3 monitor setup

[robertomad]

Hello,

I've tried to google my problem but to no avail.

I currently have a Sapphire 6950 TOXIC 2GB, originally, I have my LG47 (1080p) and BENQ24 (1920x1200) connected to it. This morning my new Dell 24U12M (1920x1200) has arrived and hoping to have 3 monitor setup.

At first, my TV was connected through HDMI and my 2 other monitors were connected to 2-DVI, which apparently won't work because of internal clocks and need to use one display port. So I bought a miniDP->DVI and connect one of the monitors there. Catalyst can detect 3 displays but only the 2 monitor and not the the TV (Disabled). I'm not really trying to setup eyefinity but I just want to extend the desktop across 3 displays.

My question is do I still need an active adapter even if I'm not using EYEFINITY? Is there a way to make it work using a passive adapter like the one I bought?

 

[Spaniard United]

No. Eyefinity is the use of 3 or more displays at one time. In order for this to work, the adapter must be active. SLS (single large surface) is one use of Eyefinity, but either way, the display port need to either connect directly to the monitor or be actively converted by an adapter.

 

[robertomad]

Thank you for response. I'm new to eyefinity, so my question is if I want to watch a movie on the tv using media player, a different movie on the Benq using vlc and read documents on dell is this still feasible? This is what I have with the 2 display setup. And on the 2 display setup I can play a movie on 1 screen(hdmi) and play video games on the other.

 

[Spaniard United]

Absolutely. Eyefinity allows you to use multiple screens. You can use it as a single large desktop spanning all three, or you can use it as you've used your two before ... one main screen and the rest extended desktops. I use mine the same way ... movie or show on one screen, game on main screen, and firefox or documents on the third. And I have the SLS active but it works either way.

 

[robertomad]

thank you spaniard united. I also found this. http://superuser.com/questions/438737/three-displays-one-video-card-and-no-eyefinity-mode

 

[robertomad]

I've got my XFX active MiniDP to Single-LInk DVI adapter but for some reason I still can't setup the 3 monitors. Can anyone help please? Thanks.

 

[Spaniard United]

Ok, so you have 1 hdmi, 1 dvi, and 1 mini display port to dvi?
How are you trying to set it up ... SLS or extended desktop? Does CCC see all three monitors? Are your video drivers up to date?