AMD delivers six-monitor gaming with new Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6

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Jos

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Looking to bring users' gaming experience to a whole new level, AMD today introduced the ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition graphics card. Equipped with six mini-DisplayPorts and 2GB of total frame buffer, this card will allow a massive multi-monitor setup capable of rendering more than 1 billion pixels per second, with each output supporting resolutions of up to 2560 x 1600 -- though six 1920x1080 displays adding up to 5760x2160 seems like the sweet spot.

The Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 is clocked at the same 850MHz core/1200MHz memory as the original card, but with the added memory comes a higher power draw as the Eyefinity 6 board's max TDP increases to 228W. That's 40W more than the Radeon 5870 1GB, but still a fair bit lower than Nvidia'a 250W for the GeForce GTX 480.


To accompany the announcement Asus released its own take on the card and called it the Republic of Gamers 5870 Matrix. As the ROG branding suggests, you can expect some souped-up specs compared to AMD's reference design. Although the memory runs at a standard 4,800MHz, the GPU is pre-overclocked to run at 894MHz, and Asus' Super Hybrid Engine (SHE) will reportedly deliver an average performance boost of 19% whilst gaming at high detail.

Providing the overclocking crowd with a little extra control, Asus has included independent voltage controllers and card-mounted voltage measurement points, as well as a custom cooler that promises greater air flow and temperature drops of at least 13% compared to AMD's reference design. No pricing or availability has been announced.

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It would be "cool" to have six monitors to play a game on but once that cool factor wears off I think it would be kind of annoying. You want a huge surface to play on, go with a nice projector. You want great resolution and a lot of screen real estate, go with a 30 incher or 3 22-24 inchers. With six panels though I think the big line of bezel right down the middle of the image would be super annoying in all but driving and flight sim games.
 
Surely I can't be the only person to realise the FATAL flaw with 6 monitors?!?!?

The double bezel running horizontally right through the centre of your vision, right where your cross hair is supposed to be!!!

This is ridiculous idea for any FPS'er as it restricts your direct and focused horizontal line of sight right where you need it most.

3 monitors = brilliant as the 2 vertical bezels are off to the left and right of your view.
6 monitors = hideous idea (for gaming)
 
Yeah, I'm also thinking the 6 monitors is falling into the absurd category. Until they build monitors with no visible bezels, it'll be nothing more than a novelty or bragging rights for someone with more money then sense.
 
Guys ... there's more to this card than six monitor gaming. I wonder what those folks at AMD are doing to be pushing out such quality cards lately? Have they hired the top notches at Nvidia? The pendulum has definitely swung in a new direction, and I can sense confidence in AMD now.

Great going.
 
Definitely have to go with a projector. Especially after you factor in the cost of 6 decent monitors & the price of the card, you would be damn near a projector.
 
TomSEA said:
Yeah, I'm also thinking the 6 monitors is falling into the absurd category. Until they build monitors with no visible bezels, it'll be nothing more than a novelty or bragging rights for someone with more money then sense.

True, its like the whole 3D thing, its just for people who have too much money and is a gimmick.

Plus games take a dramatic hit in FPS, like the first guest said, you'd be better off with one big screen as this card would run a big screen or projector nicely.
 
Problem with projectors is the maximum resolution you can get will be nowhere close to the pixel count you'd get with 6 monitors.

Yes, it's borderline ridiculous to push 6 monitors, but there are a few areas it's got some interesting appeal... Displays/demos at something like trade shows, productivity situations where you can have 6 separate documents or applications open and visible at all times, etc. Or how about something like a flight sim optimized to utilize 6 displays for your views (forward, left, right, up, up left, up right)? In a simulation build, something pushing 6 monitors could be really cool.

Overkill? For sure! Niche market? Heck yah! I think the point is that the hardware CAN push 6 monitors - a nice accomplishment in itself. And there must be a market for it, because isn't nVidia pushing multi-monitor tech lately too? I could swear I just recently saw a press release touting their display array abilities...
 
The reference Sapphire 5870 1GB list on newegg at at $449, for 50 bucks more you can get the 6 display 2GB version.... since the 1GB 5870 has been called bandwith limited.. I certainly see the 2GB version as a plus and worth 50bucks, lets just called the 6 display options an added bonus.
 
6 screens is nothing new - where I work it is common to have 6 to 8 monitors (albeit not coming from one computer), but as people have said it is useless for gaming until monitors with no bezels start coming out.
 
Yeah, bezels kill this for gaming - i would stick with 3 for multi monitor gaming. However i would love to have one video card that supported that many monitor outputs. I can always think of a use for more screen space :)
 
I live in a condo and have my own computer business. I could just see fitting 6 monitors each from my 5 computers in this condo. I think AMD is innovative, but they missed the boat on this one. What office setting too has room for 6 monitors per computer, notwithstanding the expense? Are they suspended from the ceiling?
 
The reference Sapphire 5870 1GB list on newegg at at $449, for 50 bucks more you can get the 6 display 2GB version.... since the 1GB 5870 has been called bandwith limited.. I certainly see the 2GB version as a plus and worth 50bucks, lets just called the 6 display options an added bonus.

The GPU is still largely constrained by it's 256-bit memory bus, so performance remains basically unchanged. From reviews (such as this ) it's apparent that the Eyefinity6's selling point is the 2x3 monitor support - and you're still likely to need a couple of cards to get a reasonable framerate in the majority of games.
 
is it possible put it in any configuration? can it support 3 2560x1600 monitors side by side?

You certainly can. I don't think there are too many (if any) HDMI input 30" monitors so mini-DP to DVI-I adapters would need to be used.
I would think that using a (cheaper) HD 5870 1Gb card to interface with the three monitors would represent better value for money...although if you're prepared to drop cash on three IPS 2560x1600's then maybe budget isn't the greatest concern.
 
I had to double check the posted date for this story. Thought it was an April fools joke!
 
burty117 said:
TomSEA said:
Yeah, I'm also thinking the 6 monitors is falling into the absurd category. Until they build monitors with no visible bezels, it'll be nothing more than a novelty or bragging rights for someone with more money then sense.

True, its like the whole 3D thing, its just for people who have too much money and is a gimmick.

Plus games take a dramatic hit in FPS, like the first guest said, you'd be better off with one big screen as this card would run a big screen or projector nicely.

Too much money? How does one have too much?
 
They honestly need to release this card with higher video memory capacities for better multi monitor support.
 
Yes 6 monitors for gaming is stupid, here's a picture of a setup
http://www.multi-monitors.com/SUPER_PC_Six_LCD_Display_p/6lcds01.htm
I agree this is a fatal flaw, where is you crosshair?
 
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