Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hi! I'm new here

I need to get working a video wall 3x3 (not for gaming). I already have a Samsung MD230X6 and a MD230X3 as displays and I need to show different info in full hd (1920x1080) in each display; but it would be good if I can also get a full image splitted accross 9 displays just in case.

I read about the ATI Eyefinity 6 (5870, 6870, and 7870), but is not very clear to me if I can get this working with one of this cards or maybe with two.

In the specs of this cards, I read that they have 6 DisplayPorts. It also says that if the displays are 1.2 compatible (or using a hub), I can use one of this DisplayPorts to connect up to 6 displays.

Does this mean that in fact I can connect up to 36 Displays (6 x 6) with only one card and two 1.2 MST hubs? Or one card supports up to a maximum 6 only, in one of two configurations (6 displays ports connected to only one Display, or 1 display port connected to 6 Displays)?

My doubt is because this Eyefinity Faq

ATI Eyefinity technology can support up to 6 displays using a single enabled ATI Radeon™ graphics card with Windows Vista or Windows 7 operating systems - the number of displays may vary by board design and you should confirm exact specifications with the applicable manufacturer before purchase. Systems using multiple ATI Radeon™ graphics cards can support a maximum of 8 displays (total across all cards in system) with a maximum 6 of those displays being used together in a display group (also known as a single large surface mode).

I think this faq is misleading, it doesn't mention the possibility to connect hubs to each display port to reach 36 (6x6), in fact clarifiy a maximum of 8 if two cards used together (so buying 2 eyefinity would not help to reach 9). So is not clear to me if i using one display port with 6 displays connected exclude the possibility to use the other 5 display ports.

In case I can get this working (using one card+hubs or two cards), do you recommend 5870, 6870 or 7870 eyefinity 6? Or maybe other option?

Thanks in advance, hope my question is understood!

Hi,

Displayport 1.2 has a Bandwith limit of 4x 1920x1080 @ 60Hz.
So if you have one EF6 Card with 6x miniDP you can connect up to 6x4 aka 24 Monitors.
Practically you only have a 3x1 MST Hub. this means you will get 6x3 aka 18 Monitors.
Or you find Monitors which can Daisychain (meaning DP in -> Out to the next) But i'm not sure if you can Connected 4 Monitors one after another... never saw or heard of such a thing... though it should be possible.

So in your Case for 9 Monitors you can either go:
1x EF 6 Card, 2x dp MST Hub Then you have 10 DP aviable.
2x EF 6 Card = 12x miniDP. But you can't activate Crossfire (= Double the Performance, if you do only 1 GPU output works) But i think Eyefinity 3x3 does work over 2 GPUs (no guarantee...)

Thanks Haldi!

I don't mean if I can't activate crossfire, is not for gaming but for showing some info and/or some charts in realtime so I will not be stressing the cards.

Two questions remaining if you don't matter, I understand I will be able to use each display on it's own, but can I use it all together to show eventually only one big image? I mean something like maximize an applicacion across the whole wall (3x3).

And the last one, is there any remarkable difference between the E6 5870, 6870 and 7870? If you have to choose, will you buy one graphic card plus two hubs, or two graphics cards? Cause the price is similar of both configurations, and as the hub technology is rather new maybe is too risky.

Thanks in advance!

Hi, you would be able to connect up 9 monitors in an extended display configuration, I understand that windows display properties application will allow a user to arrange up to 10 monitors, however the system can handle many more, but would require a 3rd party monitor arrangement application - source.

This would allow you to run each display at a native 1080p @ 60hz, but will not create a Single Large Surface, which would be used for example if you wished to play a video across all 9 monitors.

In order to achieve a SLS display with 9 monitors, you would need to use a combination of external hardware and Eyefinity.
For the external hardware you would need to use 3x outputs form the GPU which each feed into a Matrox Tripple Head 2 Go or equivalent product that will connect 3 monitors into a sub SLS group, then when combined with Eyefinity it would allow you to have a single SLS over 9 displays.

Unfortunately due to the limitation of DVI-D Dual link you will not be able to drive 3x1080P @ 60hz, at best you would get 50hz, as such you need to make sure that the monitors you are using will be compatible to run at 50hz.
Sadly this limitation still applies when using the Displayport version of the Matrox Triple Head2Go device.

Creates a stretched desktop with a maximum resolution of 5760x1080 (3x 1920x1080)2,3 across three displays - source

There will be a product coming to market in mid 2014 that would support running at 1080p @ 60hz but I cant say much more about it at this time.

Please see the attached file for a visual representation of the setup.

Hi Delphium, thanks for your big explanation. My knowledge is rather limited so hope you don't mind I reask about something.

As I undertand from your response, if I have 2 cards I'll be able to display independent output from each
display, but I will not have the possibility to create a Single Large Surface.

So the option should be 1 card + external hardware. Can I use the 1.2 MST hubs to reach an SLS with 9 monitors, or the Tripple Head 2 Go is a must in this case?

By the way, I read in this post http://www.wsgf.org/forums/viewtopic.ph ... 00#p148500 about one software that could help (softTH), but don't know if could really work with the 1.2 MST hubs (or eventually with two eyefinity cards).

And the DVI-D thing, both samsung displays (MD230X6 and MD230X3) have DisplayPorts so don't understand if the limitation still apply for them.

Thanks in advance!

With any luck you can walk away feeling a bit more knowledgeable

nouser wrote:if I have 2 cards I'll be able to display independent output from each
display, but I will not have the possibility to create a Single Large Surface.

Correct, at best you could get a group of up to 6 monitors. with the other 3 as separate.

nouser wrote:Can I use the 1.2 MST hubs to reach an SLS with 9 monitors, or the Tripple Head 2 Go is a must in this case?

Sadly the MST hubs do not create a means to create a SLS, the MST hubs act a bit like a network switch, it just presents to windows 3 separate displays that are not in an SLS arrangement.
At present there are a few SLS devices, the Matrox Triple Head2Go (VGA/DVI/DP editions), Mview do some products, and then there is the more expensive Datapath X4 (I look after a 25 monitor video wall that uses a collection of the x4 devices).

After this most video wall technologies tend to up-scale a lower resolution image to the resolution of the wall, ie a 1080p video source from a DVD player that gets up-scaled (stretched) to
fill 3x3 screens.
Some screens even have this feature built in where you may set the ID of each monitor and daisy chain a video feed to them, but again the maximum input resolution would be 1080p.

The devices I mentioned above are the only devices on the market at present that will create an SLS using native resolutions.

nouser wrote:By the way, I read in this post http://www.wsgf.org/forums/viewtopic.ph ... 00#p148500 about one software that could help (softTH), but don't know if could really work with the 1.2 MST hubs (or eventually with two eyefinity cards).

SoftTh as awesome as it is, is unfortunately fairly limited also, it hooks into the DirectX9 engine and does some cleaver things, sadly this means it is locked to DX9 applications (typically games), as such web applications would not utilize this tool, likewise I am not familiar with any DX9 video players, this tool is really only useful for content that is being rendered in 3D in full-screen, such as a game.

nouser wrote:And the DVI-D thing, both samsung displays (MD230X6 and MD230X3) have DisplayPorts so don't understand if the limitation still apply for them.
Thanks in advance!

Sadly the devices that do support DP input such as the Matrox Triple Head2Go DP Edition, is still using the logic chips of that from DVI-D and is therefore unfortunately limited to the same bandwidth as DVI-D, only difference is that it is now in a Displayport signal format / connector.

Hope this answers your questions.

Woow delphium, that's really a great post! It seems you know a lot about this , and really you help me to understand some things i didn't knew because being my first time involving multi displays.

So I think I should go with one E6 and 3xtriplehead solution for the SLS with 3x3. I already check and the samsung display support 50Hz so should not be a problem.

There is only one doubt, the triplehead solution will also allow the possibility of independent info on 9 displays at 1080p (reading you I understand this is know as 9 monitors in extended display configuration)? Or in this case I will also need to buy the hubs (or a second E6)?

About the card, do you have any recommendation about one of them (5870, 6870, 7870, another one)? As I say, I don't need it for gaming, only fo display info/charts and eventually some video.

Thanks a lot for taking so much time to help me! I'm really grateful

nouser wrote:There is only one doubt, the triplehead solution will also allow the possibility of independent info on 9 displays at 1080p (reading you I understand this is know as 9 monitors in extended display configuration)? Or in this case I will also need to buy the hubs (or a second E6)?

In the configuration as pictured above, you wont get a true extended mode without making a seperate cable path (using 2 gpus for 9 outputs and 9 cables to the monitors) and using a 2nd input on the monitors, allowing you to switch between an SLS configuration and an extended configuration.

I would recommend you check out AMD Hydravision (Hydragrid) which enable you to take a SLS display and divide it up into sections, allowing you to snap an application to a section, each section could be for each monitor.
This gives a sudo extended display setup giving you the best of both worlds

nouser wrote:Woow delphium, that's really a great post! It seems you know a lot about this , and really you help me to understand some things i didn't knew because being my first time involving multi displays.

Thanks a lot for taking so much time to help me! I'm really grateful

Most welcome

Thanks one more time Delphium for the Hydravision trick!!! That for sure will cover my requirements

Yesterday i was going to buy one of the Eyefinity 6 cards (5870, 6870, 7870) but after looking at the TripleHead Compatibility Matrix, it seems no one of them will be able to draw 1080p in each monitor (5760x1080 at 50Hz).

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/suppo ... #win_th2go

Is this info right, and I will need to buy one ATI Fire card? Or maybe is outdated? Do you have any other recommendation for a card to get the 3 x triple head working with only one gpu card?

Thanks in advance!

For what you are looking to do (video and windows/office type applications, not gaming or 3D rendering), then an AMD 5870E6 would be enough, with 3x matrox DP edition units you WILL get 1920x1080@50hz on each display

You could actually get away without the need for an E6 card, but then you are splitting outputs over DP/DVI/HDMI connectors so would require additional adaptors or a mixture of Maxtrox units which can lead to a greater chance of image tearing, from my experience of using an E6 card, I never got tearing as all the outputs form the GPU where the same.