AMD Eyefinity

AMD Eyefinity
Design firm Advanced Micro Devices
Introduced September 2009
Type multi-monitor or video walls
Ports DisplayPort,
HDMI, DVI, VGA, DMS-59, VHDCI
Multi-monitor setups are common with stockbrokers in financial market making.
Playing a racing video game on Single Large Surface (SLS) with a 5x1 portrait display group configuration at ExtravaLANza 2012 in Toronto.

AMD Eyefinity is the brand name for AMD products which support multi-monitor setups by integrating multiple (up to six) display controllers on one GPU.[1] AMD Eyefinity was introduced with the Radeon HD 5000 Series "Evergreen" in September 2009 and has been available on APUs and professional-grade graphics cards branded AMD FirePro as well.[2]

AMD Eyefinity supports a maximum of 2 non-DisplayPort displays (e.g. HDMI, DVI, VGA, DMS-59, VHDCI) (which AMD calls "legacy output") and up to 6 DisplayPort displays simultaneously using a single graphics card or APU. To feed more than two displays, the additional panels must have native DisplayPort support.[3] Alternatively active DisplayPort-to-DVI/HDMI/VGA adapters can be employed.[4]

The setup of large video walls by connecting multiple computers over Gigabit Ethernet or Ethernet is also supported.[5]

The version of AMD Eyefinity (aka DCE, display controller engine) introduced with Excavator-based Carrizo APUs features a Video underlay pipe.[6]

Overview

AMD Eyefinity is implemented by multiple on-die display controllers. The 5000-series designs host two internal clocks and one external clock. Displays connected over VGA, DVI, or HDMI each require their own internal clock. But all displays connected over DisplayPort can be driven from only one external clock. This external clock is what allows Eyefinity to fuel up to six monitors from a single card.

The entire HD 5000 series products have Eyefinity capabilities supporting three outputs. The Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity Edition, however, supports six mini DisplayPort outputs, all of which can be simultaneously active.[7]

The display controller has two RAMDACs which are used to drive the VGA or the DVI ports in analog mode (for example, when a DVI-to-VGA converter is attached to a DVI port), a maximum of six digital transmitters that can output either a DisplayPort signal or a TMDS signal which is used for either DVI or HDMI, and two clock signal generators needed to drive the digital outputs in TMDS mode. Dual-link DVI displays use two of the TMDS/DisplayPort transmitters and one clock signal each. Single-link DVI displays and HDMI displays use one TMDS/DisplayPort transmitter and one clock signal each. DisplayPort displays use one TMDS/DisplayPort transmitter and no clock signal.

An active DisplayPort adapter can be used to convert a DisplayPort signal to another type of signal like VGA, single-link DVI or dual-link DVI, or HDMI if more than two non-DisplayPort displays need to be connected to a Radeon HD 5000 series graphics card.[7]

DisplayPort 1.2 added the possibility to drive multiple displays on single DisplayPort connector, called Multi-Stream Transport (MST). AMD graphics solutions equipped with DisplayPort 1.2 outputs can run multiple monitors from a single port.

At High-Performance Graphics 2010 Mark Fowler presented the Evergreen and stated that e.g. 5870 (Cypress), 5770 (Juniper) and 5670 (Redwood) support max resolution of the 6 times 2560×1600 pixels, while the 5470 (Cedar) supports 4 times 2560×1600 pixels.[8]

Availability

Feature overview for AMD graphics cards

All AMD GPUs starting with the Evergreen series support a maximum of 2 non-DisplayPort displays and a maximum of 6 DisplayPort displays per graphics card.[4]

Features of ATI and AMD Radeon GPUs
R100 R200 R300 R400 R500 R600 RV670 R700 Evergreen Northern
Islands		 Southern
Islands		 Sea
Islands		 Volcanic
Islands		 Polaris
Released Apr 2000 Aug 2001 Sep 2002 May 2004 Oct 2005 May 2007 Nov 2007 Jun 2008 Sep 2009 Oct 2010 Jan 2012 Sep 2013 Jun 2015 Jun 2016
Instruction set not publicly known TeraScale instruction set GCN instruction set
Microarchitecture TeraScale 1 (VLIW5) TeraScale 2 (VLIW5) TeraScale 3 (VLIW4) GCN 1st gen GCN 2nd gen GCN 3rd gen GCN 4th gen
Microarchitecture type Fixed pipeline Unified shader model
Direct3D 7.0 8.1 9.0 9.0b 9.0c 10.0 10.1 11.0 12.0
Shader Model 1.1 1.4 2.0+ 2.0b 3.0 4.0 4.1 5.0 5.1
OpenGL 1.3 2.0 3.3 4.4 4.5
Vulkan N/A WIP in Linux, Windows 7+ Full support for 1.0 1.0
OpenCL N/A APP Stream 1.1 1.2 2.0
Power saving ? PowerPlay PowerTune PowerTune & ZeroCore Power
Unified Video Decoder N/A Avivo/UVD UVD+ UVD 2 UVD 2.2 UVD 3 UVD 4 UVD 4.2 UVD 5.0 or 6.0 UVD 6.3
Video Coding Engine N/A VCE 1.0 VCE 2.0 VCE 3.0 or 3.1 VCE 3.4
TrueAudio N/A Dedicated DSP Run on the shaders
FreeSync N/A ✔
Max. displays[lower-alpha 1] 1–2 2 2–6
Max. resolution ? 2–6x 2560×1600 2–6x 4096×2160 @ 60 Hz 2–6x 5120x2880 @ 60 Hz
/drm/radeon ✔ N/A
/drm/amd/amdgpu N/A WIP[9] experimental ✔
  1. ↑ More displays may be supported with native DisplayPort connections, or splitting the maximum resolution between multiple monitors with active converters.

The entire Radeon HD 5000 Series and Radeon HD 6000 Series. The exact technical specifications of the Radeon HD 5870 look as follows:[10]

The entire Radeon HD 7000 Series:

The AMD Radeon Rx 200 Series all have support for (4K@60 Hz SST or MST)

Feature overview for AMD APUs

Main article: List of AMD APUs

AMD Eyefinity is also available in AMD's APU branded product line, as this Civilization V running in 3x1 portrait mode multi-monitor on an Eyefinity-enabled AMD A10-7850K "Kaveri" proves. The A10-7850K is said up to four displays.[11]

Features of AMD Accelerated Processing Units
Brand Llano Trinity Richland Kaveri Carrizo Bristol Ridge Raven Ridge Desna, Ontario, Zacate Kabini, Temash Beema, Mullins Carrizo-L Stoney Ridge
Platform Desktop, Mobile Mobile Desktop, Mobile Ultra-mobile
Released Aug 2011 Oct 2012 Jun 2013 Jan 2014 Jun 2015 Jun 2016 May 2017 Jan 2011 May 2013 Q2 2014 May 2015 June 2016
Fab. (nm) GlobalFoundries 32 SOI 28 14 TSMC 40 28
Die size (mm2) 228 246 245 244.62 250.04 TBA 75 (+ 28 FCH) ~107 TBA 125
Socket FM1, FS1 FM2, FS1+, FP2 FM2+, FP3 FM2+, FP4 FP4 AM4, FP5 FT1 AM1, FT3 FT3b FP4 FP4
CPU architecture AMD 10h Piledriver Steamroller Excavator Zen Bobcat Jaguar Puma Puma+[12] Excavator
Memory support DDR3-1866
DDR3-1600
DDR3-1333 		DDR3-2133
DDR3-1866
DDR3-1600
DDR3-1333 		DDR4-2400
DDR4-2133
DDR4-1866
DDR4-1600 		DDR3L-1333
DDR3L-1066 		DDR3L-1866
DDR3L-1600
DDR3L-1333
DDR3L-1066 		DDR3L-1866
DDR3L-1600
DDR3L-1333 		Up to
DDR4-2133
3D engine[lower-alpha 1] TeraScale (VLIW5) TeraScale (VLIW4) GCN 2nd Gen (Mantle, HSA) GCN 3rd Gen (Mantle, HSA) GCN 4th Gen[13] (Mantle, HSA) TeraScale (VLIW5) GCN 2nd Gen GCN 3rd Gen[14]
Up to 400:20:8 Up to 384:24:6 Up to 512:32:8 Up to 768:48:12 80:8:4 128:8:4 Up to 192:?:?
IOMMUv1 IOMMUv2 IOMMUv1[15] TBA TBA
Unified Video Decoder UVD 3 UVD 4.2 UVD 6 TBA UVD 3 UVD 4 UVD 4.2 UVD 6 UVD 6.3
Video Coding Engine N/A VCE 1.0 VCE 2.0 VCE 3.1 TBA N/A VCE 2.0 VCE 3.1
GPU power saving PowerPlay PowerTune N/A PowerTune[16]
Max. displays[lower-alpha 2] 2–3 2–4 2–4 3 4 TBA 2 TBA TBA
TrueAudio N/A ✔[18] N/A[15] TBA
FreeSync N/A ✔ N/A TBA
/drm/radeon[19][4] ✔ N/A ✔ N/A
/drm/amd/amdgpu[20] N/A ✔[21] ✔ N/A ✔[21] ✔
  1. ↑ Unified shaders : texture mapping units : render output units
  2. ↑ To feed more than two displays, the additional panels must have native DisplayPort support.[17] Alternatively active DisplayPort-to-DVI/HDMI/VGA adapters can be employed.

Software support

Support for the Eyefinity display controller is available in the Linux kernel device driver amdgpu and accessible via the DRM/KMS API.

AMD Catalyst supports Eyefinity and enables the user to independently configure and run each attached displays. It facilitates the configuration of "cloned mode", i.e. to copy one desktop onto multiple screens or "extended mode", i.e. to span the workspace across multiple screens and combine the resolutions of all of those displays into one big resolution. AMD calls the extended modes Single Large Surface (SLS) and Catalyst support of certain range of display group configurations. For example, 5x1 landscape and 5x1 portrait are supported since AMD Catalyst version 11.10 from October 2011.[2][22]

Starting in Catalyst 14.6 AMD has enabled mixed resolution support, allowing for a single Eyefinity display group to be created while each monitor runs at a different resolution. This feature is made possible through the addition of two new Eyefinity display modes, Fit and Expand, which join the traditional Fill mode. In both Fit an Expand mode AMD is compensating for the mismatched resolutions by creating a virtual desktop that is of a different resolution than the monitors, and then either padding it out or cropping it as is necessary.[23]

AMD Eyefinity works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios, which is required for panning across multiple displays. SLS ("Single Large Surface") mode requires an identical display resolution on all configured displays. AMD validated some video games to support Eyefinity. The short list includes titles such as Age of Conan, ARMA 2: Operation Arrowhead, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, Serious Sam 3: BFE, Singularity (video game), Sleeping Dogs, Assassin's Creed II, Sniper Elite V2, Soldier of Fortune Online, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, Marvel Super Hero Squad Online, R.U.S.E., Supreme Commander 2 among others.[24] However, some games not on this short list seem to work as well, e.g. Dirt 3 and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.

KMS driver supports AMD Eyefinity.[4]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to AMD Eyefinity.

References

  1. ↑ "AMD's Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition Reviewed". AnandTech. 2010-03-31. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  2. 1 2 "AMD Eyefinity: FAQ". AMD. 2011-05-17. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  3. ↑ "How do I connect three or More Monitors to an AMD Radeon™ HD 5000, HD 6000, and HD 7000 Series Graphics Card?". AMD. Retrieved 2014-12-08.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Radeon feature matrix". freedesktop.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
  5. ↑ "Configuring and Running a Large Video Wall using ATI FirePro Graphics" (pdf). Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  6. ↑ "Carrizo introduces a new video playback pathways".
  7. 1 2 "AMD Eyefinity on AMD Radeon HD 5870". Tom's Hardware. 2009-09-23. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  8. ↑ "Presenting Radeon HD 5000" (PDF).
  9. ↑ Larabel, Michael (9 May 2016). "AMD Soon Might Have Out AMDGPU Support For The Original GCN GPUs". Phoronix. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  10. ↑ "Radeon HD 5870 technical specifications".
  11. ↑ "Multi-monitor: Civilization V on A10-7850K "Kaveri"".
  12. ↑ "AMD Mobile "Carrizo" Family of APUs Designed to Deliver Significant Leap in Performance, Energy Efficiency in 2015" (Press release). 2014-11-20. Retrieved 2015-02-16.
  13. ↑ "AMD VEGA10 and VEGA11 GPUs spotted in OpenCL driver". VideoCardz.com. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  14. ↑ "AMD VEGA10 and VEGA11 GPUs spotted in OpenCL driver". VideoCardz.com. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  15. 1 2 Thomas De Maesschalck (2013-11-14). "AMD teases Mullins and Beema tablet/convertibles APU". Retrieved 2015-02-24.
  16. ↑ Tony Chen; Jason Greaves, "AMD's Graphics Core Next (GCN) Architecture" (PDF), AMD, retrieved 2016-08-13
  17. ↑ "How do I connect three or More Monitors to an AMD Radeon™ HD 5000, HD 6000, and HD 7000 Series Graphics Card?". AMD. Retrieved 2014-12-08.
  18. ↑ "A technical look at AMD's Kaveri architecture". Semi Accurate. Retrieved 6 July 2014.
  19. ↑ Airlie, David (2009-11-26). "DisplayPort supported by KMS driver mainlined into Linux kernel 2.6.33". Retrieved 2016-01-16.
  20. ↑ Deucher, Alexander (2015-09-16). "XDC2015: AMDGPU" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-01-16.
  21. 1 2 Michel Dänzer (2016-11-17). "[ANNOUNCE] xf86-video-amdgpu 1.2.0". lists.x.org.
  22. ↑ "AMD's Eyefinity Technology Explained". Tom's Hardware. 2010-02-28. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  23. ↑ "AMD Catalyst 14.6 beta adds new Eyefinity functionality". AnandTech. 2014-05-27. Retrieved 2014-07-02.
  24. ↑ "AMD Eyefinity Validated and Ready Software".

External links

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