Beginnings of the Holodeck: Running many monitors

[Ace Pace]

Anandtech and I imagine several others have recently published previews of a very interesting ATi technology.

That's six Dell 30" displays, each with an individual resolution of 2560 x 1600.
I didn't leave out any letters, there's a single GPU driving all of these panels. The actual resolution being rendered at is 7680 x 3200; WoW got over 80 fps with the details maxed.

At the bare minimum, the lowest end AMD DX11 GPU can support up to 3 displays. At the high end? A single GPU will be able to drive up to 6 displays.

The displays appear independent until you turn on SLS mode (Single Large Surface). When on, they'll appear to Windows and its applications as one large, high resolution display. There's no multimonitor mess to deal with, it just works. This is the way to do multi-monitor, both for work and games.

That's the vision, which I find awesome.

Some of the example screenshots:
WoW on 6 displays


Left 4 Dead on 3 displays


Dirt 2 on 6 displays


Hotfoot pointed out to me in a chat that the dividing lines are bloody ugly. There is no solution right now, though AMD and Samsung seem to be working on screens optimized for multi-monitor setups. I still find the technology interessting.

[wautd]

I don't see the point in using multiple screens. It looks like crap.

What about a projector?

[Ace Pace]

I don't see the point in using multiple screens. It looks like crap.

What about a projector?

Multiple monitors is easier scale up than anything else.

Projectors are already a solved problem from the GPU prespective, they have sucky color range and mostly crap resolution, so unless I missed some advancement in high end projectors, I doubt they'd fit for gaming.

[Ford Prefect]

Enjoy having fuck off gigantic black lines crossing your vision, I guess.

[Starglider]

[Projectors are already a solved problem from the GPU prespective, they have sucky color range and mostly crap resolution, so unless I missed some advancement in high end projectors, I doubt they'd fit for gaming.

Actually good projectors have better color range than LCD monitors. The basic reason is that you can use separate LCDs or DLP chips for each color, instead of tiling individually coloured subpixels - projector bulbs also tend to have a better spectral output than LCD backlights. I have a 3LCD 1080p projector and it works very well for gaming. The main problem with projectors is that the contrast is limited by background lighting in the room, so for gaming and films you have to have the lights off and decent blinds.

It is possible to set up an array of projectors and drive them from this system, which would probably be cheaper than installing a cinema-grade 4096x2160 projector. That would be neat, but I doubt tiling displays will make sense as a resolution enhancement tactic for much longer, because we are fast approaching the limit of human perception with pixel size on single displays. The upcoming 2160p format is frankly already beyond the perceptual limit on most screens, and the currently-at-prototype-stage 4320p format should be more than you could ever need.

[Ace Pace]

*snip*

My mistake, thanks for the info.

[General Zod]

Solution to the ugly dividers. Buy a 57" LCD HDTV, hook up your computer. Problem solved.

[Starglider]

Solution to the ugly dividers. Buy a 57" LCD HDTV, hook up your computer. Problem solved.

That's fine for gaming, but not so good for work (or even web browsing). 1920 x 1080 is a relatively low resolution for a display that size if you're going to sit close to it and fill it with text; that's why current 30" monitors have a resolution of 2560 x 1600. You can use two displays, i.e. connect your existing computer to your existing HDTV with a really long cable, just for gaming, but most people don't seem to want the hassle.

QuadHD should make using HDTVs for general computing fully practical, but the recession seems to have pushed that back (the first products were originally planned for 2009, then delayed to 2010, seem to be pushed back to 2011 now).

[General Zod]

That's fine for gaming, but not so good for work (or even web browsing). 1920 x 1080 is a relatively low resolution for a display that size if you're going to sit close to it and fill it with text; that's why current 30" monitors have a resolution of 2560 x 1600. You can use two displays, i.e. connect your existing computer to your existing HDTV with a really long cable, just for gaming, but most people don't seem to want the hassle.

QuadHD should make using HDTVs for general computing fully practical, but the recession seems to have pushed that back (the first products were originally planned for 2009, then delayed to 2010, seem to be pushed back to 2011 now).

What possible use can anyone have for 6 monitors hooked together for work? Most people won't need more than two if that.

[TheLostVikings]

Solution to the ugly dividers. Buy a 57" LCD HDTV, hook up your computer. Problem solved.

That's six Dell 30" displays, each with an individual resolution of 2560 x 1600.
I didn't leave out any letters, there's a single GPU driving all of these panels. The actual resolution being rendered at is 7680 x 3200; WoW got over 80 fps with the details maxed.

Last time I checked no HDTV can even remotely display an 7680 x 3200 picture. Currently a multiple projector setup is the only realistic way of getting a "single screen" to display that kind of resolution unless you want to pay 200 000$ and up for a movie projector.

[General Zod]

Solution to the ugly dividers. Buy a 57" LCD HDTV, hook up your computer. Problem solved.

That's six Dell 30" displays, each with an individual resolution of 2560 x 1600.
I didn't leave out any letters, there's a single GPU driving all of these panels. The actual resolution being rendered at is 7680 x 3200; WoW got over 80 fps with the details maxed.

Last time I checked no HDTV can even remotely display an 7680 x 3200 picture. Currently a multiple projector setup is the only realistic way of getting a "single screen" to display that kind of resolution unless you want to pay 200 000$ and up for a movie projector.

How many modern games are actually capable of running at that kind of resolution without significant slowdown or massive computing resources, anyway? Honestly, saying they got over 80fps with a ten+ year old game on a huge resolution isn't terribly impressive. Unless they can do something about those nasty dividers it's not really an elegant method.

[Starglider]

That's fine for gaming, but not so good for work (or even web browsing).

What possible use can anyone have for 6 monitors hooked together for work? Most people won't need more than two if that.

I meant that replacing a normal computer monitor with a HDTV is good for games but not for work, I wasn't talking about this setup. In actual fact a lot of people do like using two or three monitors for work (including me), but this tiling technology isn't applicable to that, existing graphics cards work fine. The only people I've seen who regularly use four or more screens on one system are financial traders, who frequently have crazy 'wall of data' setups. Again though, they just have systems with two normal graphics cards, so this isn't relevant for them either.

That said SLI/Crossfire were (and still are) irrelevant to the vast majority of gamers too, but as marketing ploys they worked great. So this may well be worth the (minimal) investment just for PR and bragging rights.

[CaptHawkeye]

Wow check it out. You can tie a bunch of screens together at once to have them display a single image? They've only been doing that since the fucking 80s. Oh look, now in HD? Has anyone looked at the first imagine? Those guys look like they're having real fun playing a character who is almost totally obscured by a huge black bar.

This shit is so funny it reminds me of Metal Storm actually.

[phongn]

The only people I've seen who regularly use four or more screens on one system are financial traders, who frequently have crazy 'wall of data' setups. Again though, they just have systems with two normal graphics cards, so this isn't relevant for them either.

Visualization groups tend to have large "video wall" displays, too (UChicago has a 3x3x30" one powered by something like five PowerMac G5s (or Mac Pros? I'm not sure)). Adler Planetarium has a 3x5 setup, though I can't recall the size of their monitors.

Wow check it out. You can tie a bunch of screens together at once to have them display a single image? They've only been doing that since the fucking 80s.

No they haven't. Most of those techniques were simply scaling an image over many displays.

Oh look, now in HD? Has anyone looked at the first imagine? Those guys look like they're having real fun playing a character who is almost totally obscured by a huge black bar.

Have you ever used these large tiled displays? They aren't anywhere near that bad.

[Uraniun235]

I bet the hardcore flight simmers will love it. I still remember that one internet image of the homebrew flight simulator setup with like a dozen CRTs arrayed around the seat.

What possible use can anyone have for 6 monitors hooked together for work? Most people won't need more than two if that.

I wouldn't get much out of six monitors most times, but I wouldn't at all mind a third monitor - when I'm remotely controlling someone's desktop, it's nice to be able to relegate the remote computer to its own monitor while my own programs are still on another monitor. It'd be nice to be able to do two remote desktops at once without having to alt-tab.

I don't personally get into enough antics to need six monitors but I could definitely see some niche demand for it. It's not as if niche markets go uncatered by other areas of computer hardware - how about those "extreme edition" processors from Intel that go for $1000 or more? How about the ridiculous $600+ gaming-oriented video cards?

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

If the issue is with the rim, I would imagine that if they did a purpose built LCD combo, it would less a problem. So I seriously don't see what the bitching is about.

[salm]

What possible use can anyone have for 6 monitors hooked together for work? Most people won't need more than two if that.

Different Types of Artists would have use for a lot of monitors. On the one hand you often have to run several different types of graphics/animation/video programs parallel and on the other hand it´s nice to have a screen or two for reference material, the manual or tutorials open all at the same time. Personally i´d love to have six monitors.

[Sriad]

Solution to the ugly dividers. Buy a 57" LCD HDTV, hook up your computer. Problem solved.

That's six Dell 30" displays, each with an individual resolution of 2560 x 1600.
I didn't leave out any letters, there's a single GPU driving all of these panels. The actual resolution being rendered at is 7680 x 3200; WoW got over 80 fps with the details maxed.

Last time I checked no HDTV can even remotely display an 7680 x 3200 picture. Currently a multiple projector setup is the only realistic way of getting a "single screen" to display that kind of resolution unless you want to pay 200 000$ and up for a movie projector.

How many modern games are actually capable of running at that kind of resolution without significant slowdown or massive computing resources, anyway? Honestly, saying they got over 80fps with a ten+ year old game on a huge resolution isn't terribly impressive. Unless they can do something about those nasty dividers it's not really an elegant method.

Obligatory pedant: WoW is 5 years old but has received continuous graphics upgrades: it's still cartoony but can be made quite demanding on the ol' video card. My 2 year old mid/high range system plays it from 25-60 FPS at "maxed settings".

Edit: at 1440x900