Item: Sapphire HD 5870 and HIS HD 5970: multi-monitor gaming goodness with ATI Eyefinity
Author: Parm Mann

Review: Sapphire HD 5870 and HIS HD 5970: multi-monitor gaming goodness with ATI Eyefinity

Thoughts

Although likely to be viewed as a luxury by most, ATI Eyefinity is an accessible technology that enhances both productivity and gaming for a wide range of users.

In productivity terms, a single mid-range GPU such as the Radeon HD 5750 provides excellent multi-monitor capability at around the £85 mark. Whilst further up the ladder, a Radeon HD 5870 or 5970 will churn out playable framerates at mega resolutions, creating an immersive gaming experience that has to be seen to be believed.

Cost, of course, is always likely to be a concern. However, for the enthusiast, ATI Eyefinity provides a simple-and-relatively-affordable path to multi-monitor gaming. Pick up a Radeon HD 5870 for around the £300 mark, throw in a trio of Dell 24in, 1,920x1,080 monitors at £200 a pop, and you're looking at a jaw-dropping gaming environment for around the £900 mark - that's less than a single, high-end Dell 30in display.

There's still work to be done - we'd like to see multi-card CrossFire support and compatibility with a wider range of gaming titles, but ATI Eyefinity is already an undoubtedly impressive tool. Partnered with the right hardware and software, it can create an immersive gaming experience that's second to none.

HEXUS Awards

AMD ATI Eyefinity

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For me the bezel issue is a complete deal-breaker. Not that I have the cash for three monitors anyway!

there's a tool you can get which fixes the aspect ratio issue for eyefinity

http://imk.cx/pc/widescreenfixer/

fixes the warped MW2

Could you rotate all the screens 90 degrees to give you a more normal field of view? 3240x1920…

Jimbo, absolutely. Here's an AMD-provided illustration of a few usage scenarios:

The bezels issue will go away…. not only because monitors are getting thinner edges to them, but because the human mind is an amazing thing, and you'll soon just get used to it.

Look at people who manage perfectly well to play MMORPG such as WoW and EVE on tiny little monitors and don't even KNOW that the people they're fighting and beating are using 30“ tfts with every scren open.

I myself have a love of IL-2 (as the entire world knows) and I have 3 or 4 dead insects in the screen that I used to use. It ”bugged" the hell out of me..and then one day… I didn't see them anymore. I knew exactly where they were and I no longer thought of them as enemy aircraft in the distance.

I'd LOVE to play ARMA2 with 3 screens… it would be just mind numbingly good…. and with your head on the move all the time, looking for tango's, you'd soon get used to the screen edges I think.. they'd just fade out of your consciousness. :)