iZ3D has the world’s first 3D monitor for gamers, does it have eye popping visuals or will it fade away into obscurity?

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Introduction

iZ3D might not be a name familiar to many of you, but they are pioneers in the 3D display arena. They offer a unique dual panel design that effectively combines two different images into one 3D experience. Of course this is overly simplifying the technology, but we’re interested in showing you how this display performs in games today. If you’d like more information on how exactly the monitor works, head on over to the iZ3D site and check out the various white papers and explanations.

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Specifications

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Packaging & Contents

Care has been taken to insure the monitor ships securely in a slim package. Surely it would be a shame if such an expensive monitor were damaged during shipping. Lining up the interior are plastic bags with connector cables and the polarized glasses needed to see the 3D effect. Before removing the cushion and styrofoam is an extremely useful quick start sheet. I wish iZ3D would have included additional information as to how to configure the monitor within Windows but for that I had to resort to the iZ3D forums.

The monitor is thicker than conventional LCD displays due to the extra technology needed to execute the 3D effect. It isn’t heavy, but because it’s a widescreen 22″ monitor you’re going to wish it had a swivel function. The viewing angle isn’t bad but because it’s so wide you’ll have to sit down directly in front of it and not lean too far away. Connecting the base to the display was very simple but I recommend you connect all necessary cables first because it is a tight fit after hooking up the base.

The glasses are comfortable and light weight. Although the idea of having to wear glasses while playing games may put some off, they look sporty and don’t pinch your head even with a headset on. If you wear glasses, iZ3D provides a much less attractive clip-on lenses. Also, the additional glasses are helpful for onlookers who want to check out the 3D action and for those who lose stuff easily. Perhaps a carrying case or hook system for storing the glasses on the reverse side of the display would have been nice.

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No dead pixels were found and the color was as accurate as can be for a non-professional monitor. When booting the monitor for the first time the brightness was at 100%. This was easily fixed by hitting the menu button and pressing the down arrow on the front of the monitor. Beyond brightness control, no other monitor options are available on the monitor itself. A blue and orange LED finishes the front. If both panels are active the LED stays constantly blue. If only one panel active then it blinks blue nonstop. This is annoying but nowhere does iZ3D mention this except their forums. If no video feed is present the LED turns orange. The power button is a bit receded but it still functions correctly.

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Test Setup

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Testing the iZ3D is unique because not only is it important whether or not the 3D effect really works and to what degree, but the performance hit taken by running in 3D mode effects the process as well. Our test bed is running an 8800GTX which will show the difference in FPS in 2D versus 3D modes, and (hopefully) reveal just how powerful a system you need to really enjoy the experience. All games were run at high settings at the standard monitor resolution of 1680 x 1050. Unfortunately if your favorite game isn’t on the iZ3D compatibility list then it might not work and may even crash your game. This is one of the weak points of the monitor, as gamers usually don’t want to wait for an update and will be disappointed if their favorite game won’t work.

I played some of the latest 3D games and a still highly-played competitive game to see what worked. First things first, the iZ3D doesn’t work with OpenGL games, so Counter-Strike 1.6 is out right at the start. Although the game does include a Direct3D mode, most gamers who play only use OpenGL for the performance and visual benefits.

Of course, therein lies the problem - this monitor is meant for gaming and not competitive gamers. The 3D experience varies in its effectiveness across several games but gaming with a competitive edge in mind isn’t what this display is meant for. This is because to create the 3D effect you effectively have to double and separate the images slightly to give the 3D objects in space within your game that depth you’ve probably seen before at IMAX movie theatres. This often-blurry gameplay is counterintuitive to what is needed for precision killing and adds an additional layer of distraction no competitive player would want. This doesn’t mean you can’t use the monitor though, as you can always run it in 2D mode when it’s time for business and back to 3D mode when you’re playing for fun.

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The iZ3D configuration menu lets you customize the 3D hotkeys on your keyboard. The default button to enable 3D in-game is the asterisk on the number pad. Of course you can change this at your discretion and can preview firsthand what the 3D stereoscopic image looks like. When you see it for the first time you’re thrown aback at how cool the effect is. Other than that, the only options you have to make sure to configure correctly are those for your video card’s dual display modes. For our NVIDIA video card I made sure both panels ran at identical resolutions in Dual View Mode.

The downside is you’ll be forgetting at first that your invisible mouse cursor is technically on the second panel’s desktop. Also, on white backgrounds you can sometimes see your desktop background seep through. On occasion I noticed barely-visible vertical bars running down the monitor. Simply turning the monitor on and off would fix this, but nevertheless it was annoying. Lastly, I felt the monitor was too blurry at first, but with time the effect gradually faded away.

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Games Testing

Team Fortress 2
Playing TF2 in 3D mode was actually very enjoyable. The HUD and text really pops out at you in 3D mode. Configuring it in-game was as simple as standing at the corner of two walls and slowly separating the images to a comfortable position. Everything in the game had a sweet 3D effect. The buildings, player models, everything in the game. One of the coolest things I noticed were the syringes sticking out of walls that were fired upon from a medic’s gun. They looked as if they were actually physically protruding from the wall. During our testing though, I found that while running in 2D mode I had an average of 76.93 FPS, compared to 45.36 FPS in 3D mode. Obviously if 3D mode cuts your average FPS nearly in half because both panels are rendering, then the iZ3D requires a powerful computer.

Counter-Strike: Source
The very first thing you notice is how great the GUI pops out at you. Anything that is 2D such as the HUD and text instantly gets your attention. Especially interesting is that the 3D effect works well even with 2D elements overlapping each other. There is a noticeable difference in depth between the scoreboard and the text and any other elements that pop up. It really is a neat effect. Although from far distances the in-game environment and character models don’t really look 3D, they do get the effect once are at extremely close range. Even the Steam GUI would pop up in 3D, making Steam Friends messages really pop out at you like I’d never seen before. I do have to say that playing this game in 3D would be impossible at the competitive level since there were moments where I would lose my crosshair on brighter levels such as dust2.

Crysis
iZ3D Driver 1.05 resulted in extremely poor performance and would eventually result in Crysis crashing. When the game wasn’t crashing, I noticed that the color scheme had changed to seemingly 16-bit quality and the presence of weird graphical errors. This occurred in 2D and 3D mode. Although the intro sequence, HUD, and options menu looked great, the performance issues even on low settings across the board at 1680 x 1050 were too much to overcome. I decided to test the 1.06 beta drivers but they didn’t help and caused new graphical errors such as disappearing shadows and crashing when minimizing the game. This is the most visually intense game in years but it should at least run stable. Hopefully iZ3d resolves these issues with driver updates in the near future.

ET: Quake Wars
Unfortunately even after trying multiple driver versions this game would not work at all in 3D. The hotkeys provided no function and I was able to see my desktop background seeping through at times.

Need for Speed ProStreet
Due to the flashy interface, NFSPS benefited greatly from the 3D effect. However, before I could play I was forced to turn the graphical settings to their lowest levels for smooth gameplay in 2D and especially 3D mode. During races the HUD really stands out and the effect is enhanced whenever vehicles reach top speeds, as the cars get camera warping, compounding the 3D effect. I would say it was worth having to tone down visual detail in order to get the 3D effect.

BioShock
Of all the games tested in the FPS category, the HUD and constant notifications really stand out in this game. It’s too bad the character models and environment don’t lend themselves as well as the HUD did to the overall experience. Surprisingly, this was the only game beyond Source based engines where the graphical detail at high settings allowed for smooth gameplay in both 2D and 3D modes.

Call of Duty 4
This was probably the one game where the 3D experience was most subpar. Beyond lowering the graphical detail for a smoother experience, the 3D effect really had no role beyond the HUD elements.

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Gears of War
The difference in 2D versus 3D was very apparent. Although the HUD is minimal in nature it does pop out at you right away when it coems up. The most alluring 3D effect is when you’re scoped which brings up the crosshairs and character model extremely close to the camera. Like other games, the 3D effect is most prevalent when very close to other objects which bode well for this game since it’s primarily a close quarters shooter. My fun was short-lived though, as the game would randomly crash and have problems whenever I would hit the assigned hotkey to turn off 3D mode.

Unreal Tournament 3
The 3D effect was noticeable, but it wasn’t as apparent as other games tested. The most prolific effect was with the HUD and the actual weapons. It’s very cool to see depth in the rocket launcher as it winds up and shoots. The environments already look fantastic, but because of visual gritty nature and darkened arenas the 3D effect isn’t as powerful as it is in other games. Unfortunately you’ll have to tone down the visual settings in order to run the game smoothly. I was forced to do this as I started to feel sick with choppy frame rates and the 3D effect.

Supreme Commander
The nature of this game makes it perfect for 3D mode. Everything from the in-game menus to the HUD and even the information on each individual unit is given the 3D effect. Individual units and massive structures also have a small 3D effect, but it’s really only pronounced when you’re zoomed in all the way. It’s quite the snazzy effect when aerial units fly into your view. Overall because of the large amount of 2D menus and art in the game, this game best demonstarted what the iZ3D could do along with Team Fortress 2.

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Conclusion & Value

Pros

• 3D effect
• Size & Image Quality
• Steady driver updates to increase game compatibility
• Nice appearance
• Extra glasses

Cons

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• Price
• Demands a powerful computer
• Lack of compatibility with newer titles
• Having to wear glasses
• Difficult to understand and lack of installation instructions
• Forced to look for beta drivers
• Lack of front panel controls
• No ‘game profiles’ for automatic adjustment
• Doesn’t work with SLI or CrossFire

The iZ3D 22″ has a lot of good things going for it. The 3D effect is really fantastic in certain games, but is disappointingly incompatible with others. The unique nature of the monitor will demand constant driver updates throughout its entire life to keep up with newer titles. So far iZ3D has been keeping up with driver releases, but their policy of forcing users to register on another site to download beta drivers is a hassle. The instructions provided with the monitor are a good start but iZ3D needs to specify in detail what configuration options need to be followed in Windows. Having to read a company’s product forums to find answers others have already asked is very frustrating. Although I personally felt wearing the glasses was no big deal, there is an inherent ‘goof factor’ associated with wearing them. Of course those not mature enough to look past this fact probably aren’t the target consumer anyway.

The biggest obstacle to overcome is the price. At $999 the iZ3D 22″ is prohibitively expensive for most gamers. Whether or not you think the price is worth it depends on how badly you want to experience 3D. In terms of value, you could easily purchase two normal 22″ widescreen LCD monitors for the cost of this monitor (granted, with no 3D effect). Also, because the iZ3D 22″ is incompatible with SLI or CrossFire, those users are left out and cannot use the needed additional horsepower such a setup provides. Overall the iZ3D does a good job at providing a thrilling 3D experience, but still demands a lot of patience while the kinks are worked out.

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