I sure hope AMD gets Eyefinity working without DP

[Snowdog]

Simple passive adapters simply connect the right lines to the right places. It relies on the port itself being able to output alternate signals like DVI. This is what you expect in Mac notebooks. The output is really a DVI/DP port with a DP connector. You just need a passive adapter to get at the DVI signals.

DP on these cards are pure native DP. If you want DVI you need a converter, to change the DP signal protocols into DVI. This is more expensive, and likely prone to odd glitches. I would really avoid at all costs.

BTW this is why the same problem exists getting an adapter for the new 24" DP mac monitor. It is a pure native DP input, so you need a converter and not a simple adapter.

IMO stay away from any setup that requires an actual converter. If I had three DVI monitors and wanted to do this, I would prefer to sell one and replace it with a DP monitor rather than use a converter.

 

[Zorachus]

Well you are looking for someone to blame, point fingers at the reporters as AMD Website has it listed that display port is needed.

I know, I just thought a basic adapter would be available to make the third monitor with DVI-D work. I mean I have been setting up computers and home theater stuff up for years and there is always some sort of adapter for everything. Just what I have been reading about these DP adapters a lot of them are still not working for Eyefinity, I thought Kyle said even the $100 was giving them issues ?

 

[Zorachus]

IMO stay away from any setup that requires an actual converter. If I had three DVI monitors and wanted to do this, I would prefer to sell one and replace it with a DP monitor rather than use a converter.

I agree, but in my case with already having one sweet monitor the Apple 30" Display, there are no Display Port monitors that would go well on either side of this beast ? I don't want two more 30", that is big bucks and too extreme a res to game with.

That's why the two 20" of 1600x1200res monitors flipped up in Portrait mode would be awesome next to my 30", but those are outdated monitors now a days, none of them had Display Port. So really not too sure what my options are for Eyefinity, but also keeping this Apple 30" ?

 

[DanNeely]

they made the switch to display port because it can handle much higher resolutions than dvi/hdmi can do. all you guys who have a 30" display are maxing out dvi/hdmi. when the next gen of large/hi-res screens come out, you wont be using dvi thats for sure.

display port has the roughly the same bandwidth as a a dual link DVI port (2x HDMI); but in an HDMI sized package. 7.92 vs 8.64gbit/sec will only matter at 2560x1600x30bit (vs 24 max for DVI). At lower resolutions both will support up to 48bit color.

Not being an interim connector displayport doesn't have any analog signaling pings. Having fewer pins/wires makes the port simpler to implement and cables cheaper, but we're only looking at a few bucks of savings, ditto for the fact that there's a licensing charge for HDMI. The main longterm benefit for consumers will be many monitor support. You can cram 6 displayports into a single width card, and 3 into a half height vs only 2 or 1 DVI ports.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort

 

[Zorachus]

I think the only size that would work on either side of a 30" display that also has Display Port standard is a 20" 1600x900res monitor ? Flipped up in Portrait mode so it is 900x1600res. So would look like this; 1 - 20" of 900x1600res + 1 - 30" of 2560x1600res + 1 - 20" of 900x1600res = total res of 4360x1600res, and all three monitors having the same vertical or height res should work for Eyefinity ? So would be Portrait mode + Landscape mode + Portrait mode.

And these are pretty affordable monitors;
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-8321

 

[DanNeely]

Unfortunately by looking at the viewing angle specs that's also a TN display. using them in portrait means that the nasty color/contrast shifting that was in the vertical angle where it doesn't matter much becomes horizontal and will generally be looked at from an angle. You really need a minimum of a *VA panel to use as a side monitor in portrait mode.


EDIT: In any event, 1600x900 20" is 92DPI vs 100DPI in 1600x1200 or 2560x1600. To keep the DPI (and screen height) the same you'd need an 18" 1600x900 monitor. A bit of quick googling didn't find anything in that form factor.

 

[Zorachus]

Unfortunately by looking at the viewing angle specs that's also a TN display. using them in portrait means that the nasty color/contrast shifting that was in the vertical angle where it doesn't matter much becomes horizontal and will generally be looked at from an angle. You really need a minimum of a *VA panel to use as a side monitor in portrait mode.

Damn Thanks for the advice, but that blows. hmm I am fucked then with this Apple 30" and not being able to do Eyefinity ? Only monitors that go well next to it are the old 20" 1600x1200res flipped in Portrait, but have NO Display Port, and will not work with Eyefinity
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-4687

And your saying that 20" of 1600x900res is crap for gaming in Portrait, and wrong size anyways. What option do I have then, and also keeping this Apple 30" Display, but going Eyefinity ? I wish those Dell 20" 2007FP's would work, they are nice displays, and I thought still good viewing even in Portrait mode ? But with no Display Port connection can not do Eyefinity

 

[cybereality]

display port has the roughly the same bandwidth as a a dual link DVI port (2x HDMI); but in an HDMI sized package. 7.92 vs 8.64gbit/sec will only matter at 2560x1600x30bit (vs 24 max for DVI). At lower resolutions both will support up to 48bit color.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort

Amazing. We are going to have to go through all this trouble (and $$$) to upgrade our equipment and DisplayPort barely even has any practical benefit. Then like next year they will bring out DisplayPort 1.2, which is not compatible with any current hardware (I bet). What a sham.

 

[Smiththers2]

i thought i read on here somewhere, something to do with the brand new card that they chose DP because of its ability to do higher resolutions. i might have misread something but thats just what i remember...

 

[DanNeely]

Damn Thanks for the advice, but that blows. hmm I am fucked then with this Apple 30" and not being able to do Eyefinity ? Only monitors that go well next to it are the old 20" 1600x1200res flipped in Portrait, but have NO Display Port, and will not work with Eyefinity
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...etail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-4687

And your saying that 20" of 1600x900res is crap for gaming in Portrait, and wrong size anyways. What option do I have then, and also keeping this Apple 30" Display, but going Eyefinity ? I wish those Dell 20" 2007FP's would work, they are nice displays, and I thought still good viewing even in Portrait mode ? But with no Display Port connection can not do Eyefinity

Unfortunately your only options appear to be buying a powered displayport-DVI/HDMI adaptor, trade your current 30" in for a display port capable model, or hope that ATI/an ati card vendor upgrades the card to use 2xdvi+hdmi at once.

 

[DanNeely]

Amazing. We are going to have to go through all this trouble (and $$$) to upgrade our equipment and DisplayPort barely even has any practical benefit. Then like next year they will bring out DisplayPort 1.2, which is not compatible with any current hardware (I bet). What a sham.

the difference is that $5/device is chump change for a consumer $1/device (remember the middlemen) is real money for a vendor making millions of devices, and since it's the hardware vendors who make the decisions they go with what's best for them. Unfortunately in this case ATI made a decision that's going to get them a lot of flack.

Edit: Displayport is still on the wrong side of the chicken/egg line with apple currently being the only major company to have gone into large scale adoption of the standard. If ATI's support continues down to the lowend 5xxx series cards as well it's finally going to get the kick into mainstream.

 

[sonofander]

I sure hope they fix this, and NOT needing to wait for the 5870X2 card or special "Eyefinity" edition card, but make it work for all of us that spent the cash on the new 5870. I was happy to spend my money on AMD/ATI I like to support the underdog.

Only few ways they can do this to keep customers happy, A driver update fixes it, or firmware bios update. Or they find a way to make the cheap DP to DVI-D adapters to make it work, but then I would want some coupon to buy one, or discount.

Right now, I sort of feel cheated with Eyefinity, I cant use it, because none of my displays have Display Port, I really didn't know it was a MUST at first.

so youhave 3 monitors and a 5870?
does the card power all 3 monitors with a cheap dp to dvi adaptor? I know we can't enable eyefinity, but can you at least run the 3 monitors seperately?

 

[Zorachus]

Unfortunately your only options appear to be buying a powered displayport-DVI/HDMI adaptor, trade your current 30" in for a display port capable model, or hope that ATI/an ati card vendor upgrades the card to use 2xdvi+hdmi at once.

Do you have a link to that adapter ? And does anyone have real world experience of that adapter working with Eyefinty ? I thought Kyle said they had a $100 adapter for testing and was still giving issues with Eyefinty and not working 100% correctly ?

 

[sgrinavi]

The card was just released, blows the doors of everything else, costs under $400 and you guys are bitching about having to purchase an adapter? How long did it take the green guys to get SLI working on two monitors? Does anyone remember when an 8800 GTX was $600?

EVEN if you flip the c-note for the adapter It makes your total investment in a video card still under the price of a GTX 295....

 

[Zorachus]

The card was just released, blows the doors of everything else, costs under $400 and you guys are bitching about having to purchase an adapter? How long did it take the green guys to get SLI working on two monitors? Does anyone remember when an 8800 GTX was $600?

EVEN if you flip the c-note for the adapter It makes your total investment in a video card still under the price of a GTX 295....

Buying the adapter is not a problem for me really. Just that from I have read they don't work ? At least the cheap ones for sure do not work at all, they need to have power, and the $100 adapter I thought Kyle said himself was still giving them issues and not allowing Eyefinity to work correctly ?

So no problem I will buy the adapter today, as long as I know 100% it will work, and so far no one can answer that it seems ?

I don't want to spend my money on A; the wrong adapter, or B; find out this still doesn't allow Eyefinity to work
http://www.widescreengamingforum.co...p=166280&sid=ff3ceeccc29a88bdc425245df77e05af

 

[Zorachus]

So if you do NOT have a Display Port monitor, but want to run triple screens for gaming Eyefinity style with the new Radeon HD 5870, you MUST have one of these ?
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...x?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=330-5521#Overview

Per this forum post;
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16792&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=225

But I can't say 100% if this really does work, will have to watch those widescreengaming forums this week, few of the guys bought the Dell adapter, so we will know whether or not if it does indeed work ?

 

[vjcsmoke]

Since you haven't purchased the side monitors yet, I'd wait for confirmation that the adapter works before plunking down $100 on it. This is a little bit off-putting that Eyefinity is not working out of the box with the outputs that MOST people still use. I mean how much would it have cost to put that 3rd chip onboard to make sure people could do 2xdvi + hdmi or 2x dvi + 1 dp to dvi passive adapter? Eyefinity was a selling point for me, and for this feature not to work out of the box or at least with an included adapter is disappointing.

 

[FranklyShankly]

Well, I'm not sure how i missed this info until now. This is an absolutely huge disappointment. Horrible execution by ATI yet again that is making me want to return my 5870. I was excited about buying 2 more identical (DVI) monitors to the one I have and a cheap adapter. If this will not work, why the hell did they promote Eyefinity so much? Sorry, I don't want to have to buy 3 displayport monitors to use it, nor do I want to use mismatched monitors. 15 minutes ago I thought I could get 2 more monitors and an adapter for 400 bucks, now that whole plan is useless.

 

[inotocracy]

Ouch-- so no confirmation if this $100 adapter will solve the issue? Well, that sucks majorly. Heres hoping that a refresh will allow HDMI+DVIx2. Gives me a little bit of time to get two additional 24"

 

[Ualdayan]

Ouch-- so no confirmation if this $100 adapter will solve the issue? Well, that sucks majorly. Heres hoping that a refresh will allow HDMI+DVIx2. Gives me a little bit of time to get two additional 24"

The $100 adapters do solve the issue.

Here's what you need:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q191/Wheelerdealers/TripleHDTV-cables.jpg

See that thing on the bottom there? With the displayport cable going into it, a DVI to HDMI adapter connected to it, and the USB cord (for power) coming out of it?

Just look at the picture of whatever adapter you buy. If you don't see SOME method of power input (like USB) then it isn't active.

 

[SicKlown42012]

Active adapters aren't an ideal solution due to the fact that there are still compatibility issues. Even Kyle has said that while using an active adapter, he's having problems getting it to work in games.

 

[Zorachus]

The $100 adapters do solve the issue.

Here's what you need:
http://i136.photobucket.com/albums/q191/Wheelerdealers/TripleHDTV-cables.jpg

See that thing on the bottom there? With the displayport cable going into it, a DVI to HDMI adapter connected to it, and the USB cord (for power) coming out of it?

Just look at the picture of whatever adapter you buy. If you don't see SOME method of power input (like USB) then it isn't active.

Yep, that should work I hope ?
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/...x?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=330-5521#Overview

We will know for sure later this week, a few of the guys on widescreenfourms bought one, waiting for it to arrive

 

[sgrinavi]

Refurbed Dell 24's with DP are going for $275 on fleabay, maybe the solution is to put the extra $100 into the monitor?

 

[FranklyShankly]

Refurbed Dell 24's with DP are going for $275 on fleabay, maybe the solution is to put the extra $100 into the monitor?

I would prefer to use identical monitors, so no height/bezel size mismatch, as well as panel color differences. Shouldn't be a choice we have to make imo.

 

[cybereality]

Refurbed Dell 24's with DP are going for $275 on fleabay, maybe the solution is to put the extra $100 into the monitor?

But then you will have a mis-matched frankenstein display setup which is probably worse then just paying the $100 port tax.

 

[sgrinavi]

I would prefer to use identical monitors, so no height/bezel size mismatch, as well as panel color differences. Shouldn't be a choice we have to make imo.

But then you will have a mis-matched frankenstein display setup which is probably worse then just paying the $100 port tax.

You guys are right. The different monitors would take away from the coolness factor. As for the color mis-match I have that with a pair of 24's that I purchased together with fairly close serial numbers.

I'm waiting for the dust to settle then I may just go for three dell 24's...

 

[0ptional]

so youhave 3 monitors and a 5870?
does the card power all 3 monitors with a cheap dp to dvi adaptor? I know we can't enable eyefinity, but can you at least run the 3 monitors seperately?

Would love to know the answer to this question. I'm only interested in the triple monitor support for hooking up my HDTV full-time, I could care less for Eyefinity with my setup right now.

 

[Markdek]

Would love to know the answer to this question. I'm only interested in the triple monitor support for hooking up my HDTV full-time, I could care less for Eyefinity with my setup right now.

I'm curious too?!

 

[Omarko]

Will Eyefinity definitely support CF in the future ?

also, can we get a confirmation if Eyefinity works with 3 x DVI LCDs when using two of the 5870 cards ?

thanks

 

[Snowdog]

That's why the two 20" of 1600x1200res monitors flipped up in Portrait mode would be awesome next to my 30", but those are outdated monitors now a days, none of them had Display Port. So really not too sure what my options are for Eyefinity, but also keeping this Apple 30" ?

Finally read confirmation that, as I suspected, this mixed mode is NOT SUPPORTED, so you have more than a DP issue.

For Eyefinity, All three monitors must be in the same orientation. All landscape or all portrait.

Confirmation from an ATI guy here:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=166620#166620

 

[mjz_5]

people gotta stop bitching about a new feature.. it works, they are not lying, it states clearly u need a DisplayPort monitor.. If you dont have one, too bad

 

[Zorachus]

Finally read confirmation that, as I suspected, this mixed mode is NOT SUPPORTED, so you have more than a DP issue.

For Eyefinity, All three monitors must be in the same orientation. All landscape or all portrait.

Confirmation from an ATI guy here:
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=166620#166620

I know Dave B responded to my question in there, I am Darthdingo So that sucks, not sure what to do now with my Apple 30" Display and Eyefinity ? Even if I had the cash to buy 2 more 30" Displays which I don't, that is way too big a res to game on smoothly anyways.

So my only other option is to save up some cash and maybe go for either 3 new 1920x1200res monitors from Dell, but that can still get pricey, or I wonder how bad the lower res looks of 1920x1080, three of those can be found for much much cheaper

 

[Standpoint]

Earlier in this thread someone posted something stating that a TV tuner is required? Why?

 

[gigasmack]

Earlier in this thread someone posted something stating that a TV tuner is required? Why?

That makes no sense

 

[Standpoint]

Well you are looking for someone to blame, point fingers at the reporters as AMD Website has it listed that display port is needed.

1. Driver version 8.66 (Catalyst 9.10) or above is required to support ATI Eyefinity technology and to enable a third display you require one panel with a DisplayPort connector.
2. ATI Eyefinity technology works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios which is required for panning across three displays.
3. TV Tuner required, sold separately.
4. Linux support scheduled to be enabled via a future ATI Catalyst™ driver release.


This was where I got the TV tuner requirement from?

 

[Andrmgic]

1. Driver version 8.66 (Catalyst 9.10) or above is required to support ATI Eyefinity technology and to enable a third display you require one panel with a DisplayPort connector.
2. ATI Eyefinity technology works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios which is required for panning across three displays.
3. TV Tuner required, sold separately.
4. Linux support scheduled to be enabled via a future ATI Catalyst™ driver release.


This was where I got the TV tuner requirement from?

Entertainment
Maximize your leisure time:

* Group multiple monitors into a large integrated display surface for the ultimate wide-screen home theater display.
* View TV sports, movies, or video entertainment on one monitor while viewing online stats, Internet pages, or games on other displays.3
* Flexibly configure monitors in various combinations of landscape and portrait orientations for specialized video and audio editing applications.


Tv tuner is required for the line marked with a 3.. the 1, 2, 3 ,4 are fine-print.

 

[Banks]

I just dropped $93 on the dell adapter w/ my ghetto employee discount. The dell adapter is made by Bizlink and is the same unit used by ATI to demo their eyefinity setups as pictured above.

 

[Zorachus]

I just dropped $93 on the dell adapter w/ my ghetto employee discount. The dell adapter is made by Bizlink and is the same unit used by ATI to demo their eyefinity setups as pictured above.

What setup of monitors you going to run ?

 

[Banks]

What setup of monitors you going to run ?

Just going to run my 3 Dell 1907FP's @ 3840x1024...without a Matrox

 

[Zorachus]

Just going to run my 3 Dell 1907FP's @ 3840x1024...without a Matrox

That should still be fun What games you playing the most ? And post some pic's of that setup when it is operational