Widescreen Gaming Forum

[quote]

thenjwaslike, The question is does this active adapter add any delay? I wanted to get 2 more 2443s but now I'm confused. My 2443 is able to do this, can all of yours do this or only two of them?



If the adapter is laggy then one of your monitors will become retarded, so a better option will be getting 3 adapters to get them all retarded with a single 5870 :) Or use 2 5870s and hook 2 and 1 displays at each. Or to wait for 5870x2 and hook up 3 DVI displays through 3 passive adapters?

i can check input tonight, what program is that? and do i setup all 3 monitors as clone and snap a picure? i have a 8mp canon, pretty quick shutter speed

its http://www.flatpanels.dk/monitortest_inputlag_dk.php
yeah, simply clone and take a shot. in perfect you should not see any difference between the numbers, but the input lag on the display itself varies from 0 to 20ms (my model at least) so you can see 20ms difference worst but if more than 30ms - converter fault and one of the monitor will always be showing a previous frame.

EDITED: actually i saw the geniv2's post but a bit leter after posting the first part. I'm glad there is no input lag!! I am supposed to find a reseller with a shipment to Russia lol.

EDITED2: Or wait till 5870x2 or 5870six appear with 6 ports and look if it is real to hook up 3 DVI with passive adapters.

@Maypole

Thanks for posting and letting us know that you will ship to the rest of European countries. I am one of those that have sent you an email asking about it because I wasn't sure whether you would ship to Greece or not.

I was very disappointed with 5870 needing a monitor with a DP because I already have 3 exceptional monitors (Eizo 2441) and I don't intend to change them. The adapter is a viable solution to the problem alas noone seemed so sell it in Europe.

Thanks for posting to this forum and making our lives easier. I have already made my order.

@everyone

Has anyone confirmed, like geniv2 for the dell adapter, that the Accell adapter works without problems?

Also does anyone know if there is a way to buy the dell adapter in Europe ? (just in case...)

I would like to thank everyone for posting his experiences and helping making this forum the best source for making widescreen computing possible.

There were posts of 5870x2 where it can be seen that 2 out of 6 mini-dp connectors look different to 4 others. It can be so that it is required 4passive DVI-DP and 2active DVI-DP connectors to get 6 displays working at once. And since 4 is greater than 3, there is a good chance of a triple setup working on 5870x2 or 5870six with only passive adapters. Who thinks different?

There were posts of 5870x2 where it can be seen that 2 out of 6 mini-dp connectors look different to 4 others. It can be so that it is required 4passive DVI-DP and 2active DVI-DP connectors to get 6 displays working at once. And since 4 is greater than 3, there is a good chance of a triple setup working on 5870x2 or 5870six with only passive adapters. Who thinks different?

Since when did the 5870X2 have 6-ports? I think you're confused. Please link to pics of a 5870X2 with 6-ports as to not confuse matters. All 6 port cards are 5870, not 5870X2.

AMD has clearly said that the way the cards are designed can run internal timing for 2 dvi/hdmi ports only and everything else is timed externally for the DP ports by a 3rd clock that can't do dvi/hdmi.

To state yet again, AMD says on the 6-port cards -- the initial 2 ports can be passive dvi/hdmi adapters and the 4 other dvi/hdmi adapters have to be active.

Those pictures you are showing look to be Mini-DP to DP which has no signal issues as it's all DP signal. Those are all passive Mini-DP to DP connections. The passive/active issue is solely focused on DVI/HDMI connections and has zero to do with DP to DP.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

Has anyone confirmed, like geniv2 for the dell adapter, that the Accell adapter works without problems?

Dell = BizLink = Accell

It's an OEM product different companies have slapped their own logo on.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

[quote]There were posts of 5870x2 where it can be seen that 2 out of 6 mini-dp connectors look different to 4 others. It can be so that it is required 4passive DVI-DP and 2active DVI-DP connectors to get 6 displays working at once. And since 4 is greater than 3, there is a good chance of a triple setup working on 5870x2 or 5870six with only passive adapters. Who thinks different?

Since when did the 5870X2 have 6-ports? I think you're confused. Please link to pics of a 5870X2 with 6-ports as to not confuse matters.

AMD has clearly said that the way the cards are designed can run internal timing for 2 dvi/hdmi ports only and everything else is timed externally for the DP ports by a 3rd clock that can't do dvi/hdmi.

To state yet again, AMD says on the 6-port cards -- the initial 2 ports can be passive dvi/hdmi adapters and the 4 other dvi/hdmi adapters have to be active.

Those pictures you are showing look to be Mini-DP to DP which has no signal issues as it's all DP signal. Those are all passive Mini-DP to DP connections. The passive/active issue is solely focused on DVI/HDMI connections and has zero to do with DP to DP.

Oh, I am mistaken then, not 5870x2 but 5870six.
But even then, I was talking about some cables that are not miniDP-DP. You can clearly see at my shots that there are 2 of them on both of them. on first they are at number 1 and 2 from the right, on second 1 and 4 from top. I can admit 4 out of 6 are simple miniDP-DP but the other two are different. I just don't get why the hell they are not like all the others?

Talking about 5870x2 - no six monitors? really? It'll be quite dumb to render 6 screens on the lower model of the line and aim a smaller part of the market which needs those 24 screens with quad-fire rather then produce a high-fps X2 version of 6 screens.

Oh, I am mistaken then, not 5870x2 but 5870six.
But even then, I was talking about some cables that are not miniDP-DP. You can clearly see at my shots that there are 2 of them on both of them. on first they are at number 1 and 2 from the right, on second 1 and 4 from top. I can admit 4 out of 6 are simple miniDP-DP but the other two are different. I just don't get why the hell they are not like all the others?

Talking about 5870x2 - no six monitors? really? It'll be quite dumb to render 6 screens on the lower model of the line and aim a smaller part of the market which needs those 24 screens with quad-fire rather then produce a high-fps X2 version of 6 screens.

There is probably no reason why they did that other than they had 2 mini-dp to dp/dvi/hdmi/whatever cables sitting around. Remember, 2 ports can run whatever passive.

Again, you're way confused. EyeFinity can only do up to 6 displays, no card spanning. That 24 screen example is NOT a single game -- it's 4 instances of X-Plane running in Linux. EyeFinity is currently NO CrossFire and NO multi-card and NO multi-GPU. You got confused by a marketing bait and switch with the 24 display example. A single EyeFinity SLS defined area is incapable of any more than 6 displays in Windows using 1 card that has 1 GPU on it. There are very specific limitations to this tech and as long as you do things within those limitations, you can run up to 6 screens in 3D fullscreen mode.

_________________
Brad Hawthorne
Product Manager
Nthusim Pty. Ltd. | www.nthusim.com

[quote]Oh, I am mistaken then, not 5870x2 but 5870six.
But even then, I was talking about some cables that are not miniDP-DP. You can clearly see at my shots that there are 2 of them on both of them. on first they are at number 1 and 2 from the right, on second 1 and 4 from top. I can admit 4 out of 6 are simple miniDP-DP but the other two are different. I just don't get why the hell they are not like all the others?

Talking about 5870x2 - no six monitors? really? It'll be quite dumb to render 6 screens on the lower model of the line and aim a smaller part of the market which needs those 24 screens with quad-fire rather then produce a high-fps X2 version of 6 screens.

There is probably no reason why they did that other than they had 2 mini-dp to dp/dvi/hdmi/whatever cables sitting around. Remember, 2 ports can run whatever passive.

Again, you're way confused. EyeFinity can only do up to 6 displays, no card spanning. That 24 screen example is NOT a single game -- it's 4 instances of X-Plane running in Linux. EyeFinity is currently NO CrossFire and NO multi-card and NO multi-GPU. You got confused by a marketing bait and switch with the 24 display example. A single EyeFinity SLS defined area is incapable of any more than 6 displays in Windows using 1 card that has 1 GPU on it. There are very specific limitations to this tech and as long as you do things within those limitations, you can run up to 6 screens in 3D fullscreen mode.

And now you get me even more confused. How come x2 is going to support eyefinity if you say there is no multi-gpu support? isn't 5870x2 multi-GPU? Crossfire - yes, i agree, there was such a kind of information, but what the hell they are doing 5870six for? for 5760x2400 windows desktop? I was planning to get 5870x2 just because I will be suffering with my current 4870x2 @5760x1200 and they offer their customers just the same torture with 5870six? 15fps? with no way to extend the power? and what if I want to plug in 4th display with 5870x2 aboard? I am mad about ATI they do nice things but in such a way they'd better did nothing.

I am still glad I have an option to get 3x2443BW working with 5870x2 via single bizlink, but the more I dig into the reviews the more I get disappointed by the limitations ATI makes. Its all about money, all about getting more money from the customers. They do not think about our pleasure or usability. All they do can be treated like a dated plan to conquer the market step by step, making the customers mistaken with their choice, buying thing they dont need and buying things they will have to buy even if they dont like it. It makes me sick. I think even the anti-monopoly sucks when it comes to the game which two greedy leading manufacturers play coop against the market ppl. My paranoia thinks ATI and nVidia are friends behind our backs and the next step nVidia will do is producing "x2" brother with the support of up-to 6 monitors just whats ATI missing "by accident"!!!

There is not multi-GPU support yet. ATi is working on it, I reckon they'll get it up and running before the x2 is released, but that is just a guess.

_________________
Dipping bags at Mach1.9

[quote]I have been reading all the applicable threads concerning Eyefinity and I have even purchased the Dell adapter but I am at a crossroads.. I haven't bought the 5870 for 1 reason, I currently own a Dell 3007WFP-HC 30 inch and 2X 2007FP..

I have been reading and understand that currently 20inch port/30inch land/20inch port is not supported by Eyefinity.. It seems this would be a software/driver related issue because all the monitors have the same 1200 vertical resoultion..

My question is this:

Will Eyefinity iron this out in future driver releases? Can we expect to run Portrait + Landscape + Portrait / 20" + 30" + 20" display configurations in the future? Mainly a questioon for Dave but any feedback or input would be appreciated....

I think you meant the three would have a vertical height of 1600 res ? :)

I am in the same boat as you, I have the Apple 30" Display, and would love to keep it, and just add two 20 flipped up in Portrait next to either side of my 30". It seems like an easy thing for Eyefinity to do, mainly because all three would have the exact same vertical height of 1600 resolution, so why not allow that to work ?

I could imagine, that if the bezel feature will be implemented by rendering a larger screen and cutting it off, the drivers will be just a step away from mixed resolutions and 2 steps away from mixed orientation displays.

Just think of it

with a 1920x1200 in the middle and two 1600x1200 4:3 displays on the sides a 1920x1200 image could be rendered on the sidescreens, cut off on the bezel side to compensate for the bezel and cut off on the other side for the smaller horizontal rezolution.

It would be a stupid waste of rendering power, but it would give more options for ppl who already have 4:3's or are concerned about deskspace, and maybe it can be optimized so there is not so much overrendering.


with 2560x1600 + two 1200x1600 in portrait mode it could be done similarly. but the overrendering would get ludicrous. 2560x1600 cropped to 1200x1600 and then rotated.

that is if the driver is inflexible enough that it only works with same rendering resolution for every display, but even then completely mixed setups without matching horizontal / vertical setups could be handled in a similar way by overrendering and cropping.

An intelligent solution would just give the game a resolution of all displays combined (5120x1200 example1, 4960x1600 example2), maybe overrender a little for the bezels. Sounds doable, the question is if ATI has the resources for such a niche feature.


In a perfect world the upcoming ATI bezel management feature would also implement
+ clockwise/ccw rotation of displays(mixed orientation)
+ zoom/scaling, to compensate for different pixel density displays(imagine a 22" and two 20" all running 1680x1050)
+ transition (imagine a big screen in the middle and two small on the sides with smaller vertical resolution, relative positioning is needed for proper bottom/top/middle alignment)


Its a shame, misleading and unintuitive that the new series has only 2 clock generators.

I am holding onto my TH2Go for now, there is no way I would buy 2 expensive active adapters just to get my old 3 dvi displays + a hdmi hdtv running, not to mention that I would need to get the 6port card for that despite the smaller card having 4 ports.