ATI Eyefinity Validated & Ready:Not Just a Logo, It’s an Experience (Part 1)

July 12th, 2010
Bruce Gasson
Graphics

My name is Bruce Gasson, I work in the technical group at AMD and I’m responsible for ATI Eyefinity Validated and Ready testing. Seven years ago, we launched our Certification Program to help improve the ‘End User Experience’ for our graphics cards. We look at everything, starting with packaging to make sure that the information is correct and easy to understand right up to the design of the graphics card itself.

In September of last year, we launched ATI Eyefinity technology¹. This incredible technology allows you to game across multiple monitors as if they were one big seamless display. You have to see it in action to understand the impact that gaming at super wide aspect ratios has in creating a truly immersive experience.

It is simply fantastic how expanding your in-game field of view and opening up additional content can give you the feeling that you’re “in the game.” Imagine tearing down the track and seeing a car coming alongside trying to pass. What about rushing an objective while explosions tear-up the ground in your peripheral view? Simply breathtaking! Even “work” can benefit from ATI Eyefinity technology with added screen space and separate displays that save you a lot of window shuffling and minimizing.

So how do we test this hardware you ask? The ATI Eyefinity Validation and Ready testing process for hardware, focuses on how you are going to use the hardware. We still do signal integrity and other engineering tests, but we really focus in on the user experience.

We test the hardware to see if it works the way you, the user, are going to utilize it. For example, we test DisplayPort™ adapters on a variety of graphics cards, panels, and system configurations. Knowing that you may want to use the product at a variety of resolutions, we also test the hardware at several display resolution settings. We test graphics cards running games you play, in various ATI Eyefinity modes and check for visual issues – no scripts, no screen captures, minimal automation and maximum observation by human eyes. We look at the screens for things that you might experience. If all looks good to us, we list the adapter as being ATI Eyefinity Validated and Ready. If the adapter doesn’t pass muster, we work with the manufacturer or developer to address the issue or provide the information they need to get the product to a passing grade. Fundamentally it has to work and we take the extra step to test for compatibility, interoperability and ease of use.

So when you’re shopping for your next ATI Radeon™ graphics card, look for the ATI Eyefinity Technology logo. Before you buy dongles/displays/etc. to build your multi-display “Dream PC,” go to http://www.amd.com/eyefinity to find the hardware that will give you a premium experience.

In my next blog, I’ll give you an inside look into how we’re testing the latest games to make sure your ATI Eyefinity experience rocks!

Bruce Gasson, works in the technical group at AMD. His postings are his own opinions and may not represent AMD’s positions, strategies or opinions. Links to third party sites are provided for convenience and unless explicitly stated, AMD is not responsible for the contents of such links sites and no endorsement is implied.

¹ATI Eyefinity technology works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios, which is required for panning across multiple displays. To enable more than two displays, additional panels with native DisplayPort™ connectors, and/or DisplayPort™ compliant active adapters to convert your monitor’s native input to your cards DisplayPort™ or Mini-DisplayPort™ connector(s), are required. ATI Eyefinity technology can support up to 6 displays using a single enabled ATI Radeon™ graphics card with Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating systems – the number of displays may vary by board design and you should confirm exact specifications with the applicable manufacturer before purchase. Systems using multiple ATI Radeon™ graphics cards can support a maximum of 8 displays (total across all cards in system) with a maximum 6 of those displays being used together in a display group (also known as a single large surface mode).