Accell Adapter confirmed working after Bizlink failure

[kondor999]

As a shot in the dark, I went ahead and ordered the Accell adapter from Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Accell-UltraAV-B087B-002B-DisplayPort-Dual-Link/dp/B002ISVI3U/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1260540284&sr=8-1) after my Dell-ordered Bizlink produced the infamous "sleep mode" bug (http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=17012).

While the Accell and the Bizlink appear to be made by the same company (http://www.accellcables.com/press/press_01_03.html), for some reason the Accell adapter is working on my particular monitors - whereas the Bizlink/Dell one did not.

My only purpose for posting this is to say: Try the Accell if you can't get the Bizlink working. There is, apparently, some internal difference in the two (perhaps a different firmware version - who knows?). Be warned, however, that there have been reports of the Accell adapter doing the exact same thing (randomly putting the monitor to sleep).

I'd also like to apologize to ATI for my earlier frustration. Clearly, there's some issue with these adapters.

[Sideeffect]

The issue is with the signal strength tolerance from the Graphics card to the adapter. So either different firmware or a different GPU BIOS would help if the timings are different. The problem is that you can't manually flash the firmware on Apple Dual link adapters. I am not sure about the Dell adapters. You can flash the ATI BIOS though.

It's good that your problem is fixed. Try to find the firmware details or revision of your current adapter.

ATI is still slightly to blame for implementing a weak signal strength on their graphics cards and not testing it with certain configurations. Otherwise we would have heard about this Black out issue before from people using these adapters for their mac books and other products.

[kondor999]

The issue is with the signal strength tolerance from the Graphics card to the adapter. So either different firmware or a different GPU BIOS would help if the timings are different. The problem is that you can't manually flash the firmware on Apple Dual link adapters. I am not sure about the Dell adapters. You can flash the ATI BIOS though.

It's good that your problem is fixed. Try to find the firmware details or revision of your current adapter.

ATI is still slightly to blame for implementing a weak signal strength on their graphics cards and not testing it with certain configurations. Otherwise we would have heard about this Black out issue before from people using these adapters for their mac books and other products.

Thanks for that cogent explanation. I am hoping that, by the time they have Eyefinity working with CrossfireX, most of these problems will have been solved. Now that I'm able to play with Eyefinity, it's made me realize that a single 5870 is marginal at best for extreme resolutions like 5040x1050.

I'd be happy to simply have 3840x720, but I'll need to creat some custom monitor inf's apparently.

[KryptoNyte]

I'm surprised your finding that resolution to be an issue. I have the 5850 running 5760x1200 (on a system much slower than yours) and the raw speed is quite amazing. Eyefinity has its glitches, but for me, horsepower hasn't really been one I could complain about.

[soffball]

Accel adapter so far so good here. I tried the DP to VGA adapter first with no luck, but so far[i][/i] the Accel is working great.

[kondor999]

I'm surprised your finding that resolution to be an issue. I have the 5850 running 5760x1200 (on a system much slower than yours) and the raw speed is quite amazing. Eyefinity has its glitches, but for me, horsepower hasn't really been one I could complain about.

. Well, what games are you running?
I'd like to see what your in-game settings are so we could compare apples-to-apples.
Try Crysis Warhead with everything on Enthusiast if you want a lovely slideshow. Dirt 2 can't handle any antialiasing with settings above Medium (horrible stuttering as you overwhelm the framebuffer apparently). World in Conflict DX10 also stutters pretty badly if you try 4x MSAA and set everything to High.

I'm not surprised really. A single 5870 struggles to give 60fps on these games at 1920x1200 with everything maxed out. At 5040x1050 it's just overwhelmed.

What worried me the most is that you really need 2gb for framebuffer at these resolutions. Once you start turning up the AA, that 1gb gets used up quickly.

[Sideeffect]

I run Dirt 2 with everything on High and get 40 + FPS using a 5850. You don't really need AA at such huge resolutions I tried to notice the difference on Left 4 dead 2 between 8xMSAA and 2xMSAA and I couldn't at 5040 x 1050.

[alxnet2003]

Thanks for that cogent explanation. I am hoping that, by the time they have Eyefinity working with CrossfireX, most of these problems will have been solved. Now that I'm able to play with Eyefinity, it's made me realize that a single 5870 is marginal at best for extreme resolutions like 5040x1050.

I'd be happy to simply have 3840x720, but I'll need to creat some custom monitor inf's apparently.

My 5870 is perfectly playable and this is with a resolution of 6144x1152. Just turn off AA or if you must, don't exceed 2xAA. You're asking for a world of hurt with 4xAA or higher at these extreme resolutions. The only game that doesn't maintain 30fps at maximum settings is Crysis. Everything else runs fine even with 2xAA. Those that dip below 30fps, I just disable AA (which for me only provides marginal improvement). Having the Eyefinity experience with no AA or only 2xAA is just so much greater than having a single monitor with 8xAA going that I'd happily make the sacrifice.

[Abram]

Maybe its time to start a sticky with any adapter known to work, hm? Though confirmation first, would be prudent.

[g00seberry]

Yeah, I'm holding off on making anything official until a lot more testing is done. The various solutions floating around seem flaky at best - we need many more people to confirm that this Accell adaptor works 100% where the others do not.
Until then, if the people having flickering issues can afford it, give the Accell a go, without changing anything else about their setup/software to make it a fair test.

[Dave Baumann]

You might want to list out the serial and part numbers of the adapters as well.

[Tamlin]

Maybe its time to start a sticky with any adapter known to work, hm? Though confirmation first, would be prudent.

There is a thread already found here:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=17637

We started to get too many stickies, since its a new tech and much info is needed. In that thread, there is a collection of threads to help out spesifically when it comes to getting Eyefinity to work. :)

[Mixelplix]

I had the exact same issue as Kondor, and found the Accell adapter to work where the Dell(Bizlink) adapter did not. Setup is two 5870's, Windows 7 x 64 and three Acer H213H monitors.

[stangflyer]

[quote]I'm surprised your finding that resolution to be an issue. I have the 5850 running 5760x1200 (on a system much slower than yours) and the raw speed is quite amazing. Eyefinity has its glitches, but for me, horsepower hasn't really been one I could complain about.

. Well, what games are you running?
I'd like to see what your in-game settings are so we could compare apples-to-apples.
Try Crysis Warhead with everything on Enthusiast if you want a lovely slideshow. Dirt 2 can't handle any antialiasing with settings above Medium (horrible stuttering as you overwhelm the framebuffer apparently). World in Conflict DX10 also stutters pretty badly if you try 4x MSAA and set everything to High.

I'm not surprised really. A single 5870 struggles to give 60fps on these games at 1920x1200 with everything maxed out. At 5040x1050 it's just overwhelmed.

What worried me the most is that you really need 2gb for framebuffer at these resolutions. Once you start turning up the AA, that 1gb gets used up quickly.

I have a 5970 that will be here in 2 days. I was planning on getting a 5870(6) with the 2 gigs ram. I figured the horsepower of the 5970 was more important than the ram. I heard many times that they do NOT plan on a 5970 with 4 gigs or 2 gigs per core. That is the card I was hoping for. I have read many reviews over the last couple of years that when they test cards like the 260 that at hight res like 1920x1200 with aa or even 2560 without aa that the 896 ram can get filled on certain games. just imagine what happens with eyefinity then. That 1gig ram is gonna explode. I am gonna be real unhappy if they announce a 5970 4 gig card in the next 4-6 months.

[kondor999]

We are drifting off-topic, but I'll just say that - at these Eyefinity resolutions - the games seem to be stressing the memory subsystem far more than the shaders. You can see this when attempting to run with AA - as you exceed the framebuffer size, the FPS plummets.

IMHO, you really need 2gb of framebuffer for these extremely high resolutions. I have 2 5870's, and the additional shader power (that will become available when CrossfireX is working) will be of little use in many of the games I've tested - except for the computationally intensive Crysis.

How do I know this? Because a single 5870 does fine right up until the framebuffer is overwhelmed. There's not a linear decrease in performance (as you'd expect if it were simply a matter of the shaders not being powerful enough). It's a fairly flat curve as you increase AA and then it falls off a cliff. I've seen this many times before while running my TH2go.

Simply put, if 1gb of VRAM is considered necessary for high-end cards with normal (single screen) resolutions, how can you possibly believe it's appropriate for triplehead? That's just not logical.

Lastly - Yes, I consider some AA to be an absolute requirement. It's not 2002 with my Ti4600 - the last time I considered AA an expensive option. Ever since I got my 9800pro, I've never been able to go back to the jaggies.

It's an unfortunate situation, because the 5870 looks to be one of the very first cards that has sufficient shader power (especially when Crossfired) to do a 2gb framebuffer justice.

[stangflyer]

I know this off topic just finishing my thought on the framebuffer issue. It appears that I bought the wrong card then. I just received my 5970 in the mail 15 minutes ago and almost wish I did not buy it. All this time I was thinking that you needed a 5970 to run the eyefinity resolutions well but the 5870(6) with 2 gigs ram might be a faster card then the 5970 at 1680x1050 with 4xaa. Like I said I will be very unhappy if they come out with 5970 4 gig in the next 4-6 months because I was lead to believe by many people that they will not make this card. That is the card I was waiting for because I was worried about framebuffer also. When I was lead to believe that there would be no such card I bought the 5970. I hope I did not make a $630 mistake. I usually am excited to get a new gpu even though I am 45 yrs. old. We will find out tonight I guess.

[kondor999]

I know this off topic just finishing my thought on the framebuffer issue. It appears that I bought the wrong card then. I just received my 5970 in the mail 15 minutes ago and almost wish I did not buy it. All this time I was thinking that you needed a 5970 to run the eyefinity resolutions well but the 5870(6) with 2 gigs ram might be a faster card then the 5970 at 1680x1050 with 4xaa. Like I said I will be very unhappy if they come out with 5970 4 gig in the next 4-6 months because I was lead to believe by many people that they will not make this card. That is the card I was waiting for because I was worried about framebuffer also. When I was lead to believe that there would be no such card I bought the 5970. I hope I did not make a $630 mistake. I usually am excited to get a new gpu even though I am 45 yrs. old. We will find out tonight I guess.

Well, give it a shot before you give up! Also, you don't have to run 5760x1200 if it's too stressful. You can run a lower triple-head res and use AA to make up for it (which I prefer).

I happen to think that 1440x900 at 4xMSAA looks better than 1920x1200 with no AA. Unfortunately, you'll probably find that Eyefinity doesn't give you many triple-head resolutions to choose from - and only one which is correctly formatted for 16:10 (1920x1200x3).

Fortunately, there's a thread which explains how to fix this and add those missing intermediate triple-head resolutions - which I think is critical given the modest 1gb VRAM we have to play with: http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=64&t=17635

BTW - NFS Shift is unplayable at 5760x1200 no matter how low you set things - a sure indicator that it's using more than the 1gb VRAM available. It'll surge to a high fps, then stutter back down to the low 20's. I've seen that before - it's having to swap textures in and out of the framebuffer from main memory. The high FPS moments represent what the card could really do if all the textures could fit at once.

[ronaldjeremy]

Yesterday I recieved and hooked up the active Accel adapter to my 5750 to drive a 1920x1200 display, and it has major flickering issues. Every 2-3 minutes it turns off and on for a second or so, makes trying to read anything on that monitor maddening. I have tried using onboard USB and external powered usb, same result.

I am getting 2 more of the Accel adapters today so I will try those one by one to see if the results are different.

Dave Baumann would you happen to have a BIOS I could try flashing to a 5750? I have no fear of bricking it.

[ronaldjeremy]

So heres an update. It seems to be working perfectly now for some reason. not even a single flicker for an entire day.

All I seemingly did was install hydravision and swap which monitors each adapter was going to -- even though all of the Accell adapters are identical and all of the monitors are identical.

All four of the 5750's i am running are now using an Accell adapter driving a 1920x1200 lcd, with no flicker at all. I'm not going to ask questions why it fixed itself, I'm just happy it works!

[kondor999]

So heres an update. It seems to be working perfectly now for some reason. not even a single flicker for an entire day.

All I seemingly did was install hydravision and swap which monitors each adapter was going to -- even though all of the Accell adapters are identical and all of the monitors are identical.

All four of the 5750's i am running are now using an Accell adapter driving a 1920x1200 lcd, with no flicker at all. I'm not going to ask questions why it fixed itself, I'm just happy it works!

Great news! I'm happy it got around to working for you. Mine started flickering only once - after a game crashed. I rebooted and it was still there, so I did a hard power-off - which fixed it. It's never happened again.

Weird.