question about 3 monitor setup?

[Crayonbox]

....... just posted a huge post and i lost it. GFD reposting.


Simply cut down.
I'm using 2x ATI 6870s and 3x samsung 23" px2370s.
If you use an Nvidia card, you have to have a 2nd card to use 3+ displays.
If you use an ATI card, you have to have an ACTIVE display port adapter.
The ATI cards only pull enough power to power 2 of the hdmi or dvi ports. Attempting to use the third port will simply not work. Also, the active display port adapters come with a display port plug and a usb to draw additional power from the mother board. I suggest plugging that into any generic USB power adapter if you wish to have consistent power to your monitor without flickering.

Any further questions, let me know.

[Tight]

hmm a second card it is then.

thx man..

[Harrypott]

Running an ATI 5800 Series (5870 maybe?) with
24" Dell on DVI
23" Dell on DVI
23" Dell on display port (monitor has a display port)

It works perfectly but have to unplug the display port screen when I turn on the computer or the ATI card's fan goes nuts and doesn't get a display on any of them. I didn't get any usb cable thingo to get extra power with my card. Been running with three screens off it for some time now.

[Sajuuk]

....... just posted a huge post and i lost it. GFD reposting.


Simply cut down.
I'm using 2x ATI 6870s and 3x samsung 23" px2370s.
If you use an Nvidia card, you have to have a 2nd card to use 3+ displays.
If you use an ATI card, you have to have an ACTIVE display port adapter.
The ATI cards only pull enough power to power 2 of the hdmi or dvi ports. Attempting to use the third port will simply not work. Also, the active display port adapters come with a display port plug and a usb to draw additional power from the mother board. I suggest plugging that into any generic USB power adapter if you wish to have consistent power to your monitor without flickering.

Any further questions, let me know.

So I forgot about the active adapter, sorry. And just for lulz it's not a power issue that only allows use of either two dvi or one dvi/hdmi. I think it's a clock issue, I don't recall the details, but it's NOT A POWER ISSUE, if anything it's a limitation on DVI or some nonsense like that.

The OP has two monitors right now, he could add a third. To not need an active adapter he could just get a monitor with displayport on it. I think ATI has worked towards having less expensive validated displayport adapters.

OH LOOK, A LIST (from ati, yay!)

http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/...y-dongles.aspx

One of them ( a single link ) is only 30 dollars!
http://www.amazon.com/Accell-B087B-0...3847521&sr=1-1

I wish I could have read your huge post.

Running an ATI 5800 Series (5870 maybe?) with
24" Dell on DVI
23" Dell on DVI
23" Dell on display port (monitor has a display port)

It works perfectly but have to unplug the display port screen when I turn on the computer or the ATI card's fan goes nuts and doesn't get a display on any of them. I didn't get any usb cable thingo to get extra power with my card. Been running with three screens off it for some time now.

Sounds like an issue with your card, I have no fan issues.

[confusedtx5]

Make sure your displayport to DVI adapters are active types (have a USB port).

As for the Matrox boxes, they're limiting in that you have to use the same resolutions per screen, in the same layout. So you can't do say, 2x 1680x1050 in portrait plus 1x 1920x1200 in landscape. On top of that, the TH2Go has a maximum res of 1920x1080 @ 50Hz per screen. A. Not many screens at that res would support 50Hz, and B. anything above that (2048x1152 or 2560x1600 per screen) would not work.

The advantage the Matrox boxes have is they can be used on any graphics card with the correct display output - great if you want to expand your laptops screen real estate. But that's about it.
The Radeons with their capability of running more than 2 screens natively, as well as in Eyefinity mode is just superior in every other way.

[Sajuuk]

Make sure your displayport to DVI adapters are active types (have a USB port).

As for the Matrox boxes, they're limiting in that you have to use the same resolutions per screen, in the same layout. So you can't do say, 2x 1680x1050 in portrait plus 1x 1920x1200 in landscape. On top of that, the TH2Go has a maximum res of 1920x1080 @ 50Hz per screen. A. Not many screens at that res would support 50Hz, and B. anything above that (2048x1152 or 2560x1600 per screen) would not work.

The advantage the Matrox boxes have is they can be used on any graphics card with the correct display output - great if you want to expand your laptops screen real estate. But that's about it.
The Radeons with their capability of running more than 2 screens natively, as well as in Eyefinity mode is just superior in every other way.

Regarding USB on adapters: Not all of the ATI eyefinity certified adapters have it, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem.

As far as being able to run more than two screens natively: yes, it's cool as long as you're not doing anything too terribly taxing across all the screens. there's a reason why nvidia made you have to use SLI to do three screens: in many games you'll want more computing power to get what you want (eye candy nom nom) at the resolution desired.