Eyefinity initial thoughts:
Whilst I may not be pushing eyefinity to its limits at the moment, with a mere 3 1920*1200 screens, I think I am in a good position to give a first impression of eyefinity.
To use eyefinity you need an ATI 5xxx series graphics chip, two DVI monitors and a displayport monitor or an adaptor to take displayport to DVI. This has to be active and they generally cost around £70-£80. On top of this factor in the cost of three monitors, a high end graphics chip and you'll be looking at the end of £1000. Of course one could go for an ATI 5870 eyefinity 6 card, with 6 2560*1600 monitors, a custom stand and then wince at the £6500 tag it carries with it.
Eyefinity was very easy to setup, just plug in the screens, open up catalyst control panel and create a group. Easy. This now tells windows you have one screen with a 5760*1200 resolution, extends the task bar and starts every program in full screen, which unfortunately isn't ideal.
With a little tweaking, everything settles down and you begin to revel in the awesomeness of having such a large desktop space. Then comes the big moment and you boot up a game. One of two things will happen: The game will boot fine, or it won't. If it doesn't it's a matter of tweaking the ini file to accept such a massive resolution and hoping.
Crysis: Crysis was very easy to setup for eyefinity, taking one resolution change. However when you sit down to play this monster, all the problems you thought you had left behind after upgrading, such as slowdown suddenly appear, giving you some idea of what crysis is like as a powerpoint show.
With the FPS figures down in the single digits with a pair of overclocked 5970s, I decided to take the antialiasing down to 0, and suddenly the frames shot up. Any form of antialiasing is too much for the poor graphics chips, so unless you happen to have a powerpoint fetish, avoid.
The visuals however are stunning, with three monitors surrounding me, it felt like being in the jungle (albeit without chunks of hot lead piercing me every few seconds). The extra space enables you to see enemies trying to flank you. If you have the chance, see it in action, words struggle to describe the experience.
Oblivion: Oblivion is a fair bit older than many games tested today, and will happily run at least 2x AA with no problems. Be aware that the side monitors tend to display a slightly stretched image for some reason, and that having a third person point of view will lead to motion sickness without the motion.
Fallout 3: Fallout 3 is one of my favourites, however it will not behave with 2x AA on, and the scopes and Pipboy are screwed up. No matter, avoid going into the menu too much and it looks amazing, the full landscape stretches forth and is definitely worth the poor menu and scopes.
DIrt 2: Dirt 2 in full 3 monitor glory is a sight to behold, with some of the best water physics and full DX11 support, it's almost criminal not have the maximum resolution. Again AA is best left off, although it was possible to engage 2x until too much action occured, then it was hello powerpoint.
RESI 5: The menus in Resi are completely zoomed in, making it nearly impossible to play. I wish they would get on and patch this.
Overall, eyefinity is definitely worth the money for me, but others may feel it is just too much cash. The experience is amazing, the extra width is worth having, but on the other hand todays graphics chips are struggling and there are more than a few bugs.
I'm all for it, it adds an extra something to gameplay, and doesn't need the geeky glasses or give you a headache as 3d vision does. I think the technology needs to have a few bugs ironed out, but overall it is totally useable. The biggest downside aside from the cost is the need for the most powerful GPUs in town to power it.
Whilst I may not be pushing eyefinity to its limits at the moment, with a mere 3 1920*1200 screens, I think I am in a good position to give a first impression of eyefinity.
To use eyefinity you need an ATI 5xxx series graphics chip, two DVI monitors and a displayport monitor or an adaptor to take displayport to DVI. This has to be active and they generally cost around £70-£80. On top of this factor in the cost of three monitors, a high end graphics chip and you'll be looking at the end of £1000. Of course one could go for an ATI 5870 eyefinity 6 card, with 6 2560*1600 monitors, a custom stand and then wince at the £6500 tag it carries with it.
Eyefinity was very easy to setup, just plug in the screens, open up catalyst control panel and create a group. Easy. This now tells windows you have one screen with a 5760*1200 resolution, extends the task bar and starts every program in full screen, which unfortunately isn't ideal.
With a little tweaking, everything settles down and you begin to revel in the awesomeness of having such a large desktop space. Then comes the big moment and you boot up a game. One of two things will happen: The game will boot fine, or it won't. If it doesn't it's a matter of tweaking the ini file to accept such a massive resolution and hoping.
Crysis: Crysis was very easy to setup for eyefinity, taking one resolution change. However when you sit down to play this monster, all the problems you thought you had left behind after upgrading, such as slowdown suddenly appear, giving you some idea of what crysis is like as a powerpoint show.
With the FPS figures down in the single digits with a pair of overclocked 5970s, I decided to take the antialiasing down to 0, and suddenly the frames shot up. Any form of antialiasing is too much for the poor graphics chips, so unless you happen to have a powerpoint fetish, avoid.
The visuals however are stunning, with three monitors surrounding me, it felt like being in the jungle (albeit without chunks of hot lead piercing me every few seconds). The extra space enables you to see enemies trying to flank you. If you have the chance, see it in action, words struggle to describe the experience.
Oblivion: Oblivion is a fair bit older than many games tested today, and will happily run at least 2x AA with no problems. Be aware that the side monitors tend to display a slightly stretched image for some reason, and that having a third person point of view will lead to motion sickness without the motion.
Fallout 3: Fallout 3 is one of my favourites, however it will not behave with 2x AA on, and the scopes and Pipboy are screwed up. No matter, avoid going into the menu too much and it looks amazing, the full landscape stretches forth and is definitely worth the poor menu and scopes.
DIrt 2: Dirt 2 in full 3 monitor glory is a sight to behold, with some of the best water physics and full DX11 support, it's almost criminal not have the maximum resolution. Again AA is best left off, although it was possible to engage 2x until too much action occured, then it was hello powerpoint.
RESI 5: The menus in Resi are completely zoomed in, making it nearly impossible to play. I wish they would get on and patch this.
Overall, eyefinity is definitely worth the money for me, but others may feel it is just too much cash. The experience is amazing, the extra width is worth having, but on the other hand todays graphics chips are struggling and there are more than a few bugs.
I'm all for it, it adds an extra something to gameplay, and doesn't need the geeky glasses or give you a headache as 3d vision does. I think the technology needs to have a few bugs ironed out, but overall it is totally useable. The biggest downside aside from the cost is the need for the most powerful GPUs in town to power it.
