Forums | MacLife

Bat · 2009-09-10 6:36 pm

Ho. Ly. Crap.

I think Mark might not be alone in liking this...

Beginnings of the Holodeck: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

Wanna see what 24.5 million pixels looks like?

[img]

That's six Dell 30" displays, each with an individual resolution of 2560 x 1600. The game is World of Warcraft and the man crouched in front of the setup is Carrell Killebrew, his name may sound familiar.

Driving all of this is AMD's next-generation GPU, which will be announced later this month. I didn't leave out any letters, there's a single GPU driving all of these panels. The actual resolution being rendered at is 7680 x 3200; WoW got over 80 fps with the details maxed. This is the successor to the RV770. We can't talk specs but at today's AMD press conference two details are public: 2.15 billion transistors and over 2.5 TFLOPs of performance. As expected, but nice to know regardless.

The technology being demonstrated here is called Eyefinity and it actually all started in notebooks.

Not Multi-Monitor, but Single Large Surface
DisplayPort is gaining popularity. It's a very simple interface and you can expect to see mini-DisplayPort on notebooks and desktops alike in the very near future. Apple was the first to embrace it but others will follow.

The OEMs asked AMD for six possible outputs for DisplayPort from their notebook GPUs: up to two internally for notebook panels, up to two externally for conncetors on the side of the notebook and up to two for use via a docking station. In order to fulfill these needs AMD had to build in 6 lanes of DisplayPort outputs into its GPUs, driven by a single display engine. A single display engine could drive any two outputs, similar to how graphics cards work today.

Eventually someone looked at all of the outputs and realized that without too much effort you could drive six displays off of a single card - you just needed more display engines on the chip. AMD's DX11 GPU family does just that.

At the bare minimum, the lowest end AMD DX11 GPU can support up to 3 displays. At the high end? A single GPU will be able to drive up to 6 displays.

W00ts? http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3635

jerwin · 2009-09-10 7:06 pm

A bevel right in the sightline. Nice.

Bat · 2009-09-10 7:57 pm

jerwin wrote:
A bevel right in the sightline. Nice.

Well, you give Steve a call, and have him have Apple cobble up some nice custom 30"ers without half their stock frames. Simple.

We expect screens shortly.

CG5Addict · 2009-09-10 8:52 pm

all i say is WOW! Just wish the displays had no black edges. wink

NightCougar_37 · 2009-09-11 1:58 am

Ya, take the black edges out and you'd have something. But then you might as well just make one giant display.

Jokotai · 2009-09-11 2:01 am

And then you'll have people stacking 6 of those monstrosities, until finally somebody is playing WoW on something that requires a large warehouse with a diesel-powered generator as a backup system, with the carbon footprint equal to that of a small suburbian town.

The new iTunes, with it's brilliant off-white background, may require sunglasses to use.

Bat · 2009-09-11 4:01 am

{Sigh...} Read the article.

Then, NC, get your glass cutters out and fab some VERY LARGE sheets. Jokotai, get on the display electronics, phospors etc. needed for the rest... or just ponder how many will spend 10 grand on monitors for your dire predictions. Or just look at the brackets, read the text. It's spelled out.

Mark wants a rig that can display his superhigh-res H.264 vids. This will.

Bat · 2009-09-11 5:29 am

Article at BSN

Unlike some other $600 non-FHD experiences, you can use three, four or even six displays on everyday basis. As you can see in picture above, Google Earth is nothing else but impressive.

25 megapixel real estate is also something that every user of RED One camera or a professional photographer will appreciate. Here at BSN, we love our RED One camera, but the matter of fact is that no display at some affordable price can display 1:1 pixel ratio. But with a 25 MPixel screen, our 12.8 MPixel CMOS sensor seems "tiny"… in conclusion - there are many usages to Eyefinity technology.

& AMD Official PR

Last edited by Bat (2009-09-11 5:51 am)

avkills · 2009-09-11 9:02 am

Oh we already have a rig to display those super hi res H.264s. Basically this is kick ass. So long as you can control how the outputs are arranged, you could use a Barco Encore and 6 projectors to make a totally seamless image projected on to a screen. You would probably do a 3x2 setup (3 across by 2 down). The total resolution would be the total pixels - the overlap * the number of blended regions.

So.... with a overlap of 128 (which would be fine) you would get a 7424 x 3072 image running all 6 outputs at 2560x1600 and driving a 3x2 (6 display) system. big_smile

Hope this is released for the Mac, since powerpoint blows chunks running hi-res images and actually transitioning good enough for live shows.

-mark

avkills · 2009-09-11 9:23 am

Of course Apple will blow this since all they use is a single 16x9 display behind the stage for all the Steve-notes. Sissies. tongue Our typical blend setup is a 60ft wide by 20ft high screen being driven by 4 projectors (2 wide double stacked). Resolution is 3240x1080. It looks kick ass.

-mark

elpato84 · 2009-09-11 12:01 pm

We should get a bunch of these bad boys and then talk.

CG5Addict · 2009-09-11 12:10 pm

Jokotai wrote:
And then you'll have people stacking 6 of those monstrosities, until finally somebody is playing WoW on something that requires a large warehouse with a diesel-powered generator as a backup system, with the carbon footprint equal to that of a small suburbian town.

The new iTunes, with it's brilliant off-white background, may require sunglasses to use.

lol lol Man... Jokotai you had be laughing to the point of tears with your post. .::still wiping tears::. lol lol

Then again people are looking for everything Big.

Last edited by CG5Addict (2009-09-11 12:10 pm)

avkills · 2009-09-11 1:10 pm

elpato84 wrote:
We should get a bunch of these bad boys and then talk.

Yeah but it probably only has a 1920x1080 resolution still. tongue I know it isn't as high as 2560x1600.

Actually it is probably 1920x800 or 2592 x 1080. I'd guess the 1920x800 though.

-mark

Last edited by avkills (2009-09-11 1:13 pm)

mrreet2001 · 2009-09-11 1:35 pm

CG5Addict wrote:
Jokotai wrote:
And then you'll have people stacking 6 of those monstrosities, until finally somebody is playing WoW on something that requires a large warehouse with a diesel-powered generator as a backup system, with the carbon footprint equal to that of a small suburbian town.

The new iTunes, with it's brilliant off-white background, may require sunglasses to use.
Man... Jokotai you had be laughing to the point of tears with your post. .::still wiping tears::.

Then again people are looking for everything Big.
http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/gadge … ne_640.jpg

HEEEELLLLOOOO

avkills · 2009-09-11 2:09 pm

I don't seriously see anyone using more than 2 displays for home use; However this could be kick ass for screen blend applications. Matrox is probably smurfing themselves right now.

-mark

Bat · 2009-09-11 2:14 pm

avkills wrote:
elpato84 wrote:
We should get a bunch of these bad boys and then talk.
Yeah but it probably only has a 1920x1080 resolution still. I know it isn't as high as 2560x1600.

Actually it is probably 1920x800 or 2592 x 1080. I'd guess the 1920x800 though.

-mark

The theoretical res limit on these new guys is 268 MPixels- and it's consumer-level gear. And yes, you can arrange the displays as you want- 2x3, 5x1, portrait, whatever- and each GPU (up to 4 in Crossfire) can drive up to six displays. They had X-Plane running that way, spread across 24 wall-mounted displays. smile

Yes, OS support is needed so... over to you, Apple.

Last edited by Bat (2009-09-11 2:15 pm)

jerwin · 2009-09-11 2:14 pm

I'm sort of impressed that the new Radeon can not only render to such a high resolution virtual screen, but maintain the framerate as well. However, Multiple stacked monitors are a bit of a niche. An expensive niche.

So, I'm thinking that game developers will calculate that their audience will continue to use HD-- 30 inch at the most, and start working on photorealistic graphics that cripple ordinary graphics cards, but manage, say 40-60 fps, on the new Radeon-- at 1920*1200. A new crysis for a new generation of gamers.

Bat · 2009-09-11 2:16 pm

jerwin wrote:
A new crysis for a new generation of gamers.

Ho, ho. You are an ArmA of one, jerwin. wink

avkills · 2009-09-11 2:17 pm

Bat wrote:
avkills wrote:
elpato84 wrote:
We should get a bunch of these bad boys and then talk.
Yeah but it probably only has a 1920x1080 resolution still. I know it isn't as high as 2560x1600.

Actually it is probably 1920x800 or 2592 x 1080. I'd guess the 1920x800 though.

-mark
The theoretical res limit on these new guys is 268 MPixels- and it's consumer-level gear. And yes, you can arrange the displays as you want- 2x3, 5x1, portrait, whatever- and each GPU (up to 4 in Crossfire) can drive up to six displays. They had X-Plane running that way, spread across 24 wall-mounted displays.

Yes, OS support is needed so... over to you, Apple.

Oh I was referring to the link that elpato84 posted about the 2.4:1 aspect ultra wide screen.

-mark

Bat · 2009-09-11 2:23 pm

Even some of that is settable. It's mentioned that new resolutions can be added to games, demos etc. that don't have same hard-coded, all the way back to the first DX9-level stuff from '02. OpenGL equivs too.

jerwin · 2009-09-11 5:54 pm

avkills wrote:
Bat wrote:
avkills wrote:

Yeah but it probably only has a 1920x1080 resolution still. I know it isn't as high as 2560x1600.

Actually it is probably 1920x800 or 2592 x 1080. I'd guess the 1920x800 though.

-mark
The theoretical res limit on these new guys is 268 MPixels- and it's consumer-level gear. And yes, you can arrange the displays as you want- 2x3, 5x1, portrait, whatever- and each GPU (up to 4 in Crossfire) can drive up to six displays. They had X-Plane running that way, spread across 24 wall-mounted displays.

Yes, OS support is needed so... over to you, Apple.
Oh I was referring to the link that elpato84 posted about the 2.4:1 aspect ultra wide screen.

-mark

Might as well go for constant area projection.

ukimalefu · 2009-09-11 6:25 pm

What we need is better animations and physics in games.

personified8 · 2009-09-18 5:15 pm

http://www.seamlessdisplay.com/products_radius320.htm seamless multi-monitor thingy. It's pretty old too.

Bat · 2009-09-18 9:49 pm

ukimalefu wrote:
What we need is better animations and physics in games.

Yes, but some of us need resolution greater than that of an iPhone. Tweet Steve and let him know you want this on the Mac ASAP (tho I'm sure he's aware of AMD/ATi's roadmap, and knew this was coming). Then have him have Disney buy Bungie to make Marathon Pfhor, supervised by Alex.

Physics interact with AI via pathfinding and elsewise; the new Compute Shader functionality comes in well there and other places.

personified8 wrote:
http://www.seamlessdisplay.com/products_radius320.htm seamless multi-monitor thingy. It's pretty old too.

A true curved widescreen display was shown last year, but such solutions tend to be pricier per pixel. Still, good for the non-gaming aspects of this, like medical and scientific visualization uses.

personified8 · 2009-09-19 4:24 pm

bat i know what you are talking about. that 320 has to be pricey because they don't even put the prices on the website. you have to call or email to get a quote!

what is this other solution you mentioned?

Rather than power multiple small monitors, why not just make a real big one so there is no seam? or have someone figure a way to make a structurally sound multi-monitor with no seam set up. I assume it's the structural integrity most people are worried about. I know i wouldn't want to pay 5k + to have my six or more monitors come tumbling down.

Forums | MacLife

#1 2009-09-10 6:36 pm

AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#2 2009-09-10 7:06 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#3 2009-09-10 7:57 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

jerwin wrote:

#4 2009-09-10 8:52 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#5 2009-09-11 1:58 am

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#6 2009-09-11 2:01 am

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#7 2009-09-11 4:01 am

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#8 2009-09-11 5:29 am

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#9 2009-09-11 9:02 am

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#10 2009-09-11 9:23 am

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#11 2009-09-11 12:01 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#12 2009-09-11 12:10 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

Jokotai wrote:

#13 2009-09-11 1:10 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

elpato84 wrote:

#14 2009-09-11 1:35 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

CG5Addict wrote:

Jokotai wrote:

#15 2009-09-11 2:09 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#16 2009-09-11 2:14 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

avkills wrote:

elpato84 wrote:

#17 2009-09-11 2:14 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#18 2009-09-11 2:16 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

jerwin wrote:

#19 2009-09-11 2:17 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

Bat wrote:

avkills wrote:

elpato84 wrote:

#20 2009-09-11 2:23 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#21 2009-09-11 5:54 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

avkills wrote:

Bat wrote:

avkills wrote:

#22 2009-09-11 6:25 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#23 2009-09-18 5:15 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

#24 2009-09-18 9:49 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

ukimalefu wrote:

personified8 wrote:

#25 2009-09-19 4:24 pm

Re: AMD's DX11 GPU, Eyefinity and 6 Display Outputs

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