How do display ports work?

[jbgraphic]

Hi, I am looking at building a cad work station and want to put a ATI V4800 card in it and run dual 24" dell ultrasharp monitors but not sure how the display ports work?

I know on a dual dvi gaming card you just plug each monitor in to the dvi ports and you are away, do the display ports work the same?
ie is it 2 separate screens or one screen stretched over 2 monitors?

Also will I be able to do any gaming with this card? What games will I be able to play and not play? I do want to play WOW but others also.

Thanks

 

[CKLayoka]

DisplayPort works the same way as DVI--your drivers will recognize 2 different screens and you can decide what you want from there: An expanded desktop, a group desktop (if your card is Eyefinity enabled), duplication, or whatever you want.

This is assuming your monitor accepts DisplayPort. If not, and the monitor only takes DVI, then just use the two DVI ports (why bother with the DP ports?).

If for some reason you have to use the DP ports, you'll need a special ACTIVE DP->DVI adapter. Accell is the most popular manufacturer of such adapters. They run $15-$30 (theft I know) but if you try to use a cheap dongle or something designed for Macs, your timings will be messed up and your screen will tear, among other things. Here's an example of such a product:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812607036

 

[jbgraphic]

The ATI v4800 only has 1 x dvi port so that is reason for my question.

 

[hang-the-9]

The video card should come with display ports to DVI and mabe even to VGA adapters. We buy nVidia Quadro cards, and they all have come with two DP to DVI adapters. As far as games go, it's not the best pick, but should play WoW, just not at as high of settings as a regular video card for the same price as the V4800. To get faster gameplay out of a pro level card, you want to move up to a medium or high-level card, but those are 2x or more the cost of a consumer high end card.