Recommended card with res of 1680x1050

[exingo]

I have 2 20-inch Apple Cinema Displays that I want to hook up to my Gateway computer. The native resolution of these displays is 1680x1050, so I need a card that will support this and also have the DVI ports on it that will allow me to connect 2 displays.
I already have a Apple DVI-ADC converter, not sure what it is for though.

Thanks for any info!

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

Ok if you are needing two DVI connectors you'll be very limited in your choices, alot of the makers like Tyan have since dropped their dual monitor support.

As for the Res., well the Apple versions of the ATI cards support the monitor. <A HREF="http://www.google.ca/url?sa=U&start=1&q=http://www.apple.com/displays/acd20/&e=7370" target="_new">Here's the blurb from Apple about the monitor itself.</A>

You may need to do a little work to make it work (might even need to download a second party program), but Maximum PC was able to make it work without issue in their LCD review last year (they gave it Top marks along with the Benq and Sharp monitors).

Also, the DVI-ADC adapter is needed so you can attach that proprietary ADC (Apple Display Connector) adapter to a standard DVI port, this was a barrier to many people wanting cheap standard monitors in the past. I assume that the monitor has an ADC connector as it's connection, which is what the website says. If so that will be necessary. And if you have two Apple monitor you will need dual DVI, otherwise you'll be fine with one DVI and 1 VGA. Just remember that all the brightness, contrast, etc. features of the monitor were controlled through the ADC, and when you hook it up to a PC you lose that option. You will have to do all your adjustments/corrections through your graphics card's control panel.

Hope that helps.


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[exingo]

1. Any recommendations if I decide to only connect 1 display?

2. Where could I purchase the Apple version of the ATI card?

3. Why do you need a second party program to make it work? This program was recommended to me: Power Strip. Not sure why I need it though.

4. So with 2 displays will I need 2 ADC adapters?

5. How do you adjust the settings in the graphics cards' control panel? Is this just an option that appears in the Windows control panel?

Thanks!!!!!!!!!

 

[TheGreatGrapeApe]

1. I would recommend the ATIs simply because that's personal preference. But the question also has to be what you are doing with it.

Want the best 2D graphics, get a Matrox based card the P650 is a nice card.

Want good gaming and good 2D (close to Matrox) then go ATI.
nV also makes good cards, but I wouldn't recommend their mid level cards, except the new FX5700. And their best low level card (the GF4 ti) doesn't have as good 2D graphics, but is a great gaming card.

Now more important will be the money you want to spend and the applications/games you want to run on it. PErhaps even a workstation card might be a better choice, then the nV Quadros, Ati FireGL, or 3Dlabs Wildcats would be an attractive choice.

2. Apple versions of the cards are for use in apple computers, and would be of little use in your gateway. But that's actually a good thing, as they are significantly more expensive than their PC brethren, and the apple ones rarely go down in price even with new releeases, heck I've seen the old R8500 selling for significantly more than the R9600 replacing them.

3. Since it's an APPLE monitor it likely doesn't have Windows Drivers (just a guess) and therefore it will show up as a plug and play monitor. You can try pluging it in and seeing if it recognizes the resolution right off the bat, but I kinda doubt it. So you will need something to tell windows how to perceive your monitor. You can also try unchecking the 'hide resolutions unsupported by this monitor' tab in your diplay properties segment of MS windows, that may give you the resolution/refresh you're looking for, but even then maybe not.

4, Yes, in this case you would need dual DVI output and two DVI to ADC adapters if you are running <b>2 APPLE Mintors</b>. If it is just THIS monitor and then any other generic monitor, then you can run the APPLE of your DVI and the generic one off the VGA adapter on your card. The only issue is if they are both APPLE monitors. Then you would need a card like the Matrox P650. But that solution isn't good if you wanna game. Then I would suggest finding the relatively rare dual DVI ATI Radeon or nVidia Geforce FXs. And then it would depend further on your gaming/app requirements.

5. It will be different depending on the graphics card you decide on, but they all have control panels that appear in 3 ways (that I can think of off hand). Right clicking on the desktop and selecting properties and advanced is my personal way (for all makers). You can also go into the taskbar and either you will have a display icon (usually the logo of the card maker) someone right on there or there will be a program in the start menu with it listed. the last way would be to go through the control panel and selecting display, which brings up the same box as the first example.

If you could tell us what you plan on doing with your setup, maybe we can get more specific about which cards of the groups to recommend.


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[exingo]

Thanks for all of the help!!!!

I will be using the computer for various types of multimedia such as: web design, Flash animation, Photoshop, video editing with Adobe Premiere. It would be nice to play some high end video games on the computer during down time, but this is not important for me when choosing the video card. I may only use one of the Apple displays with the computer, but I like the option of connecting a second. Price is not too much of a concern, though I have no idea what I'm getting myself into yet...Thanks again!

 

[Crashman]

I believe ATI's FireGL series supports two DVI outputs, or at least some of them do. What you get is a VERY EXPENSIVE version of their popular gaming card.

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[TheGreatGrapeApe]

If you are just doing Photoshop, video Editing, premier etc. and light animation duties, and web design. Then the Matrox line would be your best best for Image Quality. Most also come with dual DVI connectors. The only drawback is the gaming performance which isn't stellar (although the P650 is probably on par with an R9200 or GF4MX), but it's will do fine if you just wanna fool around, but don't expect to be dominant in an frag-match. An ATI Radeon 9100 would be a good choice to. You can find some OEMs that sell dual DVI cards. If you want a little more power an FX5200ULTRA (only an ULTRA) would be ok, but it might not be worth the premium. Better than the FX5200 would be the Radeon 9600Pro, it's got pretty good 2D, and Very good gaming performance (I have one an like it alot).

As crash said you could always go the workstation route with the FIREGL z1 (equivalent of an R9500Pro) or X1 (Equivalent of R9700Pro) or T2 (Equivalent of R9600Pro) but they are a slight premium, but also have premium features (but they are mainly for animation and CAD work, they are OpenGL oriented with special drivers). Unless you really must have another Apple monitor I would suggest going with a regular lighter duty card and save the money. As much a price may be no option for you the benifits are limited, and the money would be better spent on more memory/storage and other tools IMO.
And should you decide to get another monitor, get one with a VGA connector. A CRT with a GOOD LCD is usually a good combination.


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[exingo]

Thanks everyone for all the help.

Here are the cards that I am looking at:

Matrox:
http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/parhelia/128mb.cfm $300
http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/parhelia/256mb.cfm $500

ATI:

http://ati.com/products/fireglx2-256/index.html $500
http://ati.com/products/fireglx1-256p/index.html $500
http://ati.com/products/fireglx1/index.html $450
http://ati.com/products/fireglz1/index.html$400

Anyone know anything about any of them?

Thanks!