Sapphire Active DP to SL will it work with samsung 2443bw monitors help

Meridiusuk · 4 Dec 2010 at 09:28

Hi all i have 1 samsung syncmaster 2443BW and have a chance of another 2 and wanted to hook these up as a 3 monitor setup.

I have a Ati sapphire 5770 gfx card and wanted to know what i needed to make all these monitors work as it has 2 outputs and one display port and wanted to know if the Sapphire Active DP to SL would work well with these 1920x1200 monitors ?

also is there any websites or info that can show me what different view setups i can have with these monitors as i would liek to know how it works before i buy the setup as i dont game much as its more for desktop space.

is there anything i need to watch out for and picture quality problems as i have read that there can be flicker or somthing ? anystartup problems.

what is the best driver to use as i am still on 10.2

thanks

Meridiusuk · 4 Dec 2010 at 23:49

anyone ?

MissChief · 5 Dec 2010 at 02:39

Have you looked up the official AMD website? it should answer most of your questions. The only thing you will struggle with is your card. No way it'll cope with 3 monitor gaming. you're tripling the horisontal screen size!

Official AMD eyefinity page

Meridiusuk · 5 Dec 2010 at 07:42

thanks but like i said in my first post i dont play games its more for desktop work and using more space

and i need to know if these monitors are ok to have a 3 setup

Meridiusuk · 5 Dec 2010 at 08:44

what is the difference between the Dell / Bizlink Active DisplayPort to DVI for £70 and this Sapphire Active DP to Single Link DVI-D Adapter for £20 there seems to be a hugh price difference.

i know the other one has a usb power but can not understnd which displayport adapter will be best to get and use, will it degrade the picture on the monitor ?

thanks

Vince · 5 Dec 2010 at 12:28

Answer to this is yes... I am running 3 similar samsungs in eyefinity using the sapphire adapter

Meridiusuk · 5 Dec 2010 at 13:21

cheers mate what is the difference between the £20 and £70 adapter ? is one better than teh other at picture quality or somthing ?

also when you set the monitors up can you just have the task bar on the centre screen and use the left and right monitor as just desktop space ? as not to keen on having the taskbar run across all 3 monitors

also is there any good wall mounts for a single monitor as i might need to mount the centre on on the wall

cheers

Vince · 5 Dec 2010 at 16:18

Hi mate you can do it either way taskbar spanning all 3 or just 2 extended desktops. For productivity I use extended desktops one either side of center. When gaming the taskbar is spanned I.e. eyefinity

Vince · 5 Dec 2010 at 16:20

Also the adapters will give you the same result. Sapphire just released a rev 2 adapter to bring prices down.

Meridiusuk · 5 Dec 2010 at 16:27

is the one on OCuk the rev 2 ? the £20 version

so what you are saying is that

1 you can have the whole desktop on 3 monitors with the taskbar from left with windows start button, centre taskbar to right with clock and use all the space for desktop work

or

2 you can have the task bar just on the centre monitor which has the start and clock and on the left and right monito there will be no task bar but can be used for extra desktop space as well just like option 1 above.

as i dont want to clone the centre monito on the other 2.

is there a guid on how to have these 2 options setup as i want to look into it abit more before i part with my cash on another 2 monitors any guides or videos of the 2 options above.

thanks

what monitors do you use

Vince · 5 Dec 2010 at 18:38

want some pics and a little walk through?

Yes the sapphire adapter on ocuk for about £25 is the rev 2. Sapphire were selling the rev1 at about £60 odd when they released them which seemed to set the price for these things pretty high.

Meridiusuk · 5 Dec 2010 at 18:44

yep if you dont mind that would be very helpfull to see how to go on and also to see if i can have the option of having the taskbar on all three or just the centre with the option of using the left and right monitor as desktop space.

also what happens when you maximize your windows on the 2 different setups

thanks

Vince · 5 Dec 2010 at 18:47

let me show you

Ill just jump on the desktop.

Vince · 5 Dec 2010 at 19:20

Ok this is a pic of round the back, you can see the sapphire active DP.

My monitors, they are samsung 2333t's on the outside with a samsung 2333SW in the middle.

as for the setup...

In ati catalyst control center there is a section set aside for desktops and displays. The two options we were talking about are a Display group (eyefinity) which connects them all together as if you have 1 big screen.

A screenshot of that with a shot from CCC... (sorry about the images they are impossible to resize for small resolutions)

Now a screenshot with the display group dissabled and with 2 extended monitors, (simply by clicking the monitor at the bottom of the ati control panel and selecting extend). When you have the displays set up as normal extended displays any window that you maximise will maximise to the screen not across all 3.

Hopefully this should give you some idea its hardly a walk through but if you need more info just ask.

Meridiusuk · 5 Dec 2010 at 20:42

Q1 exellent just what i was after, so the 2nd picture the setup where you just have the taskbar on the centre monitor can you still use the left and right monitor as extra dekstop space and are not just a clone of the centre monitor ?

Q2 so the first setup with the taskbar across all three monitors will
a, maximize a single window over the three
b, play games on an all three monitors

Q3 the 2nd setup that just has the taskbar on the middle monitor
a, maximize on what ever monitor the window is open on so if its on the left monitor it will maximize on the left only but if you drg the window to the centre monitor it will only maximize on the centre monitor?

b, you can not play games on all three monitors as they need to be grouped.

is this right ?

Q4 do you still have the max res from the left to centre to right monitor on the 2nd setup where the taskbar is just in the middle monitor like you have when you set it up on a group 3 monitors with eyefinity monitor

eg
my monitors will be 1920 res so 3 x 1920 is 5760 will that be the same on the 2nd setup as your not grouping the monitors together ?

thanks

Vince · 5 Dec 2010 at 20:58

Meridiusuk said:
Q1 exellent just what i was after, so the 2nd picture the setup where you just have the taskbar on the centre monitor can you still use the left and right monitor as extra dekstop space and are not just a clone of the centre monitor ?

This is exactly right

Meridiusuk said:
Q2 so the first setup with the taskbar across all three monitors will
a, maximize a single window over the three
b, play games on an all three monitors

Yes to both

Meridiusuk said:
Q3 the 2nd setup that just has the taskbar on the middle monitor
a, maximize on what ever monitor the window is open on so if its on the left monitor it will maximize on the left only but if you drg the window to the centre monitor it will only maximize on the centre monitor?

b, you can not play games on all three monitors as they need to be grouped.

is this right ?

Yes spot on.

Meridiusuk said:
Q4 do you still have the max res from the left to centre to right monitor on the 2nd setup where the taskbar is just in the middle monitor like you have when you set it up on a group 3 monitors with eyefinity monitor

eg
my monitors will be 1920 res so 3 x 1920 is 5760 will that be the same on the 2nd setup as your not grouping the monitors together ?

thanks

This works slightly differently, you have 3x 1920 and a screenshot will show this but you are not at 5760, just 3x 1920 if that makes sence?

Meridiusuk · 5 Dec 2010 at 22:23

Quote:
Originally Posted by Meridiusuk

Q4 do you still have the max res from the left to centre to right monitor on the 2nd setup where the taskbar is just in the middle monitor like you have when you set it up on a group 3 monitors with eyefinity monitor

eg
my monitors will be 1920 res so 3 x 1920 is 5760 will that be the same on the 2nd setup as your not grouping the monitors together ?

thanks

This works slightly differently, you have 3x 1920 and a screenshot will show this but you are not at 5760, just 3x 1920 if that makes sence?

so you can still use the 3 monitors that has 3 x 1920 but each monitor still having 1920 res but use it the same way as you can use a 3 monitors grouped as one 5760 meaning you cna have different windows open on different screens. ?

Q2 if you have say itunes open on the right monitor and shut it down and you turn your computer off and then boot it back up and load itunes does it remember what monitor it was on last in both setups ?

Q3 and how does the creen saver work on both type of setups ?

cheers

thansk for the help by the way

Meridiusuk · 7 Dec 2010 at 15:06

anyone ?

Orcvader · 7 Dec 2010 at 15:19

Q1: If you mean when they're not grouped in eyefinity and just extended desktop, then yes, you can have different windows open on different screens.

Q2: Yup, it will remember.

Q3: Depends on the screensaver. For both setups they work the same way. Some will extend to the other screens, making one big screensaver, other screensavers just clone themselves, and there are some which will show black on the two outer monitors while the main display shows the screensaver.