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ATI Radeon 5870 Eyefinity 6 and vvvv

vvvv beta general
#1

Successfully tested ATI Radeon 5870 Eyefinity 6 and vvvv with following configuration:

ATI Radeon 5870 Eyefinity 6
Intel Core I7 2600 3,4Ghz
Motherboard Asus P8P67
8GB DDR3 1600Mhz
128GB SSD
1TB SATA2 7200rpm
Datapath VisionRGB-E2 Video Capture Card
Datapath VisionSD4+1 Video Capture Card
Windows 7 Home Premium 64

Connected 6 display outputs:

1 VGA monitor
4 projectors (1024x768) grouped (span mode) with vvvv multiscreen edge blend
1 plasma

Used Apple Mini Display Port to VGA adapters

NOTE:
ATI Radeon 5870 Eyefinity 6 can use 2 outputs with passive adapters (DVI / HDMI) and the remaining 4 outputs must use active adapters. For Mini Display Port to VGA adapters I guess there are no active adapters since you are already converting from digital to analog. Used Apple Mac mini DP to VGA adapters successfully.

Very easy to group various combinations of outputs (span mode) as well as select different resolution and orientation settings for outputs. Monitors / projectors must be plugged in to be detected.

vvvv performance very good with this system.

#2

using 4 * TH2go (to be precise: something similar homebrewn) on 4 of the 6 heads we have been able to run 12*720p and still have a patch window on one head and shocking decadent: even one head disconnected.

screenshot of inspector fullscreen resolution 15360 * 720 somewhere around here.

like @mbrissos already stated the HD5870 Eyefinity 6 offers minidisplayports, which are far away from stability and reliability.
after only one transport the cabling of the first version of our rack (2 of those pcs and 8 'TH2go’s) has had to be reworked on site.

for mechanical reasons i recommend to use HD 6970 which occupies 3 slots but offers 4 ‘real’ display ports and 2 DVI outputs.

#3

@kall as far as I can see here http://www.amd.com/uk/products/desktop/graphics/amd-radeon-hd-6000/hd-6970/Pages/amd-radeon-hd-6970-overview.aspx#1 the HD6970 only has two mini displayports so if you want to have 2 outputs from one port, you need to use the multistream support of displayport 1.2 to have to “heads” on one head.

or are there other versions that I am not aware of?

-sunep

#4

thanks for the reports! I’m considering building up a PC around a HD6990 card at the moment, so it is reassuring to hear that the eyefinity setup is playing nice with vvvv. This card has 4 MDP sockets though (+1DVI), any more info on what the trouble is with these was Kalle?

#5

@sune:

i only have the box here, it says: HD6970 DirectCU II
sorry, no time and on UMTS so i can’t search a link for that right now.

#6

@kalle and other interested, I found a review, it looks cool.
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/asus-radeon-hd6970-directcu-ii-930916/review

#7

to my knowledge only one active dp>dvi adapter is needed for a 4+1 display config
this is how i could manage: 1st output>apple adapter>digital hd monitor,
outputs 2,3,4,5>simple dp2vga adapters (10 euros a piece)>4 projectors

@kalle: using 4 * TH2go (to be precise: something similar homebrewn)?
is that a home made dp signal shifter? or is it a secret?

#8

regarding those homebrewn TH2go:

we are using a custom device similar to the matrox triplehead products.
somebody in far-east develops and produces them for a wellknown user who is kind of my chief…
those are still far away from being a commercial product.
no hotplugging! you pull a DVIplug and the device is dead.
but they are configureable via RS232 and offer lots of custom resolutions and framerates and configureable EDID.

this is really all information i can give you at this moment.
maybe that even was already too much :P

#9

if you want to get an idea about how-to-configure-that-card:
http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pages/gpu50-ati-eyefinity-display-groups.aspx

#10

Danke schön, i will stay away from such dangerous devices for now :)

#11

when you mentioned far east, i thought about the mviewtech devices (triplehead replacement)… but they are already on the market, so that’s not it. :-)

#12

Am I right to realize that you can only use displays with a standard resolution with eyefinity?

In my little experience with eyefinity I have not found the option of using strange=triplehead resolutions in eyefinity.

but @kalle’s screenshots of an inspector some time ago suggest othewise.

am I missing something?

-sunep

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