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Future AMD chip boasts 'human eye' reality

AMD demonstrates graphics chip technology that approaches the resolution seen by the human eye.

Brooke Crothers Former CNET contributor
Brooke Crothers writes about mobile computer systems, including laptops, tablets, smartphones: how they define the computing experience and the hardware that makes them tick. He has served as an editor at large at CNET News and a contributing reporter to The New York Times' Bits and Technology sections. His interest in things small began when living in Tokyo in a very small apartment for a very long time.
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Brooke Crothers
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On Thursday, AMD demonstrated graphics chip technology that the company says approaches the arc and clarity seen by the human eye.

Eyefinity is a multi-display technology that will be part of future Radeon graphics chips designed to use up to six connected high-definition displays that can achieve "up to 12 times 1080p high-definition resolution, which approaches eye-definition optical clarity," the company said in a statement.

The goal is to create virtual environments so detailed that they seem optically real to the human eye. In a single PC, this yields a resolution of 268 megapixels, roughly equivalent to the resolution of a 90-degree arc of what the human eye sees, AMD said. By comparison, an average 19-inch LCD display today delivers a resolution of about 1 megapixel.

ATI Eyefinity multi-monitor technology driving an immersive, panoramic gaming experience: Tom Clancy's Hawks at 5760x2400 resolution spanning six monitors employing the Display Port 1.1 interface.
Here, ATI Eyefinity multi-monitor technology drives an immersive, panoramic gaming experience: Tom Clancy's Hawks at 5760x2400 resolution spanning six monitors employing the Display Port 1.1 interface. AMD

In a blog, Simon Solotko, a senior advanced marketing manager at AMD, described three "new use models availed or expanded by" Eyefinity.

"The first I call immersive, panoramic computing. Many displays for one person," Solotko wrote. The user is surrounded with many displays creating an immersive reality or information environment--only possible previously on high-end workstations or simulators, according to Solotko.

The second model is many users using a single computer with multiple displays. "For example, one user enjoying dual monitor productivity, and a second user or group of users enjoying a movie or game on a third or fourth screen," he wrote. The basic premise is that it is a single session. One person is controlling the visual environment--one keyboard, one mouse. "Kind of like a...DJ who can launch applications for many to see," Solotko wrote.

When each screen has its own I/0 (mouse, keyboard, or motion controller) and supports a separate user session, this defines the third mode, according to Solotko. "A computer of the future with panoramic 3D gaming, multiple video playback, and access to 'cloud-based' resources on the internet on multiple displays," he wrote.

"Dad can be in the den playing Tom Clancy's Hawks (against his son) while his daughter is doing homework in her room and mom is managing finances in the office, all on the same, centrally managed PC."