how to know if a mini display port adapter is active

SupermotoMX · 29 Feb 2012 at 20:08

basically i need an active mini display port -> dvi / vga, for use with my 6870.

long story short, will this work with my 6870 using a dvi -> vga adapter to use my seccond + third monitor?

cmndr_andi · 29 Feb 2012 at 20:20

Hi there,

Unfortunately, that adapter definitely won't work for two reasons:

- It is a passive (not active) adapter
- It provides a DVI-D output (purely digital), which cannot be converted to a VGA output (purely analogue) using a passive DVI to VGA adapter, you need either a DVI-I or DVI-A output for these to work

If all of your monitors are VGA then I would suggest picking an adapter off this list.

For example if you google "Accell B101B-002B" or "StarTech Mini DisplayPort to VGA Video Adapter Converter" then you will find an adapter that works.

Surveyor · 29 Feb 2012 at 20:31

cmndr_andi said:
If all of your monitors are VGA then I would suggest picking an adapter off this list.

If all the monitors are VGA only then he'll need 2 adapters assuming his HD 6870 has 2 DisplayPort outputs.

Would 1 passive and 1 active work?

The OP needs to tell us what connections his monitors have and which make/model HD 6870 he has.

cmndr_andi · 29 Feb 2012 at 20:38

Yes, if all his monitors are VGA then he will need two miniDP to VGA adapters (assuming his card has two miniDP ports).

As for active working with passive, i'm honestly not sure you can get passive DP to VGA adpaters, I think they may all be active. Hence I would say get two of them that you know are active and work with AMD cards so you don't run into any trouble.

SupermotoMX · 29 Feb 2012 at 21:43

its an xfx 6870 with two display ports and two DVI ports (only 1 dvi -> vga works) all 3 monitors are VGA

was looking on the list, im still lost

eventually im hoping to upgrade to a 7990 when they are realeased, but still wanted to see what eyefinity was like before then, so im guessing 2x mini display -> vga should future proof me somewhat (providing i kept my 3 current syncmasters)

Surveyor · 29 Feb 2012 at 21:55

SupermotoMX said:
(only 1 dvi -> vga works)

That's because one of them is DVI-D so it's digital only.

SupermotoMX said:
so im guessing 2x mini display -> vga should future proof me somewhat (providing i kept my 3 current syncmasters)

Active, you need to get active adapters to ensure they'll work.

SupermotoMX · 29 Feb 2012 at 22:03

would it be okay if i got 2x mini display -> active DVI, and used a DVI -> vga adapter (kinda future proofing incase i upgrade my monitors to something that only uses a DVI input) if so what kinda thing am i looking for, DVI-I im guessing?

cmndr_andi · 29 Feb 2012 at 22:07

No.

All the DP to DVI adapters that are certified to work with AMD cards output only DVI-D. None of them do DVI-I, so a DVI to VGA adapter won't work with any of them.

SupermotoMX · 29 Feb 2012 at 22:13

okay thankyou for clarifying that