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Feast your eyes on a quad-display setup running 4K Ultra HD.Gigabyte earlier this week announced that it's dual-Thunderbolt boards are the first to implement the Intel Collage display technology. With a BIOS update and special driver, Intel Collage allows compatible boards to drive a 4K Ultra HD picture across four standard 1080p monitors. Maximum PC Deputy Editor Gordon Mah Ung stopped by Gigabyte's booth to see this technology first hand, and now you can too.
What's pretty remarkable about this is that it runs off of Intel's integrated graphics in Core i3, i5, and i7 processors; a discrete graphics card isn't required. The board Gigabyte used to demonstrate the technology is its GA-Z77X-UP5 TH, a motherboard that's been available to purchase for quite some time now.
Why would you want to do this? The main benefit is being able to save a ton of cash by using four relatively inexpensive 1080p monitors, rather than spending a fortune on a 4K monitor. Gigabyte also sees this technology being utilized in commercial markets that include digital signage, surveillance, medical, and more.
Here it is, and be sure to check back often throughout the week for more CES coverage and videos. You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel at MaximumPCMag.
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vrmlbasic
January 10, 2013 at 11:16pm
I have to agree, to my eyes this looks like crap, thanks to the bezels. Between the 2 vertical monitors on the right, I find the bezel gap much too jarring.
If 4 conventional "2k" displays can be stacked to create a "4k" display that companies who make their money off of graphics think is good enough to display their product, why haven't manufacturers slapped 4 1920*1080 displays together in a single bezel and put it to market long ago?
I'm tired of my monitor being trumped by a Retina display, and I'm also tired of my nigh-ancient smartphone's ~4" screen having 25% of the pixel count of my 23" 1080 monitor.
I really don't want to vote with my dollar to keep the $600-1000 "name brand" WQHD and the $400 South Korean knockoff WQHD "incumbents" in "office", but I really do want a main display where I can't see the pixels @ ~3' away...
AFDozerman
January 10, 2013 at 4:28pm
My argument from the other day still stands. AMD and Nvidia have been able to do this for ages, the only reason it hasn't caught on is, as mentioned in the video, the bezels get in the way of everything, ruining your picture. This kind of group will not catch on for good until we see some *real* bezel-less monitors out there. It is nonetheless impressive that both major companies offer CPUs with integrated GPUs that can play games at 4K resolutions now.
Mikey109105
January 11, 2013 at 9:54am
Dozeman, the bezels at the edge of the screens are EXACTLY the reason I hate this tech. Get rid of the amazingly huge bezels (like, ya know, teblets, laptops, etc. do now), THEN I'll be willing to fork some money over (when I have it, LOL!)!
AFDozerman
January 11, 2013 at 2:07pm
You and me both. I couldn't even afford tickets to CES this year, and I live in Vegas!
I actually took the bezels off of my monitors for awhile because they were bothering me so much. Looked like a hot mess, but it was better...
