Eyefinity setup help

[Guest]

Hi,
So I really want to do an Eyefinity setup using SoftTH so I can span my monitors so it's 1280*1024, 1920*1024, and 1280*1024.

However, I have come to a cabling problem. My 1920*1080 monitor only has DVI and VGA, one of my 1280*1024 monitors also only has DVI and VGA, and the other 1280*1024 monitor has only VGA port. I currently have my 1920*1080 and one of the 1280*1024 monitors hooked by DVI to one of my 5870's and the other 1280*1024 is hooked up to my other 5870 using a VGA to DVI adapter.

I heard that to do Eyefinity, you need all 3 monitors to be hooked up to one card, and the Displayport must be used.

Unfortunately, none of my monitors have a Displayport cable out, and I can't seem to find any type of adapter that changes from something TO Displayport, only the other way around.


Are there any adapters that switch DVI or VGA to Displayport, or any software that allows you to run Eyefinity through two graphics cards instead of one? Does SoftTH do this for you?


Thanks!



EDIT: Wait... I think I was reading the adapters in reverse. It seems like everything goes from something to Displayport.

 

[Scanlia]

I'm not sure you can do eyefinity with different resolutions, I think it requires 3 monitors with the same resolution, so the 1920x1080 monitor you have will have to be running at 1280x1024.

Also, to get eyefinity working, you need to have a (displayport to vga) or (displayport to dvi) adapter on your 5870. So 3 outputs something like this:

DVI > DVI
DVI > DVI
DisplayPort > VGA

 

[manofchalk]

You can definitely run Eyefinity from two cards in Crossfire, no software (other than Catalyst, which you should already have) is required.

Far as I know all the monitors have to be the same resolution.

With the adapters, make its an active adapter (usually cost ~$50). Thats what is needed to setup Eyefinity.

 

[Guest]

You can definitely run Eyefinity from two cards in Crossfire, no software (other than Catalyst, which you should already have) is required.

Far as I know all the monitors have to be the same resolution.

With the adapters, make its an active adapter (usually cost ~$50). Thats what is needed to setup Eyefinity.

I've been reading up on SoftTH, and it seems like people can get monitors with different resolutions running in Eyefinity. However, it doesn't seem to support Crossfire or SLI as of yet, because apparently the left monitor ends up flickering. I'm now curious to see what settings I need to change in SoftTH and what monitors to plug into which card to get it to work.

Drawbacks of SoftTH:
SLI/Crossfire currently unsupported
Anything over DirectX9 unsupported (but possibly working)

Drawbacks of Catalyst:
Scales down to the lowest common monitor resolution

 

[manofchalk]

Do you intend to game across these screens?
In that case I would just set up an Eyefinity that scales down the monitor to 1280x1024 and run the game like that.

Then when you leave the game, disable Eyefinity and let the standard Windows multi-monitor utility take over so you can use the full resolution of the screen when browsing and such.
I know you can definitely do this, as I am running three screens of entirely different resolutions (1920x1080, 1680x1050 and 1440x900) this way.

 

[Guest]

Do you intend to game across these screens?
In that case I would just set up an Eyefinity that scales down the monitor to 1280x1024 and run the game like that.

Then when you leave the game, disable Eyefinity and let the standard Windows multi-monitor utility take over so you can use the full resolution of the screen when browsing and such.
I know you can definitely do this, as I am running three screens of entirely different resolutions (1920x1080, 1680x1050 and 1440x900) this way.

I do intend to game across all 3 screens, however seeing the 1920*1080 scale down to 1280*1024 is a bit of a pain on the eyes. It would be ideal if it didn't scale down the resolutions like SoftTH, but also runs Crossfire/SLI properly and officially supports games further than DirectX9.

 

[getochkn]

You can set it up with different resolutions but it doesn't look good. I have two monitors, one 1280, one 1024 and tried it and gaming was all off because of the different sizes. You also want very thin monitors with a slim bezel or it gets in the way real quick.

 

[velosteraptor]

If you use monitors with different resolutions then it wont be supported by games natively. There are programs out there that will fix it for you, or allow you to set custom resolutions and do specific bezel adjustment. Check out widescreen gaming forum, bunch of really smart people who can help you out.

To do eyefinity, you need at least one *active* displayport adapter.

All the cables must be in one card if you have crossfire enabled. if you disable crossfire, you could run 3 displays off each card, for a total of 6