Dual Dell 30 Monitor with two Dual Link DVI?

[dskilton]

Hello,
I would like to setup 2 dell 30" displays on my pc, however the monitors only support Dual Link DVI connectors.
I have a budget of $400 and I am happy to add a 2nd video card or replace my existing card.
core 17-920, 6gb Ram
850w truepower psu
Radion 4800 series card - GV-R487DS-1GD.
I would prefer to stick to ATI Radion Cards.
I generally use this for office applications and video editing, less so for hard core gaming, but I would like to push both displays to 2560*1600

 

[inzone]

What Dell monitors do you have that only have DVI ports? Are these old monitors? Is this the monitor?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260028

This Dell monitor has display port , hdmi , dvi and D-sub.

A lot of the AMD/Radeon/ATI cards have one dual link dvi and one single link dvi. All of the newer Nvidia cards have two dual link dvi but they are not good for two monitor gaming but they will support the extended desktop. In sticking strictly with AND you could get a display port to DVI adaptor to connect the second monitor and the good thing about the newer AMD cards is that they have 3gb of video ram which comes in handy with the 30" monitor and 2560x1600 resolution.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127651
MSI R7950-2PMD3GD5/OC Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
$399.99

 

[dskilton]

The Monitors are fairly old, maybe 4 years.
http://www.dell.com/content/topics/topic.aspx/global/products/monitors/topics/en/monitor_3007wfp?c=us&l=en&s=gen&~section=specs

I take it that using dual cards is not an option?

 

[inzone]

Are you crrently using one of the 30" monitors and want to add a second or are you getting the two monitors together and wanting to set up them with your computer?
The video card that you have now has two DVI dual link connectors , Have you tried to connect them to the card that you have? You can use dual cards if you want if your motherboard has another x16 slot for it.
I believe that the 30" monitor and 2560x1600 resolution will want to have more than 1gb of video ram on the card to support that resolution. The card that I had linked has 3gb of video ram and would be a good choice for that setup. If you don't want to spend that much then you can go with a 7850 since that also has 2gb of ram and is less money. You could also get a DVI splitter to plug into the one dual link port and connect to the two monitors or you can go with an adaptor.(display port to DVI)

http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-ati-radeon-hd-4870-1024mb-review/5 (your card?)
PowerColor AX7850 2GBD5-2DH Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131464
$249.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812115002
HP FH973AA DisplayPort to DVI-D Adapter
$29.99

HP DL139A DMS59 DVI Dual-head Connector Cable
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812115003
$24.99

I don't know if you will be able to find a second 4870 ATI/Radeon video card to add to your system. Like I said the card you have has two dvi dual link ports but the card only has 1gb of video ram and I'm unsure if that is enough for two 30" monitors at 2560x1600. If you are able to find the second 4870 and want to go with it over the newer card then that will be a choice for you to make , I personaly think that the newer card with 2gb of video ram will be a better choice.

 

[inzone]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0068OE14S/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=486539851&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B001V3O2HW&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1X6DG98ESVBZM7P30DKG

I found this on Amazon.

http://compare.ebay.com/like/320871699026?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar

This one is on E-Bay.

 

[sk1939]

If your card has two DVI ports then you should be fine, dual link DVI only requires a dual link cable. You could add a second card, but it would be more cost effective to just replace it.

If you don't care about gaming, this one will work quite nicely:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130761

Or if you want to go top of the line:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130704

 

[joesden]

What you need is a 2 Port Dual link DVI Splitter ( Part # VDA-000003 ).