Which video cards can drive the apple 30"

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
M

makken

Golden Member
Aug 28, 2004
1,476
0
76
Hi guys,

I was wondering if anyone knows which video cards are capable of driving the apple 30" cinema display; it's native resolution is 2560x1600.

I've checked most cards, and they only list up to 2048x1536.

thanks
 
O

otispunkmeyer

Lifer
Jun 14, 2003
10,442
0
0
not sure

they'll need to have dual dual link DVI i think, the mac edition of the 6800U can do it, if u have a mac that is

according to apples site


" One of the following:

* Power Mac G5 with an ATI Radeon 9650, ATI Radeon X850 XT, or NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT DDL graphics card (offered as a kit for current Power Mac G5 customers)"

again thats for MAC's

gaming card wise i dont think theres much that will do much beyond 2048x1536. workstation cards such as the quadros and fire GL's can push well beyond 2560x1600 so u might wanna look at them

FireGL
Quadro
 
B

batmanuel

Platinum Member
Jan 15, 2003
2,144
0
0
Check out the eVGA 7800 GTX. One of the DVI ports is a dual link port that has the bandwidth to drive the 30" Cinema Display. Spec sheet.

I also found this on eVGA's forums, posted by one of their mods:


The following cards will support one 30" Apple Cinema Display in its native digital resolution 2560x1600:
e-GeForce 6800 GT 512MB
e-GeForce 7800 GT
e-GeForce 7800 GTX
e-GeForce 7800 GTX KO Edition w/ACS3

And we are not stopping here, be on the look out for more EVGA solutions coming soon for large flat panel display support.

I'm not sure what other manufacturers support the 30" Cinema displays, but this list is a good starting point. Just remember that you will likely have issues with the monitor if you try to use SLI with the large widescreen LCDs.

 
B

bjc112

Lifer
Dec 23, 2000
11,460
0
76
I think its awesome that the 7800 series finally brings Dual LINK DVI to the table.

:thumbsup:
 
B

batmanuel

Platinum Member
Jan 15, 2003
2,144
0
0
Originally posted by: AthlonPowers
If you are on a budget, you might want to check ATI's "newest" PC and Mac compatible 9600 card, which supports the 30" display:

ATI Radeon 9600 PRO PC & Mac edition

Apparently, a PC/Mac 9800 will be along next.
Click to expand...

Not sure how cheap you can find this card elsewhere, but MacMall has it for just over $200. That's cheap compared to the cards we are talking about here, but the price is about double what a 9600 Pro should run. The price/performance ratio is so bad that it makes the extra $200 bucks a 7800GT would cost pretty attractive.

Anyway, I figure that "budget" is a word that should not be spoken anywhere close to any discussion of the 30" Cinema Display. :)
 
B

batmanuel

Platinum Member
Jan 15, 2003
2,144
0
0
Originally posted by: Pabster
I agree.

Now if Apple would have a major price cut on these 30" displays :D
Click to expand...

Any word on when Dell might be coming out with a 30" monster? I figure we won't see any major price cuts from Apple until then.

 
I

IeraseU

Senior member
Aug 25, 2004
778
0
71
Right now the only competition to apple 30" is in the form of an LCD TV. Not quite the resolution, but much less costly.
 
S

Stretchman

Golden Member
Aug 27, 2005
1,065
0
0
Just out of curiousity, how far away would you have to sit from a 30" display? My 23" already seems so big....
 
Soccerman06

Soccerman06

Diamond Member
Jul 29, 2004
5,830
5
81
The new R520 can run it here.

"Like the GeForce 7800GTX, R520 support 2 Dual Link DVI outputs, Dual 400Mhz RAMDAC, Dual-Link TMDS transmitters and highest resolution at 2560x1600 32Bit@60Hz. On the PCB, there are ATI Rage Theater providing VIVO functionalities"

But The 7800GTX and R520 are probably the only cards that will allow you to play games at 25x16. Id say wait for the R520 since its only (please) a few weeks away.
 
P

Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
9,640
1
0
It's not like earlier Radeons couldn't have done dual-link DVI ports. It's just that there was little reason to implement it on a card - until now. As has been stated above, there now are a few midrange cards that do, like that new 9600 card from ATI themselves.

Dual-link DVI of course isn't the same thing as having two DVI ports. This is one port that has twice as many data lines, simply spoken, so it can transfer more data per frame as required for these ultra-high resolutions.
 
M

makken

Golden Member
Aug 28, 2004
1,476
0
76
Originally posted by: batmanuel
Anyway, I figure that "budget" is a word that should not be spoken anywhere close to any discussion of the 30" Cinema Display. :)
Click to expand...

hahaha, so true.

anyways, I was playing with it at CompUSA the other day, asked the salesperson there if it was possible to hook it up to a PC. He said yes, but you need a specialized "professional" graphics card that would cost around $600 to use it. He then pointed me off to the workstation cards. I guess he wasn't too far off about the price though. -.-"

I want that display. but how bad would a game look on it scaled down to say.. 1680x1050?

maybe in 10 years time, I will have enough money to actually purchase one of those...
Then again in 10 years time, I get the feeling I'll be rolling a flim of OLEDs across my wall instead.

On a more realistic note.. are there any 17" widescreen LCD"s for desktops? The smallest widescreen I can find is the Dell 20"
 
X

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
12,974
0
71
It's up to the manufacturer to add an external transmitter such as Silicon Image. As far as I know, none of the GPUs (except perhaps Matrox and Quadro/FireGL) have built-in TMDS transmitters that support that high of a resolution.
 
P

Peter

Elite Member
Oct 15, 1999
9,640
1
0
The point is that the commodity GPUs include _one_ TMDS transmitter, whereas obviously for a dual-link DVI port you need two. So when you're adding a discrete 2nd transmitter on the card, you can configure the GPU to team them up for one dual-link port, or use them separately to make twin single-link DVi ports.
 
X

xtknight

Elite Member
Oct 15, 2004
12,974
0
71
The 7800GTX had two TMDS transmitters, but according to Anand, the external Silicon Image one wasn't linked up. Perhaps it is on the Quadro series.
 
A

AthlonPowers

Member
Jul 30, 2005
56
0
0
Originally posted by: makken
On a more realistic note.. are there any 17" widescreen LCD"s for desktops? The smallest widescreen I can find is the Dell 20"
Click to expand...

Depending on your point of view, Best Buy have been selling a Westinghouse 17" widescreen LCD with DVI input for around $229 (sale price, normally $299). It's probably not a bad little screen, white case and all, but the resolution is "only" 1280x768. For around the same price you can get 4:3 screens to run deeper at 1024 vertical.

Also, I agree on the budget issue - but still, the option of the 9600 exists and several online stores have them in stock.
 
Sonikku

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
15,908
4,940
136
I'm getting a Sony 900 @24: Monitor that can supports resolutions beyond 1920x1200, but I doubt my 9600XT 128mb card is up to the task of running much at it's suggest resolution.
 
J

JackBurton

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
15,993
14
81
Originally posted by: xtknight
The 7800GTX had two TMDS transmitters, but according to Anand, the external Silicon Image one wasn't linked up. Perhaps it is on the Quadro series.
Click to expand...

It has definitely been confirmed that the 7800GTX can drive a 30" Apple display at its native resolution. I can't say that ALL of the 7800GTXs can do it, but the eVGA definitely can. Guys at Hardocp forums, have their 30" running VERY nicely with the 7800GTX card. Lucky bastards! :|
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom