Need advice on how to connect up to 5 monitors for eyefinity

[Avatar72]

I have two ATI 6950 and I'm wanting to set up 5 monitors.

I'm using 3 24" monitors, each with one VGA/DVI/HDMI

The other two monitors are 8" displays that only have a VGA connection.

How would I go about connecting these up to a pair of 6950s? I think they all have to go in one card if I'm not mistaken.

So which adapters should I get and which monitor should go into which connector on the card?

I understand I'll need to get an actice display adapter. But since I'm using 5 moinitors, will I need more than one? I think one DVI connection on the card is shared with the HDMI which I think screws up everything for me. There are 5 video outputs on a single 6950. If two of them are shared, how is it even possible to connect up to 5 monitors.

Please advise.

[BHawthorne]

Could you elaborate a bit more on the end use of the setup? That'll help us better explain how to configure it and what you'll need. Are all of the displays to be ran independently or is there a certain combination of EyeFinity grouping and independent displays mixed?

I'm assuming an EyeFinity grouping on the triple 24" and the two 8" will be independent displays ran on the second card?

[Avatar72]

I'll see if I can explain this correctly.

In most cases for gaming purposes, I only need the three 24" monitors running on a single card with the second card used for corssfire.

This particular issue I'm having is to use the two 8" monitors independantly in DCS A10. They will be used as MFD (multi-function-displays) within the game.

I think this picture would explain best on what I'm trying to do.

http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=62021

I beleive I can connect the two 8" displays to the second card but then I can't use crossfire. So the goal is to use both 6950s with crossfire with the setup in the link. Of course I'll be running larger 24" monitors as the main display.

[Avatar72]

I should also add the 24" screen would be 1920x1080 and the two 8" are 800x600

[suiken_2mieu]

you need a login to see that thread. Can you just link to the picture? Or quote the post?

[Avatar72]

Sorry about that. That part of the forums is for the beta users

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v610/talon_90th/Flight%20Simulator/100_6932-1.jpg

[spammeister]

Maybe just a cheapo 3rd video card at this point would be the best option?

Them crazy flightsim guys, they'll never be happy :P

[BHawthorne]

I'm really liking what I see from DCS: A-10C so far. I got to have a look at it at CES. I also own DCS: Black Shark and DCS: LOMAC 2.0. The DCS engine works very well with triple display. Not sure on the MFD LCDs though as I've never configured for that kind of thing in the DCS based client. You going with the Thrustmaster A-10C or the Saitek X65-F? Both should be ideal for A-10C.

Maybe just a cheapo 3rd video card at this point would be the best option?

Them crazy flightsim guys, they'll never be happy :P

Yes, most of us are all nuts. Did I mention I have a Republic F-84F fuselage in my backyard waiting to be retrofitted as a simpit? If you have a hobby, why only half-a$$ it? :wink:

[spammeister]

What, only one spare fuselage? Good thing your Thunderstreak apparently already crashed in your backyard, cuz it had a tendency to not be very good :P

Like the Thunderjet, the Thunderstreak excelled at cruise and had predictable handling characteristics within its performance envelope. Like its predecessor, it also suffered from accelerated stall pitch-up and potential resulting separation of wings from the airplane. In addition, spins in the F-84F were practically unrecoverable and ejection was the only recourse below 10,000 feet (3,000 m).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_F-84F_Thunderstreak#Flying_the_Thunderstreak

Good luck with your future endeavours.

[Avatar72]

I'm using the new Thurstmaster A10 stick. Very impressive piece of hardware. It's definately the most rugged and realistic flight stick ever created for home users...did I also mentioned the most expensive?

So, since my 2 LCD screen are 800x600, is it possible to have some kind of splitter come out of one of the mini display ports that could plug into both small LCD screen and act like two independant screens?

What about thoughts on getting one of the USB to DVI/VGA cables for one of the 8" LCD screen?

[spammeister]

It all depends on how versatile "DCS A10" is at eyefinity. If you really want proper crossfire acceleration with minimal fuss, I would say go find a friend, "borrow" their video card and see how the game works.

I don't know exactly how the 4th and 5th HUD screens would work, are they seperate windows that can be moved around at will. I don't know if a 5x1 setup would be noticed by yer sim any better than a 3x1+1+1.

I don't know what kind of motherboard you have and what is on it. Hopefully you have a 3rd PCI-express slot. Any kind of zany displayport to dual USB config would probably cost the same as a 50$ video card.

[BHawthorne]

What, only one spare fuselage? Good thing your Thunderstreak apparently already crashed in your backyard, cuz it had a tendency to not be very good :P

Like the Thunderjet, the Thunderstreak excelled at cruise and had predictable handling characteristics within its performance envelope. Like its predecessor, it also suffered from accelerated stall pitch-up and potential resulting separation of wings from the airplane. In addition, spins in the F-84F were practically unrecoverable and ejection was the only recourse below 10,000 feet (3,000 m).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_F-84F_Thunderstreak#Flying_the_Thunderstreak

Good luck with your future endeavours.

X-USAF fighter fuselage don't grow on trees, so you have to buy what you can find in mostly complete form. Can't be picky with what is out there. Anything current gets 4x4" shredded at end of life, so you have to go back in history a bit in order to own a real fighter cockpit. There have been very few fighters that fly like a Toyota drives. Everything out there has flight characteristics of some sort that are undesirable. They're not an arcade video game. :wink:

[spammeister]

Everything out there has flight characteristics of some sort that are undesirable. They're not an arcade video game. :wink:

Since I'll never actually "pilot" anything heavier than an ultralight, I'll just pretend it's in arcade mode :P

[Magic Man]

Where are the six output cards... Give us 6 mini dp outputs like on the previous range.