Final Words & Conclusion

Final words and conclusion

Man ... good times, that was fun gear to play around with! Well, it's time to wrap up things and have a look at the good and the not so good. Eyefinity6 works , you know what ? Rephrase -- it actually works really well. The recent driver changes allow you to combine six monitor output in combo with the sheer power of multiple GPUs (CrossfireX) and what was very important, Bezel correction.

When we touch the topic of CrossfireX, then we have to say this, you are probably going to need two cards if you want to play modern age games in a 5kx2k resolution, as yes .. we are gaming with a resolution at a freakishly 10.5 MPixels, and that's roughly five times more than your average 1920x1200 monitor. Overall performance with the help of Crossfire was with the most modern titles not super, but good enough. With older games you certainly can flick on nice AA levels as well.

Now I have to admit, from ground up, Eyefinity with six monitors has been thought through well. You create your preferred setup, install catalyst drivers, sort your screens and alternatively correct Bezel management. I really have to give props here to ATI's driver team for doing a superb job done there as it works well, a very proper implementation.

Overall from a productivity or entertainment point of view the 3x2 monitors functions really well, it's certainly the biggest desktop I have ever worked with. It's kind of like having your own command center at home, with each screen showing relevant information.

What about gaming then? Well, truth is that gaming wise the setup is a heck of a lot of fun, but the reality also remains that with most first person shooters, the Bezel in the middle poses to be a cruel issue. Exactly at the location of the crosshair (aiming cross) there's two Bezels from the upper and lower monitor and I just could not get over that or even slightly used to it. This however is a limitation for first person shooters.

Your solve, find monitors with very thin Bezels, use three monitors instead of six, or alternatively perhaps ATI will ever invent a nine monitor setup, which should solve that issue as well, hehe ...

Non first person shooters will mostly work the best. Take for example Anno 1404, what an incredible field of view are you getting in return. I foresee that Eyefinity6 could be very interesting for Flight simulator fans as well, or race fans would definitely love this all as well. In the end though, as good as the technology really is, the biggest annoyance will remain the monitor Bezels, you either dislike them, or can life with them. There's no middle way. So when you even remotely opt this kind of setup, make sure your monitors have the thinnest Bezels possible. For you as a gamer I'd seriously recommend three monitors over six really.

Bezel aside, make no mistake: you'll play your games much more immersive as you'll have so much screen resolution to work with. The experience of playing games, in our case with three to six screens is simply put fantastic, the first minutes you'll feel a little confusion as your brain actually needs to process so much information it can hardly keep up. Once you get used to it (few minutes really) the 'wow' factor kicks in and the experience is just lovely.

On the productivity and corporate side of things, Eyefinity6 is the best thing ever; relatively cheap to purchase with endless amounts of options and configurations. For an end consumer the frame, six monitors, R5870 Eyefinity6 card(s) and power bill alone simply is at the very least trivial to even consider.

So there you have it, The Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity6 is obviously not for everybody and honestly .. I'd prefer to have you look into a phat DLP or projector if you need to game on a very big screen. You could also opt to go with 3 bigger monitors at say 1920x1200 each. Either that or seek monitors with a extremely thin Bezel. Regardless of that fact, Eyefinity6 does guarantee a lot of e-peen, great x-factor and a whole lot of fun in unprecedented resolutions, it is a pleasure to play around with. Ohh oooh ... what about six projectors on one huge screen 

Should you still have questions, ATI created an information page on Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity6 right here, the Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity6 edition cards will sell at an MSRP of 475 USD which really is a fair price for something so exclusive.

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