VIA's Dual-GPU Card to Boast Support for 8 Monitors

Even though Advanced Micro Devices seems to be preparing, with great anticipation, to launch the ATI Radeon HD 5870 Eeyfinity 6 edition next month, it appears that the company is not the only one putting together graphics cards with two GPUs or multi-monitor support. In fact, VIA will use the opportunity provided by the Digital Signage Expo 2010 to demonstrate a dual-GPU add-in-board that can provide up to four independent HD video streams that can be spread over up to eight displays in total.

There will likely be no type of competition between AMD's Eyefinity 6 and VIA's eight-display-capable S3 Graphics Chrome 5400E x2. While Advanced Micro Devices is targeting the consumer segment, VIA is making a graphics controller optimized for low-power computing and multi-display setups.

Via's PanoChrome technology enables the aforementioned four independent video streams, which can be divided over a total of eight displays, each with an HD resolution of 1,080 pixels. The card will provide a variety of display modes and configurations, along with H.264, VC-1 and WMV-HD hardware acceleration. In addition, the device will boast support for Span, Extended and Clone view configurations. The adapter will also feature built-in Genlock support for synchronized source timing.

"VIA is delighted to work with S3 Graphics to bring unique digital signage embedded products to market, highlighting our prowess in delivering the very best in power-efficient, Hi-Def digital display technologies," Daniel Wu, vice president, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc., said.

The dual-GPU S3 Graphics Chrome 5400E x2 card will be showcased at the Digital Signage Expo 2010, along with a variety of other products, such as the company's latest Mini-ITX, Pico-ITX and Em-ITX form-factor boards. As for the actual availability of the graphics adapter, the card will be made available to VIA's ODM customers sometime during the second quarter of 2010.