2 LCD Displays at 2560 x 1600

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vbc22

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Sep 27, 2007
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Hi,

I have a Nividia GeForce 7800GT video card at 256mb.

I bought 2 Samsung 305T monitors that output at 2560 x 1600.

I have been trying to get both monitors to display at said resolutions but only 1 can reach that resolution, while the 2nd one only gets 1280 x 800.

My question is:

1. is it possible to get both monitors to display at 2560 x 1600? The card has 2 DVI inputs.

2. do i need to purchase a second card in order to achieve the above resolutions?

Thanks in advance.
 
This may have received more immediate attention in the "Display" section of the forums... I have seen questions similar to this asked there many times before...

I don't know for sure (a little too tired to look this up myself) but check to see if your card supports Dual Link DVI through both ports... In a good bit of cards only the main DVI port supports Dual Link DVI and can reach those resolutions....

If you find information telling you that your card is Dual Link DVI capable on both ports, then check the cables and make sure they are both Dual Link DVI cables...

Let us know what you find,
Fred
 
even if port2 was only a single link connection it should be able to reach 1920x1200 so that doesn't seem like the most likely cause of hte problem to me.
 
DanNeely said:
even if port2 was only a single link connection it should be able to reach 1920x1200 so that doesn't seem like the most likely cause of hte problem to me.
Click to expand...

True... And on that same token it could still be single link and in the Nvidia Control Panel he has the option set to let the Display's Hardware do the scaling.. Which would then effectively limit him to the resolution he is receiving since these 30" monitors don't have internal scalers and can only do either their listed max resolution or half of that...

So we may be on to something...

Please make sure your Nvidia Control Panel has the scaling set to the graphics card, than if you can at least receive 1920x1200 but nothing higher, you only have a single link DVI on your secondary port.

- Fred
 
On the 7800gt only one dvi port is dual link. Upgrade to a 8800gts and you will be fine.
 
DanNeely said:
even if port2 was only a single link connection it should be able to reach 1920x1200 so that doesn't seem like the most likely cause of hte problem to me.
Click to expand...

No, this is not true. Unlike 24" monitors (and lower), 30" monitors don't have a build-in video scaler. The reason for this is that there are no chips on the market that support these kind of resolutions. Monitor manufacturers have to go through a whole bunch of hoops to make it still work, but have to drop scaling in the process.
Not a big problem in most cases, because video cards are able to scale themselves, but if it's true that a 7800GTX only has 1 dual-link DVI, you're probably out of luck.

(Shameless disclaimer: at least, this was the case 1 year ago, things may have changed in the mean time.)
 
mathman said:
No, this is not true. Unlike 24" monitors (and lower), 30" monitors don't have a build-in video scaler. The reason for this is that there are no chips on the market that support these kind of resolutions. Monitor manufacturers have to go through a whole bunch of hoops to make it still work, but have to drop scaling in the process.
Not a big problem in most cases, because video cards are able to scale themselves, but if it's true that a 7800GTX only has 1 dual-link DVI, you're probably out of luck.

(Shameless disclaimer: at least, this was the case 1 year ago, things may have changed in the mean time.)
Click to expand...

gateway has a 30" coming with a scaler, not sure how they managed it. Gonna be $1600 though.

But yeah, for now the 30"'s only run at max res or quarter res.
 
Hi,

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions.

I think Peter740 is right...only one port is dual link. But why would both ports be of a dual link type of plug.

In any case, I was reccommended to upgrade the card to an 8800 series card.

Wow...those monitors weren't cheap, now I gotta buy a premium card too...well, you can't have one without the either...oh well...

But boy, do these babies look aweasome!

Thank again for your help everyone.
 
If you aren't gaming and you have room for another video card on your motherboard, you could probably just purchase another cheaper video card and use two, one for each monitor.
 
vbc22 said:
Hi,

Thank you everyone for your comments and suggestions.

I think Peter740 is right...only one port is dual link. But why would both ports be of a dual link type of plug.

In any case, I was reccommended to upgrade the card to an 8800 series card.

Wow...those monitors weren't cheap, now I gotta buy a premium card too...well, you can't have one without the either...oh well...

But boy, do these babies look aweasome!

Thank again for your help everyone.
Click to expand...

Yeah i found that out when i try to run both my dell 30 inch monitors. But in the end I picked up a pair of 8800gts 640mb used from a friend and never looked back.
 
defaultluser said:
You do not have to buy an 8800 series card if you want TWO dual-link DVI connectors. The following Nvidia cards have two dual-link connectors:

All 7900 series cards (seems you missed-out buying a 7800 card).

8600 series (both GT and GTS)

8800 series

See here for more info:

http://www.nvidia.com/page/technology_extreme_hd_gpu.html
Click to expand...

Yeah try running any games with those cards at max res and you will see why I said 8800gts 640mb at the very least.
 
Peter740 said:
Yeah try running any games with those cards at max res and you will see why I said 8800gts 640mb at the very least.
Click to expand...

He never said he was gaming at all. And trying to make with max res on a 30" screen would tax even an ultra.
 
Nope, not a gamer, but I do a lot of work on the computer and want the maximum resolution available.
 
jmackay said:
He never said he was gaming at all. And trying to make with max res on a 30" screen would tax even an ultra.
Click to expand...

No problem here. My son plays every game at 2560X1600 with max settings on his 30 inch Dell and MSI 8800Ultra.
 
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