My Eyefinity setup

Z

Zorachus

[H]F Junkie
Joined
Dec 17, 2006
Messages
11,308
Well I bought the new Radeon HD 5870 when it first came out, and had a blast with it on my Apple 30" Display. Since I knew it would be awhile until AMD got Portrait + Landscape + Portrait working, I decided to sell my nice 30" Display :( And pick up three new Dell 2408WFP 24" monitors. Thanks to Craigslist the change did not cost me a dime :) I sold the Apple for $900 cash, and then find a woman who had like 10 of the Dell's for sale, still in box brand new as of September 2009, Revision 2.

Was shocked how easy and fast the Craigslist thing went down. I put the add up and hour later this Asian dude said he be there in the morning, he came and just grabbed the Apple Display and gave me the cash and ran out. And the Asian chick with the Dell's for so cheap, and brand new with full warranty, I just gave her the cash and her husband loaded up my car. And she lived only 20min away from me.

Anyways as for the Eyefinity setup and gaming :eek: To be honest you need a huge fucking desk, and be ready to clear off everything. Three monitors takes up a ton of space, I can't stress that enough, I am still shocked how large this setup is in front of me. And that's just 24" x 3, I can not imagine a 3 x 30" setup, that would take up a whole office.

Here are some pics first, they are from my crap iPhone camera, and pictures do not do this setup justice, and the color difference you see on the right monitor really is not there when sitting down in real life, I don't see it now like the pic shows.

IMG_0352.jpg


IMG_0351.jpg


IMG_0349.jpg
 
Well I'm happy for you but the color differences, shown in the first screenshot, are horrible. You've got some tweaking to do, that's for sure.

-edit- NM, its because of the angle of the picture. The colors seem pretty close in all other screens. Now about those bezels...........
 
Mister E said:
Well I'm happy for you but the color differences, shown in the first screenshot, are horrible. You've got some tweaking to do, that's for sure.
Click to expand...

You can probably imagine that when you're sitting in the middle, every screen is more or less pointing straight at you, so that color difference won't be there, or it will be different, at least.
 
Gaming on three large screens is a mind melt at first, it really is trippy and hard to get used to for awhile. But I mean that in a good way, it is just so different, even coming from a single 30" Display, this is better for gaming, just very different with the extremely wide view and more game world you see. But it is pretty insane to sit in front of, very extreme to say the least. Even my Wife said WTF, it was just too much in her opinion.

One thing I hope gets fixed very soon, though is the fish eye lens feel or stretched view on the side monitors. I just tried out WoW and TF2, and both of them have the sides spread out way too much in my opinion. Will that be an ATI driver fix, or per game developer to patch and allow for better extreme wide screen resolutions that Eyefinity gives ?

Also the in game menus and main character info gets put on both side monitors, I hope again a driver fix or developer patch fixes that ? Like in WoW the world map is on the far right monitor, and my character name and health is on far left, pretty much same thing for Team Fortress 2.

Anyways, I just setup this tonight, so it is a lot to soak in, this is pretty crazy just typing to you with these three monitors almost surrounding me. ;)
 
Looks sexy... just need a 3rd 22" with DP... gotta wait for xmas... lets see some more game shots :)
 
Mister E said:
Well I'm happy for you but the color differences, shown in the first screenshot, are horrible. You've got some tweaking to do, that's for sure.

-edit- NM, its because of the angle of the picture. The colors seem pretty close in all other screens. Now about those bezels...........
Click to expand...


That color difference on the right monitor is really not there. Look at the two game shots when standing in the middle, the right one does not show that off color, it looks evenly the same as the others, and in real life it truly does, they all look the same.
 
you're probably out of luck for TF2, but for WoW there are tons of simple mods that let you drag/drop/dock everything in the UI. I haven't played for a year almost, so I'm out of touch with what the latest are... also, on WoW, there are a couple that allow you to change the rendered areas, (CT_Viewport was one).. I used to use that so that I could have a normal black background behind status windows, chat windows, etc. You might be interested in something like that. Nice setup though.
 
Some more WoW shots, sorry about this old school game, but my Brother and I still play it for fun, before bedtime, we really are casual players.

IMG_0354.jpg


IMG_0356.jpg


IMG_0357.jpg
 
I wouldn't be able to stand those gaps due to the bezels. I've always wanted a dual monitor setup that would avoid this problem.
 
Do the games have to be setup specifically for this or do they just have to be open to whatever the native desktop resolution is, like 5760x1200?
 
Viper8547 said:
I wouldn't be able to stand those gaps due to the bezels. I've always wanted a dual monitor setup that would avoid this problem.
Click to expand...

Really the bezels are not that bad, once in the game and running around you sort of forget them and they fade away mentally.

My biggest issue with Eyefinity that is noticable is the fish eye lense view in the two side monitors where the image is stretched, it makes it look so much different than the sharp and clear image on the front/center display. Not sure if this is an ATI thing to fix in future driver releases or does Blizzard and Valve and others need to patch the games to handle such extreme wide resolutions correctly ?
 
TF2 looks incredible. From that angle you can see the ENTIRE width of the map ... impressive stuff.
 
LanPirate1 said:
What outputs/adapters are you using for the setup? Does the 2408 have DP input?
Click to expand...

Yes the 2408WFP has Display Port, it was the cheapest DP monitor I could afford, got all three for $950 brand new in box full warrenty
 
looks good man, but I have to say that in the Hard Review the 90 degree rotation looked better, may be because the image doesn't look so stretched on that.
 
westrock2000 said:
Do the games have to be setup specifically for this or do they just have to be open to whatever the native desktop resolution is, like 5760x1200?
Click to expand...

The only two games I tried, WoW and TF2 both easily had the option in the game menu under video to choose this resolution under 16:9, just clicked it like you would normally to match your desktop and monitor standard resolution, in my case it is 5760x1200
 
how can you acomplish this? does it have to be with a 5870? how do you set up the 3 monitors I have 2 right now with an nvidia but 3?

some one plz explain.

thanks
 
very nice set up you got there :) why didn't u try first a 30" in the center and 2x24 put in portrait mode :D
 
perrosky said:
how can you acomplish this? does it have to be with a 5870? how do you set up the 3 monitors I have 2 right now with an nvidia but 3?

some one plz explain.



thanks
Click to expand...



This is a new feature found only on the brand new AMD/ATI Radeon 5800 series that just came out last month

The feature is called " Eyefinity ", and on a single 5870 video card it supports up to 3 - 30" monitors to allow extreme triple wide screen gaming. You hook all three monitors to the back of your video card, one MUST be a Display Port or an adapter at the least but has to use the DP on the card.

Other than that it really is plug and play easy through the ATI drivers and setup is just few clicks to get it going.
 
Zorachus said:
Really the bezels are not that bad, once in the game and running around you sort of forget them and they fade away mentally.

My biggest issue with Eyefinity that is noticable is the fish eye lense view in the two side monitors where the image is stretched, it makes it look so much different than the sharp and clear image on the front/center display. Not sure if this is an ATI thing to fix in future driver releases or does Blizzard and Valve and others need to patch the games to handle such extreme wide resolutions correctly ?
Click to expand...

It's due to the FOV of the game's 3d engine. In HL2 you can futz around with the FOV from the console and probably eliminate the worst of the fisheye. TF2 should have a similar console command, but since it's multiplayer I don't know if you're allowed to mess with it. You can see the fisheye on a single widescreen if you get close to an object/character and put them at the very edge of the screen. With the monitors in a "surround" setup and focus on the center monitor standard FOV's work fairly well, but it would be best if future games were able to render wide areas with less distortion close up.
 
AWSOME

Sold my GTX 280s and ordered a 5870. Not sure what to do about the screens...will figure it out later.
 
Very nice indeed man :) I ordered my XFX 5870 last friday. And got my I7 920 D0 core comin too.

Cant use the i7 yet tell next check when I get a mobo.

But nice indeed you make me want 2 more 28inch monitors :(
 
ok. I have not seen any monitor with the DP are they any adapter like DP to dvi or DP to HDMI? I have 2 23.1 inch asus monitor but they don't have the DisplayPort.:(
 
perrosky said:
ok. I have not seen any monitor with the DP are they any adapter like DP to dvi or DP to HDMI? I have 2 23.1 inch asus monitor but they don't have the DisplayPort.:(
Click to expand...

I saw a Hardocp forum post awhile back that 1 guy says he found one that works.

I bookmarked it on my home PC. Ill try to link it later when I get home from work.

But I guess there is one
 
Zorachus said:
If you don't have a Display Port monitor, then you must have the active adapter connected to one of them, that will then connect to the DP on the back of the video card;
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Cables/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=330-5521
This is one of the few that actually work. No cheap simple adapter will work, it has to be powered like this one.
Click to expand...

Yea there it is :) lil spendy but if you going for eyefinity im assuming cost isnt an issue for the person
 
That's so awesome. How are your framerates in WoW pushing all 3 of those monitors with a single card?

As much as I'd love to have that I think it would make me totally motion sick.
 
Hostile said:
That's so awesome. How are your framerates in WoW pushing all 3 of those monitors with a single card?

As much as I'd love to have that I think it would make me totally motion sick.
Click to expand...

It really is not that bad :) Does take some getting used too, thats for sure, but in a good way, with the screens sort of surrounding you there is a ton more game world in front and to both sides of you, really brings it to life.

For WoW I am running at the my new resolution of 5760x1200res all game options to Ultra settings maxed out, and 8xMultisample and it plays pretty dang smooth :cool:
 
perrosky said:
ok. I have not seen any monitor with the DP are they any adapter like DP to dvi or DP to HDMI? I have 2 23.1 inch asus monitor but they don't have the DisplayPort.:(
Click to expand...

http://www.displayport.org/consumer/?q=content/devices#pcmonitors

There's more out there, but that's a start.

@OP: You said in WOW your health bar and mini map are on the side screens. Can't you just use a custom UI addon? I imagine WOW would be the most friendly to triple monitors (and probably very useful).
 
Yea, to fix your problems with the wow UI you're going to have to install some mods. From the looks of it you don't use any. For shame! :p
 
Hostile said:
Yea, to fix your problems with the wow UI you're going to have to install some mods. From the looks of it you don't use any. For shame! :p
Click to expand...

Any tips to which ones ? I have hear of some called Move anything ? or Fluid ?

I just want to custom move my character avatar and world map and quest tracker to the main center screen.
 
Zorachus said:
Gaming on three large screens is a mind melt at first, it really is trippy and hard to get used to for awhile. But I mean that in a good way, it is just so different, even coming from a single 30" Display, this is better for gaming, just very different with the extremely wide view and more game world you see. But it is pretty insane to sit in front of, very extreme to say the least. Even my Wife said WTF, it was just too much in her opinion.

One thing I hope gets fixed very soon, though is the fish eye lens feel or stretched view on the side monitors. I just tried out WoW and TF2, and both of them have the sides spread out way too much in my opinion. Will that be an ATI driver fix, or per game developer to patch and allow for better extreme wide screen resolutions that Eyefinity gives ?

Also the in game menus and main character info gets put on both side monitors, I hope again a driver fix or developer patch fixes that ? Like in WoW the world map is on the far right monitor, and my character name and health is on far left, pretty much same thing for Team Fortress 2.

Anyways, I just setup this tonight, so it is a lot to soak in, this is pretty crazy just typing to you with these three monitors almost surrounding me. ;)
Click to expand...

i am sure its been said, but those bezels would totally fuck it for me, otherwise its pretty nice. here is how you modify the hud for tf2 - there used to be several pre-modified .cfg files, but they dont work anymore since last big update

http://www.fpsbanana.com/threads/102795
 
Zorachus said:
Any tips to which ones ? I have hear of some called Move anything ? or Fluid ?

I just want to custom move my character avatar and world map and quest tracker to the main center screen.
Click to expand...

I haven't played WOW in 1.5 years, but back in the day X-Pearl was very popular, and it was what I used.

I did a quick check, and it looks like Curse is still truckin' in terms of mod hosting, and X-Pearl Unit Frames is still very popular.

http://wow.curse.com/downloads/wow-addons/details/xperl.aspx
 
Ok last major " Eyefinity " question.

So I have the three screens and Windows 7Pro, the start button and stuff is on the far left monitor, and the clock and taskbar tray icons on the far right monitor. I would rather have all those all on the center/main screen, is that possible somehow ?
 
Zorachus said:
Really the bezels are not that bad, once in the game and running around you sort of forget them and they fade away mentally.

My biggest issue with Eyefinity that is noticable is the fish eye lense view in the two side monitors where the image is stretched, it makes it look so much different than the sharp and clear image on the front/center display. Not sure if this is an ATI thing to fix in future driver releases or does Blizzard and Valve and others need to patch the games to handle such extreme wide resolutions correctly ?
Click to expand...
The "fish eye" can't be removed by ATi's drivers. It's there because of how in-game cameras work.

That said, the effect is optically correct, but certain FOVs only look correct at certain distances from your display. If it's bothering you in a few specific games, the solution is simple... turn down the FOV (or sit closer).

Zorachus said:
Ok last major " Eyefinity " question.

So I have the three screens and Windows 7Pro, the start button and stuff is on the far left monitor, and the clock and taskbar tray icons on the far right monitor. I would rather have all those all on the center/main screen, is that possible somehow ?
Click to expand...
Sure, you just disable Eyefinity SLS mode and use Windows native multi-monitor instead. This allows Windows to see that there are three separate screens attached instead of one large one.

If ATi designed this right, it should automatically flip back into eyefinity mode when a game requests an eyefinity resolution.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top