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It's been a slow time for graphics recently. Both AMD and nVidia have good products in the market. And that market, overall, has not been strong. Against that backdrop, the pace of innovation has slowed right down. But the next 6 months looks like it will be busier. KitGuru loads a driver and attempts a rendition.
However, Jen Hsun's engineers are pushing onward and upward with the launch of the 600 ‘Kepler' series expected around the start of 2012.
In addition to the overall chip improvements, the Kepler 600 series should be one of the first products to be delivered on TSMC's brand new 28nm process (not including a little practice session with mobile parts).
As is normal in the GPU industry, there are times that nVidia innovates – which was clear with SLi and, later, 3D – and there are times when they end up in a following position. For example, second to market with DX11.
One of the coolest innovations seen in the DX11 era was the simple/powerful AMD EyeFinity support for flexible, multi-monitor set-ups.
From what KitGuru is hearing, Jen Hsun wants a piece of this multi-screen business and has ordered his engineers to ensure that the 600 series is able to compete.
Traditionally, nVidia has stronger marketing muscle than AMD, so we'd anticipate a lot of 3-screen improvements from the game and monitor industries over the next 12-18 months.
KitGuru says: It's no secret that we prefer 3 screens to 3D – which makes any multi-screen improvement from nVidia on the Kepler 600 series cards a very welcome addition indeed.
Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.
nVidia already do 3-screen gaming which the article seems to completely miss… and reviews of stylus?
It’s like all the cards do everything now so it doesn’t matter which one you buy, its just how much you can afford, no?
NVIDIA already has the same functionality as EyeFinity, called NVIDIA Surround.
didn’t the launch that 2 years ago?
I prefer NVidia drivers but threeTFT’s looks good so this works for me. No chance of buying one for christmas?
Heads-up people: The rumours coming out about the 600 series are not saying that 1, 2 or 3 screens will be supported, but the full gamut of AMD options. Nothing specific about 24 screens from a single CPU box, but let’s see what happens. Apparently it’s a very specific hardware and software combination that will be evolved for this. If anyone has any specifics – please post – we’d love to hear them
Colin, is it possible to put a gtx460 against a 6850 over 3 screens? Haven’t seen it but I’d like to.
Whilst it’s true that Nvidia does already have the Nvidia Surround feature, I’d be the first to admit that the AMD solution is much better implemented at this moment in time.
As an owner of multiple screens and a pair of GTX 580s, I frequently find myself wishing that I didn’t have to keep switching between profiles and rearranging screens in the Nvidia control panel in between playing games.
The current AMD solution is much more elegant and simple to use. Normally it just involves setting them up once and then not having to adjust anything again.
hi grok23, sounds like you have a problem with your PC… or between the keyboard and the chair. On my 580 setup I set the surround options on day 1 and never have to change them. In fact I often find that games support Nvidia surround much better out of the box than my friends AMD system which often has menu display issues.
@ Leeman. you can get 3 displays on a number of Nvidia cards… including the GTX 560… http://www.zotacusa.com/zotac-geforce-gtx-560-multiview-zt-50706-10m.html The fact is though that if you want no-compromises multi-display gaming then you need two higher end cards and that goes for either manufacturer. Try playing Crysis 2 in DX11 max settings with the high res pack and 5760×1080… on AMD.
kitguru, continues to publish wonders !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@Colin: OK, so up to 3 screens and only on certain cards? I think you will find a LOT more options with Kepler 😉
If I had to choose I’d go for three screens over 3D, so good move from NVidia
Ooh you’re so funny Colin. Zzzzz
Have you ever considered that it might be that we play different games and that I’ve already been through the support mill with Nvidia and have made sure that everything is done just to their liking and that I still might have problems occasionally, which they admit to themselves?
Much though I love my Nvidia cards, they just do not have the best multi-screen functionality at this moment in time. I build and configure gaming PCs on a regular basis and have plenty of experience of both teams implementations of it at the moment. Whilst I chose my current cards due to them being the best in their class, I am able to admit there are things that they could do better.
I call shenanigans:
You need at least 2 cards to power 5760 x 1080 if you want any decent fps,
which nVidia Surround does anyway.
And nVidia has shown in these past 2 years it doesn’t give 2 craps about multiple screens they haven’t released any game compatibility patches or convinced developers to support nVsurround, and their marketing team allowed developers to destroy their PR by perpetuating the false public opinion how nVidia Surround to cheating and as a result Diablo 3 won’t support it.
There are virutally no titles that support nVSurround out the box, and the customers who invested in nVidia Surround/Eyefinity setups got screwed.