Displayport-compatible screens needed for Eyefinity?

Post by **BHawthorne** » 24 Sep 2009, 23:02

*edited by BHawthorne* Removed inaccurate pre-release info about adapters.

dazboots · Post by **dazboots** » 24 Sep 2009, 23:13

[quote][quote]Spot on m8 couldnt have said it better myself.
Can tell this is getting to u as well :(
hope something gets sorted.[/quote

but I'm damn well pissed off at the idea of spending a $500 premium on converters just to use their new

yep i see your point.

dazboots · Post by **dazboots** » 24 Sep 2009, 23:20

just seen this

The ATI guy Dave on B3D forum confirmed this. There are only 2 display engines that drive legacy ports (non DP ports), so 1 must be a display port. Apparently AMD are in talks with monitor manufactures about getting a adapter supported.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 24 Sep 2009, 23:24

$500 in adapters blows the budget on my projector build. That's almost the cost of one of the projectors I need.

Anyone know if the new Samsung displayport LCDs are even on the market yet?

This raises the question, can we instead have a 6-port HDMI card developed? I'm willing to pay the added cost for 6 hdmi ports cost in whatever licensing that would add to the cost of the card as to not have to eat an exponentially worse cost with Mini-DP active adapters.

For the end consumer:
HDMI license cost = cheaper
Mini-DP active adapters = too expensive.

ATI please produce a 6 port HDMI card that is also capable of using single-DVI passive adapters for use with EyeFinity.

whismerhill · Post by **whismerhill** » 24 Sep 2009, 23:48

[quote]from ATI....

Dear Customer,
Your service request : SR #{ticketno:[8200241085]} has been reviewed and updated.
Response and Service Request History:
Yes, you are correct, there is no way some one with three monitors with dvi only ports on them can use eyefinity for a tri monitor set up. The display port to display port is required.
In order to update this service request, please respond, leaving the service request reference intact.
Best regards,
AMD Global Customer Care

The words I want to use after reading that are censored here.

...the next word I want to use after that is, "Why?"

I see no reason why it should require DP->DP with no adaptors... :(
obviously this is a "level 1 tech phone assistant" he's being told that you need a third DP only screen so he tells that ... (I doubt he could be level 2 but in any case this is "passed" information)

obviously at least, an active adapter should work since in this case there's no way for the hardware to know it's a DVI monitor and not an DP one
(maybe in this case we should talk about converter ? rather than adapter ?)

I think we'll need to wait for 5870 6DP outputs, I expect deeper eyefinity reviews with this baby ....

MustangSVT · Post by **MustangSVT** » 24 Sep 2009, 23:50

I'm going to wait a while then. It sounds to me like as soon as both DVI ports are in use, the DisplayPort output does not output something that the DP->DVI converter can make use of, that's why you're only getting 2 monitors.

I'm gonna wait about a month or so and see what happens with this, maybe even two months. If AMD comes out with proper adapters that can come bundled in the box, that'd be great. If not, I may consider getting one of the new Dell U2410 24" IPS monitors along with the new video card, but that would be my last resort.

thenjwaslike · Post by **thenjwaslike** » 25 Sep 2009, 00:55

man this is bad news, if theres no solution to this problem then im forced to sell 1x samsung 2443bwt for $350 and get a dell 2408wfp... damn

Post by **BHawthorne** » 25 Sep 2009, 02:33

One would think that ATI would realize just how bad this is for the existing surround-gaming community and seek some sort of solution for this. Afterall, who is going to support this tech if it isn't for the surround-gaming community that is already established? Most of my frustration is based on the fact that I thought finally, we had a no compromise solution in the works, now we have a new set of hoops to jump through instead of the old set of hoops. Just give us something that works...

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the displays and projectors on the market are about 98% DVI or HDMI. Why target a specialized thing like EyeFinity then target it at the smallest installed cross section of hardware available? One would think in order to seek market wide acceptance of this, you'd seek to make it available to the widest cross section of hardware out there....IE: DVI and HDMI. That makes a lot of logical sense to me, but maybe I'm just not seeing ATI's perspective on this...

Make a variation of the card that allows these cheap passive adapter to work with DVi and HDMI. I could care less what crazy varaion of ports the card has as long as there is an affordable connection solution that can hook up to DVI and HDMI. If that means a delayed launch of the 6-port mini-dp card to get it done....so be it. Get the problems out of the before launch, not after.

Post by **Downtown1** » 25 Sep 2009, 02:55

Can anyone recommend some good gaming non-TN 24" monitors?

thenjwaslike · Post by **thenjwaslike** » 25 Sep 2009, 02:56

BHawthorne - we have to broadcast the truth about this "eyefinity" to everyone in the community, not too many ppl read up on threads - im ready to go at this like a murder case, truth be told.

im extremely upset about all this hype with surround "eyefinity" gaming.. as if ati is trying to take over and adopt surround gaming community thats originally been established with matrox.

"display port"

middle finger to apple about this trend, dvi will still own.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 25 Sep 2009, 02:59

*edited by BHawthorne* Removed inaccurate pre-release info about adapters.

Post by **Downtown1** » 25 Sep 2009, 03:00

Wow people cry more. DisplayPort is the next generation of display cables, like VGA -> DVI -> DisplayPort. It has a higher bandwidth too supporting bigger resolutions on a single monitor.

HDMI is just a variant of DVI with audio.

If you can afford to buy an expensive $400 card you can afford to buy a $5 dvi->minidp cable on monoprice, and then you can keep using your outdated DVI monitors with the DP cards.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 25 Sep 2009, 03:10

Wow people cry more. DisplayPort is the next generation of display cables, like VGA -> DVI -> DisplayPort. It has a higher bandwidth too supporting bigger resolutions on a single monitor.

HDMI is just a variant of DVI with audio.

If you can afford to buy an expensive $400 card you can afford to buy a $5 dvi->minidp cable on monoprice, and then you can keep using your outdated DVI monitors with the DP cards.

I think you missed out on a whole new situation that unfolded earlier today where it was specifically encountered where the adapters will not work, and especially not the cheap ones. We're now talking $99 adapters -- 1 per port now. The 5870 Six might encounter an issue that the active adapters needed to run your displays will cost almost twice as much as the damned card does. We've got several members in this forum that are now directly effected by this because they have in thier possession 5870 or will in a couple of days.

I'll quit "crying" when you offer to buy my DVI displays at the cost needed to replace them with displayport versions. :wink:

thenjwaslike · Post by **thenjwaslike** » 25 Sep 2009, 03:18

ok i know im a bit harsh about everything but for now i'll continue to use my th2g with new monitors.

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 25 Sep 2009, 03:20

Wow people cry more.....

If you have spent all your money to buy an expensive $400 card you can't afford to buy a $150 dollar ACTIVE converter, which we have no official confirmation that it will work anyway!

FIFY
Get your facts right before you start slinging insults.

Post by **thales100** » 25 Sep 2009, 03:20

for now i'll continue to use my th2g

Same here, ill continue to use my matrox th2go + the same 3 x 22" monitors, and crossfire two 5870.

skeeder · Post by **skeeder** » 25 Sep 2009, 03:37

Wow people cry more. DisplayPort is the next generation of display cables, like VGA -> DVI -> DisplayPort. It has a higher bandwidth too supporting bigger resolutions on a single monitor.

HDMI is just a variant of DVI with audio.

If you can afford to buy an expensive $400 card you can afford to buy a $5 dvi->minidp cable on monoprice, and then you can keep using your outdated DVI monitors with the DP cards.

actually its a misconception that DVI is new. Its been around for a long time, just end users never used them much. And technically, Bandwidth wise VGA>DVI-D. There are about 3 different types of DVI cables and connections. Displayport is different than mini-DVI which is popular with apple.

YouTube · Post by **ViciousXUSMC** » 25 Sep 2009, 05:32

man this is bad news, if theres no solution to this problem then im forced to sell 1x samsung 2443bwt for $350 and get a dell 2408wfp... damn

Order fast if you need too because I got mine earlier today its $550 - $100 instant discount and use bing.com cashback for 15% cashback (ends today they said but its past midnight and still there) so you can get it for about $400ish.

Thats a lot of money to me but still better than $550.

If we really do need a $100 adapter for these cards, offset $100 more and you may as well paid $300 for the 2408 and thats not such a bad deal.

I'll use the referb 2407's as the "legacy" & side monitors and I should be good.

Now here is my question to add to the fray. It says you cant use both connections at once (2 dvi & 1 hdmi) but if I hook my old 37" to the hdmi port can I toggle that display on instead of one of my side monitors when I want to watch a movie or something.

cybereality · Post by **cybereality** » 25 Sep 2009, 06:41

This is pretty serious if all this speculation is true. I can't believe ATI would make such a major blunder. Who are they catering to, like the 1 dude that has 3 DisplayPort monitors? Why not just make the card 3x DVI 1xHDMI and then release the 6x DP card for the high-end? This makes no sense at all. So if you want to run Eyefinity you need to have a DP monitor which are not very widespread at the moment. And I imagine most people want 3 of the *same* monitor so if they get all displayport that means now they have to buy 2x DP->DVI adapters and if they have 3x DVI monitors they need an expensive active converter. Why not just have two separate cards?

But what could be the technical reason for this? I don't get it. And why wouldn't an adapter work? This has got to be the biggest BS I have heard in a long time. I was just about to ditch Nvidia, but now I don't think so. I was just about to blow $1200 on the 5870, 2 more monitors, plus the mounts to hold them but having to spend an additional $200 for some dinky adapter is where I draw the line. I'm just going to get a GTX 285, a cheap low-end card and run SoftTH. Thanks for nothing ATI.

YouTube · Post by **ViciousXUSMC** » 25 Sep 2009, 07:13

Yeah I may hold off for a bit too and try to use softTH with my dual 4850's just to see what is up with the cards.

ATI is a good company but they make mistakes like this that hurt them bad, its the common sense stuff they overlook.

I happen to be one of the few that got lucky with the right setup to work with this card but it was just luck that had me buy a Dell 2408 with DP, had I had found another cheap 2407 refurb I would have made the wrong move.

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