setting up triple monitors - active cable needed?

Jynantonix · Aug 28, 2014

I currently have 1440p 27" Korean make monitor and a 22" Samsung setup running on a AMD 7970Ghz. I have a spare 22" and was thinking about hooking it up to enjoy a triple monitor goodness for a racing sim I play. I was about to buy a Mini display port to DVI cable off amazon when I saw one of the comments saying he needed an active display cable rather than passive.

My understanding is that my 1440p monitor is already using an active cable and I've heard that only 1 out of the 3 cables need to be active. Can I go ahead and buy the passive cable and assume it will work?

wildfire707 · Aug 28, 2014

The straight DVI cables are passive (of course). You will need an active DisplayPort to DVI adapter.

An adapter that will work is:

http://www.amazon.com/Accell-UltraAV-B087B-002B-DisplayPort-Dual-Link/dp/B002ISVI3U

It still needs a dual link DVI cable, so you will need three dual link DVI cables total.

AMD has a guide on using multiple monitors at:

http://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/MultimonitorFAQ.aspx

But some of the links don't work at the current time (they used to).

Jynantonix · Aug 29, 2014

Thank for your reply. That thing is seriously expensive, do you see any reason this won't work?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Generic-DisplayPort-Active-Support-Eyefinity/dp/B00M9ZTXHA/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&qid=1409307402&sr=8-12&keywords=active+dvi+mini+display+port

wildfire707 · Aug 29, 2014

Jynantonix :

You are right that the one I listed is expensive, but that is because it has a converter chip in it that translates the protocol and supports higher resolutions. Converters that are not powered (like the one you linked to) are normally limited to lower resolutions - the web store page lists 1920 x 1200 as its maximum resolution.

The adapter I listed also supports resolutions up to 2560 x 1600 as its maximum, so part of it depends on the resolution of the monitor you will be running.

Also keep in mind that powered adapters are much faster performing the conversion, so they are normally better suited for gaming. The adapter you linked to may work, but it may have problems with refreshing the screen fast enough (you never know until you try it out, though).

If you do need the adapter I listed, the Amazon UK link for it is at:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Accell-UltraAV-B087B-002B-DisplayPort-Dual-Link/dp/B002ISVI3U/

sora · Aug 29, 2014

That DisplayPort adapter would definitely work. If it doesn't work the way you expected it to work than just return it.

wildfire707 · Aug 29, 2014

sora :

Definitely try out the less expensive one - as sora mentioned, you can always return it (or throw it in a cupboard, it costs less than 10 pounds).

Jynantonix · Aug 29, 2014

yeh definitely, I only need it to run a 1680x1050 22", so going to give it a go. Will report back outcome for future googlers. Thanks for advice so far guys.

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