Displayport to DVI adapter for Eyefinity

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henrystrawn

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I have 6 different LCD monitors that I have been acquiring over the past few years. I just got an 5770 and I was curious to try the eyefinity thing. I understand that I must use the displayport, but 5 of which are DVI/VGA, and 1 32" 1080p LCD TV with HDMI. Has anyone one had this same issue, and found a DP2DVI adapter to work?

Here is the adapter I was looking at getting:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812120613&cm_re=displayport_to_dvi_adapter-_-12-120-613-_-Product

I was planning on using the LCD TV flanked by 2 Acer 23" displays that are all native 1920x1080 resolution.
 
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DVI->HDMI definitely won't work because you still have the limited TMDS issue, one must remain VGA. I know for those who extended it via DP->VGA that they had to set the VGA as the highest resolution monitor;

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17468

and it looks like another person in the forum had to do it by changing resolution to get it to recognize correctly;

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/279385-33-success-eyefinity-passive-adapter

Looks like it's a little more finicky, since it doesn't have the same level of plug-n-play EDID detection awareness as DVI.

vvhocare5

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A lot of people say it must be an active DP adapter - passive ones dont work. You will spend a lot of time with weird errors if you try passive.

I did try mixed resolutions and Eyefinity defaulted to the lowest resolution which was my two side monitors of 1600x1200 (center was 1900x1200).

I was going the same route you are trying but the feedback on passive dp adapters is so bad, I ended up using a 24" with a dp input to test it out.
Now I dont know if it was just my monitors or system, but my side monitor did not like the single DVI cable, it wanted a dual to work.

The HDMI port on the card is shared with one of the DVI ports - its one or the other for Eyefinity.

Just a few things to think about....
 
Since you have this option in your setup try this before buying an adapter, it might work.

Monitor 1: DVI
Monitor 2: DVI->VGA->Monitor
Monitor 3/TV : HDMI

That should avoid the limited resources issue when connecting monitors, but I haven't tested it.

What does also work is;

Monitor 1: DVI
Monitor 2: DVI or HDMI
Monitor 3: Display port passive adapter to VGA.

The reason you cannot run a passive DP to DVI is there are no more TMDS onboard to run the monitor.

If you want all three DVI, or 2 DVI and 1 HDMI then you need an active DP adapter, THAT adapter you linked to will not work for triple DVI, but you could try it for DVI+VGA+DP->DVI, but I would recommend setup one to test that first it's more likely to work without having to buy something.
 

henrystrawn

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Thank you guys for your help. I understand a little more of what is required and what is going on with the video processing. It got me pointed in the right direction. The descriptions of eyefinity on the card manufacturer's and ATI website were quite vague. I need to dig deeper. It might take some horse tradin' with my wife, she's been wanting a second display for her laptop (Asus G72GX). Off I go for more research, thanks for the nudge in the right direction.
 

henrystrawn

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I spent some time looking at active DP2DVI adapters, and decided if I have to spend that much on an adapter, I should just buy a monitor with a DP. I don't mind showing my ignorance, but my reasoning is that I want three digital signals. It seems counter-intuitive to drop back to an analog signal. I guess I should just set it up and see if I can tell the difference. the question I have is, is analog that much worse? Or have I fallen for the marketing hype? (again/still)
 
Over short distances it makes little difference.
The shortcomings of analogue are over longer distances and with poor cables, most of the time it's more of an issue the quality of the monitor than the type of signal. Even for the worst situation for a peripheral monitor it would be fine.

If you already have the hardware I would say try it first since it's no cost.

I use 2 LCDs hooked up via DVI surrounding one big CRT on VGA every day, and once calibrated they look identical.
 

henrystrawn

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I hooked up the monitors as follows

HDMI = LCD TV
DVI = Mag 22"
DVI>VGA = Acer 20"

In ATI CCC I tried to extend to all displays. To extend to display 3 is says I have to disable a display, pick one. I swapped the DVI and DVI>VGA, on the video card, no change. I still can't get 3 monitors active.

Any suggestions while I butter up my wife for a display with a DP?

thanks again for your patience.
 
DVI->HDMI definitely won't work because you still have the limited TMDS issue, one must remain VGA. I know for those who extended it via DP->VGA that they had to set the VGA as the highest resolution monitor;

http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17468

and it looks like another person in the forum had to do it by changing resolution to get it to recognize correctly;

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/279385-33-success-eyefinity-passive-adapter

Looks like it's a little more finicky, since it doesn't have the same level of plug-n-play EDID detection awareness as DVI.
 
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henrystrawn

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Greatgrapeape,

thank you so much for the discussion on this. I came across both threads while I was seaching for an active adapter. I feel a little silly now, the question has all ready been answered before. In the beginning, I guess I didn't know the right way to ask it. After some thought about the DVI->HDMI I edited the question from my post. I think I know what I need now, besides a bunch more money. Thanks again
 

northblade

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Doesn't this link prove that SOME passive adapters work? It's a list of validated adapters right on their site for use with eyefinity... and a good portion of them are listed 'passive' right on there.

http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity-dongles.aspx

I'm just trying to clarify, as there is so much mixed information regarding eyefinity and passive adapters. From what I understand, the problem with passive adapters is the bandwidth limitation by not being pushed by an external source, like the usb port, and as such cannot drive a high resolution through it, not just that it 'wont work'.

I don't really want to spend upwards of $100 just because everyone else may be going on a misconception. Does anyone have a definite answer with first hand experience?
 

paperfox

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Most of those adapters look likr brand new products right out of the R&D factory. It seems like the market has come up with new adapters to work with eyefinity and the prospect of only using an active DP adapter has changed. If its AMD that is saying these adapters work then Id trust them and try them out when the time comes for me to get my eyefinity setup going.

edit: I noticed that those passive ones only support up to single link 1920x1200 and not dual link 2550x1600.
 

rnalvine

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Yesterday the new monitors I recently ordered were delivered, & I set up my new eyefinity config for the first time.

I can confirm that (at least some) passive adaptors do work with eyefinity.

Im running Win7-64bit, 5870 with 3 (new) 25" 1920x1080 monitors.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254040

I used this adaptor for the displayport connection:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812270279

First, I installed the latest version of catalyst & video drivers. Then, I did a simple plug&play set-up. Everything worked fine on start up. All three monitors were running at their maximum resolutions and Eyefinity was working at 5760x1080.

I haven't done any extensive testing, but in the few hours I worked with the set up last nite, I did not experience a single problem.

Props to TheGreatGrapeApe for explaining (in another thread here at Tom's forums) that these passive adaptors do work for Eyefinity for monitors with resolutions up to 1920x1080 (and 1920x1200 with reduced blanking). If you plan to run at higher resolution, I understand that you do need one of the powered active adaptors.

Additionally, (I've read) there can be some complications with using a passive dp adaptor when you are running monitors with different max resolutions (iirc, the dp adaptor must be connected to the monitor with the highest native resolution). Of course, eyefinity can only be applied extending the native resolution of the lowest resolution monitor of a display group, which is another complication of using a mish-mash of different monitors with eyefinity.
 

capital_one

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the length of this adapter is so less i need at least 1 meter to 2 meter length

is such a cable available

what about bafo do they have such a cable?
 

user-one

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so i can't really game on 2 side 19" 1280x1024's and a 22" 1680x1050 in the middle and get full resolution on the 16x10? the middle would downscale to 1280x1024, is that correct?
 
For Eyefinity yes, for a game that support multi-monitor (like some Flight Sims) you would be able to go full-screen. But whether it's Eyefinity or Matrox's TripleHead2Go the resolutions need to be the same across all 3 monitors when surround-gaming. Productivity you could still do different resolutions too, but you need to turn off eyefinity for that.
 

capital_one

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so what you saying is

first

ATrHD5670_242W.jpg


second

dp2dvi1.jpg


third

DVI2406_medium.jpg


finally fourth

screen7.jpg



is that correct :p

 
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