Radeon 5850 - 3 LCDs

[kenetik]

Im running a Radeon 5850 and have 2 23" LCD's hooked up via DVI, works flawlessly. I am trying to add my 32" LCD via HDMI to watch movies and play games but for some reason its telling me its not allowed, any ideas here?

 

[alextheawesome]

I know for eyefinity one of the monitors has to be using the Displayport. Many people say that you need an active DP to DVI cable which can run you $100. However, in this thread they found out that you can use a DP to VGA adapter which are only about $20.

Thread. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/279498-33-displayport-adapter-eyefinity

 

[kenetik]

Well I dont want to stretch the video across 3 screens as 1 screen is a completely different size/resolution, etc.. So can I get around doing it via eyefinity?

 

[paperfox]

With or without Eyefinity enabled you will need to use that Displayport output to gain access to the 3rd monitor.

 

[kenetik]

How bout a DP>HDMI adapter? My 32" LCD supports HDMI which is how Im trying to connect it now.

 

[paperfox]

In the thread that alextheawesome linked is this link
http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity-dongles.aspx

It shows that AMD confirms that these adapters will work with eyefinity, maybe give one of them a try.

Though normally up to this point you will have to have gotten a $100 active DP to DVI/HDMI adapter, but apparently you now have some new options to choose from.

 

[kenetik]

In the thread that alextheawesome linked is this link
http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity-dongles.aspx

It shows that AMD confirms that these adapters will work with eyefinity, maybe give one of them a try.

Though normally up to this point you will have to have gotten a $100 active DP to DVI/HDMI adapter, but apparently you now have some new options to choose from.

Well do I sepifically have to use EyeFinity to use 3 monitors? I dont really want to stretch it across all 3?

 

[paperfox]

It is my impression that you should not have to have it enabled, just as I dont have to have it enabled to have my two screens open in extended mode.

 

[kenetik]

It is my impression that you should not have to have it enabled, just as I dont have to have it enabled to have my two screens open in extended mode.

Yah I dont have it enable for my two side by side in extended, am hoping I can just extend the 3 with a DP > HDMI adapter in passive mode.

 

[vvhocare5]

Read the posts...the passive DP to DVI do not work well with the 5800 series. I was going down that same path until I read the comments. A gotcha with Eyefinity is all 3 monitors need to be the same resolution or else it will use the lowest resolution on all monitors.

The HDMI port is shared with one of the DVI ports which is why you cannot use both DVI's and HDMI.

You need that active DP adapter my friend. And they are not the same. Some people complain about the Apple active adapter, but it works for others....

You can run your desktop in Eyefinity mode and it is a little different than extended. It wont stretch your video across all screens. It takes the same pixels as it did before. I have never tried extending my desktop across 3 monitors so I cannot vouch whether that works.