3 Monitor setup with ATI Eyefinity?

[Excizted]

Hello,

I've used dual monitor setup for many years now, but I'm just about to invest in an extra monitor, to increase my productivity - I just feel two monitors is too little space now - even with important Workspace functionality Ubuntu has.

As a sidenote, I have to buy a new graphics card, and I'm planning to get ATI Radeon 5870.

I heard some people are having troubles with ATI Eyefinity, somehow only able to use two monitors because of the drivers?

Not much information available, so I'd like to know if I'm going to be able to use the three monitors at all?
- Could someone point me in the right direction, on what (if any) I have to do, to get this setup going?

Ps. I'm not looking for comments on which monitors nor graphics card to use, exclusively the support in Ubuntu.

Thank you very much!

[ogomoe]

Hello Excizted,

I don't have a solution to running 3 monitors from a 5870, but I might be able to pass on to you some more information. My setup is a 2GB Diamond Radeon HD 5970. The 5970 has 2 DVI and 1 Mini Display Port connections.

I've only begun looking for a solution, but before I knew anything, I purchased Apple's MDP to DVI & MDP to VGA adapters. In Windows 7, I was able to intermittently run 3 displays from the Apple VGA adapter, but it would fail more times than for which I had patience. Sometimes I had all three identical displays running, sometimes only the 2 DVI's, or 1 DVI and the MDP. The MDP to DVI would only give me a combination of any two monitors. The same is true for Ubuntu Lucid and Karmic. I didn't bother trying with any older Ubuntu's.

From what I've read, the ATI 5xxx series can't run 3 digital displays without an "active" Mini Display Port adapter.

Please read this from AMD:

http://sites.amd.com/us/game/technol...Pages/faq.aspx

What Operating Systems does ATI Eyefinity technology work with?

At present Windows® Vista and Windows® 7 support ATI Eyefinity technology. There are plans for Linux support in an upcoming update to ATI Catalyst™ software. There is no support for Windows® XP.

What’s the difference between active DisplayPort dongles and passive DisplayPort dongles?

Passive dongles use the DisplayPort connection to receive non-DP signaling from the connector and they 'passively' adjust the signals to be compliant with the connected monitor. Passive dongles are considered legacy connections, not DisplayPort connections, therefore they do not fulfill the DisplayPort connection requirement mentioned previously and cannot be used to enable 3 or more displays. However, they offer an affordable solution to connect legacy displays onto DisplayPort connections.
Active dongles use true DisplayPort signaling to ‘actively’ translate and re-transmit the signals as the required outputs. Because they use the true DisplayPort signaling, they are considered a DisplayPort connection and meet the requirements to enable 3 or more displays.
DisplayPort to DL-DVI dongles require an external power supply which is usually through a separate USB connection (the USB connection must meet the USB ‘high power’ specification).

Where can I purchase the various active and passive DisplayPort dongles and mini to standard DisplayPort adaptors and how much do they cost?

With our ATI Eyefinity validation program, we have been able to validate and list a number of business partners currently shipping adaptors. This list will continue to be updated. Please see www.amd.com/eyefinity for more information.

The Diamond 5970 includes a Mini Display Port to HDMI adapter but that gave me the same result as the Apple adapters. I haven't tried any other combinations of plugs or bought any active adapters. As a work-around, I installed an extra 256MB Diamond Radeon HD 2400 Pro to get 4 screens in Windows 7, with the 5970 as my primary adapter. But that brings about a whole new can of worms in Ubuntu as I can only get a 2-monitor spanned-desktop from the 5970 with a 2-monitor cloned TTY on the 2400. When I switch with Ctrl-Alt-F1 (F2,F3,etc.), the Gnome desktop on the 5970 goes black and then I can enter text on the 2400's cloned TTY screens. The 2400's screen is always displayed, but the cursor blinks only when I'm in the TTY.

[Gtaylor]

I've got an EyeFinity 6 5870, which is different from the EyeFinity 5870. 6 displayport ports instead of the mixture of DP, HDMI, etc.

I've not been able to find anything on what to expect from this card in Linux, but this might be better than the original EyeFinity 5870, assuming you're going to buy three displayport-capable monitors.

[sirkuttin]

Hello Excizted,

From what I've read, the ATI 5xxx series can't run 3 digital displays without an "active" Mini Display Port adapter.

This actually is dependent upon the resolution you are running on your displays. I have 3 monitors running albeit in windows 7 with a passive dongle.

You can passively send signals up to single link dvi resolution. I am running 3 19 inch monitors at 1920X1200 a piece. The passive dongle handles it just fine.

Though I know most people will have 3 23 or 24 inch monitors so the point may be moot however still worth noting for the low medium budget oriented like myself.

I haven't tried this setup in linux yet. I am going to soon and i will let you know the results.

[Gtaylor]

Looks like the 5870 EyeFinity 6 is a no-go with 3xDisplayport monitors. A new driver should be out this monday which addresses this problem for good.

[0004tom]

Looks like the 5870 EyeFinity 6 is a no-go with 3xDisplayport monitors. A new driver should be out this monday which addresses this problem for good.

Nothing set in stone as of yet, as ATi are not releasing any news on fixes and features, other then the VLC GPU acceleration. Only rumours.

[c360]

This actually is dependent upon the resolution you are running on your displays. I have 3 monitors running albeit in windows 7 with a passive dongle.

You can passively send signals up to single link dvi resolution. I am running 3 19 inch monitors at 1920X1200 a piece. The passive dongle handles it just fine.

Though I know most people will have 3 23 or 24 inch monitors so the point may be moot however still worth noting for the low medium budget oriented like myself.

I haven't tried this setup in linux yet. I am going to soon and i will let you know the results.

I have tried this on Linux and Windows 7 x64 with driver release 10.8 with no results. CCC continues to disable one of the displays. From what I understand from ATI is that version 10.7+ is supposed to have EyeFinity enabled. Did you have any success with your linux test? Thanks!

[Excizted]

I have tried this on Linux and Windows 7 x64 with driver release 10.8 with no results. CCC continues to disable one of the displays. From what I understand from ATI is that version 10.7+ is supposed to have EyeFinity enabled. Did you have any success with your linux test? Thanks!

I gave up and am now running dual x screen each on an Nvidia graphics card.

[0004tom]

Eyefinity with the 10.7 and 10.8 propriety drivers working here. Been using for the last month. Altho it isn't true eyefinity, only able to get it going with on main monitor and the other 2 monitors extending the desktop.

http://i37.tinypic.com/vrd8xx.jpg <-- Expo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ha1j0iLpAjU <-- To show off the 3D Gaming.. Alpha 3 of 0ad