Displayport-compatible screens needed for Eyefinity?

Post by **BHawthorne** » 27 Sep 2009, 20:26

I appreciate finally finding one answer after literally hours of searching for answers to a few questions about these new cards. A sub question that I have after seeing that answer is do active adapters need to have external power? I did some searching for displayport to hdmi adapters (or dvi) and I found some at Startech that did not say which they were and another one that claimed that it was active but was only $20-$30. However, in the photo that was posted about the triplehead that shows the displayport to dvi and then dvi to hdmi, that adapter has a USB add-in that seems like it is for power. Most of the adapters that I've seen online, including the one for such a low price did not appear to have any additional power via usb or power brick.

So far the BizLink/Dell adapter is the only one that has been shown to properly work. I'm sure there are probably others, but Google sure doesn't turn them up.

Additional Question that I haven't been able to answer. Can 6 displays be run off of 2 cards today(for gaming)? Or are you limited to 3 displays even with 2 cards, or can you use 6 for windows, but only 3 in gaming mode. If I am correct, both crossfire and sli limit you to 2 monitors between 2 cards.

Currently EyeFinity mode can not bridge multiple GPUs or cards. I'd like to see them do something about this in the future when they address CrossFire mode capability too. GPU and card bridging would be a huge breakthrough for EyeFinity. It would blow away all port limitation making any configuration within 8192x8192 possible. Making GPU and card bridging work is a major trick though because CrossFire mode is pretty much the exact opposite of EyeFinity mode.

geniv2 · Post by **geniv2** » 27 Sep 2009, 20:56

Its great that we have Dave Baumann here representing AMD/ATI
(do we have a rep here from Matrox? we do I think)
shows their commitment and give me some extra piece of mind about sacrificing my Nvidia 9800gX2 + Matrox TH2G to jump back into the ATI bandwagon.

I hope Dave have the pulling power to pass on some suggestion that I'm sure alot of the user here would like:

1) PLEASE get Bezel managment working.. don't have to be that fancy "virtual higher resolution then crop image" method like I read about. I'm happy with the way Matrox did it. I don't see that being too hard to program compared to the original intended method.

2) Its great that the 5870 can do triple 1920x1200. But we want resolution like triple 1680x1050/1440x900/1366x768. Because some games can't run 5760x1200 resolution. it just won't startup. The 5870 while is fast can't run some games at high fps at 5760x1200. If we can get say 3x1440x900 (4320x900) working on the 5870 we can still get Triplehead and fast FPS in games

3) Separate 3D setting (AA, AF, Vsync etc..) profile for each game and not just a universal setting. I was very happy when I got an Nvidia card and they support separate profiles. Why can't ATI have that? Nvidia had it for at least 2 years I think since I got one of their card.

4) Get EyeFinity working on XP... Not everyone wanted to upgrade to Vista/Win pro 7. thats like an extra $70+ extra to upgrade the OS and not to mention the time involved in installing OS. Heck some people might not be as inclined to upgrade OS.

ndh · Post by **ndh** » 27 Sep 2009, 21:11

Hey Dave thanks for taking the time to visit and respond to the thread.

Along with bezel management, Iracing offers options for multi monitors and allows the user to adjust the angles so the image seen on the side bends more realistically. It would be great if these are available at driver level also for games that dont offer this.

Iracing is a game very much multi monitor ready and its one of those sims that multi monitors suit down to the ground. They have said they are working on options for > 3 monitors and that would no doubt be a great showcase for eyefinity.

If your not already speaking to them it might be worth a chat to see if they can add any requests / suggestions .

Post by **BHawthorne** » 27 Sep 2009, 21:23

Hey Dave thanks for taking the time to visit and respond to the thread.

Along with bezel management, Iracing offers options for multi monitors and allows the user to adjust the angles so the image seen on the side bends more realistically. It would be great if these are available at driver level also for games that dont offer this.

Iracing is a game very much multi monitor ready and its one of those sims that multi monitors suit down to the ground. They have said they are working on options for > 3 monitors and that would no doubt be a great showcase for eyefinity.

If your not already speaking to them it might be worth a chat to see if they can add any requests / suggestions .

SoftTH also has this option. I think there are several examples of this code in use. It would be great to have this be a checkbox in the driver control panel so it just works without having to mess with anything externally.

Specificly, in SoftTH the config setting is called "lensCorrection". Other options from SoftTH that would be nice would be "forceHorizontalFOV" and "autoSquash". These settings compensate for rendering deficiencies within many games.

Darthdingo · Post by **Darthdingo** » 27 Sep 2009, 22:13

Hello, I am brand new to this forum :) I am a regular at the [H].

Anyways you can see my system in my sig, it's not top of the line, but still pretty good I think ? I just bought the XFX Radeon 5870, and was planning to go triple screen gaming with it of course, but not wanting to purchase a Display Port monitor hopefully.

I currently have the Apple 30" Display, I bought back in 2006 for $1799, that was the only 30" available back then, even before the Dell's. This Apple 30" is still awesome and very good looking, and would love to keep using it as long as possible.

Now Eyefinity got me so excited, I thought I could maybe add two 20" monitors of 1600x1200res but flipped in Portrait mode to line up with my 30" Display of 2560x1600res, so all three put together would be total 4960x1600res, and all three then having the same vertical height res of 1600res, I would think Eyefinity should support that ?
Was looking at these monitors to go with my Apple;
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/products/Displays/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-4687

None of these have Display Port, so I have to buy that $100 Dell adapter as well to make one of them connect to the DP on the 5870 ? But do we even know if that officially works yet ? No one here has received there Dell adapter yet ?

My main question, if the Dell adapter does work, will this combo of monitors work and look good in Eyefinity ? 1- 20" Dell 2007FP in Portrait mode 1200x1600res + 1 - 30" Apple 30" Display in Landscape mode 2560x1600res + 1- 20" Dell 2007FP in Portrait mode 1200x1600res ?

Thank you

Post by **BHawthorne** » 27 Sep 2009, 22:24

My main question, if the Dell adapter does work, will this combo of monitors work and look good in Eyefinity ? 1- 20" Dell 2007FP in Portrait mode 1200x1600res + 1 - 30" Apple 30" Display in Landscape mode 2560x1600res + 1- 20" Dell 2007FP in Portrait mode 1200x1600res ?

You have to use symmetrical resolution and orientations. Can't mix and match like your example. I've seen several people want this option though. Maybe ATI can do something about this in the future with a driver update?

jayodom · Post by **jayodom** » 27 Sep 2009, 22:32

[quote]At this point passive adapters don't work. Don't buy one for Eyefinity purposes All they do is carry on an existing DVI video stream. The secret to the sauce is allowing the DisplayPort to be a DisplayPort by coupling it to a authentic DisplayPort device. And a DisplayPort device has DisplayPort electronics that tells the DisplayPort on the video card to do it's DisplayPort thing. From all the info I've gathered....

To get into terminology - there are DP certified devices and there are DP+ Certified devices. DP+ means that you can carry other signal over the DP output, allowing for passive adapters; DP only carries DP signals. The DP output on these initial boards are DP only.

Thank you Dave, very informative. I do have a question though. I have seen in this thread where 5800 series users have setup a passive adapter and where able to get it work for a single screen, but not in Eyefinity mode. Can you explain why the passive adapter worked for a single screen output mode?

Also: iRacing @ http://www.iracing.com -
Not only does the software support extra feature for multi monitor setups, but being part of the user base at iracing.com, i know that without a doubt a lot of iRacing members spend extremely large amounts of money on wheels, pedals, monitor setups (like TH2GO) and other such niche products. I myself have a set of pedals that cost nearly $800 bucks and took over a month and a half build time. My point is we aren't scared over there to spend the amounts of money for excellent products that enhance our experience. But we only spend this kind of cash on products we know work extremely well and are supported with the highest regards to our needs.

Tell the AMD/ATI marketing department iracing.com is about to start "In Simulation" marketing services to companies like AMD/ATI and I believe you would see sales from advertising there. (Info Below)

Many have been asking how they can get their companies recognized within the iRacing.com simulation. We have been working diligently on ways with which our members, community, and others could gain access and exposure for their companies in the iRacing.com service. We have developed various ways to achieve this objective.

On Car Sponsorship
Series Sponsorship
Forum Banner Ad Space
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Packages starting at $1000

For more information, contact: [email protected]

Thank you for your time here Dave. It is greatly appreciated. As soon as eyefinity technology has stabilized I will be on board. IMO eyefinity is the best solution performance and dollar for dollar for multi monitor gaming.

- Jay Odom

*PS - At the moment and for 2 generations of video card technology I have been an nVidia guy. The eyefinity technology is what got me looking at ATI again and has me wanting to switch sides again so to speak. I adored my 9800 Pro card and used it for almost 4 years. I know the simulation guys are wanting to go nuts for eyefinity.

Darthdingo · Post by **Darthdingo** » 27 Sep 2009, 22:39

[quote]
My main question, if the Dell adapter does work, will this combo of monitors work and look good in Eyefinity ? 1- 20" Dell 2007FP in Portrait mode 1200x1600res + 1 - 30" Apple 30" Display in Landscape mode 2560x1600res + 1- 20" Dell 2007FP in Portrait mode 1200x1600res ?

You have to use symmetrical resolution and orientations. Can't mix and match like your example. I've seen several people want this option though. Maybe ATI can do something about this in the future with a driver update?

Well that is a bummer :( So no Portrait + Landscape + Portrait modes for triple screen gaming will work ? Even if all the resolutions are the same for the vertical height ? Like in my case all three monitors would be 1600res high

thenjwaslike · Post by **thenjwaslike** » 27 Sep 2009, 22:54

None of these have Display Port, so I have to buy that $100 Dell adapter as well to make one of them connect to the DP on the 5870 ? But do we even know if that officially works yet ? No one here has received there Dell adapter yet ?

Thank you

welcome to the site =)

yeah im awaiting my adapter from dell, i purchased on friday evening with next business day shipping - im shooting for this tues or wednesday, i'll be posting with the results asap.

again heres the picture that shows a active DP > DVI, DVI > HDMI so it should work.

http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q191/Wheelerdealers/TripleHDTV-cables.jpg

Post by **Tamlin** » 27 Sep 2009, 23:09

You have to use symmetrical resolution and orientations. Can't mix and match like your example. I've seen several people want this option though. Maybe ATI can do something about this in the future with a driver update?

Are you sure about this? I've read that you could, but I may be wrong. Here's some I read:

We also asked AMD if the EyeFinity tech could cope with monitors with different resolutions and sizes, and received an affirmative – which means that you could begin to add monitors as and when you like, including re-using old ones.

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/playback/game_news/hands+ati+eyefinity+review+10+09+09

From what we saw at a press event recently, Eyefinity will provide independent scaling on monitors with differing native resolutions, thereby bringing real multi-monitor support to the fore and making them genuinely handy in the workstation/graphics market.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=20178

There are many different configuration options offered by AMD's Eyefinity technology, with the ability to mix portrait and landscape orientations, as well as stacking and offset spacing.

http://www.rage3d.com/print.php?article=/articles/vision_eyefinity

Can anyone that got the card test this please? :)

Darthdingo · Post by **Darthdingo** » 27 Sep 2009, 23:13

Some scary news, even these $100 adapters are flaky;

Active adapters aren't an ideal solution due to the fact that there are still compatibility issues. Even Kyle has said that while using an active adapter, he's having problems getting it to work in games.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1455030&page=4

Guess we will know for sure once these Dell adapters show up for you guys

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 27 Sep 2009, 23:13

Thank you Dave, very informative. I do have a question though. I have seen in this thread where 5800 series users have setup a passive adapter and where able to get it work for a single screen, but not in Eyefinity mode. Can you explain why the passive adapter worked for a single screen output mode?

As to the why, I can't explain the in depth stuff- it is to do with the allocation of the TDMS (see below although this is the 6 port one). The current limitations on DP (or active DP adaptor) only apply to when using triple display.

Driver version 8.66 (Catalyst 9.10) or above is required to support ATI Eyefinity technology and to enable a third display you require one panel with a DisplayPort connector.

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 27 Sep 2009, 23:19

Well the usage scenarios on the ATi site preclude portrait/landscape mix, maybe it will be enabled in the future?

Darthdingo · Post by **Darthdingo** » 27 Sep 2009, 23:28

I was very happy top go back to the green team and support AMD + ATI, my last ATI card was the 9800Pro, it was fantastic, so I threw down my cash right away for the Radeon HD 5870, one of the key reasons being the Eyefinity idea.

But now I feel like a beta tester, and am a little upset a few key features not working out of the box.

- No Crossfire with Eyefinity

- Display Port being a MUST to triple screen game ( how many Gamers have a monitor with DP, not too many, and only the newer Dell's and HP have that connection, which are rather pricey displays, so all the good priced monitors or us with old monitors are left out ? )

- SuperSampling AA being blurry, and a major performance hit

These to me are some big points that should have been addressed before retail cards hit the market, or AMD should have delayed the release to get it working correctly first. I just don;t like the idea of rushing a product to market, only to fix it later after customers paid their hard earned money for the product.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 28 Sep 2009, 00:39

[quote]
You have to use symmetrical resolution and orientations. Can't mix and match like your example. I've seen several people want this option though. Maybe ATI can do something about this in the future with a driver update?

Are you sure about this? I've read that you could, but I may be wrong. Here's some I read:

We also asked AMD if the EyeFinity tech could cope with monitors with different resolutions and sizes, and received an affirmative – which means that you could begin to add monitors as and when you like, including re-using old ones.

http://www.homecinemachoice.com/playback/game_news/hands+ati+eyefinity+review+10+09+09

From what we saw at a press event recently, Eyefinity will provide independent scaling on monitors with differing native resolutions, thereby bringing real multi-monitor support to the fore and making them genuinely handy in the workstation/graphics market.

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=20178

There are many different configuration options offered by AMD's Eyefinity technology, with the ability to mix portrait and landscape orientations, as well as stacking and offset spacing.

http://www.rage3d.com/print.php?article=/articles/vision_eyefinity

Can anyone that got the card test this please? :)

Most of that is hearsay imho. Every example photoed or diagrammed has always shown symmetrical resolution and display orientation. Of all the places, I think WSGF is the most spot on with the current info. I'm sure there a number of people in this thread that can do a test though. I'd like to see them set different non-symmetrical resolutions then try EyeFinity on them, then also try mixing display rotation and also seeing the result. Even the ones with only 2 working displays should be able to preform this test. Something that has not been spoken about yet, anyone with a 4000-series or older card with Catalyst 9.10 installed have EyeFinity capability with 2 displays? Also someone with a 5870 please run dxcapsviewer that I linked several pages back so we know the card specs. :wink:

geniv2 · Post by **geniv2** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:07

Some scary news, even these $100 adapters are flaky;

Active adapters aren't an ideal solution due to the fact that there are still compatibility issues. Even Kyle has said that while using an active adapter, he's having problems getting it to work in games.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1455030&page=4

Guess we will know for sure once these Dell adapters show up for you guys

ohh man MORE bad news :(

I ordered the Dell adapter last night and it say shipping date 10/6 but knowing dell it will ship earlier.

only way to tell is to wait for it to come...

I really don't want to have ot use a DP monitor as it would cost me $300. while I already got 3x identical monitors..

Darthdingo · Post by **Darthdingo** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:16

[quote]Some scary news, even these $100 adapters are flaky;

Active adapters aren't an ideal solution due to the fact that there are still compatibility issues. Even Kyle has said that while using an active adapter, he's having problems getting it to work in games.

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1455030&page=4

Guess we will know for sure once these Dell adapters show up for you guys

ohh man MORE bad news :(

I ordered the Dell adapter last night and it say shipping date 10/6 but knowing dell it will ship earlier.

only way to tell is to wait for it to come...

I really don't want to have ot use a DP monitor as it would cost me $300. while I already got 3x identical monitors..

Time will tell. Thats the way [H]ardware geeks like us live, alot of testing and seeing what works and doesn't. I sure hope that $100 Dell adapter does work, otherwise this is BS from AMD/ATI, forcing us to have at least one brand new monitor with Display Port, to allow triple screen gaming with Eyefinity.

Keep me posted and good luck

Post by **BHawthorne** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:17

Active adapters aren't an ideal solution due to the fact that there are still compatibility issues. Even Kyle has said that while using an active adapter, he's having problems getting it to work in games.

That's a bit vague, does anyone know what they mean by "having problems getting it to work in games"?

Darthdingo · Post by **Darthdingo** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:20

[quote]
Active adapters aren't an ideal solution due to the fact that there are still compatibility issues. Even Kyle has said that while using an active adapter, he's having problems getting it to work in games.

That's a bit vague, does anyone know what they mean by "having problems getting it to work in games"?

"Kyle" is the owner of the [H]ardforums, he is very smart with computer technology, and knows all the big name companies and their people, very well. So if he is having issues, I listen.

I just wish AMD/ATI would tell us when they mean we have a solution for the "near future". I think us paying customers deserve to have an idea what that means. Before a lot of people blow $100 on an adapter that may not even work.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:21

It's looking more and more like I should just hold off till DP+ cards are out.

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