Widescreen Gaming Forum

Pro tip: keep the chat in the thread and not take it private unless transfering of personal information, so as to keep the informaiton public, should anyone in the future wish to do the same, or has the same issues, then there is a solution provided in public.

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| Gigabyte X79S-UP5-WiFi Skt2011 | i7 4820k @4.4GHz Watercooled (Ivy Bridge-E) | Corsair Vengence 32GB @2133MHz 11-11-11-27 2T Quad-Channel (8x4GB) | AMD R9-Fury-X 4GB @1140/505MHz + EKWB Watercooled | 256GB Crucial MX200 SSD | 8x 1TB Samsung F3 SATA-II | Corsair 850W TX PSU | 3x Dell S2209W 22"wide TFT's (5760x1080res) | Logitech Z-5400 5.1ch speakers | Win7 Ultimate x64 |

Sorry and thank you for the tip regarding PM.
I have received a sad and unbelievable news from AMD technical support:
"
You can use 2 PowerColor 6870 Eyefinity 6 Graphic Cards to run multiple monitors. However, maximum of 8 monitors is supported. You can create 1 group per video card.
"

How the heck is a configuration on Win 7+ an ATI Eyefinity card this limited to 8 monitors and :
1: the card has 1.2 MiniDP wich you guys says that supports HUBs like Zotac mini DisplayPort/2x HDMI Adapter that can reach 12 working output !!!
2.There are already ATI card on the market that have 12xmini DisplayPorts:
Here is a 12 output ATI card (Attention, the ATI support recommended me this card in their support email !!! )
3.I saw with my own eyes youtube clips with more that 8 monitors that I'm almost sure are with Win 7 and ATI .

Do you think that the limitation comes from Windows 7 or from ATI drivers ?? (ATI support didn't respond to that)

"
You can use 2 PowerColor 6870 Eyefinity 6 Graphic Cards to run multiple monitors. However, maximum of 8 monitors is supported. You can create 1 group per video card.
"

You would only create a group when using eyefinity, so AMD are telling you that you can only use 8 monitors across 2 seperate eyefinity groups.

With 2x 6780 E6 cards simply plugged in, with no crossfire or eyefinity technology enabled, you WILL get 12 display outputs.

Windows is not limited to the number of monitors you can attach, the limitation is down to what hardware you have installed.

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| Gigabyte X79S-UP5-WiFi Skt2011 | i7 4820k @4.4GHz Watercooled (Ivy Bridge-E) | Corsair Vengence 32GB @2133MHz 11-11-11-27 2T Quad-Channel (8x4GB) | AMD R9-Fury-X 4GB @1140/505MHz + EKWB Watercooled | 256GB Crucial MX200 SSD | 8x 1TB Samsung F3 SATA-II | Corsair 850W TX PSU | 3x Dell S2209W 22"wide TFT's (5760x1080res) | Logitech Z-5400 5.1ch speakers | Win7 Ultimate x64 |

Although ATI didn't refer exactly to the number of monitors in one eyefinity group or to the number of monitors in total, you offer a logical explanation

AMD's answer to you did more to confuse than to answer anything. It's actually quite inaccurate for most of it's content. The person at AMD who answered your question seems not to understand what you are trying to do. Frankly, I'd ignore his answer. As I have two 5870 E6 cards I can directly test what is needed.

You can use 2 PowerColor 6870 Eyefinity 6 Graphic Cards to run multiple monitors. However, maximum of 8 monitors is supported. You can create 1 group per video card.

Not sure where he comes up with "8 monitors"? You can run significantly more than 8 monitors on a Windows 7 system. THe only thing that might pertain to "8" is the 5870 series cards has a maximum pixel width of 8k. That can become an issue. If you are spanning just horizontally, and not both horizontal and vertical the 8k limit is something you might run into. That has nothing to do with "8 monitors" though.

There are a couple of reasons why going 6970 or 7970 ASUS DirectCU II 6-port might be better. 1) we haven't established if the Zotac adapter requires DP 1.2 or not. I'll know Monday when mine arrive. 2) if you are attempting to horizontal span you'd then have a maximum pixel width of 16k not 8k.

Something to think about, but video players can either use a DirectX 9 or OpenGL renderer engine when set in preferences. I know this because I have to use these settings for NTHUSIM to work for pre-warping video content on my projector setups. That might plausibly mean that SoftTH 2 might also be an option with something like VLC or MPC. This will require some experimentation though. SoftTH 2 would allow you any display count you want for display grouping.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

@BHawthorne:
I already bought a PowerColor 6870 Eyefinity 6. I want to figure out with your help to figure out what can I do to resolve my project:
1. extra video card - awaiting your experience in dual eyefinity card when you'll receive them. Even if is not the same model
2. Zotac adapter - awaiting your feedback on monday ;)
3. other option, not very expensive like a pro digital signage and hopefully that can use a part of the bought equipment.

Regarding the span: I must have a different content sent to 2x1 + 4x1 + 5x1 configuration @1024x768 each display. Do you think it will be a problem with the maximum pixel width in the first or in the second possibility?
Great tip regarding the SoftTH.

Regarding the span: I must have a different content sent to 2x1 + 4x1 + 5x1 configuration @1024x768 each display. Do you think it will be a problem with the maximum pixel width in the first or in the second possibility?

That significantly complicates things. You just can't mix and match spans like that with consumer hardware. I really suggest you use separate machines to push 2x1, 4x1 and 5x1 content. I understand your reasoning behind it, but reality is going to get in the way of your success. The core problem is that you're trying to push 3 separate spans from the same machine. I see no way to pull that off efficiently in a way that would not cause taring other issues. You really need to do one span per computer.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

Hi guys
After i received the AMD support reply who ambiguous announced me that Win 7 + ATI Catalyst support maximum of 8 monitors, i've send them another email asking them how a card like this can work then?
Then they reply with:
"...the 12 displayport video card is not built by AMD, it is a partner built product and you may contact them for verification"
How can ATI, not know what their chipset can/can't do. It's more than clear that because this card is on the market , it can offer 12 functional outputs (and not 8 ) . More than that, even if the card is made by a "partner" , Catalyst is made by them ....

And another response came for the Zotac HUB question:
"
We do not support any splitter cables or hub or any such accessories and we do not test for such hardware or anomalies.
We do not know if they will work.
This is not an active dongle, is it? (this will not work if it is not active) .
"
I've asked by email, Zotac if this is an active adapter..no reply yet.

a lot of "we do not" ..don't you think ?

I'm missing the smiley which hits his head on the Table. But i think this one will do! :doh

This makes me remember why i dislike "support" the chance to end up with a qualified person on the other end are around 10% -.-

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We gonna send it to outa space!

Hi guys
After i received the AMD support reply who ambiguous announced me that Win 7 + ATI Catalyst support maximum of 8 monitors, i've send them another email asking them how a card like this can work then?
Then they reply with:
"...the 12 displayport video card is not built by AMD, it is a partner built product and you may contact them for verification"
How can ATI, not know what their chipset can/can't do. It's more than clear that because this card is on the market , it can offer 12 functional outputs (and not 8 ) . More than that, even if the card is made by a "partner" , Catalyst is made by them ....

And another response came for the Zotac HUB question:
"
We do not support any splitter cables or hub or any such accessories and we do not test for such hardware or anomalies.
We do not know if they will work.
This is not an active dongle, is it? (this will not work if it is not active) .
"
I've asked by email, Zotac if this is an active adapter..no reply yet.

a lot of "we do not" ..don't you think ?

The Eyefinity 12 was a prototype, never a production model. If that card was ever on the market, people here would have known about it. If it is in fact something that was sold somewhere in the world, I'd like to pick one up myself, but I've only seen it mentioned at convention events as a hardware proof of concept. You're confusing port count with driver spanning mechanics. That Eyefinity 12 card would only work with all ports enabled as individual extended desktop displays. That would give you zero hardware acceleration benefits. At a driver level AMD only allows 2x1, 3x1, 4x1, 5x1 and 3x2 Eyefinity. Mixing in Matrox GXM boxes, MViewer boxes or adapters like the Zotac dual HDMI adapter are so specialized that only a couple of people in the world will probably have any practical experience with those setups. Luckily, some of those people are forum members here.

Basically AMD is saying your wants are too exotic and one-off for them to know how it'll function. The rule of thumb with AMD drivers are 2x1, 3x1, 4x1, 5x1 and 3x2 only for Eyefinity. There is zero incentive for them to do quality control testing on competing products. You're basically on your own to experiment. That being said, I've got three of the Zotac adapters now. I can give a bit more insight on them.

My problem with most of this is you're not understanding how DirectX and OpeGL fullscreen renderers work. You can't just chop up three different arbitrary 3d fullscreen spanning areas like that on the same computer. DirectX and OpenGl simply doesn't allow it on anything but the main screen span in full screen accelerated mode. Now you can do it in maximized desktop window mode, but then you're compromising your fullscreen acceleration and will get taring issues. To get your best performance in this type of thing you need to use fullscreen mode to a single span. Compound that issue if you need separate sound content synced to each set of spans. Each video span really needs it's own playback computer.

The quality of playback and the viewing experience will be sub-par on a setup if you intend to push video content via a single computer and something like VLC's "image wall" filter. VLC "image wall" is another option for you. I think you'll find sync and taring issues using it. It might be worth experimenting with as a last case option though.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com