Apple 27" LED Cinema Display

I am salivatating harder than homer simpson with a chicken terriyaki sub right now looking at those pics :eek: i may also have a semi but we won't talk about the sexual stimulation i get from looking at pics of sexy hardware :eek:
 
Thanks Ashok0.

I really don't need HDMI at this setup other than using the existing HDMI cable for the long run to my desk. I can adapt either end of an hdmi cable to either male or female dvi with a small 'on-end' coupler/plug, so hopefully that mp400 could be a solution for my long cable runs.

new dp video card -> dp extension cable -> 27" ACD
With a new video card running dp extension cable to the ACD, I would still need to run dvi--> hdmi--> (dvi to mdp) dp400 ---> DVI monitor on each side of the ACD. Unless the newer video card had a few dvi outputs on it so I wouldn't have to use display port at all on the side monitor runs. Just in case though, do you know if the dp400 dvi to mdp can work in reverse? I think the 6990 is only going to have one dvi output. If I had to, I could run a second video card just for the side monitors eventually though.

AMD-ATI-HD6990_3.jpg


Its really too bad that the adapters cost so much. I'm so used to easily adapting whatever cables to whatever computers and monitors I want. I would have to invest in at least two mini dp adapters I think.

Why the long cable runs?
The distance from the room my pc is in to my desk is around 20'. I run an even longer hdmi cable to my living room surround reciever+tv, but that isn't anywhere near my desk so its unrelated to this setup. I really prefer not having any computer at my workstation or entertainment centers now that I've been set up for that so long. Zero noise, fans, dust/computer air is so much better. I use a usb to cat6 adapter for the usb run to the living room in case you were wondering. At 20' to my desk I can get away with one of those special 16' usb extender cables + a regular usb cable to a hub at my desk. I use the hdmi for audio at my tv, but at my desk I run long orange/black/green analog audio cables bundled together, to a splitter between headphones and 5.1 surround speakers.
 
Hi elvn,

Actually, I believe that what you're trying to do is pretty doable. I saw in another thread that you want to flank an ACD27" with two 19" 1440x900 DVI displays in portrait mode. The DP400 does NOT go in reverse, but you're actually in luck here. Going from a DVI video card to an mDP display requires very expensive Atlona converters, but going from an mDP video card to a DVI display does not. All you need is a generic ACTIVE mDP to DVI-D SL adapter.

If you want to go mDP to DVI, all you need is this active Accell adapter:
http://www.amazon.com/Accell-B087B-...1ZXA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294684656&sr=8-1

If I understand what you are trying to do, I think the easiest solution would be:

AMD Eyefinity mDP out->mDP to DVI (Accell Adapter; $26)->DVI extension cable->DVI monitor
AMD Eyefinity mDP out->mDP extension cable ->27" ACD
AMD Eyefinity mDP out->mDP to DVI (Accell Adapter; $26)->DVI extension cable->DVI monitor

If you still want to use your HDMI cables you might be able to convert the DVI to HDMI and then back to DVI again. Either way, for your setup you most definitely don't need any expensive hardware minus a new AMD video card.
 
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Thats exactly what I wanted to know. Thanks man.

I do convert to dvi on both ends of hdmi cables without problems, basically turning the long hdmi cable into a dvi cable, so that should work fine like you said - putting the dvi/hdmi cable on after the mDP to DVI adapter so I can connect to the side monitors. By the way , that was me in that other thread discussing 19" lcd's in portrait mode on each side of the 27" ACD hehe.

AMD Eyefinity mDP out->mDP to DVI (Accell Adapter; $26)->DVI extension cable->DVI monitor


A really good hdmi cable can run 50 - 75' off a good video card. I've done it to my surround receiver and tv. My concern now is that I would need two mDP extension cables to reach my 27" ACD, or around 20' - 25' worth. I am not familiar with display port cables so I don't know if they perform well enough. I could always try it out and if it doesn't work, buy the expensive(by comparison) dp400. Even the newest ati cards have a single dvi output.

So if this (below)doesn't work due to display port cables not agreeing with 20' or so lengths:

AMD Eyefinity mDP out->mDP extension cable ->27" ACD

Then I'd have to try this:

ATI dvi output --> ]-dvi adapter+LongHDMIcable+dvi adapter-[ -->dp400(dvi-to-mDP)--> --> 27" ACD

I'd rather keep them all on the display ports if possible though.

thanks again :)
 
I found this fine print on the datapro cable site that you recommended for the 15' mini dp to mini dp extension cable (M/F).

Specifications:

* Maximum resolution up to 10 feet: 2560x1600
* Maximum resolution for 15 feet: 1920x1200
Click to expand...

I don't know if they are just specifying that to cover themselves though.

I also found this kanex 15' extension cable for $25 at amazon, b&h, etc. but I dont know what its max rez is.. I dont want a 720p cable, but if its the same thing as the datapro cable I would buy the kanex instead.

http://www.amazon.com/Kanex-Extension-Display-24-Inch-27-Inch/dp/B0045I85GE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1297556059&sr=1-1

----
I should probably buy one of the datapro extension cables from there, and a 10' regular mini dp cable (M/M) somewhere else like monoprice. Maybe it will work sending 2560x1440. If it doesn't work out I'll buy the dp400. :rolleyes:
 
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Found some more info about that ~ $26 adapter in a user review. I'm not sure if its true or not but figured I'd post it here...

I went to the Accell website before I decided on my order and found that the cheaper adapter will work, but only supports 8 bit color and resolutions up to 1920x1200. This one supports up to 32 bit color and res. up to 2560x1600. So, if you want quality conversion you'll have to fork over some extra dough.
Click to expand...

8bit color? If it came down to it, I'd still rather buy the 32-bit color $86 adapter than spend that much more on side monitors with display ports. The only 19" 1440x900 lcd that I could find with a display port is an hp for almost $200 bux, when I could get the asus 19" 1440x900 LED backlit ones for $110 or less and just use adapters. Adapters would be usable on different displays if I ever needed. Modular is almost always a better choice for things in my opinion.

The other option would be scrapping the ati-eyfinity card idea and going with nvidia sli, which would give a bunch of dvi ports.. putting the money toward the gpu's instead of $180 in minidp-to-dvi adapters.

That still leaves me running 20' to 25' of minidp cable using a 15' minidp extender + 10' minidp cable to a 27" ACD. And if that doesn't work, buying a dp400 for $160 so that I could run a long "dvi" cable.

Potentially looking at up to $340 in adapters is making me re-evaluate this whole idea, especially the part with an eyefinity card full of mini display ports.

--edit : the asus 19" 1440x900 screens are 16.7 million color so might be fine with the $26 - $30 adapters (x2 .. require 1 for each side panel). This still leaves a potential for $220 or more in adapters for my planned setup option if I need a dp400 for the ACD, or $110 in adapters and extension cables if the minidp extension cables work out (much easier to digest)
 
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From what I've been reading, most panels are 8bit, and others are 8bit but use FRC which is like dithering to simulate more colors. So if you don't need more than 1920x1200 on a particular monitor, the non-powered adapters should work fine.

Interesting 8bit color discussion here
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2593114
 
can't use more than two monitors on passive adapters you mean?

Could I use two monitors on passive adapters, and one or more monitors directly on mini display ports?

I'll check that link. Thanks again.
 
Well for this 27" ACD setup particularly, I wouldn't be in eyefinity gaming if thats what you meant. I'd game on the central monitor. However I would experiment with some games in windowed mode at the desktop rez, and with softth in dx9, across the whole P-L-P monitor setup.

Eventually a problem with running three adapters to dvi monitors will matter to me though. I'd still like to try three 23" lcds someday for true eyefinity gaming. I have a 23.5, can borrow a 23", and use a 22" borrowed from my work setup on the other side for testing purposes just to see what I think of eyefinity once I get an eyefinity video card. So thanks for the heads up on the potential snag - the current 23" 120hz lcd's I would want to get for eyefinity (someday) don't have display ports so I'd have to use three mini displayport to dvi adapters. Maybe (if its required) it would work with one being powered and two being non-powered type(I hope).
 
looks like at least one dp400 for anyone who wants eyefinity with three dvi monitors.

Eyefinity requires an ACTIVE adapter to enable a third monitor on HD 5000 cards. Passive will NOT work, except for the first two monitors on the eyefinity 5 and eyefinity 6 cards. For the other three/four monitors, active is still required. A quick explanation of why is because DVI/HDMI requires a special clock, which the card is only able to provide two of. Displayport does not use this clock, so ATI used it as a workaround.
Click to expand...

http://www.overclock.net/ati/721931-active-vs-passive-displayport-adapters-truth.html


--------------------------------------------------

My 19" dvi + 27" ACD minidp + 19" dvi can get away with the non-powered adapters for the 19"ers luckily, and its not doing eyefinity gaming. But if my 20' - 25' run is too much for minidp extension cables signal wise, I'll still be in a bind. The eyefinity 6 cards have 6 minidp, and don't have dvi outputs, at least some of them like this one:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/718i58s0CtL._AA1500_.jpg

so from what I understand - with a card like that, *if* the minidp cables to my 27" ACD won't work on a 20' - 25' run due to signal loss... I'd need a powered minidp to dvi ($86) so that I can run a long 'dvi' cable without loss, then convert BACK to minidp from dvi using a dp400 ($160). sheesh. :rolleyes:

Heres hoping that the extension cables work. I'm going to try a 15' mini dp cable ($7.50) + get two 6' mini dp extension cables for $4.50 each. Hopefully will only need one 6' extension to reach.
.
.

my two dvi lcd's + 27" ACD PLP setup's adapters/extensions costs would be

two $26+ non-powered minidp to dvi adapters --> to 19" 1440x900's in portrait ... ~ $55

+ 15' minidp cable + one or two 6' minidp extension cables ... ~ $17 - $20
OR
+ powered minidp to dvi ($86) + dp400 dvi to minidp ($160) .. ~ $250

= $75 or $305 :eek:

If the long cables don't work I'll have to see if I can move the pc closer rather than converting back and forth for $305. I really dont want a pc at the desk itself though. I've spoiled myself to not having any pc fan noise, psu, heat, dust, etc - and even a 'quiet' pc is noisy compared to turning it off or not having it in the room.
.
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More updates.. sorry for all the config spam but its really helping me figure out my options by typing it all out here.

I found a company that makes long 24awg (thick) minidp extension cables. This is their site:

http://estore.circuitassembly.com/products/Long-Haul-24-AWG-Mini-Displayport-Extension-Cable-25-foot-35-foot-50-foot.html

Not super cheap but it looks like a very high quality cable for what I'm trying to do. If its a close call distance-wise, I can always add a 6' minidp extension cable from monoprice onto the end too.

According to the review on that site:
works perfect.

Posted by Thomas on 4th Jan 2011

i am in the audio business and was waiting for that solution. because i have all noisy equipment in another room .
no quality loss at all with that AWG24 extension. works perfect.
i am using a 35 feet and another 6 feet cable as a dongle.
tried it without a dongle on my mac pro. but the pins don't get enough contact.
greetings from germany.
Click to expand...

I think the 35' ext cable came to like $80 bux shipped. The thin guage minidp extension cables can be pretty expensive for 15' ones though so by comparison isn't too bad.
And compared to---
powered minidp to dvi ($86) -->> dvi cable for no loss--> dvi to minidp (dp400 - $160) .. ~ $250
--- this cable is a much better idea (assuming it works well LoL )

Thanks again for all those replies pointing me in the right direction on the adapters and such.
 
I'm still holding out on ordering the ACD since I don't have a gpu that is compatible yet. I did get a single 19" asus led backlit 1440x900 and an ergo arm in though. I have it running in portrait mode alongside my 28" (27.5" viewable) hannspree and it lines up pretty nicely so should be pretty close on the 27" since its really .5" diagonal difference ~ .24 inch height, split the difference ~ .12 inch top/bottom At first I noticed pretty bad TN shading left to right in portrait on it.. but once I got the ergo arm situated better its pretty minimal with such a narrow width as long as I don't move my head much. If I could find a 19" 1440x900 led backlit that was ips I'd conisder that instead but I don't think that exists.

I almost ordered a 6950 to flash to 6970 but I'm trying to wait a little longer. I'd really prefer a 6000 series that has eyefinity 6. If one comes out next month after spending $260+ on a 6950 I'd kick myself.

Oh and my hannspree looks almost brownish by comparison to the LED backlit lcd. I'm really looking forward to the 27" cinema display with its LED backlight.
 
With the imminent introduction of Lightpeak (Thunderbolt), who thinks we're going to see an update to the ACD which replaces the USB hub with Lightpeak connectors?
 
Peteman100 said:
With the imminent introduction of Lightpeak (Thunderbolt), who thinks we're going to see an update to the ACD which replaces the USB hub with Lightpeak connectors?
Click to expand...

Hmmz... while that would be really nice, I'm just praying for a 27" Light Peak Retina Display. :)
 
Peteman100 said:
With the imminent introduction of Lightpeak (Thunderbolt), who thinks we're going to see an update to the ACD which replaces the USB hub with Lightpeak connectors?
Click to expand...

I agree with you, but I dont see it happening anytime soon.
 
I'm using the 27" ACD with a Palit 580. It has a regular displayport output. I got a mini displayport to reg displayport adaptor from startech for $12. Everything is working but I'm waiting on an extension cable from monoprice and I'll be set.

If you're looking for a new video card and don't want ATI this will work without having to shell out for an AT 400.
 
I have now decided that I will be buying ACD27", but the question here is that will I buy present model or should I wait 'till summer if Apple would announce new models? I would really appreciate power button and maybe RGB leds :cool: And maybe 30" model, but it will probably be too expensive for my budget.
 
Konalanz said:
I have now decided that I will be buying ACD27", but the question here is that will I buy present model or should I wait 'till summer if Apple would announce new models? I would really appreciate power button and maybe RGB leds :cool: And maybe 30" model, but it will probably be too expensive for my budget.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't wait on it. Apple tends to release new displays every 3-5 years.
 
Strange Question.

Do any of you have any ideas of the best way to hook a really old PC up to this monitor? I would have 2 hooked to it at once through a KVM esque setup or I could swap the plugs.

The older PC is ancient. No PCI-e just pci and it has a pci (yes not AGP !) graphics card that has a VGA and DVI output. The VGA is rated at 2048 x 1536 but I do not believe the DVI is dual link so it could not even get close to the 2560 x 1440 resolution of the monitor.


Any suggestions on how I could get the old PC to output the native resolution of the ACD27?
If that is not possible what are my best options?

I am willing to replace the video card in the old PC but since it only has PCI and not even an AGP slot I doubt I could find something that could get near a having miniDP port. Maybe a dual link DVI but I doubt even that.
 
I think these cards support 2560x1600 over pci...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709+600007853+600007866&QksAutoSuggestion=&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Configurator=&IsNodeId=1&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=DVI

But then you would need a ($150) DP-400 adapter to convert the dvi to minidp for each card...
http://www.amazon.com/AT-DP400-Dual-MINI-DISPLAY-FORMAT-CONVERTER/dp/B003CWEXWO

.. and I'm not even sure that would work
.....
But rather than buy all of those for each of your old computers considering a $1000 monitor -- I would seriously consider putting that money away toward buying a new pc. You can get some 2.8 - 3ghz dual core pc's for around $250 without the operating system (there was one as a shellshocker on newegg.com today). - or elsewhere if you look around. I don't recall what video card was in the combo deal but it would open you up to pci-express card options on the motherboard so you could get a good minidp card that supports the cinema display, and avoid buying the DP-400 adapters. With a more modern computer you might not even need to use two computers anymore since they can run multiple instances of apps (depending on what you were using two pc's for I guess).
 
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I ordered my gpu , so I should be ordering my cinema display on 18mo no interest very soon - once I get the gpu and test it. I don't want to get the ACD before I know I'm set up for it, so that I can really test it during the 14day return period from bb.
 
^ Thanks elvn !!!

I actually had never seen cards like that.

Yeah I knew someone would mention getting a new PC but the monitor will be moved from bedroom to den and I am already getting 1 new PC and I really don't want to do 2. I had much rather use what I have than make it unused.
 
yeah but like I said, you have to buy those DP-400 adapters to convert the dvi to minidp at $150 for each pc. . thats a lot of money when you could just buy a cheap pc like this and throw a minidp card in it.

$250 E6500 based 2.93 GHZ CPU combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.616278

# Intel Pentium Dual-Core E6500 Wolfdale 2.93GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor (Model:BX80571E6500)
# GIGABYTE LGA 775 Intel G41 Micro ATX Motherboard (Model:GA-G41M-Combo)
# Patriot 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM 1333 (PC3 10600) Dual Channel Desktop Memory (Model:pSD34G1333K)
# Rosewill IEEE 802.11b/g PCI Wireless Card Up to 54Mbps Data Rates 64/128-Bit WEP, 802.1x, WPA, WPA2, AES, TKIP with 2 dBi Antenna (Model:RNX-G300LX)
# Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive (Model:ST31000528AS)
# APEX Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case (Model:pC-389-C)
# LOGISYS Computer 480W ATX12V Power


Not sure if the 5750 series works with the 27" apple cinema display.. but if it does.. this one is like $100 and pci-express that would work on the above computer's motherboard, and has a minidp output:

XFX HD-575X-ZMF3 Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150528
.....
.....
So you see what I am saying? $350 total for a decent pc with the video card (more if you need operating system but still) , and you have a vastly more powerful pc vs the $90 pci card + $150 DP-400 adapter being $240 per computer you wanted to put them on. Again , that is if that 5750 card's minidp will work on the 27" cinema display. I've heard some cards dont work on it. The choice is clear to me.
 
I don't believe the ATi Radeon 5750 cards will work with the ACD27". Many of the Radeon 5xxx have compatibility issues despite having DisplayPort connectors.

@qz33: I would agree with elvn that you might be better off to just invest in a new PC, considering the fact that getting your OLD PC upgraded to work will already require a pricey $150 converter.

The nVidia JATON GeForce 210 actually has DisplayPort and is only $47. It's PCIe, but you could get a cheap new computer from newegg or TigerDirect for $200-250. Tiger has an E3300 with PCIe for $229. http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7028311&CatId=2628

So for $276 you could buy a whole new computer that would work with the ACD27", or you could spend over half that ($150) to get the Atlona DP-400 converter for your old PC.
 
I got my cinema display yesterday and hooked it up today. Wow it looks sweet. I'm downloading a bunch of 2560x1440 pictures just to soak up the eye-candy.
..
... I only have one 19" in portrait next to it at the moment, and I still have the 27" on its factory stand. The 19" is oversized vs the 27" , but I dropped it back about a foot on its ergo arm and it lines up very well perspective wise now ;) .. I would have been ok with it oversized right next to the 27" but it looks great now. I basically shrank it by dropping it back.
..
... I'll mess around with testing the 27" over the next few weeks. One thing I didn't like about the 27" is that the minidp cable seems integrated into the panel. I just worry about stuff like that wiggling. I prefer removable display cables with a socket on the monitor. Minor gripe - I'll just have to be careful about it.
...
...I did buy a vesa plate/adapter for the monitor, and I have an ergo-style arm for it. I have to read up on how to remove the apple stand soon. I remember hearing that it has some kind of spring loaded mechanism, and if you don't remove it correctly some pin/shaft will shoot inside and be almost impossible to remove.
...
... Oh and I seem to be able to adjust my brightness and contrast with amd catalyst control center. I never installed the apple bootcamp / brightness exe. In fact the one I downloaded has a bad crc in the zip so I didn't even have the chance if I wanted to.
 
Yeah, that lack of a detachable cable is a concern of mine as well - makes me feel slightly better for paying twice as many bones for the 27" iMac. Of course, if the iMac fails to boot, then I'm just as hosed too, since the mini displayport port only works once it's running OSX. I just have to pray that the WD HDD in there doesn't croak prematurely.
 
Also, let me know how that arm installation goes. I'm also considering replacing the stock stand with a VESA mount so I can rotate the monitor to portrait when necessary.
 
elvn said:
... Oh and I seem to be able to adjust my brightness and contrast with amd catalyst control center. I never installed the apple bootcamp / brightness exe. In fact the one I downloaded has a bad crc in the zip so I didn't even have the chance if I wanted to.
Click to expand...


Hi elvn,

Great to hear you've had good results with your new monitor! :D Just a FYI, the exe actually lets you adjust the Cinema Display's LED backlight, which is a bit different than simply changing brightness from the Catalyst Control Center. If you ever want to tweak the backlight and your zip is corrupted, you can always download BootCamp 3.2 (DO NOT INSTALL) and extract "AppleControlPanel.exe" using UniExtract.
 
ah ok... I thought that might add backlight control. Good to know. I'll have to download and extract from bootcamp. I downloaded the extracted win7 64 bit one off this thread earlier before the link dried up, but my zip ended up corrupt so my planning ahead by downloading it was for naught . heh.
..
... It would prob help being able to tweak the backlight - even if just to have more settings to play with in order to match the 19"-er's and 27" better. The whites on the ACD are more mellow/creamy vs the TN-LED's shocking white tinged blue. I'll end up splitting the difference with color control/temp control and backlighting etc. .

.. I'm very happy with the 27" ACD itself even with the limited tweaking I've done so far however. :D
 
Youtube link showing how to remove the factory stand and attach vesa mount linked below:..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmm7jWU-g2s&feature=related
...
... I watched it but its getting late and I've had a long day. I'll start that battle another time. I have to connect the other 19" and its arm yet as well, and I might need to cut a small wood block to fatten up the top of the black pillar-table I'm using to hold all the monitors so that the ergo arms have a thick enough table-top for their brackets - or I may just cut a whole rectangle of wood to match the table top and spray paint it black, screw it to the top, etc.
 
elvn said:
Youtube link showing how to remove the factory stand and attach vesa mount linked below:..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cmm7jWU-g2s&feature=related
...
... I watched it but its getting late and I've had a long day. I'll start that battle another time. I have to connect the other 19" and its arm yet as well, and I might need to cut a small wood block to fatten up the top of the black pillar-table I'm using to hold all the monitors so that the ergo arms have a thick enough table-top for their brackets - or I may just cut a whole rectangle of wood to match the table top and spray paint it black, screw it to the top, etc.
Click to expand...

Hmm the mount is tempting. I could cheap out on a two surface adjustable height desk and just get a single surface for much less money. Looks like new apartment furnishing budget might not be so bad after all.
 
I'm prob going to wait on taking the base off until I get some more text reading time on the 27" ACD. I'm getting paranoid now because of the strobe issue. I've had sinus headaches and I've been tired lately so I need a few more days of reading text to make sure I'm not getting undue eyestrain from this display. I have a 14 day return period.
...
--- some people can see a flutter/flicker type effect on text with LED backlights when the brightness is turned down, since the dimming is accomplished by pulsing the backlight, and in the case of LED's its an abrupt on/off cycle as compared to the afterglow of ccfl's. I'm not sure if that is happening to me or not. I can see a lot of problems on other types of displays - like rainbows on DLP's etc..
.....A dual image when moving your eyes around, even if it appears "solid" can appear to float or micro-move, sort-of like what 3d tv's and monitors try to do.. and/or if its not rock solid and appears floating or out of focus even for "microseconds" - it can make your eyes refocus many more times than normal, causing eyestrain every time your eyes try to lock down on the text again.
...
More about it in this thread:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1528230
..
... I just want several more days on the monitor to be sure before I start dismantling the stand. If anyone else can chime in with thoughts on this it would be appreciated.
 
I found some setting in amd drivers that can affect text. Not sure that I need to mess with it or that it even applies , but I'm going to experiment with disabling "Morphological Filtering" when I get home later.

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/technology/Pages/morphological-aa.aspx

Then I can mess with cleartype txt settings too if necessary.

I also have to use drivercleaner or similar to wipe drivers and go back to catalyst 11.2 instead of the 11.4 preview I've been using because I got a few BSOD's with the 11.4's when just browsing.. not even stressing my card with gaming or anything at the time.
 
So I'm in the market for a new monitor. I've just moved into a very small studio apartment and my Westinghouse 37" + webcam + Snowball mic is giving me serious space issues. I am considering the Apple display over the HP and Dell 30" because of the built-in mic, webcam, and speakers.

I have an Asus HD6950 flashed to the Saphire HD6970 BIOS and my build is running Windows 7 64-bit. This should work fine, right? I just want to double check one more time with the [H] crowd before plucking down a grand on a new monitor.

I would also entertain suggestions for other nice monitors that have webcam and mic built in. Speakers aren't that important.
 
enc0re said:
I have an Asus HD6950 flashed to the Saphire HD6970 BIOS and my build is running Windows 7 64-bit. This should work fine, right?
Click to expand...

My XFX 6950 flashed to Sapphire 6970 had no problems running the Cinema Display I tested out (including bios post) so I don't expect you'll have any problems.

I didn't test the webcam on the CD but the mic was poor quality compared to what I have ($10 from Walmart). It picked up a lot of ambient noise and, because it's on top of the monitor, made it sound like I was far away. The speakers actually aren't terrible, though.

The non-replaceable cord on the CD is also very short so be sure to pick up mini-dp and USB extensions if your computer isn't on your desk top.
 
weemies said:
Thanks for the great review. I just pulled the trigger on this screen myself.

I'm curious, did you ever get your Xbox 360 hooked up to the ACD27" using the Atlona devices (or something else)? I would be interested in doing the same thing. It really blows that apple doesn't offer any inputs other than the mini-DP. :(

I wonder how the ACD27" would handle the 1929x1080 res of the Xbox 360 since it doesn't have a built-in scaler. Streched to full screen, black borders on all 4 sides...? Does anyone have an idea?
Click to expand...

Sorry for the late update, I've been so busy with Fallout: New Vegas, StarCraft 2, and Left 4 Dead 2 that the old 360 has been doing nothing but collect dust. That being said, I did manage to connect it to the ACD27" this week but the end result was only a moderate success. I have the old 1st Generation VGA only Xbox 360, so I hooked it up as follows:

XBOX 360 (vga) -> XCM 1080p HDMI cable (vga -> hdmi) -> Atlona HD620 (hdmi -> mDP) -> ACD27" (mDP)

For some reason, the HD620 can't seem to get an HDMI signal over the XCM cable unless I set the XBOX 360 to standard definition (480p). It doesn't look spectacular but it does work. For my purposes, I'm overall satisfied with the setup. There aren't too many exclusives on the 360 that interest me, but I had started playing "Lost Odyssey", "Halo: Reach" and "Alan Wake" a while back, and now I can finish their campaigns w/o having to buy a whole new 360 which I probably wouldn't play much anyways. For future games, I'm probably just going to buy a Playstation 3. All the new games I'm personally interested in are for the PS3 or cross platform, and a PS3 should work with the HD620 @ 720p/1080p . I'm guessing all my issues between the 360 and the Atlona converter were simply due to the analog VGA port.
 
I'm in the middle of a major overhaul on parts of my house. I set up my monitors roughly for the moment just to test them during my return period. I have an ergo arm to put the ACD on later, and some cable ties and sleeves and such. But its working for now , if a little sloppy. The pic didn't turn out very well either. Its from a camera phone and the brightness of the screens was too much for it so its blown out. Anyway here it is:

27inCinema_19inAsus-x2_a.jpg



Once I tweaked the ACD and the side monitors and got used to using them , I am very happy with them. The apple cinema display looks jaw-dropping. HD art and photos are amazing looking. Games look great too.

I'll post another pic someday - whenever I get the lcd arm installed and tidy up a little. I'm using blocks of wood and shims and books to get all the monitors brackets working and balanced right now lol.
 
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