AMD EyeFinity Multi-Monitor System

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There are a couple of options in the market today that give you the ability to add multiple displays to your PC. As many of you can attest, the configuration of systems like this can often be a true measure of one’s patience and can often leave you feeling a little less than completely satisfied. At a press conference yesterday, AMD demonstrated one of the core features of its next-generation graphics processors and what it believes to be the next step in multi-monitor configuration, EyeFinity.

EyeFinity is one of the core features of AMD’s upcoming Radeon HD 5800 series graphics chipset. So what’s so special about it other than the super-cool name? Well, for starters, the ATI-branded technology enables a single video card to handle up to six DisplayPort outputs all running at their full resolution. This means that you’re no longer tied down to lower resolutions when managing more than one LCD and that you don’t have to take out a second (or third) mortgage to be able to afford mega-sized displays. The EyeFinity feature can also merge the displays into a single image and create a live image with a maximum resolution of 8192×8192. While we aren’t quite there yet with current technology, you are still able to squeeze out six 2560×1600 displays to produce a merged resolution of 7680×3200. I think you could handle that for now, couldn’t you?

Another great feature of the new chipset and the EyeFinity feature is its modular configuration. This gives users control when it comes to how the displays are arranged and how the images themselves are shaped. It’s like a portrait versus landscape thing. Just to give you an idea, with current hardware a single Radeon graphics card could power three dual-display setups stacked either vertically or horizontally.

You shouldn’t have to wait long to get your hands on the latest and greatest from AMD and ATi. Both the Radeon HD 5870 and 5850 are expected to get their formal unveiling later this month with shipping not far behind. Because one of the downsides of hooking up so many monitors next to each other happens to be the monitor frames, Samsung is working with AMD to design an Eyefinity-ready set of LCDs and stands that would provide more of a seamless image across the monitor matrix. In other words, really thin frames.