EYEFINITY 3600X1920 vs 1920x1200

[alxnet2003]

I tried Landscape mode, and I hate the fact it does look like a thin vertical strip, it just does NOT make me say OH MY GOD, but Portrait sure does.

Trust me, it'll wear off.

The OH MY GOD reaction is what I had when I plopped down a high quality 40" 1080P LCD on my desk two feet from my face. It fills your vision and you say OMG!

Then I moved to triple 23" landscape, and for me personally, a sweeping horizontal view is far more preferable than a large 16:9 or 16:10 ratio display, even if the vertical height isn't as great. Having a five foot scretch of LCD at eye level had me going OMG over my vertically large but horizontally challenged 40" display. Besides, you actually gain some gaming advantage with the horizontal setup because you're seeing so much more of your surroundings.

 

[Dan_D]

I can see how that logic would be more effective if you have 30"s since they will pretty much cover you vertical FOV, but for 24"s, they're not as tall so I'd say portrait is more effective for him. Either way, for me, I'd be in gaming bliss, hah. I can't wait until next year when the 5800s come down in price and become more available. I'm definitely looking forward to trying this out .

Yeah I got to try it at the HardOCP/AMD Eyefinity challenge. Absolutely awesome. It definitely felt more immersive.

 

[Zorachus]

Yeah I got to try it at the HardOCP/AMD Eyefinity challenge. Absolutely awesome. It definitely felt more immersive.

You mean Portrait mode I am sure, right ?

My big beef with Landscape, is games were not designed for a 48:9 Aspect Ratio, so the two side monitors make the game world very strecthed out and distorted looking, it just kills the immersion factor, because the main/center display looks perfect, but the image on the laft and right montors looks zoomed in almost and very elongated.

Portrait does not give that effect at all, plus Portrait is so tall, your whole vision is soaked up in a wall of LCD bliss, nothing but game world from top to bottom, and left to right. Landscape looks like a thin horizontal bar, the immersion factor is far lesser.

 

[vsboxerboy]

I wonder what 5x30" Portrait looks like in person...

 

[Dethred]

Guess you really have to try eyeinfinity first to appreciate it. Wish I could get a demo of it somewhere, lol.

facepalm.

 

[Zorachus]

Tried WoW out in Landscape tonight, and it sure feels weird in such an extreme wide res of 5760...I might say it is too wide, you have to keep turning your head left and right to see the all the screens. Or you can push the whole setup back further away to see it better, but then it looks too thin, with no height at all, and the immersion factor goes way down, it just looks like a very widescreen but thin monitor, nothing too special.

Don't know how you guys thing Landscape is cooler than Portrait, just no way. With Portrait setup you feel like you can jump inside your screens and be inside the game world Never get that feeling what so ever in Landscape.

 

[ontariotl]

My 3 27" in landscape does quite nicely to envelope me in the game. Maybe its different for MMOG's but for racing or flight simulators landscape is the way to go. Either way, its all up to the end user to be satisfied which whatever setup they use. To have a choice is golden.

 

[Zorachus]

My 3 27" in landscape does quite nicely to envelope me in the game. Maybe its different for MMOG's but for racing or flight simulators landscape is the way to go. Either way, its all up to the end user to be satisfied which whatever setup they use. To have a choice is golden.

For racing Landscape is no question the way to go. Which 27" are you using ? I think 27" is the perfect 1920x1200res monitors to go with in Landscape, they are big enough to still give nice vertical height.

Please post pic's

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Don't know how you guys thing Landscape is cooler than Portrait, just no way. With Portrait setup you feel like you can jump inside your screens and be inside the game world Never get that feeling what so ever in Landscape.

Actually I have my 30" at about 2-3 feet away from me, it fills all of my direct vision and some of my peripheral, I think losing the height would probably irritate me, spending lots of money on 2 side monitors for them only to fill my peripheral vision would be a fairly big waste of money in most cases I suspect.

It's an option with a 5970 on the way but 2 more 30" is way too expensive, if only I could find 2 20" at 1600x1200 and ATI fix their driver to allow mixed resolutions, that would probably be the best balance between price and size/ratio

 

[Zorachus]

Actually I have my 30" at about 2-3 feet away from me, it fills all of my direct vision and some of my peripheral, I think losing the height would probably irritate me, spending lots of money on 2 side monitors for them only to fill my peripheral vision would be a fairly big waste of money in most cases I suspect.

It's an option with a 5970 on the way but 2 more 30" is way too expensive, if only I could find 2 20" at 1600x1200 and ATI fix their driver to allow mixed resolutions, that would probably be the best balance between price and size/ratio

I agree that 20" in Portrait + 30" in Landscape + 20" in Portrait would probably look the best for EYEFINITY, but that does not work at this point in time, and sounds to be several months away before it does. Maybe after they get Crossfire/Eyefinity working on 2 single cards, and that is said to be coming 1Q 2010, so after that they will work on allowing Portrait + Landscape to work together ?

 

[Zorachus]

Been testing back and forth last night and today, Landscape vs Portrait, and every time I have the same answer, Portrait FTW

With Landscape, sure I really do alot more game world, but the extreme wide screen looks very long and thin, like a strip, and the immersion factor is just not there, it just looks like a crazy wide screen, and that's cool, but it never blew me away or made me so holy crap, like Portrait does.

I played WoW in Landscape earlier today, and I kept looking up above the screen for more vertical space, and the two sides are so far out there, you really need to keep turning your head left and right just to see whats on the screen, that kills the immersion factor big time doing that.

But with Portrait it is a solid wall, from floor to ceiling, and edge to edge of all LCD gaming bliss. Your entire view is soaked up with all the monitors completely, plut the two side are angled towards me like 33 degrees or so, to really wrap it around you.

 

[ontariotl]

For racing Landscape is no question the way to go. Which 27" are you using ? I think 27" is the perfect 1920x1200res monitors to go with in Landscape, they are big enough to still give nice vertical height.

Please post pic's

I posted them on another thread but here are a few pics. Also my 27's are Dell 2709W.

 

[Kowan]

Looks great ontariotl. I see how you have hidden the side monitor's bezel behind the center.

 

[Zorachus]

ontariotl, that looks awesome
For racing Landscape is the only way to go.

And 27" 1920x1200res displays doesn't get any better. If you don't mind me asking, what those set ya back each ? I do have a Dell 2707 I could use,so just need 2 2709's

 

[WBurchnall]

Have any of you guys tried EyeFinity with just two monitors. Aka a dual-monitor setup with decent size monitors like 27" monitors? Does that fill your field of vision pretty well too? Would the bezel become really annoying and cross-eyedness follow within a few months ?

Just wondering because I was considering purchasing a 2nd 27" monitor now and getting a third one later. If two 2 27" monitors doesn't work so well, I might wait a bit and then buy both the 2nd and 3rd at the same time around boxing day sales.

 

[alxnet2003]

Have any of you guys tried EyeFinity with just two monitors. Aka a dual-monitor setup with decent size monitors like 27" monitors? Does that fill your field of vision pretty well too? Would the bezel become really annoying and cross-eyedness follow within a few months ?

Just wondering because I was considering purchasing a 2nd 27" monitor now and getting a third one later. If two 2 27" monitors doesn't work so well, I might wait a bit and then buy both the 2nd and 3rd at the same time around boxing day sales.

I had a two display Eyefinity going for about two weeks waiting for my DVI DP adapter to arrive (Dell took too long so I got the Apple variant). It's not very practical with FPS games since your middle bezel hides some visual info (if you decide to tuck one monitor behind the other).

It worked surprisingly well for racing games though, but I'd only use a two display setup for short term. Anything longer than a week or two will drive you nuts because you really get a good taste for what Eyefinity offers but the bezel smack dab in the middle of your playfield is not good.

 

[ontariotl]

Looks great ontariotl. I see how you have hidden the side monitor's bezel behind the center.

It was the only way to reduce the bezel width. It also serves a second purpose of a little bezel management as well as the view lines up better between the lcd panels.

ontariotl, that looks awesome
For racing Landscape is the only way to go.

And 27" 1920x1200res displays doesn't get any better. If you don't mind me asking, what those set ya back each ? I do have a Dell 2707 I could use,so just need 2 2709's

All together it cost me $1600 (550 each) Cdn for all 3 monitors. I happen to come across a good deal. Coming from 3 23" monitors, landscape isn't as bad now. It may look small on pictures I take, but I have to move back just to get the whole 3 monitors in the shot. It is quite enveloping when playing any type game. Here is a comparison of my 23 and a 27 in the middle as I starting out with the old, in with the new...

Have any of you guys tried EyeFinity with just two monitors. Aka a dual-monitor setup with decent size monitors like 27" monitors? Does that fill your field of vision pretty well too? Would the bezel become really annoying and cross-eyedness follow within a few months ?

Just wondering because I was considering purchasing a 2nd 27" monitor now and getting a third one later. If two 2 27" monitors doesn't work so well, I might wait a bit and then buy both the 2nd and 3rd at the same time around boxing day sales.

I tried with 2 monitors as I was waiting for one of my adaptors to come in. It was kind of disorientating to say the least.

Now, I thought about using 3 projectors for eyefinity as all I would need is 2 more, but with my anamorphic lens it will stretch it out more than the 16:9 ratio (2.35:1 ratio cinemawide). Even though it would be more than 145" diagonal of viewing....I still prefer eyefinity

 

[Zorachus]

That pic really shows how much larger the 27" is over the smaller size, it is quite a big difference. So now I can see that in Landscape it would look pretty good.

But if I wanted to get those and flip up into Portrait mode, I heard the 27" doesn't do Portrait by default ? The stands don't allow it ? But can you unscrew them from the mount and manually flip them upright at all ?

 

[ontariotl]

That pic really shows how much larger the 27" is over the smaller size, it is quite a big difference. So now I can see that in Landscape it would look pretty good.

But if I wanted to get those and flip up into Portrait mode, I heard the 27" doesn't do Portrait by default ? The stands don't allow it ? But can you unscrew them from the mount and manually flip them upright at all ?

You know, I never really thought about that. I just checked the mount, and it looks like I can be done. Damn! Thanks for that idea, it never occured to me. Maybe I will try it out and see.

 

[Zorachus]

You know, I never really thought about that. I just checked the mount, and it looks like I can be done. Damn! Thanks for that idea, it never occured to me. Maybe I will try it out and see.

Please try that out for me I am tempted on getting these Dell 2709's, but will play Portrait mode for my MMO's, and flip back to Landscape for my shooters. But if they can't do Portrait period I will stay away.

But I think, they should be able to, even if the stands don;t allow it, just unscrew the monitor from the VESA mounting bracket or what evet it is called, and flip it upright and redo your Catalyst driver to Portrait mode of 3600x1920, I have been going back and forth all weekend testing it out, only take couple minutes tops, not a big deal.

 

[InvisiBill]

I think WoW lends itself to a 16:9 layout better than the ultrawide layout. With a racing game you have stuff to the side of you and you want to see peripheral things. With WoW, you want to keep everything you're dealing with sort of in front of you.

I was previously renting a room from my cousin in his house, which meant my computer room was also my living room. I had a 37" 720p TV as my monitor. It sat on my computer desk where my 23" monitor sits now, though I did tend to lean back in my chair with it (giving me another foot or so of distance). It was still very immersive despite being only 720p. You do lose some resolution, but I think in a game like WoW without super lifelike details, it's not as noticeable. Based on just your pics, it seems like a $500 1080p ~40" TV would have similar results. You lose the resolution, but you also don't have to deal with bezels at all (though I'm sure they're not as bad in person as in a picture) or any special software or support in games or anything. It's just a really big monitor. FEAR and Bioshock were fun on a huge monitor in the dark too.

I just measured and my 23" in portrait mode is about the same height as my 40" TV. I may have to keep an eye out for deals to get back to my huge gaming monitor. I've got a GTX285 right now, so I'm not sure I can justify an upgrade to a 58xx and several more monitors. If they had a decent 40" 120Hz 1080p that actually took 1920x1080 120Hz input from a PC, I'd be all over it.

 

[Lateralus]

Actually I have my 30" at about 2-3 feet away from me, it fills all of my direct vision and some of my peripheral, I think losing the height would probably irritate me, spending lots of money on 2 side monitors for them only to fill my peripheral vision would be a fairly big waste of money in most cases I suspect.

It's an option with a 5970 on the way but 2 more 30" is way too expensive, if only I could find 2 20" at 1600x1200 and ATI fix their driver to allow mixed resolutions, that would probably be the best balance between price and size/ratio

My thoughts exactly. I think Eyefinity has the potential to create a huge immersion factor but I can't see investing in a triple monitor EF setup until it's possible to mix the screen sizes.

Now that I've owned a 30" monitor, I will not be going back to 1920x1200/1080. It's just too sweet for day to day use being able to squeeze so much onto your desktop. So that rules out the affordable option of going to three 24 or 27" monitors. And I can't see myself buying two more 30" displays at a minimum of $800-$1000 each just to be able to run EF when the reality of it is that I don't have as much time for gaming as I used to. So, by far the best option for me would be to purchase two 16x12 displays and run them in portrait on each side of the 30". I imagine this would be the best setup, as the monitor in the middle would be the widest and the bezels would be even further from the center, thus increasing immersion even more. The only downside is that the panel types wouldn't match, with the middle display being IPS and the peripheral monitors being PVA/MVA, but I don't think that would be a huge cause for concern once you've made some adjustments for uniformity and actually start playing.

I want to thank you guys for posting your setups and increasing my interest in this technology. Any idea when/if it will be possible to mix screen sizes? If that's not planned, looks like I'll either be sitting this one out or forking over another two grand for a couple more 30 inchers (not likely, especially when I can only use EF in certain games).

 

[Zorachus]

Good points from both imyourzero and InvisiBill

Lets me just say this, I had the Apple 30" Display, and that baby was a piece of art, and the game looks crystal clear and sharp at 2560x1600res, totally awesome. But I can say from first hand experience that my triple Dell 2408's in Portrait blow it away in Immersion factor, I feel like I can crawl inside my monitors and enter the game world, it is that much more real now. And for desktop use at 3600x1920res is really nice, you can have three pages opened up easily, and have tons of vertical height, which i really like.

I also agree, that the coolest setup would be 20" + 30" + 20", and only way to game like that currently is using SoftTH. But Eyefinity is supposed to work with Portrait and Landscape mixed in the future, but that is realistically several months off. The first big milestone coming for Eyefinity is Crossfire support, and that is said to be coming most likely in the 10.2 drivers in February or so. Then after that AMD will work on the other big features, so we are looking at March or later is my best guess.


Desktop in Portrait mode of 3600x1920res

 

[RanceJustice]

I currently run a 4870x2 on my 42" LCD, 1920x1080. There are a couple of things holding me back from going multi-display

1. Resolution. Massive resolution requires massive power. 1920x1080 is nothing to sneeze at, and my current rig runs just about anything I can throw at it at full eye candy. I assume going to a resolution like yours, I'm going to need Crossfired 5870s or 5890s if I want to play anything besides WoW!

2. Bezels. I understand the theory that your brain just blends it together. I'd love to be able to borrow a 3 or more monitor setup to see if it "works" for me, before committing to the expense. I'd love to see custom designed monitors that had no bezels and were made to be used in multi-monitor setups specifically.

3. Linux. Do you run Linux on your setup? Could you give it a try with the latest fglrx 9.11's? I'll also be waiting until crossfire works with eyefinity to do anything.

 

[Zorachus]

Trying to show you three screenshots form the same game on different monitors and resolutions.

First is from my old Apple 30" at 2560x1600res in WoW

Second shot, I tried to line up my character in same spot, but it is not 100% the right location, but you get the point. it is from the three Dell 2408's in Portrait at 3600x1920res

And now the same spot exactly again, taking in Landscape at 5760x1200res

 

[ShuttleLuv]

Bezels do not melt away. False advertising.

 

[InvisiBill]

I did the same sort of thing. I loaded this WoW screenshot up on my 40" TV fullscreen at 1366x768/720p (what I'd see if I were playing on it). Keep in mind that this is an iPhone pic of a screenshot, so it's not perfect. However it does give you an idea of what it's like. A plain pic doesn't really do it justice, as it just looks like any other 16:9 monitor pic, so I put a CD on the TV to give some size reference.

Even with the lower resolution, the sheer size adds a lot to the immersion factor. I got used to it, but anyone who walked in was like "OMGWTFBBQ!" A TV that supports 1080p input from a PC (not all 1080p TVs do) would be a decent jump in resolution (from 1,049,088 to 2,073,600 pixels), while still having the ginormous factor.

Zorachus, could you measure your total screen area diagonally? Just wondering how big the whole thing is. I could probably dig up the specs on the monitors and do some math, but it's probably a lot easier for you to just measure it. =)

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Zorachus, could you measure your total screen area diagonally? Just wondering how big the whole thing is. I could probably dig up the specs on the monitors and do some math, but it's probably a lot easier for you to just measure it. =)

Maths

16:10 apsect ratio gives you the angle of the diagonal, and the length is 24", that gives us 12.7" high an d 20.35" wide.

3x 20.35" is 61.05" with 12.7" high, mr pythagoras makes that 62.35" (ignoring bezels)...I think

 

[Zorachus]

Have to say this unique setup might be the keeper, it sounds weird but actually works really well. I put my Dell 27" 2707WFP in the middle, it is same resolution as the 24" monitors, but having the larger display in center is sort of cooler, and then I tucked in the the smaller 24" bezels behind the 27" so there is less of the bezel seen, and it looks great. Anyways I am concentrating on the main/center display like 90% of the time, and the two sides are just there for immersion factor and peripheral vision, you don't really stare at them all the time, your mainly looking straight ahead.

What do you think ?

 

[PrincessFrosty]

I think its actually a good idea, trying to keep them all level is probably a bit OCD when i think about it.

Lets face it the 2 side monitors are for peripheral vision only, I did suggest a while back when eyefinity was announced that actually running 1/2 resolution in the side monitors would also be a good idea, you're not going to be able to tell when looking directly at the middle monitor and it would save a crap load of GPU power to put towards frame rate or better settings.

 

[RamonGTP]

Call me a purist but I don't like the bezels. It really takes away from the immersion IMO. Don't get me wrong I like the concept, but it's just incomplete with the thick bezels dividing the monitors. Why not just get a 1080p 50" instead of 3 24" monitors? Be nice if they would make a custom three display monitor with no bezels.

Becuase a 50" 1080p tv will give you the exact same viewable area as say a 24" 1920x1080 resolution and less than a 24" 1920x1200. It's not the same thing, not even close.

 

[InvisiBill]

Maths

16:10 apsect ratio gives you the angle of the diagonal, and the length is 24", that gives us 12.7" high an d 20.35" wide.

3x 20.35" is 61.05" with 12.7" high, mr pythagoras makes that 62.35" (ignoring bezels)...I think

The panels are usually smaller than the listed size, but that's close enough for me. In 3x portrait mode, that would be 38.1" wide by 20.35" high. That gives us 43.1941258" diagonally.

So you've got a 3600x1920 43" monitor. Yes, it's better than a 1920x1080 40" monitor, but there are a number of tradeoffs too, as I mentioned above. If you've got an HDTV and can swing it, try using it as a monitor for a bit. Think of it as a poor man's Eyefinity. =)

Becuase a 50" 1080p tv will give you the exact same viewable area as say a 24" 1920x1080 resolution and less than a 24" 1920x1200. It's not the same thing, not even close.

It will give you the same pixel area, but a much smaller physical area. The 50" screen actually has over four times the physical area of the 24" (43.579x24.513=1068 vs. 20.918x11.766=246). It will be a lower relative level of detail (note that it's exactly the same level of detail, but the image is magnified), but the huge screen is very immersive.

 

[PrincessFrosty]

Yeah I worked out the PPI (pixels per inch) in another thread for a 60" TV at 1920x1080.

Diagonally its about 36PPI compared to a 30" monitor at 2560x1600 which is 101PPI, that's measured diagonally, if you're going per area then it's going to be 4x that.

PPI is importatn when you're up close to your screen, which is why most large TVs are useless as PC monitors, you might be ok with a 1080p 32" or something or that order, but 40/50/60", that's going to have pixels that are huge.

 

[RamonGTP]

It will give you the same pixel area, but a much smaller physical area. The 50" screen actually has over four times the physical area of the 24" (43.579x24.513=1068 vs. 20.918x11.766=246). It will be a lower relative level of detail (note that it's exactly the same level of detail, but the image is magnified), but the huge screen is very immersive.

Your view of the game remains the same. a 50" 19x10 screen may give you more "immersion" then a 24" 19x10 but I'll take 3 24" 19x10's in EyeFinity over a single 50" anyday.

 

[ontariotl]

Please try that out for me I am tempted on getting these Dell 2709's, but will play Portrait mode for my MMO's, and flip back to Landscape for my shooters. But if they can't do Portrait period I will stay away.

But I think, they should be able to, even if the stands don;t allow it, just unscrew the monitor from the VESA mounting bracket or what evet it is called, and flip it upright and redo your Catalyst driver to Portrait mode of 3600x1920, I have been going back and forth all weekend testing it out, only take couple minutes tops, not a big deal.

Ok, I removed the stand mounting bracket and it will fit in portrait mode, with one exception. There are 2 small tongues that fit on the upper part of the monitor, but if you remove them, then portrait mode would be successful. If you didnt want to remove the tongues (probably there to prevent you from changing to portrait) then completely remove the bracket and have it sit against something instead.

 

[FocalFury]

well not being able to adjust on the fly to portrait is a bummer with the 2709w

Right now I have a Samsung T260HD
Im pleased with it...the bezel is a bit wide

I am going to tripple monitor very soon so either I'm going to get 2 more T260HD or I will get 3 of these Dell monitors

it sounds like modifying it to portrait is a bit of a pain? correct assumption?

 

[Zorachus]

Ok, I removed the stand mounting bracket and it will fit in portrait mode, with one exception. There are 2 small tongues that fit on the upper part of the monitor, but if you remove them, then portrait mode would be successful. If you didnt want to remove the tongues (probably there to prevent you from changing to portrait) then completely remove the bracket and have it sit against something instead.

So they can be put in Portrait, but is just a ton of work, and not something you want to switch back and forth with ? If you like Portrait in the Dell 2709, just set it up and keep it there permanently, is what your saying pretty much ?

 

[ontariotl]

So they can be put in Portrait, but is just a ton of work, and not something you want to switch back and forth with ? If you like Portrait in the Dell 2709, just set it up and keep it there permanently, is what your saying pretty much ?

Yeah thats what I'm saying. So it can be done, just a little work thats all.

 

[Xaijin]

You guys need to level.

 

[harmattan]

Good points from both imyourzero and InvisiBill

Lets me just say this, I had the Apple 30" Display, and that baby was a piece of art, and the game looks crystal clear and sharp at 2560x1600res, totally awesome. But I can say from first hand experience that my triple Dell 2408's in Portrait blow it away in Immersion factor, I feel like I can crawl inside my monitors and enter the game world, it is that much more real now. And for desktop use at 3600x1920res is really nice, you can have three pages opened up easily, and have tons of vertical height, which i really like.

I also agree, that the coolest setup would be 20" + 30" + 20", and only way to game like that currently is using SoftTH. But Eyefinity is supposed to work with Portrait and Landscape mixed in the future, but that is realistically several months off. The first big milestone coming for Eyefinity is Crossfire support, and that is said to be coming most likely in the 10.2 drivers in February or so. Then after that AMD will work on the other big features, so we are looking at March or later is my best guess.

This was very near to my experience. I was utterly happy with my HP 30" at 2560x1600 and decided to get two relatively cheap 28" monitors to try Eyefinity for shits and giggle. I'd never go back to a single monitor. Dragon Age is pretty much blowing my mind at 3600x1920 in portrait mode.

Other than a few niggling issues (my DVI/DP adapter resets from time to time), the only drawback is I have extreme withdrawl after playing for an extended period. It's hard to explain, but almost like coming down from an acid trip Anyone else experience this sort of withdrawl from Eyefinity?