Confused about what cables to get for my Eyefinity setup.

[Ostrakon]

Hey all, I went a little nuts on Black Friday and pretty much got myself set up for an eyefinity rig, but I've never actually had to assemble one before. I got three 23" LED monitors off of newegg, and they apparently have two HDMI and one VGA connection each. I also got two 6950s that have an HDMI port, two DVI ports, and two minidisplay ports on each. I obviously plan to run them in crossfire, but what I was not aware of is that all of the monitors have to be plugged into one card.

So right now I'm thinking I should connect the center monitor to the HDMI port natively, one through a DVI->HDMI adapter, and the third one through a minidisplay port->VGA adapter. From what I understand, screen tearing becomes an issue when using adapters, so I'd like to keep that to a minimum if possible.

Is this a valid config? If so, is it a solid plan?

[Ostrakon]

Alternatively, for the sake of symmetry I could have both side monitors connected by minidisplay port-> VGA adapters.

[Abram]

You need at least one display to be connected via a Mini-DP port. You will need an active mini-DP to VGA adaptor.

[Ostrakon]

You need at least one display to be connected via a Mini-DP port. You will need an active mini-DP to VGA adaptor.

Good to know.

I'm noticing that most of these active adapters are $20 bucks or more. I'm assuming the safe bet is to get one that AMD lists on its dongle support page.

Something I noticed there was that there were no active Mini-DP -> HDMI adapters listed on that page. Is that because none exist? I have second thoughts about using VGA connectors, so I figured I'd just spend the extra 5 bucks and use HDMI->DVI converters instead, so

Monitor 1: HDMI native
Monitor 2: HDMI adapter connecting to the DVI-D (single) slot
Monitor 3: HDMI->DVI-D (single) adapter connecting to a DVI-D (single)->Mini-DP active adapter connecting to a mini-DP slot.

I'm not sure what the difference is between using the DVI single and the DVI dual slot, since each monitor will only be using 1080p. Thoughts on that?

EDIT: Thought DVI-S meant single link DVI, my bad

[Davros]

It does well its actually dvi-sl

[tHiNg]

I bought 2 mini DP ->DVI active adapters only to have one fail after about 10 minutes. I was then fortunate to find mini dp to dp cables (no adapter, just a cable with mini dp at one end and dp at the other). Definitely the best solution as far as I am concerned, so worth hunting around for.

[Ostrakon]

I bought 2 mini DP ->DVI active adapters only to have one fail after about 10 minutes. I was then fortunate to find mini dp to dp cables (no adapter, just a cable with mini dp at one end and dp at the other). Definitely the best solution as far as I am concerned, so worth hunting around for.

That would make sense for me, if I had DP ports on my monitor. Unfortunately I only have HDMI and VGA ports.

[Haldi]

http://widescreengamingforum.com/forum/forums/multi-monitor-gaming/amd-eyefinity-discussions/16101/zotac-release-passive-displayportm

Mini Displayport to 2x HDMI Adapter! Would solve all your Problems, right?


But....

I also got two 6950s that have an HDMI port, two DVI ports, and two minidisplay ports on each. I obviously plan to run them in crossfire, but what I was not aware of is that all of the monitors have to be plugged into one card.

I Knew that this was with NVidia Cards, but are you sure it's also with AMD Cards? I thought it was possible to run them off from any card!