Displayport-compatible screens needed for Eyefinity?

whismerhill · Post by **whismerhill** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:24

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.

as a rule in computer stuff, one shall never rush on a product(either software or hardware) if one doesn't want all the initial problems often associated with such behavior. I'm sorry that you learnt this the hard way.. :?

thenjwaslike · Post by **thenjwaslike** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:25

Darthdingo - the adapter that kyle used is a active miniDP to DVI adapter, not sure how hes having problems because to begin with, the adapter is incompatible. try searching for a regular active DP > DVI adapter on apple website - there arent any so im not too sure..

geniv2 - for your adapter arrival, it says "est. shipping date"
have u gotten an actual seperate email with the tracking info/# ?
i ordered mine on friday evening and recieved 1 confirmation email stating that ive purchased the adapter, with an "est. shippping date 10/1"
so we'll see how that goes..

again lol take a deep breathe and http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q191/Wheelerdealers/TripleHDTV-cables.jpg exhale, this picture will make u feel better =)

as for me.. last resort - selling th2g + 1 samsung 24" for a native DP monitor, maybe a dell 2408WFP

Darthdingo · Post by **Darthdingo** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:51

Darthdingo - the adapter that kyle used is a active miniDP to DVI adapter, not sure how hes having problems because to begin with, the adapter is incompatible. try searching for a regular active DP > DVI adapter on apple website - there arent any so im not too sure..

geniv2 - for your adapter arrival, it says "est. shipping date"
have u gotten an actual seperate email with the tracking info/# ?
i ordered mine on friday evening and recieved 1 confirmation email stating that ive purchased the adapter, with an "est. shippping date 10/1"
so we'll see how that goes..

again lol take a deep breathe and http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q191/Wheelerdealers/TripleHDTV-cables.jpg exhale, this picture will make u feel better =)

as for me.. last resort - selling th2g + 1 samsung 24" for a native DP monitor, maybe a dell 2408WFP

Good points, and that pic does seem to indicate the $100 Dell adapter should work. You can tell me as soon as you try it

Octoboy · Post by **Octoboy** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:51

Hi guys,
I just registered as this site appears to be the only one on the internet that is genuinly interested in the Eyefinity aspect of the new 5xxx cards.

I've been following the whole DP discussion here and in some other places, so I know about the current situation.

What I'd like to know though is:
Will two cards be able to support 3 screens?

Now I know CF doesn't work!

However, the 24-screens-demo had 4 cards running, where each card did its own rendering. So it's not one huge image divided by 4, but 4 small pieces added together to one large image.

Now is that possible with two cards and three screens? Again, no CF.
For instance, have one card doing the center screen and the other card doing the left and right screens?

Thank you!

Post by **BHawthorne** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:54

Darthdingo - the adapter that kyle used is a active miniDP to DVI adapter, not sure how hes having problems because to begin with, the adapter is incompatible. try searching for a regular active DP > DVI adapter on apple website - there arent any so im not too sure..

So do we have any confirmation that the Apple mini-dp to dvi is the problem adapter? I'm hoping the Dell/BizLink which most of WSGF bought is ok. Besides it's the one shown in the demo day pics.

Post by **Mach1.9pants** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:55

At the moment, no. One card only. I'd like 3, one for each screen!

whismerhill · Post by **whismerhill** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:58

However, the 24-screens-demo had 4 cards running, where each card did its own rendering. So it's not one huge image divided by 4, but 4 small pieces added together to one large image.

Now is that possible with two cards and three screens? Again, no CF.
For instance, have one card doing the center screen and the other card doing the left and right screens?

Thank you!

Hi,
from what I understood it was 4 rendering of 4 demos (there was even synchronization problems)

so from a game standpoint, in your 2 cards case that would mean running 2 instances of a game/app
simply impossible

but they might get multicard support later or... much later :?

Octoboy · Post by **Octoboy** » 28 Sep 2009, 01:59

That's pretty bad.
I don't live in the States, so I can't just buy the Dell adapter.
Besides its ridiculous price tag.
Well, I guess there goes my WS gaming. Three perfectly new 24" screens, all for nothing.

geniv2 · Post by **geniv2** » 28 Sep 2009, 02:38

Got my eyefinity fully working. here are some pics

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/11191#comment-194069

I got like 7 games working/tried I got a long list of games to play/try :)

Dave Baumann · Post by **Dave Baumann** » 28 Sep 2009, 02:42

For those who don't know (or read profiles), Dave Baumann is Product Manager, AMD Graphics Division. :)

PM for the HD 5800 and 4800 series to be more specific. :)

Are we talking here about an upgrade to the card itself or via drivers?

Actually, in that instance I was referencing the HD 5850.

On another point, some talk about this cable being usable for Eyefinity over DP. Can you confirm this?

Its a lot cheaper then the $99 cables from Dell.

That looks to be a passive adapter, in which case, unfortunatly not.

Dave Baumann · Post by **Dave Baumann** » 28 Sep 2009, 02:44

Besides my previous post, I was also wondering if you were considering to operate with virtual resolutions? Meaning, if I were to connect 2x 1680x1050 screens as satelites with a 1920x1200 as center screen, with a virtual resolution, the game will be rendered as with 3 1920x1200 screens (5760x1200), but only 1680x1050 worth of content would be displayed on each of my satelites.

Whoa!

I don'tthink we have considered that scenario at the moment. We're taking the EDID from all connected panels and selecting resolution outputs according to what all of them can cope with.

geniv2 · Post by **geniv2** » 28 Sep 2009, 02:51

Darthdingo - the adapter that kyle used is a active miniDP to DVI adapter, not sure how hes having problems because to begin with, the adapter is incompatible. try searching for a regular active DP > DVI adapter on apple website - there arent any so im not too sure..

geniv2 - for your adapter arrival, it says "est. shipping date"
have u gotten an actual seperate email with the tracking info/# ?
i ordered mine on friday evening and recieved 1 confirmation email stating that ive purchased the adapter, with an "est. shippping date 10/1"
so we'll see how that goes..

again lol take a deep breathe and http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q191/Wheelerdealers/TripleHDTV-cables.jpg exhale, this picture will make u feel better =)

as for me.. last resort - selling th2g + 1 samsung 24" for a native DP monitor, maybe a dell 2408WFP

I just got an email an hour ago saying that it's shipped.. (that was fast :)

I got a tracking number but the UPS site didn't update with the information yet. but it's 3-5 day shipping...

Dave Baumann · Post by **Dave Baumann** » 28 Sep 2009, 02:52

Will we be able to buy DP+ boards in the future?

The largest stumbling block for all of us is we're a pre-existing userbase with pre-existing displays that are predominantly DVI or HDMI. Right now I'm sitting on 4 Samsung 245BW wondering what to do about adapters. A selling point for EyeFinity should be taking the need for a box in between the card and displays away. That $350 that went to Matrox could now go towards a better video card. This is an accessibility issue that needs to be key to EyeFinity. The initial DP only limitation I think was a miss-step that can be obviously addressed in different 5800 series cards. When the new cards that address this issue are out how will we know they're DP+ and not only DP? Will it be on the packaging where we could specifically look for DP+? It would be very helpful if the package states clearly that it is "compatible with passive DVI Single-Link and passive HDMI adapters compatible to DP+."

I highly suggest that some variation of the 6-port 5870 be targeted for Mini-DP+.

You may consider the dependance on DP a "misstep", but in fact DP is the enabler to this technology being offered as a standard feature on all our boards. Remember, that these have to appeal to everyone Eyefinity is not something that we are charging extra for - the product has to stand on its own two feet as a competetive solution, but with value added features such as Eyefinity, DX11 and new levels of compute capabilities. If it wasn't for DisplayPort we wouldn't be as competetive because we'd be saddled with extra cost.

All of these boards can drive two "legacy" display outputs, the additional displays have to be DisplayPort. The Eyefinity6 Edition board will be DP+, but again only up to 2 outputs - more than two outputs will still require DP.

Post by **suiken_2mieu** » 28 Sep 2009, 02:52

Besides my previous post, I was also wondering if you were considering to operate with virtual resolutions? Meaning, if I were to connect 2x 1680x1050 screens as satelites with a 1920x1200 as center screen, with a virtual resolution, the game will be rendered as with 3 1920x1200 screens (5760x1200), but only 1680x1050 worth of content would be displayed on each of my satelites.

That would be the best thing ever. It would make upgrading easier for me (as i have a tight budget, i'd have to buy the panels one at a time, which is what i did for my current setup)

Post by **BHawthorne** » 28 Sep 2009, 02:56

All of these boards can drive two "legacy" display outputs, the additional displays have to be DisplayPort. The Eyefinity6 Edition board will be DP+, but again only up to 2 outputs - more than two outputs will still require DP.

This basically tells me that no matter what card we get the 3rd (4th, 5th and 6th) ports are going to have to have a $100 active DP to DVI adapter.

I'm having a problem with this "legacy" designation for DVI and HDMI. The display market is 99% dominated by DVI and HDMI. So in the projector setup I'm building I can use 2 passive single-link dp to dvi adapter and 3 active dp to dvi adapter to achieve my goal of 5 DVI based displays? My problem is there is no such thing as a 0.6:1 short-throw projector with a DP on it....well actually in more generic terms there are no projectors at all (that Google can find) with DP on them.

thatdude90210 · Post by **thatdude90210** » 28 Sep 2009, 03:04

That would be the best thing ever. It would make upgrading easier for me (as i have a tight budget, i'd have to buy the panels one at a time, which is what i did for my current setup)

I agree, it sounds like a good idea. I'm guessing a lot of people who weren't into multi-monitor gaming before, already have one good 24" - 30" monitor. And the thought of spending another 2x what they've already spend could be a deal breaker.

But if we could just add a couple of cheaper 20" - 22" monitors to the side, it just might work.

Dave Baumann · Post by **Dave Baumann** » 28 Sep 2009, 03:04

So do we have any confirmation that the Apple mini-dp to dvi is the problem adapter? I'm hoping the Dell/BizLink which most of WSGF bought is ok. Besides it's the one shown in the demo day pics.

As far as I'm aware Kyle is using the Apple adapter - we have validated that this works on the Eyefinity6 Edition, though I don't know if we used a Dell 3007 or 3008. Currently we are suspecting the DP to miniDP cable may be an issue.

Note - Bizlink is the first DP adapter that we are qualifying. Unfortunatly I don't know if the revision on the Dell site is qualified or not.

Dave Baumann · Post by **Dave Baumann** » 28 Sep 2009, 03:06

So in the projector setup I'm building I can use 2 passive single-link dp to dvi adapter and 3 active dp to dvi adapter to achieve my goal of 5 DVI based displays?

That should work.

IIRC - we have heard about one vendor interested in a single link active adapter which should be cheaper than then active ones. I need to check on the status of those as to whether or not they are a go.

thatdude90210 · Post by **thatdude90210** » 28 Sep 2009, 03:07

Got my eyefinity fully working. here are some pics

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/node/11191#comment-194069

I got like 7 games working/tried I got a long list of games to play/try :)

COD 4 looks especially great. I'm going to have to play it again once I get my Eyefinity setup going. I have a 5870 coming next week, but still working out what to get for side monitors.

Post by **BHawthorne** » 28 Sep 2009, 03:09

[quote]So in the projector setup I'm building I can use 2 passive single-link dp to dvi adapter and 3 active dp to dvi adapter to achieve my goal of 5 DVI based displays?

That should work.

IIRC - we have heard about one vendor interested in a single link active adapter which should be cheaper than then active ones. I need to check on the status of those as to whether or not they are a go.

It definitely would be of interest to most people in the forums. I know most of us are 22" or 24" display setups which only need single-link. If that vender can pull off cheap single-link active adapters I'll be the first in line for 3 or 4 (plus one of those 6-port cards). I have money on hand this second for the purchase. :wink:

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