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Do I need an Active DP Adapter?

T

Trackr

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Feb 10, 2011
Messages
1,786
I have an HD 6950 in my HTPC.

I want to connect the HTPC to:

1.) LG 24" 1080p Monitor.
2.) Optoma HD20 Projector.
3.) Samsung LA37C530 HDTV.

So, I get that I can connect two via DVI.

It's the third that is tricky..

I don't need "Eyefinity", as in one image split across 3 screens.

I want to clone the image across all the screens.

So, do I still need the 'Active' DisplayPort adapter, or can I go with the 'Passive'?

Thanks
 
You should be able to use a passive DP adapter. Does the projector support any resolutions over 1920x1080? IF it does, then you'll need an active adapter (since I assume the LG 24" will be connected to the DL-DVI port and the Samsung TV will be connected via HDMI).
 
1920x1200 and below you do not need active DP.

I haven't needed it for driving my 3 U2410s
 
just to clarify the previous post, the need for active versus passive abovr 1920x1080 is because it goes into Dual-Link territory, not the resolution itself. So technically, you are running 4 monitors.
 
So, I can run the monitor on Passive and it will be fine?

I won't risk it on the projector.

It will go this way:

Projector - HDMI
TV - DVI-HDMI
Monitor - Passive Mini-DP-DVI

Is that good?
 
sorry to be rude, but so far everyone has provided incorrect information.

First thing is, you are going to be using Eyefinity. you wont be using it SLS mode (single large surface) but you will be using eyefinity.

you need an active DP adapter because because your video card only has support for 2 legacy displays, but you want to use 3 legacy displays. see, what happens when you use a passive DP adapter, it actually steals one of the HDMI or DVI connections and just passes it through the DP port.

if you are already using 2 DVI ports, there arent any more legacy display connections availible for the DP port to 'steal' so to speak. when you use an active display port, your video card is agnostic to the fact that you're connecting 3 legacy displays. it actually thinks that you have 2 legacy displays and one DP display.

if you have a Dual Link DVI, you need a special kind of DP adapter which costs about $90 instead of $30 and takes power from the USB port.

Trackr said:
It will go this way:

Projector - HDMI
TV - DVI-HDMI
Monitor - Passive Mini-DP-DVI

Is that good?
Click to expand...

If you do that, either the projector or the TV wont work. the video card will take one of the two connections (probably the HDMI) and reroute it to the monitor via DP.

risqu3 said:
1920x1200 and below you do not need active DP.

I haven't needed it for driving my 3 U2410s
Click to expand...

could that possibly be because your monitor is DP native? you think?
 
Last edited:
There are 2 kinds of "Active" adapters. The expensive ones that take USB power, and support dual-link, and then the ones that DONT take usb power, and DONT do dual link, but still say active on them. You need the latter type. These commonly come bundled with video cards.
 
You need an active adapter for using more than 2 displays. No matter if you need eyefinity or not.
 
Procyon12 said:
sorry to be rude, but so far everyone has provided incorrect information.

First thing is, you are going to be using Eyefinity. you wont be using it SLS mode (single large surface) but you will be using eyefinity.

you need an active DP adapter because because your video card only has support for 2 legacy displays, but you want to use 3 legacy displays. see, what happens when you use a passive DP adapter, it actually steals one of the HDMI or DVI connections and just passes it through the DP port.

if you are already using 2 DVI ports, there arent any more legacy display connections availible for the DP port to 'steal' so to speak. when you use an active display port, your video card is agnostic to the fact that you're connecting 3 legacy displays. it actually thinks that you have 2 legacy displays and one DP display.

if you have a Dual Link DVI, you need a special kind of DP adapter which costs about $90 instead of $30 and takes power from the USB port.



If you do that, either the projector or the TV wont work. the video card will take one of the two connections (probably the HDMI) and reroute it to the monitor via DP.



could that possibly be because your monitor is DP native? you think?
Click to expand...


Quoted for the 100% delicious correctness I was about to post. You NEED an active adapter with > 2 DVI/HDMI displays from an AMD GPU at the moment.
 
Thanks for clearing it up. It explains why I couldn't get three monitors working when I was using a passive adapter.
 
cliff notes:
More than 2 monitors on one AMD Eyefinity video card requires active DP adapter or DP monitor.
Greater than 1920x1200 resolution requires dual link adapter (~$100) vs single link adapters (~$30) or DP monitor
 
Slightly veering off topic, but this seems like an appropriate thread to ask about it:

when you use an active adapter, will the video card still receive "hot plug" monitoring from the monitor turning on and off? What I mean is, when a DP monitor turns off, its desktop space gets subtracted from the extended desktop, which will rearrange desktop icons, opened windows, etc. (Unlike a DVI connection, as you can still mouse into its desktop space, you just can't see it.) It's such a frustrating feature that if an active adapter blocked the hot plug monitoring, it would be worth buying one even for a monitor with native DP.
 
djsb said:
Slightly veering off topic, but this seems like an appropriate thread to ask about it:

when you use an active adapter, will the video card still receive "hot plug" monitoring from the monitor turning on and off? What I mean is, when a DP monitor turns off, its desktop space gets subtracted from the extended desktop, which will rearrange desktop icons, opened windows, etc. (Unlike a DVI connection, as you can still mouse into its desktop space, you just can't see it.) It's such a frustrating feature that if an active adapter blocked the hot plug monitoring, it would be worth buying one even for a monitor with native DP.
Click to expand...

No. Unless you have a setup like mine where I attached the DL-DVI adapter to my monitors USB HUB for power, which turns off every time I turn off the monitor.
 
Just to clear up, you would need something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Accell-B087B-...1ZXA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1337979906&sr=8-5

I have a similar one on mine. It is "active" in that it has a chip inside that converts the DP signal to a single link DVI / HDMI compatible signal. There seems to be a misunderstanding that an active adapter must require an external power source which is not technically correct. The truly "passive" adapters are an electro-mechanical device which merely re-routes the pins from a DP connector to HDMI connector and do not apply any sort of signal conversion.
 
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Procyon12 said:
sorry to be rude, but so far everyone has provided incorrect information.

First thing is, you are going to be using Eyefinity. you wont be using it SLS mode (single large surface) but you will be using eyefinity.

you need an active DP adapter because because your video card only has support for 2 legacy displays, but you want to use 3 legacy displays. see, what happens when you use a passive DP adapter, it actually steals one of the HDMI or DVI connections and just passes it through the DP port.

if you are already using 2 DVI ports, there arent any more legacy display connections availible for the DP port to 'steal' so to speak. when you use an active display port, your video card is agnostic to the fact that you're connecting 3 legacy displays. it actually thinks that you have 2 legacy displays and one DP display.

if you have a Dual Link DVI, you need a special kind of DP adapter which costs about $90 instead of $30 and takes power from the USB port.



If you do that, either the projector or the TV wont work. the video card will take one of the two connections (probably the HDMI) and reroute it to the monitor via DP.



could that possibly be because your monitor is DP native? you think?
Click to expand...
I need help. I just got zotac 1060 amp card and it has no VGA. And my crappy monitor Samsung S22C150N has only one vga out. So i tried dvi to vga adapter which didn't work. So from customer support told me to use display port adapter. I am confused with active and passive thing. I am using only one monitor. And don't want to change it. So what adapter do i need?
 
Arpan said:
I need help. I just got zotac 1060 amp card and it has no VGA. And my crappy monitor Samsung S22C150N has only one vga out. So i tried dvi to vga adapter which didn't work. So from customer support told me to use display port adapter. I am confused with active and passive thing. I am using only one monitor. And don't want to change it. So what adapter do i need?
Click to expand...

Here's the obligatory, you're in the wrong forum, but here's the info you need:

You can use any DP->VGA (or MiniDP->VGA if your card has MiniDP) to run your monitor. It turns out that every single DP->VGA adapter is active becasue DP is digital and VGA is analog, so by it's very own nature, it's active.

Just get the cheapest one you find.
 
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