EAH5450 Video Card cannot get three monitors to work

[shayne72]

Hello, my saga to run 18 screens from one PC continues with my latest problem. I have found that the Asus EAH5450 video card has three outputs (1xHDMI, 1xDVI, 1xVGA) however I can only get two of the monitors to function on the card in any given sequence. I have read some forums saying a Display Port to DVI adapter is required on the larger EyeFinity 6 port cards, however this card only has a DVI port, and no Display Port. I can run a VGA-HDMI, VGA-DVI, or DVI-HDMI combination ok but I simply cannot get a VGA-DVI-HDMI combination to work no matter what I do. I assumed since the cards had three ports, that I would be able to run 3 monitors per card. I cannot find the answer on google and need some help. Has anyone else had this problem, and more importantly were you able to overcome the problem to get all three displays working on the card?

Shayne

 

[jryan388]

Well, then you did not buy the "eyefinity edition" card. Not all 5450s can run 3 displays... sorry. The reason you need displayport, I believe, is that it does not need an independent clock generator or something. Only 2 displays can use the other outputs.

 

[shayne72]

ok thanks for the info. I guess i did buy the wrong card then....Back to square one to find a new video card that will work. Can anyone recommend a low profile PCIe video card that can tun 3 monitors at 1920x1080 resolution? I need to fit six cards in my PC so they can only take up 1 x PCI slot each, not two...

 

[Guest]

Shane,

I'm curious if you found a solution to your problem, as I'm trying to set up the same kind of system.

 

[shayne72]

Actually yes, i had to go with some different cards altogether, I will post them when I get home from work as i cannot remember the specs offhand. To cut a long story short, the EAH5450 cards can only have two screens work per card, not three. Also I found you can only run a certain amount of PCIx16 cards at a time, then you have to add older PCI cards in. In the end I did manage to get 18 screens to work from one PC simply by trial and error. Nobody was able to advise how to do it. You will also need special software to setup the massive 18 screen desktop as the desktop configuration wizard in WIndows 7 does not like that many screens.

 

[Guest]

Actually yes, i had to go with some different cards altogether, I will post them when I get home from work as i cannot remember the specs offhand. To cut a long story short, the EAH5450 cards can only have two screens work per card, not three. Also I found you can only run a certain amount of PCIx16 cards at a time, then you have to add older PCI cards in. In the end I did manage to get 18 screens to work from one PC simply by trial and error. Nobody was able to advise how to do it. You will also need special software to setup the massive 18 screen desktop as the desktop configuration wizard in WIndows 7 does not like that many screens.

Hello Shayne.

This post is just to thank you for sharing the info. I suffered the same problem. I believe Asus and AMD are to blame, since they don't state clearly that only any two connectors can be used at the same time.

I wanted to handle 12 displays but had to limit myself to only 8.

One of the things I wanted to test is how would deal Windows 7 with so many... I wanted to use kind of standard hardware, not Matrox or vendor-specific solutions.

Could you please tell us the end of the story? Brand name / model / managing software?

Regards.


Frank

 

[shayne72]

Hello Shayne.

This post is just to thank you for sharing the info. I suffered the same problem. I believe Asus and AMD are to blame, since they don't state clearly that only any two connectors can be used at the same time.

I wanted to handle 12 displays but had to limit myself to only 8.

One of the things I wanted to test is how would deal Windows 7 with so many... I wanted to use kind of standard hardware, not Matrox or vendor-specific solutions.

Could you please tell us the end of the story? Brand name / model / managing software?

Regards.


Frank

Ok what I ended up doing was to go with 4 x ATI Fire Pro 2450 video cards, and an older PCI NVIDIA 7600 GS Dual video card. I could not get more than 4 of the PCI-X16 cards to work, even though I had 5 PCI-X16 slots in my Gigabyte GA X58A-UD 9 mother board. Also windows display manager just will not cooperate with many monitors. You can download "UltraMon" or "Display Fusion" to do this. Just google them and you will find them.

So to summarize my equipment used to run a single PC with 18 monitors, here is what I have.

Processor: Intel i7x980
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA X58A-UD 9
RAM: 12 GB
Video Cards: 4 x ATI Firepro 2450 Quad Cards and 1 x NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS card
Software to setup the display: Utramon or Display Fusion will work. DO NOT use the windows display manager, you will drive yourself nuts trying to make it work. Use the other software mentioned.

This system is very fast and works well for the most part. The only problem I get, is from time to time, a single screen out of 18 will go black. If you wait for the powersaver/screenasaver to activate, then when you move the mouse, all the screens are fine. I don;t understand what is causing that, it is not the same screen every time. It is random but I have lived with it this far.

If you want to see a picture of a setup, send me your email in a pm.

Cheers
Shayne

 

[shayne72]

Hello Shayne.

This post is just to thank you for sharing the info. I suffered the same problem. I believe Asus and AMD are to blame, since they don't state clearly that only any two connectors can be used at the same time.

I wanted to handle 12 displays but had to limit myself to only 8.

One of the things I wanted to test is how would deal Windows 7 with so many... I wanted to use kind of standard hardware, not Matrox or vendor-specific solutions.

Could you please tell us the end of the story? Brand name / model / managing software?

Regards.


Frank

Ok what I ended up doing was to go with 4 x ATI Fire Pro 2450 video cards, and an older PCI NVIDIA 7600 GS Dual video card. I could not get more than 4 of the PCI-X16 cards to work, even though I had 5 PCI-X16 slots in my Gigabyte GA X58A-UD 9 mother board. Also windows display manager just will not cooperate with many monitors. You can download "UltraMon" or "Display Fusion" to do this. Just google them and you will find them.

So to summarize my equipment used to run a single PC with 18 monitors, here is what I have.

Processor: Intel i7x980
Mobo: GIGABYTE GA X58A-UD 9
RAM: 12 GB
Video Cards: 4 x ATI Firepro 2450 Quad Cards and 1 x NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS card
Software to setup the display: Utramon or Display Fusion will work. DO NOT use the windows display manager, you will drive yourself nuts trying to make it work. Use the other software mentioned.

This system is very fast and works well for the most part. The only problem I get, is from time to time, a single screen out of 18 will go black. If you wait for the powersaver/screenasaver to activate, then when you move the mouse, all the screens are fine. I don;t understand what is causing that, it is not the same screen every time. It is random but I have lived with it this far.

If you want to see a picture of a setup, send me your email in a pm.

Cheers
Shayne

 

[shayne72]

Hello Shayne.

This post is just to thank you for sharing the info. I suffered the same problem. I believe Asus and AMD are to blame, since they don't state clearly that only any two connectors can be used at the same time.

I wanted to handle 12 displays but had to limit myself to only 8.

One of the things I wanted to test is how would deal Windows 7 with so many... I wanted to use kind of standard hardware, not Matrox or vendor-specific solutions.

Could you please tell us the end of the story? Brand name / model / managing software?

Regards.


Frank