What products support ATI Eyefinity technology?
ATI Eyefinity technology was introduced in AMD’s latest line of ATI Radeon™ HD 5000 Series graphics products which includes the following:
ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 GPUs
ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series GPUs
ATI Radeon™ HD 5700 Series GPUs
ATI Radeon™ HD 5670 GPUs
ATI Radeon™ HD 5500 Series GPUs
ATI Radeon™ HD 5450 GPUs
ATI Mobility Radeon™ HD 5400 Series or higher GPUs
Note: These products support up to 6 display pipelines per GPU and the total number of display pipelines depends on the GPU as implemented by the manufacturer.1 Also, at least 3 simultaneous, active display outputs, including one DisplayPort™ connector are required to support ATI Eyefinity technology. Please consult the manufacturer of a particular product to confirm if it supports this feature.
How does ATI Eyefinity technology work?
ATI Eyefinity technology leverages both hardware and software aspects. On the hardware side, unlike previous products which have a maximum of two displday pipelines, the ATI Radeon Premium and ATI Mobility Radeon™ GPUs listed above support up to 6 display pipelines per GPU, allowing up to 6 displays to be driven from a single GPU.
On the software side, there are several different configuration options. The traditional extended and cloned display modes are all still available but with ATI Eyefinity technology, if the displays can support the same resolutions, they can also be stitched together into a “single large surface” or “Display Group” (as described by the ATI Catalyst Control Center™ software). When a Display Group is created, it appears to the operating system and application as a single monitor with a very large resolution.
What Operating Systems does ATI Eyefinity technology work with?
At present Windows® Vista and Windows® 7 support ATI Eyefinity technology. There are plans for Linux support in an upcoming update to ATI Catalyst™ software. There is no support for Windows® XP.
Why do you need DisplayPort?
ATI Eyefinity technology leverages DisplayPort and its ability to easily scale to drive multiple displays from a single clock source.
What’s the difference between active DisplayPort dongles and passive DisplayPort dongles?
Passive dongles use the DisplayPort connection to receive non-DP signaling from the connector and they 'passively' adjust the signals to be compliant with the connected monitor. Passive dongles are considered legacy connections, not DisplayPort connections, therefore they do not fulfill the DisplayPort connection requirement mentioned previously and cannot be used to enable 3 or more displays. However, they offer an affordable solution to connect legacy displays onto DisplayPort connections.
Active dongles use true DisplayPort signaling to ‘actively’ translate and re-transmit the signals as the required outputs. Because they use the true DisplayPort signaling, they are considered a DisplayPort connection and meet the requirements to enable 3 or more displays.
DisplayPort to DL-DVI dongles require an external power supply which is usually through a separate USB connection (the USB connection must meet the USB ‘high power’ specification).
Where can I purchase the various active and passive DisplayPort dongles and mini to standard DisplayPort adaptors and how much do they cost?
With our ATI Eyefinity validation program, we have been able to validate and list a number of business partners currently shipping adaptors. This list will continue to be updated. Please see
www.amd.com/eyefinity for more information.
How many non-DisplayPort monitors can I use with an ATI Eyefinity technology-enabled graphics card?
You can connect up to two non-DisplayPort monitors at one time to an ATI Eyefinity technology-enabled graphics card using non-DisplayPort connections or passive DisplayPort dongles. To enable and drive 3 or more non-DisplayPort monitors at one time, the additional non-DisplayPort monitors must be connected with an active DisplayPort dongle.
How does bezel compensation work? Does the user input the width of their bezel? Do the drivers have a database of monitor types?
ATI Catalyst Control Center™ version 10.3 and higher includes a bezel compensation tool that helps eliminate the distortion caused by the bezels of displays being used together by compensating for the physical space between them - so visuals and text appear to “go behind” the bezels.
The bezel compensation tool presents a triangle pattern across the bezel and a widget is used to adjust the bezel compensation until the edges of the triangle line up across the bezel. In bezel compensated mode, pixels are removed that should be obscured by the display bezels. These pixels are rendered into the frame buffer, but not scanned out to any of the displays in the Display Group. Without this feature engaged, rendered objects will appear to “jump” across the gap between displays.
Note: Bezel compensation only works in Single Large Surface (SLS) mode with monitor groups that have a pixel resolution and density within a 5% tolerance of each other.
Does ATI CrossFireX™ technology work with ATI Eyefinity Technology?
Yes, ATI CrossFireX™ technology is now compatible with ATI Eyefinity technology.
Note: Monitors connected in a Display Group must be connected to the same graphics card.
What is “ATI Eyefinity Ready”?
This is a self-test program that our ecosystem partners can incorporate into their development process to test critical functionality necessary for ATI Eyefinity operation early in development to ensure resulting products are ATI Eyefinity compatible. This is the first step in the ATI Eyefinity Multi-display Validation program process and in many cases is a pre-requisite to be a candidate for validation.
What is “ATI Eyefinity Validated”?
ATI Eyefinity Multi-display Validation is intended to recognize and promote products tested by AMD that enable a great ATI Eyefinity technology experience.
What is the difference between an “ATI Eyefinity Ready” game and an “ATI Eyefinity Validated” game?
ATI Eyefinity Ready indicates a partner product with a minimum level of functional support for ATI Eyefinity technology. ATI Eyefinity Validated provides an indication of an optimal ATI Eyefinity technology experience, beyond what is available with the ATI Eyefinity Ready designation.
When will panels that display the ATI Eyefinity Multi-Display Validated logo be available for purchase?
AMD has been working closely with a number of panel vendors with our ATI Eyefinity Validation program. Once panels that are ATI Eyefinity Validated are available, they will be included in a list of supported hardware at
www.amd.com/eyefinity.
Why is my panel connected to DisplayPort through an adapter blinking or losing sync?
Some customers have reported issues with some adapters. Visit
www.amd.com/eyefinity for a listing of tested and validated adapters.
Is the 5 x 1 configuration supported?
5x1 configurations are currently not supported. AMD is working on support for 5 monitor configurations which we plan to enable through a future ATI Catalyst™ driver update.
Can I support different resolutions?
All monitors running in a Display Group or cloned modes must be running with the same resolution. If monitors have different native resolutions, the highest common non-native resolution between the monitors will be used when creating Display Groups. Monitors running in extended desktop mode can have independent resolutions.
Can I use my HDTV? Does ATI Eyefinity technology work with HD video?
HDTVs and Home Theater projectors are compatible with ATI Eyefinity technology. HD Video support depends on the player application. Arcsoft has recently announced a video player with support for ATI Eyefinity technology.
What is the difference between ATI Eyefinity technology and other competing solutions that are available?
ATI Eyefinity technology enables users to connect more than two monitors and have them operate together as a single large surface. This allows applications and games to maximize across all monitors, instead of just a single monitor (as with extended modes).
ATI Eyefinity technology is the only consumer solution currently available that can drive more than 2 displays with a single GPU graphics card without the need for additional external boxes or cost of adding custom ASICs.2
Unlike other solutions, ATI Eyefinity offers incredible flexibility with display configurations, enabling rotated mode, multiple display groups, stacked groups and mixed mode groups (extended and grouped).
Where can I download the latest ATI Catalyst™ Drivers?
The latest drivers can be downloaded here:
http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/Pages/index.aspx
What games and applications work with ATI Eyefinity technology?
Most non-gaming applications work well with no issues out of the box – the application just treats the Display Group as one very large monitor, and maximizes across all screens in a Display Group. Many popular games also work with ATI Eyefinity resolutions out of the box.
AMD maintains a list of game titles and applications that have been tested by our labs to verify compatibility with ATI Eyefinity technology. ATI Eyefinity Ready indicates a partner product with a minimum level of functional support for ATI Eyefinity technology. ATI Eyefinity Validated provides an indication of an optimal ATI Eyefinity technology experience, beyond what is available with the ATI Eyefinity Ready designation.
That list is available at
http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity-software.aspx.
Can individual monitors be configured in a combination of portrait and landscape?
Yes, we estimate the ATI Radeon™ HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition, which can support up to 6 displays, allows for perhaps hundreds of unique monitor configurations. The best experience will be with monitors of the same make and set at the same resolution.
ATI Eyefinity technology works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios, which is required for panning across multiple displays. To enable more than two displays, additional panels with native DisplayPort connectors, and/or DisplayPort compliant active adapters to convert your monitor’s native input to your cards DisplayPort or Mini-DisplayPort connector(s), are required. ATI Eyefinity technology can support up to 6 displays using a single enabled ATI Radeon™ graphics card with Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating systems - the number of displays may vary by board design and you should confirm exact specifications with the applicable manufacturer before purchase. Systems using multiple ATI Radeon™ graphics cards can support a maximum of 8 displays (total across all cards in system) with a maximum 6 of those displays being used together in a display group (also known as a single large surface mode).
As of March 31, 2010
), but you could easily get away with a pair of 5850s.
