Active DVI > DP Adaptor - Testing A Solution For Flickering

[suiken_2mieu]

let me post my findings on this issue.

I don't have blinking with the Apple Dual-Link adapters. I assume, I'm using the second firmware version, because I bought 2 used ones and returned one for another, and this one has no lines streaking through the screen, or blanking issues. In fact the only issue I had was finding a reliable way to power them. I used the Original Rockband Powered USB HUB for both and it works pretty flawlessly as long as I don't kick the thing.

I'm running 10.5 and two adapters at 2560x1600 each.

I'll try 10.8 later on.

[LordJuanlo]

After noticing a not so good quality on my DP -> VGA adapter (some horizontal waves on the screen, looked like electrical noise) I ordered a Dell Active DP -> DVI adapter (it's a Bizlink btw). After installing it, I noticed flickering problems half an hour later. So I moved it to a different USB port on my motherboard and it has been rock solid since then, even after long gaming sessions. No more flickering and superb quality.

[radeon2g]

Hello

This is my Computer:

Sapphire 5780 + 5780 Crossfire
Intel I7 860
Asus P7P55 WS
Crossair 850W NT
...
3 x Asus VW246H Monitors

I have testing Bizlink Active DP to Dual-link DVI
Adaptor Firmware: 034
Powered by:External USB power supply
Power Supply Voltage: 5V
Power Supply Current: 1000mA

This is instable.It´s blinking :evil:

My New Adaptor:
Club 3d Active DP to Dual-link DVI
Adaptor Firmware: 2.00
Powered by:External USB power supply
Power Supply Voltage: 5V
Power Supply Current: 1000mA

This is stable.Not blinking.

This is impossible :D :shock: :roll:

[darkproduce]

Hi..

Been using TH2G for quite a while on my trusty GTX285 (living with 5760 x 1050 though I have 3 24" 1920x1200 displays) for a while and switched recently to PowerColor-5850 and was holding back on moving into Eyefinity as I read the forum on the various combination of blinking issues on this displayport thingy.

By chance, I came across an Active DP -> DVI adapter from Sapphire (its a single-Link by the way) and decided to take the chance with it. It states on the box it supports Eyefinity 3 across 3 DVI monitors and although its supposedly "Active", there is no USB plug whatsoever. Just the Displayport plug and the DVI at the other end. It is also DPCP and HDCP compliant. Part no. is CA00112-R0 SKU#44000-02-40R.

Holy.. was glad I did... The 3 displays are now in full 5760 x 1200 glory and looks great for gaming.. :rockout

Best of all, not a single blink I encountered thus far after a week.

Hope this helps anyone at the edge wondering to take the plunge... :cheers

[spiderdijon]

Hello, I can confirm that my (mostly) working Bizlink DP - DVI adapter uses 305mA when running. So this does mean that without negotiating with the USB controller the USB spec says (I think) a device can only use 100mA unless it actively requests more current. I was under the impression that the Bizlink adapter was 'dumb' in that it was just siphoning off power from the USB and had no USB hardware on board and therefore unable to actively request more current. IIRC not all USB controller are all that strict about this and often will supply more than 500mA right from the start which might be why some people are reporting no problems when plugged into certain ports.

I used a variable switch mode PSU set at 5V and monitored the current usage. I only suffer minor glitches however like when the monitor goes to sleep the adapter with sometimes needs reconnecting in order to stop displaying rubbish, no flickering like some other people here. I'm using the 10.8 drivers it seems and I have just realised there are 10.9's out so will be trying them shortly. I hope this helps someone!

[Gilly]

The product should have the current requirement built in so the O/S would know how much to supply. If the adaptor is reporting this information incorrectly, it is the products fault, not the O/S.

If the adaptor requests 100mA, but does indeed need 305mA like you say, of course it will not work properly. The USB port must be outputting up to 500mA, with the adaptor only drawing what it needs to function.

[johnnyvd]

I was having major blinking issues with my 034 F/W Accel adapter and tried using external power, USB hub, Molex to USB to no avail.

My Apple works just 100% as long i don't start switching resolutions or XFire configurations, because it will lose resolution on the DP monitor. Just a quick USB power on/off will fix this though.

BUT.. After swapping my HD5970 around (the Sapphire OC is now main) i had no more problems with blinking.. They both have exact the same BIOS version, go figure.. guess it would be hardware then??

I still can't get it why i didn't have problems with the MSI pre 10.3..

[thatdude90210]

My 034 Bizlink/Accel adapter was working ok for a while, then I had a Win7 loading issue and reverted back to a July backup. I started having blanking problems again with the DP adapter monitor in Eyefinity. Not wanting to go back to messing with this issue again, I bought the $27 Sapphire DP single link DVI adapter. So far so good.

[JAMF]

I did the BIOS flash (Since the wallsocket 1000mA charger trick didn't work) and that fixed it.

Card: ATI 5870 1GB Gigabyte GV-R587D5-1GD-B
Card Bios: 012.014.000.005 (Gigabyte.HD5870.1024.091112.bin)
Driver Version: 10.9
Adaptor: Bizlink.
Adaptor Firmware: ???
Adaptor Model: BZL-KS10008(B)
Powered by: Single USB
Working flicker free: Yes

[spammeister]

Got the Sapphire single link active adapter, works like a charm.

WHERE WERE YOU 9 MONTHS AGO! heh.

[madhampster]

I bought the new sapphire active display port to DVI adapter to replace the dell display port adapter. I was having problems with the dell one working with the newer ATI drivers. I was having problems with the display going black sometimes. After get the new Sapphire adapter I have not had anymore issues with the display going black with my 5850 card. I wish they had sold this adapter earlier. :D

[computer_man20037]

I got the Accell DP to DVI adapter and was testing it out for the first time last night and have to say everything looks great until I decided to put a window up on my third monitor which isn't the one hooked to the adapter and my screen went nuts and started to flicker but then when I jumped into a game it was ok maybe a little flickering but I couldn't tell by that point so I tried the AC USB charger adapter to see if that would help the issue but it is still happening. I will also try a different usb port tonight just to be sure its not that.

computer_man20037

edit - I wanted to include what my setup for my system is... I don't have all the exact numbers that you are asking for but here is rough sketch of what my system is:

PSU: PC and Power Cooling 750W
CPU: Phenom II 965 BE OC'ed @ 3.8 (Voltage: 1.43)
Memory: 4 GB G Skills Ripjaws
Motherboard: MSI 870A Fuzion
GPU: Sapphire 5850 Vapor-X + GTS 450 OC (Dedicated Physx Card)
Hard Drives: 90 GB SSD (OS Drive) + 1 TB (Steam Games, etc) + 1.5 TB (Backups, etc)
Soundcard: Asus Xonar DX
OS: Win 7 Pro 64-bit

[madhampster]

What version of driver are you using. I found the 10.1 worked the best when I had the accell adapter. The 10.3 worked with the odd flickering. I tried the 10.9 but they flickered and they also caused a BSOD. Go to newegg and buy the sapphire active display port adapter. It has been working flawless since I started using it. I have a 5850 MSI card.

[computer_man20037]

I am currently using the latest version of the driver 10.10 and I also bought the single link adapter from accell to see if that fixes the flicking issues cause talking to Sapphire Tech Support about it they said the flickering might be due to a bad adapter from what they have heard from other people that have had the same issue. I bought the single link adapter after reading in the forum in a different post that people switching to that adapter from the dual link one fixed the flickering issue.

[computer_man20037]

ok so i found the single link adapter works great and also the dual link adapter works great also but is a little under powered at times and when going into some games it disables the third monitor causing the game not to load all the way. I found out what my flickering issue is caused by.... its the monitor itself that is flickering like crazy so I am just going to hang on to it cause I don't see it in game only when on my desktop and once it goes try to find a replacement one that is better.

[karlowma]

I use the Accel single link DP-DVI active adapter and have experienced some flickering in a couple games so far. It seems to me that the issue is related to screen refresh though, rather than power to the adapter.

I initially had some problems in World of Warcraft, which were resolved completely by enabling Triple Buffering.

I also had some issues with Dragon Age: Origins, which I was able to resolve by forcing vsync in CCC.

All other games I've tried so far have been flicker-free, which further leads me to believe it's not related to the adapter, but rather graphics settings, specifically with the screen refresh.

Hopefully this can help some who are also experiencing these issues.

[Flamin Joe]

I wonder if Gigabyte's USB On/Off Charge feature they have on their newer boards would help with any underpower issues? I have a Gigabyte board with this feature, but I've never thought to look into it let alone use it before I saw this thread. I'll be getting an Active DP - DVI Adaptor next week as I've had enough of my DP > VGA adaptor.

From what I've read, it appears the motherboard has a chip which regulates power to the On/Off USB port so that it provides as much current as the USB device needs. This is so USB rechargable devices, such as the iPad, iPhone etc, get the required current to charge at full speed. As you probably know, a standard USB connection on a PC charges slower than the wall socket powered USB charger.

http://www.gigabyte.com/press-center/news-page.aspx?nid=875

The above link shows this in effect with with an Iphone getting just above 500mA and an iPad getting just below 1000mA. I wonder what an Active DP - DVI will do?

In any case, I hope to be able to test this out next week. I don't have a multimeter at home, but I do at work and I have plenty of Gigabyte boards to play around with. If I get a chance next week, I'll have a little play around and report what I find.

[Dyre Straits]

Since my upgrade to the Gigabyte HD 6870, I've tried the ACCELL ACTIVE Mini DisplayPort to DVI Single Link adapter and cannot even get a screen at all. I've tried with the DP connected monitor as the ONLY one connected. It doesn't even show a display at POST.

However, CCC detects that it's connected and I can even go through all the steps to create a 3x1 Group and even get a prompt for Bezel Compensation. The power indication light on the monitor glows properly indicating that the monitor is getting some kind of signal. If I Disable the monitor there's a "No Signal" message on screen.

BUT, I cannot even access the OSD Menu of the monitor. I get nothing else at all.

I've written Gigabyte and ACCELL as well as have given Amazon.com a heads up on this issue. (That's where I bought the adapter from.) It's been over 48 hours since I emailed them and only Amazon has responded.

This particular adapter is "ATI Certified" per a sticker on the box and has the correct FW revision per a sticker on the adapter.

My PSU is a 1000W unit and since the adapter plugs only into the MiniDisplayPort on the video card -- which is powered by TWO Six-pin connections, I have to assume that it's getting enough power. But, as stated, it doesn't even POST when it's the only one connected at start up.

Am very eager to get my Eyefinity back to working.

[Flamin Joe]

Ok well so much for the Gigabyte On/Off idea. I did a bit more research and discovered that it will only work with known devices and therefore requires the USB device to be detectable in Windows. Only way it would work is if someone could write their own program to make use of this chip so you could specify what current you wanted the USB to output. But I can't see this happening since I don't think it is open source.

Oh well, promising idea from Gigabyte, but not suitable to be used by an Eyefinity dongle at this stage. :(

[Dyre Straits]

As posted here....

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=203046#p203046

I finally have my Eyefinity working again and did it...again...with a DP->VGA adapter made by Monster. Only this time I also had to add in a Mini-DisplayPort -> DisplayPort adapter.