GeForce v258.69 beta driver supports 3D Vision Surround

[Matthew DeCarlo]

Nvidia has released the GeForce v258.69 beta driver, adding support for 3D Vision Surround which allows certain setups to display 3D graphics on three monitors. Gamers looking for an expensive project can now configure a machine to churn out 3D visuals at a resolution of 5760x1080.

What you need is three identical 3D Vision-compatible displays (such as Alienware's 23" OptX AW2310), two Nvidia GTX 260s or better running in SLI, Nvidia 3D Vision glasses, Windows 7 (Vista and lower aren't supported) and, of course, the latest GeForce beta drivers. Of note, the GeForce GTX 295 in Quad SLI won't work at the moment, but that should be resolved soon.

All of that will amount to somewhere above the $1,500 mark, considering the fact that mentioned Alienware screen is $450 alone. The payoff? An unfair advantage in real-time strategy games, according to the above video which was posted on the Nvidia Ntersect blog. Another video shows a Maingear Shift PC with a custom cooling system and two GTX 480s strapped to the rear of a hydraulic-powered racing simulator.

Windows Vista and 7 (x86 and x64) users can grab the 258.69 beta driver in our download section, which also has information on new features besides 3D Vision Surround support.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/39470-geforce-v25869-beta-driver-supports-3d-vision-surround.html

 

[thatguyandrew92]

Jesus, that is amazing

 

[KG363]

but you NEED SLI to do it

 

[Regenweald]

OR, buy one AMD card, from ANY one of their consumer brackets and have multi monitor support. And the not-so-important 3d support is on its way. You do the common sense......or math.

 

[kakarot27]

a new mobo that is compatible with sli, 2 gtx 465s, glasses and 2 more 2233rzs..... about $1600 after taxes and everything...nope not getting that

 

[Timonius]

Somebody better start figuring out a method to measure resolutions in a 3rd dimension. 5760x1080x? How '3D' is it?

 

[dividebyzero]

OR, buy one AMD card, from ANY one of their consumer brackets and have multi monitor support. And the not-so-important 3d support is on its way. You do the common sense......or math.

ANY card ?......Just what kind of 5760x1080 gaming experience are you likely to get with a HD 5750...or maybe a HD 5450...these are in a consumer bracket are they not?

For that matter the HD 5770, 5830 and 5850 aren't any great shakes either...unless you like your gaming at lower IQ and no/little AA/assorted eye candy....and tesselation, well I don't really think thats on the table...do you?
If you'd like I can present a few links...like this, this, this, this etc... ...maybe you can ask Charlie to get one of his "sources" to knock out one or two.

Multi GPU is pretty much a must if you plan on having everything turned up on the vast majority of games...and if you're paying out serious money for a multi-monitor setup...wouldn't you want the best gaming experience for your money ?

 

[gobbybobby]

This is insane.

 

[Tekkaraiden]

What ever happened to the 3 panel monitor alienware was working on a couple years back? That would be perfect for this.

 

[Julio Franco]

Nvidia's implementation requires SLI because of the huge hit in performance running stereoscopic 3D at 5760x1080 resolution, and having to render two frames of the same scene simultaneously.

@Tekkaraiden, the concave screen you refer to is being sold by Ostendo Technologies.
We played with it for a while during CES and it was very cool, especially for gaming but it's not cheap.

 

[LightHeart]

Looks cool however who can afford this setup? Not me...

 

[TomSEA]

Just another toy that falls into the category of "for people with more money than sense."

 

[BMfan]

Just another toy that falls into the category of "for people with more money than sense."

+1

 

[Regenweald]

dividebyzero said:

OR, buy one AMD card, from ANY one of their consumer brackets and have multi monitor support. And the not-so-important 3d support is on its way. You do the common sense......or math.

ANY card ?......Just what kind of 5760x1080 gaming experience are you likely to get with a HD 5750...or maybe a HD 5450...these are in a consumer bracket are they not?

For that matter the HD 5770, 5830 and 5850 aren't any great shakes either...unless you like your gaming at lower IQ and no/little AA/assorted eye candy....and tesselation, well I don't really think thats on the table...do you?
If you'd like I can present a few links...like this, this, this, this etc... ...maybe you can ask Charlie to get one of his "sources" to knock out one or two.

Multi GPU is pretty much a must if you plan on having everything turned up on the vast majority of games...and if you're paying out serious money for a multi-monitor setup...wouldn't you want the best gaming experience for your money ?

Good points, but the fact remains that multi monitor support is available on all single AMD cards, true, an amazing gaming experience cannot be had on the lower end cards but on any card crossing the 350$ margin, (a lot less than $1500, no?), good, if not great gaming is available and even a powerful Crossfire setup with 5870's depending on the cards chosen can run<$800. As for 3D support, Here you go

 

[Regenweald]

post got truncated, but whatever...you get the gist

 

[dividebyzero]

Weeeeelllll, sort of...
Crossfired 1Gb HD 5870 will run you $780 minimum at the moment (Newegg), SLI'ed GTX 470's around $590 ($30 off retail+$25 rebate on most cards), GTX 480's around $920 as an example. Before you post back with the discrepency in performance between the two setups, bear in mind that:
1. Most MMO's favour nVidia hardware (WoW, DoW 2 etc...)
2. SLI scales proportionally better than Crossfire (vis a vis GTX4xx / HD 58xx)
2a. The software also works just as well with tri-SLI (and probably quad).
iii.

a lot less than $1500, no?

...??? You see anything wrong with iZ3D's $300 offering ? or Acer's at $370 per...then again, if you're looking for a budget option then maybe, just maybe, a triple monitor setup isn't all that feasible from the get-go. Then again, if 3-D isn't required, then three standard monitors will do fine -they don't even need DisplayPort or their attendant active dongles
Four: The nV surround works with GTX 260/275/280/285/295 as well as GTX 4xx series. I don't see any Eyefinity love for HD4xxx series owners.

Regarding the 3D AMD link....
Firstly: I don't see any reference to the system specification
b: Of the games listed, Battleforge and Dirt 2 both favour nVidia's hardware, as does HAWX 2's first iteration, while Left 4 Dead 2 looks pretty comfortable at 5760x1080 on a GTX 470 SLI setup (as does Dirt2 and Metro 2033. 3D performance looks pretty good too-bearing in mind the latest driver is still a beta release...and at least nVidia have managed to keep their promise of 3D gaming drivers by the end of the month (just). I don't see Catalyst offering 3D just yet.

All in all, I'm looking forward to what the technology brings...whether it be AMD or nVidia. One thing I'm not looking forward too is posters denigrating a product line through ill-conceived personal bias by proxy.
Personally I'll await some reviews of both AMD's and nVidia's solutions before making a judgement call on the tech.

***EDIT***
Kyle has a review up....hates 3-D (he's never been enamoured with the whole glasses/headache thing), but the surround experience sounds quite positive:

NV Surround gaming with GTX 480 SLI will give you the best gaming experience you have ever had.

Nice to know that anyone with deep pockets (unless they have short arms) now has a choice in the marketplace.

 

[Burty117]

Thanks for the info Dividebyzero, didn't realise my old GTX 260 can also take advantage of this 3D stuff!