Eyefinity question

[dr.walrus]

With the 5*** series Radeons, the third Eyefinity output has to be through the Displayport. This is a pain if you don't have a Displayport monitor.

Is this the case with the 6*** series also?

[diluzio91]

yep... but monoprice sells display port adapters for like 8 bucks http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=104&cp_id=10428&cs_id=1042801&p_id=4827&seq=1&format=2

[dr.walrus]

Why do some people claim to need active adapters?

[x88x]

Why do some people claim to need active adapters?

Either because they got bad advice or they're trying to sell them to you. The video portions of Displayport and HDMI are both electrically compatible with DVI-D. Passive adapters work just fine.

[dr.walrus]

Either because they got bad advice or they're trying to sell them to you. The video portions of Displayport and HDMI are both electrically compatible with DVI-D. Passive adapters work just fine.

I was aware of this with DVI and HDMI, not displayport!

[x88x]

I was aware of this with DVI and HDMI, not displayport!

Yup, iirc Displayport just adds extra communication lanes for the higher resolutions supported.

[Oneslowz28]

I didn't know this. So do you still need to use the DS if you have 2 58 series cards?

[dr.walrus]

I didn't know this. So do you still need to use the DS if you have 2 58 series cards?

To use all three monitors in eyefinity mode in a game, yeah they all need to be linked to one card. You can output to all your screens outside of eyefinity mode with output from both cards, obviously, but not if you're crossfired.

[Oneslowz28]

Cool. Looks like I will be ordering one of those adapters. Going to add a 24" to my setup for Christmas. That will give me a 22" on each side of the 24"

[dr.walrus]

Just be aware that all three need to be output to at the same res - I'm moving from a mix of 22"s and 24"s to three all of the same size. Personally, I always found it a bit annoyng that they didn't match - but that's just personal preference - the real killer for an eyefinity setup will be running your best screen not in native resolution.

A new, small apartment means that I actually went for 21.5's rather than the 27s i was going for! 1080p screens are the easiest to find, so I went for them, rather than the 1680x1050 and 1920x1200 screens I originally had.

If you haven't picked one yet, have a look at http://www.testfreaks.com/monitors/benq-g2420hdbl/ . It's almost nauseatingly cheap (especially in the US!), and they're actually very, very good.

[dr.walrus]

The video portions of Displayport and HDMI are both electrically compatible with DVI-D. Passive adapters work just fine.

Ooh, I can now confirm you wus wrong!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort


Although DisplayPort's signal is not compatible with HDMI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Definition_Multimedia_Interface) or DVI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface), dual-mode ports (which are marked with DP++ logo) can use DisplayPort wires to transmit single-link HDMI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Definition_Multimedia_Interface) and DVI (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface) signals which are then converted to higher signal levels by passive external adapters.

It boils down to this; if your video card detects an adapted output (i,e, it's DP++), it'll output the different signal using the passive adapter. If it doesn't/isn't, then you need an active adapter.

[x88x]

Huh. Ok, fair enough. I guess just all the video cards I've seen that included adapters used DP++ ports.

[dr.walrus]

You owe my buddy £6 for the passive adapter he bought on your advice hahahaha