Eyefinity and NV Surround, as cool as they may be to see videos of and hear about, are simply and completely impractical IMO. I'd rather (and I think I speak for the majority) have one big screen than 3 independent smaller screens with bezels. The extra power and display cords, let alone space, that 3 PC monitors need is an obstacle in itself and bezels just add to it. Even if bezels could be measured in low single digit millimeters, then that would be only one less issue.
And insofar as people saying 1 card can drive multiple monitors adequately in a number of games, that's generally true of mostly older games. And, usually, people don't spend $300+ upgrading their GPUs just so they can play an older game. They do it for current/upcoming games.
I have no idea why you feel so strongly about something that I have never heard you say that you had long term experience with. I felt cheated at first when I went Eyefinity, but it's proven its worth over time for multitasking. As an example, you can get a 6950 and steamroll any modern game on the center monitor--there is NOTHING forcing someone to use all three monitors for gaming; they can crank up the fps by using center-monitor-only for those games that run better that way. You then have the option of going Eyefinity if you so desire for less-demanding games, and for multitasking such as browsing in one window, writing a document in another, and watching TV in the third. By the way, Fallout New Vegas is not an old game, it just came out and even a NON overclocked 6850 can drive it on 5040x1050. And so long as current-gen consoles rule the roost, don't hold your breath on hugely demanding PC video games coming down the pike.
The desk space and extra power draw is potentially issues for some, though power draw is sorta arguable because once you get the hang of it, you are SO much more productive in multitasking that you can do the same tasks in less time if you had tri-monitor. Less time = you can turn off your computer in less time, too = less power draw than you might expect. Furthermore, Eyefinity has hotkeys where you can switch from various display settings within seconds. I am typing this on a single center monitor right now to save power, but within seconds I could switch to tri-monitor view for multitasking. Lastly, those 30" LCD monitors draw a ton of power, too, and there is no magic switch to use 1/3 of the power like there is in Eyefinity where I can reduce usage down to the center-monitor-only with a hotkey stroke, for times when I don't need all that screen space.
I find the complaint of two extra power/display cords out the back to be completely irrelevant to most people. That's really stretching, there.
Bezels (esp. with bezel correction) is not an issue for long-term users, anymore so than the A-pillars on your car "obstruct" your view. Your mind ignores bezels after a while, sort of like how your mind--not your eyes--edits out the "blind spot" in your eyes where the optic nerve connects to the retina.
Lastly, I already talked about 1 huge screen vs. 3 smaller screens and how 1 huge screen is better in some cases, like photoshop, but 3 screens is hard to beat for extended FOV in games and also for multitasking. (Ideally you would have 3 huge screens and get the best of both worlds.) The reason Blizzard banned anything but PPP-Eyefinity was because the extra FOV was deemed a competitive advantage and they didn't want that. Thankfully more forward-looking companies allow it. WoW, LOTRO, TF2, you name it, those extra FOV degrees are something that would be hard or impractical to replicate on a single huge screen. What are you going to do, hack a game so it only uses the middle 1/3 of your screen in order to match the FOV that you'd get with tri-monitors? Good luck. In the meantime, I can play TF2 and hardly ever be backstabbed due to my huge FOV and Surround headset. (I used to be hard to backstab because of my paranoid twirling around every several seconds, but now it's even harder to backstab me.)
Anyway, single-GPU tri-monitor is a nice bonus but doesn't make or break most purchases, sort of like PhysX, but better, since you can really only use PhysX in games right now, whereas Eyefinity/Surround is useful outside of games, too.
Since when was MORE choice and MORE options a BAD thing?
Try it (for an extended period of time) before you knock it, k?
P.S. For those debating cost, it really depends. My total cost of going Eyefinity, including buying 3 monitors for ~$360 and selling one for $270, and buying a DP->VGA adapter, and going from no video card to having a new 6850, was about $290. Had I waited a while, i could have gotten some IPS Dell 23"'s for not THAT much more. As it is I will probably shell out a few hundred more (net) to upgrade to 3 x 1080p IPS LED later this year. This is not unreasonable considering that the price of a single GTX480 would have been $500 and then start its inevitable depreciation in value. Monitors don't depreciate in value the same way GPUs do. I feel like it's better to invest in three decent monitors and a good midrange/upper-midrange GPU that can drive them for older games (and kick ass on the center-monitor-only for the heavy games), than to keep pouring money down the drain with ultra-high-end GPUs which have horrible bang for the buck in the first place and then plummet in value. The monitors will last years and give great multitasking ability and FOV in many games and great performance if forced into single-monitor gaming, and upgrading a midrange GPU every year or so financially hurts less than doing the same for an ultra-high-end GPU every year. But that's just my opinion. Hey it's your money, do what you want with it.
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