Eyefinity Setup Questions

[Tempestas]

I wanted to know how exactly I should go about setting up Eyefinity on my computer. Any and all help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

I'll be getting two more Samsung 23.6" Syncmaster LCD Monitors to go with the one I already have, as well as another 6870 that I'll picking up to crossfire with my current 6870. I'd like to know which cords I'm going to need to buy in order to make this setup work. I am currently running the one monitor I currently own off a DVI cable connected to the 6870. The cables connecting the future two monitors that I will be buying need to be about 5' long due to the fact that the back of my computer faces the corner of my room and the front of it faces my monitors. (My computer sits on an L shaped desk which goes backward to the corner of my room. See image below to understand what I mean.)

Thanks for all the help!

 

[inzone]

You do the setup in the catalyst control center (CCC).

 

[Tempestas]

What I am asking is: What kinds of cords am I going to need to use to efficiently and effectively setup the monitors and whether to plug them into one or both video cards.

 

[xllsargellx]

I believe those cards have 2 DVI, 1 HDMI, and 2 Mini Display Ports. So really one card could run the 3 monitors. I am not 100% sure about plugging them into one card or both cards as I am still only using one 7950 to run my 4 monitors. I would Say use the 2 DVI ports and one mini display (MD) port but unless your monitors have native MD support then you will need to get an ACTIVE mini display port to DVI adapter. They are on Amazon.com for like $30. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004071ZXA/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00

Sorry I cannot help with information about using the ports on one card or splitting them up but as I said I am only using one card at the moment (until I get my second 7950).

 

[AdioKIP]

You'll only be connecting the monitors to one card. The connectiosn will depend on your monitors. If the monitors have display ports all you'll need is a display port cable (probably mini on one end). If the monitors do not you'll then connect one thru DVI, one thru HDMI, and need an active display port adapter for the 3rd monitor.

 

[foscooter]

Sorry to jump in with an off topic question, I had a similar question yesterday.

Does anyone know of any monitor that have the display port input?

Newer ones only have DVI-D and HDMI.

Not a pressing issue, just want to know.

 

[inzone]

With AMD cards you can connect all the monitors to one card but you might want to connect at least one to the second card to make use of its onboard memory.

This monitor has a display port connection.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176141

 

[a little black duck]

What I am asking is: What kinds of cords am I going to need to use to efficiently and effectively setup the monitors and whether to plug them into one or both video cards.

For those monitors you will need 3 DVI cables and 1 displayport/DVI ACTIVE adapter. For eyefinity to work, you MUST use an active and not passive adapter. See link for approved dongles.
http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity-dongles.aspx

hugostiglitz has put together a nice little setup guide for eyefinity.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/344343-33-eyefinity-setup-guide


@foscooter. Displayport was introduced several years ago, and monitor manufacturers all said they would support this new tech. Now, several years later, there are still very few monitors that are display port capable. At time of writting I know of only 2, 1 from HP (see inzones link above) and the dell 27" ultrasharp. Samsung say they have one, but it's not available outside of asia atm.

 

[sk1939]

For those monitors you will need 3 DVI cables and 1 displayport/DVI ACTIVE adapter. For eyefinity to work, you MUST use an active and not passive adapter. See link for approved dongles.
http://support.amd.com/us/eyefinity/Pages/eyefinity-dongles.aspx

hugostiglitz has put together a nice little setup guide for eyefinity.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/344343-33-eyefinity-setup-guide


@foscooter. Displayport was introduced several years ago, and monitor manufacturers all said they would support this new tech. Now, several years later, there are still very few monitors that are display port capable. At time of writting I know of only 2, 1 from HP (see inzones link above) and the dell 27" ultrasharp. Samsung say they have one, but it's not available outside of asia atm.

NEC's often have Displayport as well.

 

[a little black duck]

NEC's often have Displayport as well.

Cheers. Good to know there are more out there. Considering how long displayport cards have been available and how many monitor manufacturers jumped on the band wagon saying they'll support displayport it's surprising how few models of the so many monitors to choose from actually have a displayport input.

 

[sk1939]

Cheers. Good to know there are more out there. Considering how long displayport cards have been available and how many monitor manufacturers jumped on the band wagon saying they'll support displayport it's surprising how few models of the so many monitors to choose from actually have a displayport input.

I find it's mostly IPS or business oriented monitors, most consumer displays feature HDMI instead. The reason graphics card manufactures love them is because they don't have to pay the HDMI consortium licensing fee's when they use Display Port.

 

[JackMomma]

I'll jump in with my experience, as I'm currently doing something exactly as you are planning. I run two ASUS 6870 DirectCU-II cards, which have a different output layout than the reference (2 DVI and 2 Display Port). After purchasing my 3rd monitor, I had to buy an active adapter -
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004071ZX0/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00
is what i got, which I can verify works perfectly after using it for 6 months or so. To run CFX and Eyefinity, you have to run all the monitors off of one of the cards, as stated above.
I did look into display port capable monitors when buying my 3rd monitor, only to realize they are still pretty expensive for the most part... and a working 'active' adapter is only $30.
After that, the setup in CCC is pretty simple. I suggest setting up 'presets' to switch between eyefinity and a normal 3 individual monitor setup, as a lot of games wont work with eyefinity, and standard use of the desktop in eyefinity can be a pain at times (6 foot wide windows are hard to look at).

 

[AdioKIP]

Sorry to jump in with an off topic question, I had a similar question yesterday.

Does anyone know of any monitor that have the display port input?

Newer ones only have DVI-D and HDMI.

Not a pressing issue, just want to know.

I got 3 ASUS Monitors with DP in February (Model VE248Q). Great monitors for a good price. Check them out on the egg.

 

[foscooter]

hugostiglitz has put together a nice little setup guide for eyefinity.
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] etup-guide

Thanks, that cleared up alot o' questions. If I get another monitor, I'll just use the 2nd DVI output on my 6850 card.

And I now know the difference between Eyefinity and Extended Desktop.

But I digrees, this isn't my thread.

 

[Tempestas]

Best answer selected by Tempestas.

 

[Tempestas]

Thanks for all the help, guys. Picking up my 2nd video card (Radeon HD 6870) and two more monitors at the end of the day. Wish me luck