I usually don’t cover general PC hardware news but here’s something interesting for sim racing enthusiasts as ATI will be introducing the so-called ATI Eyefinity Technology with their newest line of DirectX 11R adeon graphics cards.
Up until now, sim racers who wanted to use more than two screens in their racing simulators had to use additional hardware like TripleHead2Go to connect their monitors. This is no longer needed with Eyefinity as the newest ATI graphics cards can be connected to multiple screens, allowing the connection of up to six screens with a combined resolution of 8000×8000 pixels.
The technology can be seen at work in the video below, more info on Eyefinity and the possible screen setups can be found on the ATI website. Eyefinity will be introduced with the new range of Radeon 5800-series graphics cards that will be available starting September 23rd.
superapex
September 12th, 2009 at 07:27
this is amazing.. the next step is for viewsonic to announce a bezel-less lcd.
Seems very awkward to me having two bezels right in the center of my view. I would imagine it would be very distracting.
spliff
September 12th, 2009 at 08:39
mh, i have no idea what this should be good for. would be cool if monitors did not have “1 cm plastic frames” like all seem to have nowadays. it look very ugly to to me when you use more monitors to realize a big picture. i rather use a projector for that. or if you’re crazy, you can even use many projectors and stitch them together.
aliasx
September 12th, 2009 at 10:57
How about one 50″ LED?
Howie47
September 12th, 2009 at 14:25
This was my first thought. I can’t figure out why some company hasn’t done it already. I made my own projection TV. So I know it is very possible. In fact if I wasn’t so lazy; I’d remove the center frames from my two monitors that run in “span”. But my “3DLens” do a pretty good job of removing the center frames.
Mr. A
September 12th, 2009 at 15:32
Having them placed in a 3×2 grid seems kind of meaningless for gaming, I would prefer just one big screen instead. And using an even amount of monitors in any direction is annoying since you get a bezel in the middle. But using 3 or even 5 screens to just make the image wider is awesome (because of the wide FOV). I used three regular 17″ monitors with SoftTH for a while and that gave more immersion than when I had a projector and 80″ screen.
I was planning on upgrading graphics card when these comes out, now I might get three cheap 24″ monitors as well.
mrkavanagh
September 12th, 2009 at 15:38
Can some explain to me why this would be better than hooking up your pc to a 50″ 1080p LED tv?
Mr. A
September 12th, 2009 at 15:50
The setup you see on the photo seems kind of meaningless to me, unless you want really high resolution.
For sim racing use:
Using several monitors beside each other gives much more immersion than just a regular 16:9 in my opinion (regardless of how big that one display might be).
If you want a wide FOV (Field of view) and only have one screen, then it will look like your sitting in the back seat of the car when you increase the FOV too much. With several screen beside each other you don’t need to increase the FOV in game but you still get a very wide view. You’ll be able to see more around you and the sense of speed gets a real boost.
TomHolland
September 12th, 2009 at 15:58
Kinda obvious, you have a bigger resolution.
ermax18
September 12th, 2009 at 17:01
This is better then one large monitor because you can place the side monitors at a 45deg angle so you get a better sense of speed and can look to the apex a little. rFactor knows how to adjust the geometry of the side monitors when configured properly.
Video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrmhrLAcMJM
Notice how the pit wall lines up even though the monitors are at an angle.
Howie47
September 12th, 2009 at 17:30
Here is what my dual monitor, + 2 3DLens looks like. I didn’t have it ajusted perfect to make a video. But it is close. It adjust easily, just by moving the len’s closer or nearer to the screens. They are on a slider. This is a cheap way. But I am please with it. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xagqg1_dualmonitorspan3dlens
grimes
September 13th, 2009 at 14:40
“Eyefinity will be introduced with the new range of Radeon 5800-series graphics cards that will be available starting September 23rd”
Where you got from it wil be released September 23rd???
I’m wating for this card’s but thay never sayed a release date?????
ForzaBarca88
September 13th, 2009 at 15:01
Sweet, definitely gonna check this out! Was always interested in TripleHead2Go but the price was lame considering all you get is the connector for the 3 monitors.