Can a Radeon 5450 Drive Two Digital Signals?

[Elfear]

I bought a Visiontek 5450 to drive two LCD monitors. It's a half-height card so it only has a DVI-I and a Displayport connector. When I run a DVI --> VGA adapter to one monitor and a Displayport --> DVI adapter (like this) to the other monitor, the second isn't recognized. CCC doesn't see it at all.

Wikipedia had the following chart:



This seems to indicate I can drive two digital signals at the same time.

Visiontek's product webpage said that passive Displayport adapters will not support more than two legacy monitors. Shouldn't be an issue since I'm only trying to drive two.


So I'm confused why the second monitor isn't recognized. Any ideas?

 

[KingFatty]

What is the exact model card? Do you have a link to newegg or amazon or Visiontek to the exact same card? I think vendors can change things around or disable features, so the table you posted may not always apply to all cards.

 

[Elfear]

What is the exact model card? Do you have a link to newegg or amazon or Visiontek to the exact same card? I think vendors can change things around or disable features, so the table you posted may not always apply to all cards.

Here is the exact card. Here is the same card on Newegg although my card has the low-profile bracket without the VGA port.

 

[KingFatty]

Can you try this: plug one monitor into one port and boot up the computer to see if that port works.
Turn off the computer, and plug the other monitor into the other port, boot up and see if that port works.

 

[Elfear]

Can you try this: plug one monitor into one port and boot up the computer to see if that port works.
Turn off the computer, and plug the other monitor into the other port, boot up and see if that port works.

I'll give it a shot when I get to work tomorrow. If both ports check out individually, any other ideas of what the issue may be?

To be honest I'm feeling a little embarrassed that I recommended the 5450 to the IT guy at work. He wanted to buy Nvidia Quadro 290 cards for twice the money but I talked him into the Radeon. From every source I can find it appears that two monitors should be no problem but it isn't working and the guy already ordered 15 cards and 15 DP --> DVI adapters.

 

[paperwastage]

are you trying to drive (for the displayport one) a monitor higher than 1200p resolution?

 

[Elfear]

are you trying to drive (for the displayport one) a monitor higher than 1200p resolution?

Nope. Both are 19" LCDs. The most the cards will see is 1680x1050 on the 22" screens we have.

I'm wondering if the clock generator will only work for one digital signal at a time. So you could use the DVI or the DP port with the VGA port but not DVI and DP at the same time. I'm probably wrong but that's all I can think at this point.

 

[adamantinepiggy]

I have a 5450 as my media center PC vid card. It has 1 VGA, 1 DVI, and 1 HDMI port. It is currently driving a 1280x1024 19" monitor on the DVI port and a 40" 1920x1080 (1080P) TV on the HDMI port. While not the exact configuration you have, it does show this card will drive two digital outputs at different resolutions at once.

I did have to "force" the card through software to output full 1080P resolution to the TV, as it only reported the TV as a 1280x720 device in Windows.

 

[Elfear]

I have a 5450 as my media center PC vid card. It has 1 VGA, 1 DVI, and 1 HDMI port. It is currently driving a 1280x1024 19" monitor on the DVI port and a 40" 1920x1080 (1080P) TV on the HDMI port. While not the exact configuration you have, it does show this card will drive two digital outputs at different resolutions at once.

I did have to "force" the card through software to output full 1080P resolution to the TV, as it only reported the TV as a 1280x720 device in Windows.

Thanks for the info. Sounds like I should be able to drive DVI and DP at the same time. I can't imagine that a DP-equipped 5450 would have less clock generators than one with HDMI. I'll have to experiment around tomorrow and see if I can get it to work.

 

[KingFatty]

What is the specific model of DP adapter you have? Is it active DP or passive DP?

Too bad about your IT guy buying those cards and adapters, I wonder if he could exchange the cards for a different 5450 that has a DVI port and an HDMI port like how my 5450 is (and also how adamantinepiggy's is). I would guess that the HDMI-DVI adapter is much cheaper than an active DP adapter.

Assuming your DP adapter is passive, can you borrow an active DP adapter to test your card and dual monitors? I'm puzzled by the advice to your IT guy, because I know for my situation, my 5450 costed me less than the $30 active display port adapter I used on a 5870 to get triple-screen support. Seems wasteful to spend more than double to get a card+dp adapter, instead of getting a different kind of 5450 that used DVI and HDMI.

 

[Elfear]

What is the specific model of DP adapter you have? Is it active DP or passive DP?

Too bad about your IT guy buying those cards and adapters, I wonder if he could exchange the cards for a different 5450 that has a DVI port and an HDMI port like how my 5450 is (and also how adamantinepiggy's is). I would guess that the HDMI-DVI adapter is much cheaper than an active DP adapter.

Assuming your DP adapter is passive, can you borrow an active DP adapter to test your card and dual monitors? I'm puzzled by the advice to your IT guy, because I know for my situation, my 5450 costed me less than the $30 active display port adapter I used on a 5870 to get triple-screen support. Seems wasteful to spend more than double to get a card+dp adapter, instead of getting a different kind of 5450 that used DVI and HDMI.

The adapter I linked in the OP is the one we got. I should have caught that the card had a DP instead of an HDMI port but the adapter was only $9 so not too big a deal. Certainly much better than the ancient Quadro 290 he wanted to get for $130.

We got the card working by the way. Woot woot! We tried the card in a different machine and it worked perfectly for two screens. We tried another 5450 in the original machine and it still wouldn't output from the DP, even in the boot-up sequence. Didn't have a lot of time to play with it but at least we figured out it wasn't the card itself. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[zephyrprime]

Although it looks like the 5450 can support it, your particular card cannot. That diagram is of maximum capabilities and if your manufacturer went cheap or was space constrained, they may not have put the actual drivers needed to provide full capability.