An Idiot's Guide to AMD's Eyefinity

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PC Perspective has posted something of a "how-to" guide today called "An Idiot's Guide to AMD's Eyefinity." The article basically walks you through a first time Eyefinity build with tips and hardware suggestions along the way.

While Eyefinity is certainly not perfect, and we have yet to see wide support for the technology, it is improving month by month. Not every game will take advantage of the technology, and certainly in the case of PANTONE, they have not provided updates to address the limitations of their product in Eyefinity. Between the gaming pleasure I have received from Eyefinity, as well as the huge amount of extra space I actually use for productivity, I couldn’t be much happier with how this has all turned out.
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The hardest thing about setting up my eyefinity rig was finding the desk space for the monitors.
 
I wish sites had down loadable copies of stuff like this...
 
-Sn1PeR- said:
The hardest thing about setting up my eyefinity rig was finding the desk space for the monitors.
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+1! I had to rebuild the whole upper part of my desk and that was just for 20" monitors.
 
I too am glad someone made a guide. If I hadn't seen the [H] version I never could have enabled it.

AMD has made thier Catalyst too darn cryptic in recent generations. I wanted to adjust scaling on a LED TV and it took way too long to find it buried in the GUI.

I say bring back the old menu layouts.
 
Holy crap are they using the same monitors as me in that pick? LOOK MA IM FAMOUS

but really these are slick monitors. They get hot as fuck though.


One thing should be noted I seem to have a lot of random weird issues with surround on my 1920x1200. I'm considering switching back to AMD.

Not seeing it in the article is there a cheap ADP -DVI solution from amd yet?
 
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-Sn1PeR- said:
The hardest thing about setting up my eyefinity rig was finding the desk space for the monitors.
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QFT.

Actually then I decided to go with portrait over landscape and I didn't need that extra desk space. Now I'm at 3 portrait eyefinity + 1 smaller landscape monitor off to the side.
 
As someone who started with Eyefinity with a day-one 5870, it's hilarious how easy setting up Eyefinity has become. Slowly but surely support has come around and it's now so so easy to set up...you install CCC and basically just follow the prompts: "would you like to set up multi-display Eyefinity?", "we recommend that you create a custom resolution for bezel compensation", etc. It's really really simple.

The difficult part of Eyefinity/Surround is just getting developers to take the 10 minutes it takes to account for custom resolutions and PROPER aspect ratios. It is a really really simple thing for them to include yet so often we're forced to rely on someone like Dopefish (props!) to create a workaround so that our triple-wide resolutions don't look like horrible zoomed-in garbage. At least some games do it right, like BF:BC2 (which means BF3 should be a lock for support), and all of Valve's games (TF2/L4D/Portal) are awesome with Eyefinity - plus they don't need a lot of horsepower to run flawlessly.
 
Aix. said:
As someone who started with Eyefinity with a day-one 5870, it's hilarious how easy setting up Eyefinity has become. Slowly but surely support has come around and it's now so so easy to set up...you install CCC and basically just follow the prompts: "would you like to set up multi-display Eyefinity?", "we recommend that you create a custom resolution for bezel compensation", etc. It's really really simple.

The difficult part of Eyefinity/Surround is just getting developers to take the 10 minutes it takes to account for custom resolutions and PROPER aspect ratios. It is a really really simple thing for them to include yet so often we're forced to rely on someone like Dopefish (props!) to create a workaround so that our triple-wide resolutions don't look like horrible zoomed-in garbage. At least some games do it right, like BF:BC2 (which means BF3 should be a lock for support), and all of Valve's games (TF2/L4D/Portal) are awesome with Eyefinity - plus they don't need a lot of horsepower to run flawlessly.
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Actually the difficult thing in Eyefinity is getting people to understand the rats nest of hardware requirements and pitfalls the cards come with.

Can I do 120Hz? Yes, but you pretty much can only do it on a 6xxx card, with two active DP to DL-DVI and you can only use the the top DVI port.

You have to have an active adapter. Well, what about the Sapphire FLeX cards that don't require one? Yeah, except those Will this other Sapphire card work? Didn't I just say "except those"?

I have this friend who has a passive adapter that works, you're wrong about the active adapter. No, I'm really not. Let me guess, this "passive" adapter is a VGA YEAH! It's not passive. There's no such thing as a passive DP to VGA adapter

Why do I have to buy a $110 adapter? Are you running 30" monitors? No. Are you running 120Hz monitors? No. Then you do not need the $110 adapter. You can buy the $24 one.

And so on...And it really doesn't help that the flipping card makers like Sapphire and ASUS are pushing out 2nd gen 6xxx series cards with display controllers that make things more confusing than they already are.
 
My biggest problem is the moving refresh line I have on one of my screens. The other problem is that I want an easy way to go from Eyefinity to a single display (and then back to Eyefinity) and I can't figure out an easy way of doing that.
 
der_jackal said:
Actually the difficult thing in Eyefinity is getting people to understand the rats nest of hardware requirements and pitfalls the cards come with.

Can I do 120Hz? Yes, but you pretty much can only do it on a 6xxx card, with two active DP to DL-DVI and you can only use the the top DVI port.

You have to have an active adapter. Well, what about the Sapphire FLeX cards that don't require one? Yeah, except those Will this other Sapphire card work? Didn't I just say "except those"?

I have this friend who has a passive adapter that works, you're wrong about the active adapter. No, I'm really not. Let me guess, this "passive" adapter is a VGA YEAH! It's not passive. There's no such thing as a passive DP to VGA adapter

Why do I have to buy a $110 adapter? Are you running 30" monitors? No. Are you running 120Hz monitors? No. Then you do not need the $110 adapter. You can buy the $24 one.

And so on...And it really doesn't help that the flipping card makers like Sapphire and ASUS are pushing out 2nd gen 6xxx series cards with display controllers that make things more confusing than they already are.
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Yeah, the journey has definitely not been for the faint of heart, that's for sure.

I started with 5870, then 5870 CFX. It was cool, but that 1GB frame buffer (and 5xxx architecture) was really holding the cards back in Eyefinity. I was also using three low-end LG monitors that didn't support DisplayPort. When one of my monitors died I upgraded all three to Dell U2211H Ultrasharp IPS panels when they were on sale.

Once the 6xxx was released I grabbed 2x 6970s right away and was quite happy for a while. One of the things that began to bug me though - as mentioned above - was the vsync issue created by having 2x DisplayPort and 1x DVI connection...so I grabbed an ASUS Direct CU II 6970 and now I'm running 3xDP connections and have no issues.

So yeah, I know what you mean: there have definitely been teething issues, and most users wouldn't be in a position to make all the upgrades that I made, but Eyefinity/Surround gaming is worth it, IMHO, and I have yet to have a SINGLE person try it without exclaiming how awesome it is.
 
Aix. said:
Yeah, the journey has definitely not been for the faint of heart, that's for sure.

I started with 5870, then 5870 CFX. It was cool, but that 1GB frame buffer (and 5xxx architecture) was really holding the cards back in Eyefinity. I was also using three low-end LG monitors that didn't support DisplayPort. When one of my monitors died I upgraded all three to Dell U2211H Ultrasharp IPS panels when they were on sale.

Once the 6xxx was released I grabbed 2x 6970s right away and was quite happy for a while. One of the things that began to bug me though - as mentioned above - was the vsync issue created by having 2x DisplayPort and 1x DVI connection...so I grabbed an ASUS Direct CU II 6970 and now I'm running 3xDP connections and have no issues.

So yeah, I know what you mean: there have definitely been teething issues, and most users wouldn't be in a position to make all the upgrades that I made, but Eyefinity/Surround gaming is worth it, IMHO, and I have yet to have a SINGLE person try it without exclaiming how awesome it is.
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I'm running 3xDP connections and I still don't have functional vsync... I really wish they would fix it.
 
piscian18 said:
Not seeing it in the article is there a cheap ADP -DVI solution from amd yet?
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The best ones are these:

Accell displayport to single link DVI active adapter:

http://www.accellcables.com/products/DisplayPort/DP/dp_dvi_sl_active.html

Accell mini-displayport to active single link DVI adapter:

http://www.accellcables.com/products/DisplayPort/DP/mdp_dvi_sl_active.html

These two are usually $30 bucks or less and I've used both and they work flawlessly up to 1900x1200/1080p.

Over that you'll need a active dual link adapter which are $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
 
Kor said:
I'm running 3xDP connections and I still don't have functional vsync... I really wish they would fix it.
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In source games like Portal 2 I get perfect vsync at 60.1fps at eyefinity resolutions. Maybe it's the particular game you're playing?
 
Kor said:
I'm running 3xDP connections and I still don't have functional vsync... I really wish they would fix it.
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Any particular game you're having issues in? I haven't had that problem in any game that I've tried running 3xDP out of 6950 CF.
 
OFaceSIG said:
The best ones are these:

Accell displayport to single link DVI active adapter:

http://www.accellcables.com/products/DisplayPort/DP/dp_dvi_sl_active.html

Accell mini-displayport to active single link DVI adapter:

http://www.accellcables.com/products/DisplayPort/DP/mdp_dvi_sl_active.html

These two are usually $30 bucks or less and I've used both and they work flawlessly up to 1900x1200/1080p.

Over that you'll need a active dual link adapter which are $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
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I've also seen a lot of people swear by the Sapphire;
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?cid=&leg=&psn=0001&gid=1010&sgid=1011

And yeah, here's the basic chart;

Resolution > 1920x1200 == Dual Link Active Adapter
Resolution < or = 1920x1200 and Refresh Rate > 60Hz == Dual Link Active Adapter
 
-Sn1PeR- said:
Any particular game you're having issues in? I haven't had that problem in any game that I've tried running 3xDP out of 6950 CF.
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Pretty much anything, few examples being:

Dirt 3
Eve
Bad Company 2
Assassins Creed Brotherhood
 
To be fair i think the issue might be restricted to the 5xxx line up. It seems to be the result of a usage imbalance between the 2 cards under load when using eyefinity.
 
ocellaris said:
My biggest problem is the moving refresh line I have on one of my screens. The other problem is that I want an easy way to go from Eyefinity to a single display (and then back to Eyefinity) and I can't figure out an easy way of doing that.
Click to expand...

Switching between an Eyefinity group and a single display is simple. You can go though the shitshow of trying to get profiles and hotkeys to work or you can do what I do: turn off the outer monitors. The card automatically moves the desktop to the single remaining center monitor. It's great for games like Civ V, Witcher or Starcraft II that don't have good support for ultra-wide gaming.

To get your Eyefinity group back just turn the monitors back on. Works for me.

M.
 
rdqlus said:
Switching between an Eyefinity group and a single display is simple. You can go though the shitshow of trying to get profiles and hotkeys to work or you can do what I do: turn off the outer monitors. The card automatically moves the desktop to the single remaining center monitor. It's great for games like Civ V, Witcher or Starcraft II that don't have good support for ultra-wide gaming.

To get your Eyefinity group back just turn the monitors back on. Works for me.

M.
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I was about to post something along these lines. I do that pretty much to go through 7 different display setups. I've found if your making a major change like portrait mode to landscape, its often best to go from portrait eyefinity to portrait 3 monitors to landscape 3 monitors to 3 landscape eyefinity (or say 2 portrait, one landscape etc.). It takes < 5 seconds to do that though. Rotating the monitors is another story.
 
rdqlus said:
Switching between an Eyefinity group and a single display is simple. You can go though the shitshow of trying to get profiles and hotkeys to work or you can do what I do: turn off the outer monitors. The card automatically moves the desktop to the single remaining center monitor. It's great for games like Civ V, Witcher or Starcraft II that don't have good support for ultra-wide gaming.

To get your Eyefinity group back just turn the monitors back on. Works for me.

M.
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Windows Key + P. Switch from Duplicate to Extended. Then back to Duplicate for Eyefinity.
 
I was thinking about getting 2 CRTs (practically for free) and putting one on either side of my BenQ EW2430 LCD. How would it work out for Eyefinity if the CRTs had a different max resolution and aspect ratio (both 1600x1200, 4:3 for example) than the LCD (1920x1080, 16:9)? Could I run the CRTs at a resolution like 1440x1080 and keep the LCD at its native 1920x1080? So it would look like something like this:

[1440x1080] [1920x1080] [1440x1080]

Combined resolution 4800x1080?

It would be an inexpensive way for me to test Eyefinity and see how much I like it. I would only have to buy a Displayport adapter. The only downside I can think of is that the CRTs would be running 60 Hz, but since they would only be the side monitors, I don't think the flicker would be a huge deal.
 
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tQz1 said:
I was thinking about getting 2 CRTs (practically for free) and putting one on either side of my BenQ EW2430 LCD. How would it work out for Eyefinity if the CRTs had a different max resolution and aspect ratio (both 1600x1200, 4:3 for example) than the LCD (1920x1080, 16:9)? Could I run the CRTs at a resolution like 1440x1080 and keep the LCD at its native 1920x1080? So it would look like something like this:

[1440x1080] [1920x1080] [1440x1080]

Combined resolution 4800x1080?

It would be an inexpensive way for me to test Eyefinity and see how much I like it. I would only have to buy a Displayport adapter. The only downside I can think of is that the CRTs would be running 60 Hz, but since they would only be the side monitors, I don't think the flicker would be a huge deal.
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Short: Nope, can't be done. Eyefinity polls the EDID of the monitors for capabilities - resolutions refresh rates, screen sizes, etc. and it won't take a 4:3 + 16:9 mix. Plus the bezels on the CRTs would be horrible for an Eyefinity experience.

If you really want to try a triple screen gaming experience on the cheap using those CRTs, get the adapter and run SoftTH with that setup.
 
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