NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround launched
We've been hearing about it for a while now, but today sees NVIDIA officially launch their 3D Vision Surround technology. Does it have the measure of AMD's Eyefinity technology? Check out the reviews below to see what makes it tick.
NV Surround does not require the new GTX 400 generation of GPUs. Those of you with SLI GTX 200 series cards will be able to move into the multi-display gaming arena with two year old technology! You can put SLI GTX 480 / 470 /465 / 285 / 280 / 275 / 260 cards to work for you. This may make your upgrade path easier, depending of course on how many pixels you are planning on pushing. We have not tested older cards at this time, sorry. I am sure we will be posting links today in the news to some sites that have though, so check to see what information Steve has got or in the HardForum.
NV Surround requires two way SLI. No way around it. NVIDIA's current 400 and 200 series GPUs cannot support more than two displays on a single GPU, hence the need for SLI. You have to have at least two GPUs to support three displays. I would suggest we will one day see a dual GPU video card with support for NV Surround, but as of writing this, I have no idea when. GTX 400 thermals are going to stand in the way of that for a while. NVIDIA 3-Way SLI and NVIDIA Quad SLI are both supported in NV Surround and NV Vision Surround modes in this BETA driver with GTX 400 series cards; GTX 200 do not support 3-Way or Quad SLI in this BETA or first WHQL release, but seems like it will be added eventually.
[H]ard|OCPNV Surround requires two way SLI. No way around it. NVIDIA's current 400 and 200 series GPUs cannot support more than two displays on a single GPU, hence the need for SLI. You have to have at least two GPUs to support three displays. I would suggest we will one day see a dual GPU video card with support for NV Surround, but as of writing this, I have no idea when. GTX 400 thermals are going to stand in the way of that for a while. NVIDIA 3-Way SLI and NVIDIA Quad SLI are both supported in NV Surround and NV Vision Surround modes in this BETA driver with GTX 400 series cards; GTX 200 do not support 3-Way or Quad SLI in this BETA or first WHQL release, but seems like it will be added eventually.
NVIDIA Surround currently has a limit of three monitors, unlike Eyefinity which has shown expandability up to twelve displays from dual videocards. But an advantage of Surround is that it does not require DisplayPort monitors or special adapters to make it work. Dual link DVI cables are necessary but are affordable widely available. You'll not that portrait mode is not possible with 3D Vision surround. This is not a technical limitation of the hardware, but rather a physical limitation of the displays and shutter glasses. All of the 3D vision-capable displays and NVIDIA 3D Vision glasses currently available have integrated polarization filters. When the glasses and displays are aligned, all is well. Turn one 90 degrees, however, and light can't pass though properly and you won't be able to see anything. To address this issue, new displays or 3D Vision glasses with rotatable lenses will be necessary.
With 3D Vision Surround, the maximum resolution possible is 5760 x 1080 due to the smaller sizes of 3D capable monitors (1920 x 1080 each). Note that portrait mode is possible when using Surround mode, but not in 3D Vision Surround.
Hot HardwareWith 3D Vision Surround, the maximum resolution possible is 5760 x 1080 due to the smaller sizes of 3D capable monitors (1920 x 1080 each). Note that portrait mode is possible when using Surround mode, but not in 3D Vision Surround.
You can see that when you are going to run the Surround configurations in a 3D Vision setup you can't run an auxiliary display - the reason is that the 3D effects are only capable of running when the game is in a full-screen mode which means the fourth display would be inaccessible anyway. You can still choose to NOT game in 3D and use a fourth monitor if you decide to of course.
Also, keep in mind that only in the standard gaming 2D mode can you support portrait configurations of multi-monitor gaming (rotated 90 degrees from standard) since part of specifications for 3D Vision displays rely on polarization filters and those are directional. NVIDIA says they are working on a technology change that will allow these monitors to work in either landscape or portrait mode but that won't be backwards compatible with current panels anyway.
I know NVIDIA will be getting a lot of negative comments about the requirement of SLI configurations for multi-monitor game and there is no denying the fact that AMD seems to have planned far better for this technological shift by support three displays on a single card. Even with the cumbersome adapters required TODAY for most users, the future of displays is DisplayPort it seems so those issues will likely be non-existent next-generation but NVIDIA may have integrated the same design by that point. Also, from a cost perspective, the ability to run a single card, even lower end options like the HD 5770, with three displays easily makes ATI's offering the most economical.
PC PerspectiveAlso, keep in mind that only in the standard gaming 2D mode can you support portrait configurations of multi-monitor gaming (rotated 90 degrees from standard) since part of specifications for 3D Vision displays rely on polarization filters and those are directional. NVIDIA says they are working on a technology change that will allow these monitors to work in either landscape or portrait mode but that won't be backwards compatible with current panels anyway.
I know NVIDIA will be getting a lot of negative comments about the requirement of SLI configurations for multi-monitor game and there is no denying the fact that AMD seems to have planned far better for this technological shift by support three displays on a single card. Even with the cumbersome adapters required TODAY for most users, the future of displays is DisplayPort it seems so those issues will likely be non-existent next-generation but NVIDIA may have integrated the same design by that point. Also, from a cost perspective, the ability to run a single card, even lower end options like the HD 5770, with three displays easily makes ATI's offering the most economical.
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