Radeon HD 5800 Eyefinity shown

AMD at a press conference today demonstrated one of the core features of its upcoming Radeon HD 5800 series graphics chipset. Nicknamed Eyefinity, the ATI-branded technology gives a single video card up to six DisplayPort outputs running at their full resolution. It can also merge these into a single picture and create a live image as large as 8192x8192 once technology allows this; current technology would still allow six 2560x1600 displays that could produce a typical resolution of 7680x3200.

The technique is modular and lets users rearrange the number of discrete images created as well as their shape. With current hardware, for example, a single Radeon could drive three dual-display setups or stack the displays vertically for a portrait ratio.

While particularly ideal for pros that need many displays, AMD sees Eyefinity as also useful for gaming, where players could have panoramic views or simply a very large amount of detail. The example card used in the demo can run many but not all games at multi-monitor resolutions without losing significant detail or speed.

AMD is expected to formally announce the Radeon HD 5870 and 5850 later this month and ship them soon afterwards. To go with the faster video hardware, Samsung is also producing an Eyefinity-ready set of LCDs and stands (pictured below) that would let users combine displays in a relatively seamless image. None of the Samsung offerings have a ship date. [photos via Anandtech]

By Electronista Staff

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