Widescreen Gaming Forum

Hi,

I currently have a 5040x1050 eyefinity set up. I'm using an HD6870 and 3 monitors: 2 Samsung SM2233RZ 22" and 1 Saumsung Syncmaster 2232BW 2". 2 of them are connected to the graphic card with the DVI ports and 1 uses the mini-dp port through an active adaptor. All works fine no problems.

I have recently bought a 32" Samsung smart TV and since I had a HDMI connector lying around I tried to connect also the TV to the graphic card. When I started configuring the 4th monitor (the TV) the problems started. There was no way I could add a 4th montor I could only have 3 at the same time (3 monitors or 2 monitors + TV). Initially I thought that the problem was the fact that 1 monitor was connected via the mini-dp adaptor. But that was not the cause. I actually realized (by switching the connections) that the problem was with the Syncmaster 2232BW. There was no way it could be "accepted" in a configuration with the TV (3 monitors + TV or 2 monitors + tv)! Has anybody any idea why? If I were to buy another monitor to substitute it, how would I be sure that the new one would work with a 4x1 configuration (the TV would actually be positioned on top of the 3 monitors)?

Thanks
Mega

The graphics card can only drive 2 monitors without the need for active display port adaptors.
For the 4th monitor/TV, you will, like your 3rd display, need to use an active DP/mini-DP to HDMI adaptor.

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Thanks for the reply. I'm still not convinced though. I admit that my knowledge of DVI/HDMI/Mini DP ports/adaptors is pretty basic so bear with me a second.

My current configuration (without the TV) is 2 monitors connected with a DVI port and another with am active mini DP to DVI. It all works fine.

The TV has got a HDMI port and I connected that directly to the HDMI port of the card. Now the things I noticed.

3 monitors + TV. The TV is connected but not activated. It's grey in the "screen resolution" window of Win 7. If I try to activate it selecting the option "extend desktop to this screen" I cannot "apply" the setting as I get an error message (I don't remember the content, I'm not in front of my home pc atm, but the message it's pretty basic, just an error code I think).

If I try only with 2 monitors + TV I am able to have all 3 activated (even grouped in eyefinity) and this regardless of the fact that the the monitors are connected both directly with the DVI port or one of them through the mini-DP to DVI. The only weird thing I noticed was that I could do this only with the 2 Samsung 2233RZ. If I had 1 2233RZ and the 2232BW I could not have both activated plus the TV. That's why I think the problem lies with the 2232BW monitor.

Does this make sense? Of course I'd love to solve everything with a mini-dp to HDMI connector instead of buying another monitor! Thanks for any advice.

Mega

a minor correction or addition to what Delphium said.

on ATI / AMD video cards if you want more than 3 monitor / TV / projectors / etc to work simultaneously in the same card

then all extras monitors will need to be connected to a DirectPort to Active Display Adapter, that then you can covert to DVI / HDMI / VGA

some cards only have 1 DVI connector, that means the other 2 will still need to be on Direct Port with an Active Display Adapter

you can not use the build in HDMI port from the card, as it's usually shared with one of the Direct Port or one of the DVI ports.

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Hi, you state here that the monitor worked without problems.

When adding the TV via HDMI, what where the other 2 monitors connected by?
I would assume...
HDMI > TV
DVI > Monitor
DP to DVI > Monitor
Is this correct, and this works? (I would expect this to work).

When you disconnect the TV and plug in the 2232BW, all 3 monitors work again? (Again, this is what I would expect to happen).

You said that when the TV was connected with the 3 monitors it was greyed out... that is because although it is detected, in order for a signal to be transmitted down the cable, it requires a clock sync to carry the hdmi signal, this sync is produced by a timing chip (TMDS) in the graphics card, typically these chips just support 2 outputs, hence the need for DP active adaptors, as the DP signal format does not rely on sync carrier signals as the data is sent in packets, much like network data is.

This is where active adaptors come into play as they essentially add TMDS chips or signal carriers that allow the video signal to reach the TV and to no longer be greyed out.

Thus an additional active DP to HDMI/DVI adaptor would be required so that you have a setup of....

DVI > Monitor
DVI > Monitor
DP to DVI > Monitor
DP to HDMI > TV

... would then work.

_________________
| Gigabyte X79S-UP5-WiFi Skt2011 | i7 4820k @4.4GHz Watercooled (Ivy Bridge-E) | Corsair Vengence 32GB @2133MHz 11-11-11-27 2T Quad-Channel (8x4GB) | AMD R9-Fury-X 4GB @1140/505MHz + EKWB Watercooled | 256GB Crucial MX200 SSD | 8x 1TB Samsung F3 SATA-II | Corsair 850W TX PSU | 3x Dell S2209W 22"wide TFT's (5760x1080res) | Logitech Z-5400 5.1ch speakers | Win7 Ultimate x64 |