7970 and multiple displays....

A

AnonymousUser

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I'm just curious if I can get rid of both of my 6950's which have four displays connected to them and just go with one 7970. My question
is will the 7970 run all four screens at the same time? Or would I still need two video cards?



Displays: 47" 1080P LCD , 2007FP - 3008WFP - 2007FP




T[h]anks
 
You can get 2 active adapters (about $30 each) and run all 4 at the same time, even with one 6950.
 
I was hoping you could do it without those things these days. :(
Where is the best place to buy those? Is there a best brand?

Never really looked into them...and thanks!
 
Your monitors indicate a PLP setup with a fourth large 47 inch monitor. Eyefinity still doesn't work with PLP and probably never will. With just individual monitors, I'm not sure why you needed 2 video cards for 4 monitors even with the 6950's. My Sapphire HD6950 is configured for 4 monitors with 2 via DP, and 2 with DVI. DP to DVI active adapters aren't that expensive. If you don't need eyefinity which your system doesn't support anyway, the passive DP to DVI single-link adapter for under $10 would probably work. I claim no expertise in these adapters though since I don't have to use them; my monitors have DP ports.
 
grandpatzer said:
yes this should work, I think you can have the HDMI for tv and all other to pc/eyefinity.

do you want to run 4 display eyefinity aswell?
Click to expand...

yeah.. I currently have a 5870 and had to setup just 2 monitors and a tv in a certain way because of some clock limitation.

Was wondering if the 7970 is the same... I'll have 3 dvi monitors and 1 hdmi tv
 
mlcarson said:
Your monitors indicate a PLP setup with a fourth large 47 inch monitor. Eyefinity still doesn't work with PLP and probably never will. With just individual monitors, I'm not sure why you needed 2 video cards for 4 monitors even with the 6950's. My Sapphire HD6950 is configured for 4 monitors with 2 via DP, and 2 with DVI. DP to DVI active adapters aren't that expensive. If you don't need eyefinity which your system doesn't support anyway, the passive DP to DVI single-link adapter for under $10 would probably work. I claim no expertise in these adapters though since I don't have to use them; my monitors have DP ports.
Click to expand...

I just want P-L-P, not eyefinity (well it would be awesome but not my point). I went with two video cards for the crossfire power on my 30" LCD. I just want to upgrade to the newer 7970 but can only afford one at the moment. I was unsure about the four monitors on one display thing cause I just never tried it. Plus I always thought you needed active adapters which seemed stupid since the card should come with the needed connectors from the manufacturer themselves. However since I was running two cards it wasn't an issue.

So can I do the following on one 6950 (with no active adapters)?

Dell 30" --------------> Display Port
47" LCD -------------> HDMI
(2) 2007FP's -------> (2) DVI's


Or would I still need active adapters (6950 or 7970)? I plan on selling both of my 6950's and moving to a 7970 either way. Just wondering.





Side Note: I'm waiting for the MSI Twin Frozr 7970's to come out before upgrading. So being able to use one 6950 with four displays while waiting would be nice
since I'm not playing any games right now anyway.
 
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AnonymousUser said:
I just want P-L-P, not eyefinity (well it would be awesome but not my point). I went with two video cards for the crossfire power on my 30" LCD. I just want to upgrade to the newer 7970 but can only afford one at the moment. I was unsure about the four monitors on one display thing cause I just never tried it. Plus I always thought you needed active adapters which seemed stupid since the card should come with the needed connectors from the manufacturer themselves. However since I was running two cards it wasn't an issue.

So can I do the following on one 6950 (with no active adapters)?

Dell 30" --------------> Display Port
47" LCD -------------> HDMI
(2) 2007FP's -------> (2) DVI's


Or would I still need active adapters (6950 or 7970)? I plan on selling both of my 6950's and moving to a 7970 either way. Just wondering.
Click to expand...

Will not work like that. Besides, the 7970 only has 1 DVI port. One of the DVI ports on the 6950 is shared with the HDMI port.

No, passive display adapters will not work. You need active display adapters.

All 68xx, 69xx, and 79xx graphics cards can support up to 6 monitors. However, at least 4 need to be connected by displayport. Here is the technical explanation:

99% of graphics cards only come with two clock generators. One clock generator is required per video stream for HDMI, DVI, and VGA ports. Thus, the maximum number of displays supported showing different video streams is 2. Displayport gets around this limitation because it does not need a clock generator, which is why AMD chose Displayport as a way to get the third monitor, unlike nVidia, which requires two cards in SLI. Passive adapters will not work because the output stream must be in displayport, so an active adapter is needed to actively convert the displayport signal to DVI.

Cards with Displayport 1.2 can theoretically output 3 video streams per displayport output, which gives the regular 68xx, 69xx, and 79xx cards the ability to support 6 monitors with 2 displayport connections. However, this requires one of two things: monitors that support daisy-chaining of displayport, or a displayport MST hub. So far, the only monitor capable of daisy-chaining is top-end Apple Cinema displays, and displayport 1.2 MST hubs are still strangely absent.

Because of this, stock 68xx, 69xx, and 79xx will only support 4 monitors. 2 by HDMI/DVI, and 2 by Displayport. Special Eyefinity6 edition cards typically have 6 Displayport connectors.
 
AnonymousUser said:
Awesome info, thanks! Where is the best place to buy the best active adapters?


Again, Thanks!
Click to expand...

I would say Amazon has the best prices. Do NOT get the Cirago adapter, it's a piece of crap (personal experience). I'm currently using the Sapphire mini-DP to DVI active adapter. Cost me just over $26 shipped from Amazon.
 
AnonymousUser said:
Is there any downside to using this/these compared to having two video cards?
Click to expand...

Not quite sure I understand your question...

In your case, since you're not doing eyefinity, you can have your 7970 powering your main 30" monitor, and one of the screens, while having a cheap GT520 handle the other two monitors. That way, you have minimal impact on performance on your main monitor. I expect the impacts to be minimal at best, since it is such a powerful card, and Windows Aero isn't that intensive.

However, to do eyefinity, you need the adapter, since eyefinity requires all of the monitors to be included in the eyefinity group to be connected to the main card.

So, I would look at it from a cost perspective, if you're not concerned with eyefinity gaming. Two of those adapters will cost you over $50. A GT 520 would probably cost you somewhere around $20 or 30, but won't give you eyefinity capabilities. The GT 520 will take up a PCI-E slot, which you may or may not need. It would also add some additional heat to your case.
 
I was mainly concerned about any possible weird limitations using these active adapters may bring to the surface. Sounds like
they'll work good enough until I move to a second 7970 down the road (well that's if these 6950's sell to allow me to order a first one...lol).

Thanks
 
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