AMD's EyeFinity REQUIRES Monitor with DisplayPort if you want 3 Displays!

jmke · 9th October 2009, 20:24

Eyefinity on Radeon HD 5870 1GB Version

The following have been confirmed:
1. 5870 1GB that was released recently does NOT support more than two DVI monitors
2. To use eyefinity, 3rd monitor must support DisplayPort
3. You cannot use passive DP to DVI/HDMI adapter (<$20)
4. You can use an active DP to DVI/HDMI (>$100), which converts the signal for you
5. This is a hardware limitation, so it will stay this way
6. We still dont know whether future editions of 5870 will include a 3rd DVI/HDMI

So what's the big deal?
The hype over eyefinity was that it supports multimonitor gaming without another expensive converting box such as triplehead2go, and that it'll be more user friendly because its a package deal. Many of us assumed that you can use a cheap passive DP to DVI adapter so that our DVI/HDMI monitors would just work. But it didn't work like that, and people got pissed off after it's release, such as me.

The big issues are: there are very few monitors with DP that targets the main stream consumers, and an active DP to DVI adapter is over $100.

http://www.overclock.net/ati/581169-...t-support.html

jmke · 9th October 2009, 20:25

Found out the hard way just now, trying to hook up 3 screens to a HD 5870; how much is the cheapest displayport monitor?

jmke · 9th October 2009, 20:30

It's mentioned on EyeFinity Homepage at the bottom... if you can read the small text

http://www.amd.com/us/products/techn...eyefinity.aspx

jmke · 9th October 2009, 20:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmke

how much is the cheapest displayport monitor?

$235 for 22"
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...722&lid=628335
three of those thus
1680x1050

cheaper: $199
1920x1080
http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/p...4&sku=320-8323

jmke · 9th October 2009, 20:37

There are actually only 3 active outputs, DVI/HDMI + DVI + DP

Quote:

3rd monitor has to be on displayport, i.e. DVI+DVI+HDMI will not work because the DVI and HDMI ports share the same 2 TDMS(?) so you can only use 2 out of the group of 3 connectors concurrently. If you try to use all 3, you have to disable one of the outputs.

jmke · 9th October 2009, 20:46

All monitors have to be same size too; so no mixing 24" with 22" or 20"

thorgal · 9th October 2009, 21:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmke

All monitors have to be same size too; so no mixing 24" with 22" or 20"

mixing sizes should be possible, mixing resolutions is not possible

jmke · 9th October 2009, 21:10

I've read here that for EyeFinity to be able to be enabled all monitors need to share the exact same resolution
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com...forum.php?f=64

10th October 2009, 00:42

Would get a little expensive, but you could grab a Displayport<>DVI adapter cable.

jmke · 10th October 2009, 07:06

$100 toy

@THorgal: mixed size does work, sorry, I can combine 20+24" as long as the vertical resolution is the same on both it's ok.

9th October 2009, 20:24	#1
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,013	AMD's EyeFinity REQUIRES Monitor with DisplayPort if you want 3 Displays! Eyefinity on Radeon HD 5870 1GB Version The following have been confirmed: 1. 5870 1GB that was released recently does NOT support more than two DVI monitors 2. To use eyefinity, 3rd monitor must support DisplayPort 3. You cannot use passive DP to DVI/HDMI adapter (<$20) 4. You can use an active DP to DVI/HDMI (>$100), which converts the signal for you 5. This is a hardware limitation, so it will stay this way 6. We still dont know whether future editions of 5870 will include a 3rd DVI/HDMI So what's the big deal? The hype over eyefinity was that it supports multimonitor gaming without another expensive converting box such as triplehead2go, and that it'll be more user friendly because its a package deal. Many of us assumed that you can use a cheap passive DP to DVI adapter so that our DVI/HDMI monitors would just work. But it didn't work like that, and people got pissed off after it's release, such as me. The big issues are: there are very few monitors with DP that targets the main stream consumers, and an active DP to DVI adapter is over $100. http://www.overclock.net/ati/581169-...t-support.html __________________

9th October 2009, 20:25	#2
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,013	Found out the hard way just now, trying to hook up 3 screens to a HD 5870; how much is the cheapest displayport monitor? __________________

9th October 2009, 20:30	#3
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,013	It's mentioned on EyeFinity Homepage at the bottom... if you can read the small text http://www.amd.com/us/products/techn...eyefinity.aspx __________________

9th October 2009, 20:46	#6
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,013	All monitors have to be same size too; so no mixing 24" with 22" or 20" __________________

9th October 2009, 21:10	#8
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,013	I've read here that for EyeFinity to be able to be enabled all monitors need to share the exact same resolution http://www.widescreengamingforum.com...forum.php?f=64 __________________

10th October 2009, 00:42	#9
Kougar Posts: n/a	Would get a little expensive, but you could grab a Displayport<>DVI adapter cable.

10th October 2009, 07:06	#10
jmke Madshrimp Join Date: May 2002 Location: 7090/Belgium Posts: 79,013	$100 toy @THorgal: mixed size does work, sorry, I can combine 20+24" as long as the vertical resolution is the same on both it's ok. __________________

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