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Quick eyefinity / ATI question

Naan_H

Naan_H

Naan_H

Soldato
Joined
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I currently have an asus 5450 with DP, Dual link DVI and VGA outputs, that supports 3 monitors out of the box.

Am currently running a Dell U2711.

If i was to get two more 27 inch monitors of the same res, could i get another Asus 5450 and run both 5450's together off my mobo? Currently have an asus p5q pro which has two pci-e slots. I want to do this to run all 3 displays at native res - 1 card can only run two monitors at the same res due to the limitations of VGA.

Its purely to be used for eyefinity / work purposes / vido, no gaming.

Is this possible?
 
Doomedspeed said:
I assume it is, Thats how SLI works..
Click to expand...

The card you have linked to will not support 3 displays - it does not have a displayport connection, which is needed for more than 2 displays.

The card i have is a variant of this:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-271-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1711

but has DP instead of HDMI and supports 3 displays. I am looking to get another one.

Can i run 2x 2560*1440 from the one card? im hoping the two cards will talk to each other (there is no crossfire bridge) so that i can run all three displays as extended/ eyefinity setup
 
Crossfire/SLi can only be ran with one monitor/one group. You want the two GPUs to work seperately for extended mode to work.

For a third monitor to be ran, as you know, it needs to have Displayport. Since you already have a card with a DP port, all you need is to connect the third monitor to that. However 2560x1440 is past VGA's limitations...

You can get any other card to run the 3rd monitor. This will be fine in extended mode, but you will not be able to create an Eyefinity group as all the monitors needs to be on the same card for this to work.

That means you can grab that 6450 Doom linked earlier and run it with your 5450. Or this cheap card will run the 3rd monitor fine: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-193-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1711
 
Last edited:
Orcvader said:
Crossfire/SLi can only be ran with one monitor/one group. You want the two GPUs to work seperately for extended mode to work.

For a third monitor to be ran, as you know, it needs to have Displayport. Since you already have a card with a DP port, all you need is to connect the third monitor to that. However 2560x1440 is past VGA's limitations...

You can get any other card to run the 3rd monitor. This will be fine in extended mode, but you will not be able to create an Eyefinity group as all the monitors needs to be on the same card for this to work.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for that, really appreciate it - one other question - can a single 5450 handle two displays at 2560x1440 with the DVI and DP in use together? The card i have has 1GB of RAM too
 
A single 5450 can handle 2 monitors at 2560x1440 fine no problems for your use. Don't even need to worry about the vRAM as well, even 512mb is enough.

Although, what sort of work do you do? Might be better to get a beefier card if your work can be GPU accelerated.
 
Orcvader said:
A single 5450 can handle 2 monitors at 2560x1440 fine no problems for your use. Don't even need to worry about the vRAM as well, even 512mb is enough.

Although, what sort of work do you do? Might be better to get a beefier card if your work can be GPU accelerated.
Click to expand...

Well work wise nothing GPU intensive at all, just normal word/pdf work - journal articles etc on one screen, word/browser in the middle and 3rd monitor for video/iTunes/tv. When i upgrade my rig next year or so ill then get a proper card for multi-monitor gaming etc :D

Will then prob end up using the cards in a HTPC - providing i can get audio through the dvi or DP ports
 
Ah, then grab that 5450 I linked earlier. It will run with your current 5450 just fine. Just don't run them in Crossfire mode, otherwise your other two displays will be disabled :p.

If you can get a DVI to HDMI adapter, the cards will be able to output sound. Needs to be the right adapter though, some adapters don't include the pins that gets used for sound when the port gets rearranged to HDMI.
 
Orcvader said:
Ah, then grab that 5450 I linked earlier. It will run with your current 5450 just fine. Just don't run them in Crossfire mode, otherwise your other two displays will be disabled :p.

If you can get a DVI to HDMI adapter, the cards will be able to output sound. Needs to be the right adapter though, some adapters don't include the pins that gets used for sound when the port gets rearranged to HDMI.
Click to expand...

Well i had just ordered my same card the Asus 1gb 5450 with DVI/DP/VGA elsewhere for about £31 - the asus here is £23 but is DVI/HDMI/VGA. Seeing as i will never have more than 3x 2560*1440 screens i might just go for that - and it has HDMI which will for HTPC reasons be a lot more useful... oh and it has 3 years warranty compared to the 2 yrs in the one linked :)

This gfx malarkey sure is fun :)
 
Well decided to cancel the 5450 and get a 6450 - for a few quid more it has a few more features (HD3d etc) that may be useful for htpc use. Now to get some monitors... ;)
 
now have a setup like this

dsc01759l.jpg


the middle and left are running off an asus 5450 (DVI & DP), the right off a 6450 with DVI.

Is there a way to extend the desktops to the left and right of the dell, with the taskbar remaining on the dell?

Im having trouble setting the dell as the 1st display - it is always coming up as the 3rd
 
Right click desktop -> Personalize. You should be able to set them all to exntended mode, and pick the Dell as the primary monitor.
 
I actually sorted it by connecting all 3 screens to the 5450 - its even outputting over VGA at native res - so all three screens at native res 2560*1440 off the one card. wasted money on the 6450! probably send it back
 
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