How to run three monitors and one HDTV with XFX R9 285 black edition

thomasjn0306 · May 27, 2015

I currently have three monitors hooked up two with DVI and one with display port to Hdmi. When I connect an Hdmi cable from my HDTV to my PC the PC recognizes the monitor but the HDTV says nothing is connected. please help!

hotter-than-Vishera · May 27, 2015

If the PC recognizes the TV, then this probably isn't a graphics card problem.
Make sure your PC is actually using the monitor, first of all.
And the graphics card may not support more than three monitors; it's just an R9 285 after all. Try unplugging one of the monitors first, then plugging in the HDTV.
If none of the above works, then it's probably a cable issue.

thomasjn0306 · May 27, 2015

hotter-than-Vishera :

I was hoping it wasn't that the card does not support it, when I unplug one monitor the hdtv will show up. What would be a good card that supports 4 monitors without blowing too much money?

rhysiam · May 27, 2015

It's very hard to get info on this and unfortunately hugely confusing, but AMD cards have a limit on the number of non-displayport monitors you can connect. With older cards (280, 280X), you were limited to two displays via HDMI/DVI/VGA, then the rest needed to be displayport connections. With newer cards (285, 290, 290X) you can have 3 non-displayport connections, but the rest must be DP.

That's why you can have any 3, but not 4 connected, as none of your connections are native DP.

The solution is a simple one, get an "ACTIVE" (must have that word), or "EYEFINITY" DP -> DVI/HDMI adapter. The active adapters function like a native DP connection and will allow you to get 4 displays from that card.

rhysiam · May 27, 2015

Something like this for $13 would do the trick just fine: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812423139&cm_re=active_displayport_adapter-_-12-423-139-_-Product

FYI, that card actually supports up to 6 displays if you use an MST hub. But that's more expensive.

thomasjn0306 · May 27, 2015

rhysiam :

Awesome! thank you very much for the info. This has been a week long search for me and I finally broke down and asked. Ill order an active adapter and give it a try. Again thank you very much.

rhysiam · May 27, 2015

thomasjn0306 :

Glad it's helpful and hope it all works... it certainly should. Post back with your results as it'll help others in future.

With the older GCN 1.0 cards such as the 280/280X (=7950/7970), the limitation got a fair bit of attention because people required the native DP or active adapter for 3 screen eyefinity setups, which are relatively common. It used to come up here on the forums all the time and a simple google search would throw up the solution pretty quick.

Since AMD the newer cards upped the non-displayport connections from 2 to 3, those standard 3 display eyefinity setups are now covered. With 4 display setups being pretty rare and usually involving at least one native displayport monitor anyway, it seems like lots of the notes and supports on the limitation have just about disappeared. It certainly doesn't crop up as easily in a google search that's for sure. I think AMD should definitely be doing a better job of communicating this to customers, it's not listed on their official spec sheets and it does catch people.

Anyway, at least there's a fairly simple and cheap solution. It's just frustrating that it takes people a week and a forum post to find it out!

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