Poll: What do you think of Eyefinity/Surround?

[Patrick Dare]

I'm curious to see what PC gamers think of Eyefinity/Surround? I have two monitors but can't use it because of my video card and the monitors are not the same (one is 16:9 the other is 4:3) but am curious to see what other people think.

Personally I think it would be cool but the bezels of the monitors really bother me so I don't think I would use it even if I could.

The other point is that I think the poor multimonitor support still given by games and OSes is outdated and ridiculous, I feel like enough people use multiple monitors now days that they could add better support for it. For example on both Windows 7 and Linux Mint 8 I can't use a different wallpaper for each monitor without a program. I feel like this should be supported natively by the OS. They also don't extend the taskbar/panels across both screens. There are various other complaints I have in this area but I won't list them since this is mainly about Eyefinity.

 

[oplinger]

I'm curious to see what PC gamers think of Eyefinity/Surround? I have two monitors but can't use it because of my video card and the monitors are not the same (one is 16:9 the other is 4:3)

...Hang on, what?

 

[Patrick Dare]

I'm curious to see what PC gamers think of Eyefinity/Surround? I have two monitors but can't use it because of my video card and the monitors are not the same (one is 16:9 the other is 4:3)

...Hang on, what?

Hahah, I guess I should have explained in the post.

Well I don't know if having different ratio monitors means you can't use it, I just assumed it does, either way it wouldn't really look that great (plus my video card is older and doesn't have surround anyways). If you're wondering why my monitors are different ratios it's because I just graduated from college in May and haven't been able to find a job. I didn't work while I was in school so I haven't had money. I bought a Samsung LED 1080p monitor that was on sale because I was sick of the old 15" CRT I had and it was on sale for like $100 off, so I figured I might as well pick it up but I didn't have enough to get two. Believe me I'd like another of the same Samsung but I don't have any money to buy one.

 

[oplinger]

I'm curious to see what PC gamers think of Eyefinity/Surround? I have two monitors but can't use it because of my video card and the monitors are not the same (one is 16:9 the other is 4:3)

...Hang on, what?

Hahah, I guess I should have explained in the post.

Well I don't know if having different ratio monitors means you can't use it, I just assumed it does, either way it wouldn't really look that great (plus my video card is older and doesn't have surround anyways). If you're wondering why my monitors are different ratios it's because I just graduated from college in May and haven't been able to find a job. I didn't work while I was in school so I haven't had money. I bought a Samsung LED 1080p monitor that was on sale because I was sick of the old 15" CRT I had and it was on sale for like $100 off, so I figured I might as well pick it up but I didn't have enough to get two. Believe me I'd like another of the same Samsung but I don't have any money to buy one.

Oh, well no the different aspect ratios don't make a difference, the resolutions are set independently.

...But actually -on- topic, Eyefinity is nice for maybe..Racing games, or Mechwarrior (..I'd like it anyway) But past that I think it's too much surface to look at. And the gaps between monitors would bother me..(except on racing games...or mechwarrior, it's be like looking at separate windows) They make monitors without edges though I believe....so the idea still intrigues me >.>

Speaking on multimonitor support for games though....Many do not need it. Though there are some interesting things you can do with some games, like in WiC, having the game on the primary, and the Megamap on the secondary...that was cool.

 

[Calgetorix]

Is Eyefinity not meant for 3 monitors? I means it's rather silly to use 2 monitors when playing games, especially FPS games. That would most likely mean your crosshair is split in two.

Having 2 monitors is great. Just not for games I think.

 

[viranimus]

Well.. Ive set up a tri monitor display in Nvidia chipset and there are several problems.

First and foremost, stretching a games resolution across three screens wreaks absolute havoc on frame rates simply because of processing power.

That said it presents a technological limitation because in order to experience it properly you would ideally need to settle for either a 2 monitor display (which as Calgetorix mentioned would present the problem of having a bezel in the middle of your view ) Or you can try to find a card with 3 display outputs but those are niche cards and typically may not have the best specs or if they do they are outrageously priced. Or the real technological limitation. The best way to do it is in an SLI/Xfire config in order to amp up the processing power in order to handle that much resolution, but in SLI/Xfire even though the multiple cards might have extra output slots, you cannot use the slave cards output slot displays.

Also as was mentioned, Unfortunately games have yet to begin supporting this type of display resolution (i know there are some flight sims that do) in most games, all your doing is stretching your window to cover the desktops, which if you fully stretch a game across three displays, even if you did have the processing power to get a good frame rate, it looks like ass as the peripheral displays warp the image in the furthest corners and distort it to a point of where doing it to obtain a sense of peripheral vision is irrelevant.

I think its great that it exists and I sincerely wish to god that game developers would support this because when you actually have it, it is an awesome sight to behold, especially in a tri monitor display + having your center monitor as a 3d enabled monitor. It is something that allows for an unreal sense of immersion into a gaming experience and something that is sorely needed.

It is so needed to have that peripheral sense, that developers knowing that a tri monitor display rig is not common place started to migrate away from first person perspective to third, simply because it was a needed advent for modern gaming in a 3d world. So unable to force the public to adopt the medium, they had to work around existing limitations, which is part of the reason 3rd person perspective has gained so much popularity.

I sincerely wish developers would begin to seriously support this. Its long long long overdue in my opinion. Even if you develop with 1 screen in mind, at least have a display mode that compensates for the possibility of a multi display rig.