2405FPW is DUAL LINK DVI or SINGLE LINK DVI?

[DualMonitors]

Hello! I have had a 2405 for a couple of years now and have been using it with a Dell issued 4200 Ti video card (not a typical 4200 but the Ti version, which was somehow souped up) at the 2405's native resolution of 1920x1200.

Does the 2405 (NOT the 2407) require DUAL LINK DVI or is SINGLE LINK DVI fine?

I'm getting ready to buy a new computer and have to select a video card and i need to find out whether i need a card with 2 DUAL LINK DVI outputs or 1 Dual Link DVI and 1 single link DVI output. i will be using the 24" with the new 30" which I know needs the DUAL LINK dvi but i need to find out and be absolutely sure that the 24" needs a Dual link or Single Link DVI.

the reason is that video cards with one dual link dvi and one single link dvi is MUCH easier to find and less costly whereas the TWO dual link dvi output video cards are far most costly. i would buy what i need but not excessively, as i am not a gamer but a higher end home office user type. thank you very much in advance!

 

[DualMonitors]

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/m.../2405fpw/en/about.htm#Specifioications

I am not that sure...

in the link to the 2405 manual above, if you scrolled down to the part "Physical Characteristics - Signal Cable type" you'll see that it says that "shipped detached from the monitor is the 24-pin DVI cable". That is a pretty certain indication that Dell shipped the 24-pin DUAL LINK DVI cable. Why would Dell ship the DUAL LINK DVI cable if it is not needed? BUT, dual link dvi cables are BACKWARDS COMPATIBLE so even if if an LCD only requires single link dvi, it is ok to use a dual link dvi cable, it's just not necessary, so it is inconclusive what the 2405 monitor actually needs in terms of the video card's output - that is, looking at their provided cable is not an absolutely sure indication.

This is important for me because I'm getting the 30" Dell and would like to use my current 24" WITH the new computer WITH the 30" LCD as well. So i have to buy either a 2 X DUAL LINK DVI video card or, a card with only 1 DUAL link dvi and 1 single link dvi. the prices of these cards are very different!

hope someone knows! thx in advance!

 

[Matthias99]

It's not dual-link DVI. They may be shipping dual-link DVI cables with it for all I know, but it's a single-link monitor. I know some people did have problems using crappy DVI cables (especially with older video cards) on the 2405 at native -- technically, single-link DVI is out of spec at 1920x1200, but most video cards can use reduced blanking interval to make it work.

If you need 2xdual-link DVI, you could also get two video cards each with one dual-link port. You don't have to buy a dual-head dual-link.

 

[JBT]

The 2405 is not a dual link required monitor.

 

[Steve]

Single link. I've run mine on a PCI 9100. The max res for single link is 1920x1200. Anything above that requires dual link DVI.