Eyefinity 4 monitors, 2 cards anyone? not for Crossfire.

ychng · Post by **ychng** » 14 Nov 2009, 17:53

Hi all!

My apologies if part of this is similar to a post on the Dave/Sunsp*t EF thread I posted not too long ago, but I had a quick question for those of you with 2 58xx or 57xx cards and hopefully 4 monitors.

I need (for 2D desktop issues) to have 2 Eyefinity groups with 2 monitors in each group. All monitors have the same res. Each group can be on its own card.

Can anyone with 2 cards test this if you have 4 monitors handy? Would love to know the answer before buying 2 57xx cards.

The reason for this is that I run 2 x IBM T221 9.2 MP monitors. Each monitor has a panel res of 3840x2400, which requires each monitor be run as two "virtual monitors" of 1920x2400 horizontally spanned together.

Under Win Vista they took away horizontal span and I was left with two separate desktops in one bezel, ugh. I'm hoping that 2 5750 cards and Eyefinity will finally be the solution that allows me to move away from WinXP 64bit.

Thanks in advance!
Yeang Chng

Post by **BHawthorne** » 14 Nov 2009, 22:58

The only way you'll ever be able to push 4 displays with EyeFinity is with the 5870 EyeFinity6 card that is not yet released. You can't bridge GPUs or cards for port outs. EyeFinity is designed right now to only be able to use the port outs of a single card. The standard port configuration of the 5000-series only allows for 3 ports to work maximum at once. That'll change when the EyeFinity6 card comes out which will allow for 6 ports out of the card. Depending upon the port configuration of the display you are using you're also goign to have significant cost associated with the adapters.

ychng · Post by **ychng** » 15 Nov 2009, 00:23

Thanks for the reply, BHawthorne. That's a bummer if it is true. I'd understand if you couldn't bridge cards for a single surface, but the least I'm hoping for is for two surfaces, each on its on card.

To clarify, 2 groups of two monitors, each on its own card: group A on card A with 2 x 1920x2400 outputs spanned into a single virtual monitor, and group B on card B with another 2x 1920x2400 outputs into a second virtual monitor. That way there are no groups that go "across cards" if you know what I mean.

If you are sure that the above setup will not work, that that sucks and I'm still stuck with WinXP and horizontal spanning (which does allow the above) until EF SIX comes out.

Thanks again,
Yeang

The only way you'll ever be able to push 4 displays with EyeFinity is with the 5870 EyeFinity6 card that is not yet released. You can't bridge GPUs or cards for port outs. EyeFinity is designed right now to only be able to use the port outs of a single card. The standard port configuration of the 5000-series only allows for 3 ports to work maximum at once. That'll change when the EyeFinity6 card comes out which will allow for 6 ports out of the card. Depending upon the port configuration of the display you are using you're also goign to have significant cost associated with the adapters.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 15 Nov 2009, 00:26

The EyeFinity6 should be out pretty soon, so it's not too big of an issue. I'd have to guess that they'd want it out before the holiday shopping season. It's a bit of a specialty card so it'll have lesser priority to get to market than the mainstream cards though. I'm waiting to buy one myself.

ychng · Post by **ychng** » 15 Nov 2009, 03:12

Yeah, but I'm worried about supply issues like the 58xx series. Let's hope so.

Two last questions: 1) have you actually tried 4 monitors with 2 cards, only grouping the 2 monitors on each card together, and 2) do you know for a fact that two separate Eyefinity groups are not possible?

I'm sure you know what you are talking about, but I can't find info elsewhere on the web to answer this question, so I'm wondering if your info comes from personal experience.

If we can only create one Eyefinity group, even when the SIX comes out that will be kind of limiting (not for gaming but for productivity stuff).

Post by **BHawthorne** » 15 Nov 2009, 03:28

Yeah, but I'm worried about supply issues like the 58xx series. Let's hope so.

Two last questions: 1) have you actually tried 4 monitors with 2 cards, only grouping the 2 monitors on each card together, and 2) do you know for a fact that two separate Eyefinity groups are not possible?

I'm sure you know what you are talking about, but I can't find info elsewhere on the web to answer this question, so I'm wondering if your info comes from personal experience.

If we can only create one Eyefinity group, even when the SIX comes out that will be kind of limiting (not for gaming but for productivity stuff).

I have extensive multi-display experience, but my EyeFinity knowledge is purely academic and not real-world yet. There are a few forum members that do have the hardware that can do the tests for you though and definitively say one way or the other though. To my knowledge though, currently you can only do 1 SLS grouping at the moment.

The advantage with productivity apps is most of them are 2D desktop based windowed apps, not requiring a full screen mode. 2D can be accompished with about any video card configuration available with the port outs needed. 3D full screen mode is what screws things up though.

ychng · Post by **ychng** » 15 Nov 2009, 03:44

Hey, thanks again for the input. The reason I need SLS for 2D productivity is the way Photoshop/Bridge/Capture One etc behave - I guess I could run windowed but the Photoshop full screen mode (F-key) screws up if I have it stretched to cover two separate monitors.

Well, I think I'll bite the bullet and order 2 5750 cards from newegg to test this. I don't really need the horsepower of a SIX to do this as it is all framebuffer, and it'll be a lot cheaper than buying all the adapters needed.

Will post results here when I get the cards running.

For gaming, a triple projector setup would be sweet though - but that's another rig :)

Post by **BHawthorne** » 15 Nov 2009, 06:36

For gaming, a triple projector setup would be sweet though - but that's another rig :)

Actually, I find it works great for every day use too. I'm typing on it right now actually. So far so good, and by the counter on my projectors it looks like I'm at right about 168 hours of use so far. There are some minor thigns I'm still tweaking on that setup, but that's for the other thread, not this one. :)

bandito · Post by **bandito** » 16 Nov 2009, 05:13

2 groups (one T221 with dual DL-DVI) , each from a card should be possible. After all, ATI demoed 4 groups (6 monitors each) with 4 SixEdition cards...

SixEdition is not suitable for your displays, though you'll need only one card instead of 2, you'll need 4 active DP to DL-DVI converters, and you may not be able to output the odd ball resolution of 1920x2400 through the converters.

whismerhill · Post by **whismerhill** » 16 Nov 2009, 06:42

2 groups (one T221 with dual DL-DVI) , each from a card should be possible. After all, ATI demoed 4 groups (6 monitors each) with 4 SixEdition cards...

it was on linux, I don't know whether ATI drivers currently support this kind of setup on windows. best to ask on a "Dave Baumann thread" maybe.
the question being : "is several independent Eyefinity Groups supported on windows ?"

Post by **BHawthorne** » 16 Nov 2009, 09:31

2 groups (one T221 with dual DL-DVI) , each from a card should be possible. After all, ATI demoed 4 groups (6 monitors each) with 4 SixEdition cards...

SixEdition is not suitable for your displays, though you'll need only one card instead of 2, you'll need 4 active DP to DL-DVI converters, and you may not be able to output the odd ball resolution of 1920x2400 through the converters.

That was a special build of the linux driver only. Nothing yet has shown anything remotely like that on the Windows side of things. We only have conclusive proof so far that just 1 SLS area can be defined in Windows.

Actually, he would only need 2 active adapters and 2 passive, as the built in clocks for the card are just like the standard 5870.

bandito · Post by **bandito** » 17 Nov 2009, 09:19

Actually, he would only need 2 active adapters and 2 passive, as the built in clocks for the card are just like the standard 5870.

I believe passive adapters only provide up to SL-DVI bandwidth... DL-DVI bandwidth is required for 1920x2400@48Hz for half the T221 screen

ychng · Post by **ychng** » 17 Nov 2009, 16:13

Hi Bandito, Whismerhill etc,

thanks for chiming in regarding my problem. Yes, the 1920x2400 stripes @ 48Hz have to be dual-link connections, so I'll need active adapters if the SIX is involved.

I actually did post a longer version of this question on that long "Is Displayport monitor required..." thread that Dave and Sunsp*t were frequenting, but no answer so far.

As I mentioned, today I'll order a couple of 57xx to just test it out myself, since no one has seemed to have experimented with this sort of setup.

Thanks again!
Yeang

eyefinity09 · Post by **eyefinity09** » 17 Nov 2009, 19:33

With two 5870s, you can create 2 groups of 2x1 or 1x2 using the four DVIs (two on each board).

ychng · Post by **ychng** » 17 Nov 2009, 19:42

Awesome!! that's great to hear - this is on Win7?

whismerhill · Post by **whismerhill** » 18 Nov 2009, 03:12

thanks for chiming in regarding my problem. Yes, the 1920x2400 stripes @ 48Hz have to be dual-link connections, so I'll need active adapters if the SIX is involved.

just to clarify dual link or not has no bearing whatsoever with the need for active adaptors !

on a single 5870 or 5870Six => up to 2 legacy monitors (VGA DVI HDMI) (with no adaptor or passive adaptors depending on the situation)
from third monitor and beyond active DP adaptors or DP screens.

bandito · Post by **bandito** » 18 Nov 2009, 03:42

[quote]thanks for chiming in regarding my problem. Yes, the 1920x2400 stripes @ 48Hz have to be dual-link connections, so I'll need active adapters if the SIX is involved.

just to clarify dual link or not has no bearing whatsoever with the need for active adaptors !

on a single 5870 or 5870Six => up to 2 legacy monitors (VGA DVI HDMI) (with no adaptor or passive adaptors depending on the situation)
from third monitor and beyond active DP adaptors or DP screens.

Just to further clarify on SixEdition.... The version demoed/previewed/reviewed so far has all come with 6 mini-DP ports, while 2 of these ports are DP+ for support of legacy monitors, they are limited to SL-DVI's number of pins (cable/pin pass through), thus SL-DVI's bandwidth.

They could push through HDMI 1.3 (which is about DP bandwidth) using the same SL-DVI pins, but I believe no monitor/TV fully impliments it for beyond legacy SL-DVI's bandwidth (at more than 1200p@60Hz).

Back to topic... If it works on 5870s.... It should work on 57xx(s)....

b.t.w. am a member of the T221 yahoo usergroup, was a user but not an owner of T221.

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