I just bought a new system and I am not very technical. My graphics card has DVI, HDMI, & VGA ports (no display port). The monitors have the same 3 ports, so I thought they would work, but it seems like the system will only recognize any 2 of the 3 monitors. I have been told that I either need display ports or active dongle adapters, which I don't understand. Is that true?
True, and you probably need both. One of the three must be on a Display Port connection either to a Display Port monitor (expensive) or a DVI monitor using the adapter. ATI's newer video cards labeled "Eyefinity" are what you're after.
A (somewhat) cheaper solution is to drop a second video card in there and run the third monitor off of that. If the third monitor is only for something requiring a 2D picture (as in, not a 3D-intensive game, etc) a very cheap second video card will do. :)
What's really strange is Eyefinity is mentioned on the Specs page over at AMD for the 6450 but none of the 6450 I looked at had a Display Port on them, which is required for triple screens on 1 card.
this is the requirement for Eyefinity as well as Triple screens in general off of an AMD Card,
AMD Eyefinity technology works with games that support non-standard aspect ratios, which is required for panning across multiple displays.
To enable more than two displays, additional panels with native DisplayPort™ connectors, and/or DisplayPort™ compliant active adapters to convert
your monitor’s native input to your cards DisplayPort™ or Mini-DisplayPort™ connector(s), are required. Support for six simultaneous displays may
require complementary products compatible with DisplayPort 1.2 Multi-Stream Transport. Maximum number of configured displays may vary -
check with your component or system manufacturer for specific model capabilities and supported technologies. SLS (“Single Large Surface”)
functionality requires an identical display resolution on all configured displays.
D'oh! I was so busy answering the question I didn't pay close enough attention to the actual thread title.
Good call, Zepher. I was curious and checked AMD's page for the card and did see Eyefinity mentioned. Like you said, three-way ain't gonna happen w/o a DP connection on the card.
Thanks all. I guess I should have done more research up front. I didn't see the point in having the 3 ports and not be able to hook up 3 monitors.
Having the different kinds of ports does allow for a lot of flexibility. I'm sure there are people who have bought a card with only DVI and no included adapter who were cheesed that their older monitor wouldn't work without them coughing up more dough.
This is one of those that while the GPU itself may support Eyefinity, it is up to the individual card makers to include it on the cards. One reason you're not seeing cards out that support it is that it is still a low end entry level card, and the card manufacturers will leave things like the necessary bits for something like Eyefinity off to keep the card cost low.
Now with that said Sapphire does have a card with displayport,
Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 100321DDR5OCL Radeon HD 6450 512MB GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
that does support Eyefinity, and if it is the right model can runup to 4 monitors off the one dsiplayport,
Sapphire Technology Web SiteDoubling the effective bandwidth of previous DisplayPort implementations, DisplayPort 1.2 now includes support for Multi-Stream, allowing you to drive up to four separate monitors from a single DisplayPort 1.2 connector (requires DP1.2 monitors or Multi-Stream compatible hub), Stereoscopic 3D monitor support and adds support for high quality, lossless, 7.1 channel audio formats.
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