Dual 30" LCD Setup - Graphic Card?

[enkay18]

Hi Guys - I currently have an ATI Radeon HD 2600XT graphics card powering my dell 24" inch U2410 LCD @ 1920x1200. The card has dual dvi ports.

I just purchased a Dell 30" 3008wfp screen which requires a dual-link DVI-D to run it's native resolution of 2560x1600.

1. I can probably power the 30" using my current card and use it's 2 dvi ports to connect to my 30" monitor, Rite ?

2. How do i connect my u2410 and run both the lcds together? Do i need to buy an additional card?

3. For now, i want to just run my 30" together with the 24", but i might be getting another 30" in a few months, so if i buy a new card it should be able to run dual 30". Is there any card which will let me run dual 30" at 2560x1600 ?

4. I also see the 30" has a displayport, which apparantly carries higher resolution? So if i buy a new card which has a display port, can i link the 30" using just the single display port or do i still need a dual link to power the native resolution like displayport+dvi or dvi+dvi ??

If i need to buy a new card (which i want to avoid doing) what card is recommended? I play occasional games, but mainly use my comp for programming.. Win 7 x64 bit, photoshop cs5, fireworks cs5, Visual Studio 2010, office etc.

 

[Bman123]

Isn't the display port used for eyefinity?

 

[happy medium]

Mabe a 4850x2 2gb like this one with 4 dvi ports? 185$

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2092177

 

[Sp12]

Most modern cards are capable of outputting two dual-link DVI signals, and some are able to run a displayport in addition to that like the 5000 series.

 

[lavaheadache]

dual link doesn't mean it uses 2 ports to one monitor

 

[enkay18]

hi..thanks for the reply...

oh i thought dual link means two ports....so will my current card support two 30" monitors?

 

[happy medium]

hi..thanks for the reply...

oh i thought dual link means two ports....so will my current card support two 30" monitors?

After reading this review page , I found out that yes a 5000 series can display 2 30 inch monitors. Don't know about your 2600xt though.
Good luck.

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/sapphire_hd5770_vaporx_overclock/2.htm

 

[busydude]

The following are the specifications listed in the AMD website.

• Two independent display controllers
  • Drive two displays simultaneously with independent resolutions, refresh rates, color controls and video overlays for each display
  • Full 30-bit display processing
  • Programmable piecewise linear gamma correction, color correction, and color space conversion
  • Spatial/temporal dithering provides 30-bit color quality on 24-bit and 18-bit displays
  • High quality pre- and post-scaling engines, with underscan support for all display outputs
  • Content-adaptive de-flicker filtering for interlaced displays
  • Fast, glitch-free mode switching
  • Hardware cursor
• Two integrated dual-link DVI display outputs
  • Each supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)1
  • Each includes a dual-link HDCP encoder with on-chip key storage for high resolution playback of protected content2
• Two integrated 400 MHz 30-bit RAMDACs
  • Each supports analog displays connected by VGA at all resolutions up to 2048x15361
• HDMI output support
  • Supports all display resolutions up to 1920x10801
  • Integrated HD audio controller with multi-channel (5.1) AC3 support, enabling a plug-and-play cable-less audio solution
• Integrated AMD Xilleon™ HDTV encoder
  • Provides high quality analog TV output (component/S-video/composite)
  • Supports SDTV and HDTV resolutions
  • Underscan and overscan compensation
• MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, WMV9, VC-1, and H.264/AVC encoding and transcoding
• Seamless integration of pixel shaders with video in real time
• VGA mode support on all display outputs
  • PCI Express x16 bus interface
  • OpenGL 3.1 support

Yes, 2600XT will support 2 30" monitors.

 

[enkay18]

oh cool...thanks for looking up the specs on 2600XT....so i checked it out...
it says..

Two integrated dual-link DVI display outputs:
Each supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)1

So it says it supports 1920x1200 or 2560x1600...so which one is it ? I got two dvi ports on the card...so they both are dual-link or single-link dvi ? or do the ports work single-link or dual-link based on the device connected to the port?

 

[happy medium]

oh cool...thanks for looking up the specs on 2600XT....so i checked it out...
it says..

Two integrated dual-link DVI display outputs:
Each supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)1

So it says it supports 1920x1200 or 2560x1600...so which one is it ? I got two dvi ports on the card...so they both are dual-link or single-link dvi ? or do the ports work single-link or dual-link based on the device connected to the port?

That means 2 dual link dvi's supporting 2 30 inch monitors.
Your good.

 

[busydude]

The card has two dual link DVI Display outputs.

 

[enkay18]

awesome...so i guess i can stick with my current card.....thanks guys for all your input...

 

[ViRGE]

How much memory does the card have? You should be fine for desktop use, but I'd start getting worried about Aero if it's only a 256MB card.

 

[enkay18]

the card has 512mb ram.

 

[enkay18]

Looks like i will have to change my graphic card after all, it's overheating and making my computer shutdown. It's reaching like 120 degree celcius.


So i was thinking of buying a new card, i'm wondering if i should get

NVIDIA Quadro NVS 295
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...6-rg2304-00-20

or

XFX Radeon HD 5770
http://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-577...ductPromotions


I'm not much of a gamer, so i was thinking maybe the quadro would be better..thoughts?

 

[ViRGE]

Unless you're running Maya/CAD applications, professional cards like the Quadro are unnecessary. The 5770 would work just fine.