Post by **Fatmotti** » 11 Sep 2009, 15:52

Excellent write up GA, easily one of the best I've seen so far, and I've been devouring the info on this on all the sites.

What size do you think those Samsung monitors were?

Stormwatcher · Post by **Stormwatcher** » 11 Sep 2009, 15:58

Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit silly using this with an even number of monitors? Unless you have an odd number setup, you'll always have a huge bezel (or multiple bezels) right in the middle of the screen... making it totally impossible to play any action games.

Fatmotti · Post by **Fatmotti** » 11 Sep 2009, 15:59

I'll probably do 4, 1x3 with a 4th on top as the "second" monitor.

Post by **skipclarke** » 11 Sep 2009, 16:14

Am I the only one who thinks it's a bit silly using this with an even number of monitors? Unless you have an odd number setup, you'll always have a huge bezel (or multiple bezels) right in the middle of the screen... making it totally impossible to play any action games.

Unless you do what Fatmotti is saying, you are absolutely correct. Having a bezel in the "middle" is complete nonsense for a gamer. While I understand the tech demo aspect of showing 3x2 30" panels, it doesn't work for me. I'm all about 3x1 or 5x1. Maybe 5x3. That would be 2.667:1, which isn't an overly large aspect ratio. I'm more worried about aspect and "immersion" than raw pixel count.

Widescreen Gaming Forum