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3 monitors, cheaply? yes indeed!

I

interslicer

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 14, 2010
75
0
alright friends, after a long time i finally ordered 2 accell minidisplay to single link dvi ACTIVE adapters for use with my 5770 i got a few months ago. as most of you know you need an active adapter to have more than 2 monitors hooked up to a 5770 or 5870 on a mac, and in order to do this with apple adapters you need to buy 2 dual link dvi adapters at $99 a pop. the accel ones have 2 advantages, one they're only $30 each, and two they dont require a usb port for power.

well mine just came and everything works great :D, so if you're looking for a cheap way to get 3 monitors, go for it.

curiously though, and one of the reasons im making this thread, my oldest monitor (only like 4 years old) wasnt recognized when i hooked it up to the adapter and put it in the minidisplay port. no biggie because i just hooked that one up to the dvi port and my other 2 to my mdp's, but is there a reason why it wouldnt be recognized? i was using detect displays and everything.


also if anyones looking for a cheap monitor stand tykesupply makes some cheap cheap cheap ones that are very nice.

all told 3 monitors, the graphics card upgrade for my 2007 mac pro, and the stand and adapters, it cost me about $650. and man do i love it!

also now i can finally install windows via bootcamp because i dont have the x1900 anymore.
 
Did you include the three monitors in that price? They must be pretty cheap monitors.

.... er, I mean inexpensive monitors. :)
 
Why not get Apple's Mini DisplayPort to single link DVI? Or a substantially cheaper monoprice adapter?
 
cherry su said:
Why not get Apple's Mini DisplayPort to single link DVI? Or a substantially cheaper monoprice adapter?
Click to expand...

apples single link dvi adapters are not active. when you only have one monitor plugged in via mdp it works well, but if you have 2 plugged in via mdp and one in the dvi port, only 2 get displayed. apple doesnt make an active single link dvi adapter, they have an active dual link adapter. but it costs 99 bucks

EDIT: heres the link http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4279
 
interslicer said:
19 inch widescreen lcds.
about $100 a piece when you buy them on sale
Click to expand...

Three monitors do rock and I commend you on that move...but

...but I'd suggest you could do better for just a few more dime.

Unless space is a huge issue I just can't see any point to monitors 19 inch and smaller.

You could easily drive 3 23 inch displays...and Costco has budget Samsung 23s around $169.
 
well space is one issue, cost is another. on top of the extra cost for the monitors to get a stand that fits larger monitors would cost much more than the sweet deal i got on mine. theres no way they would fit on my desk without a stand..

but some day when im out of college i'll have more monitors than i know what to do with.
 
interslicer said:
well space is one issue, cost is another. on top of the extra cost for the monitors to get a stand that fits larger monitors would cost much more than the sweet deal i got on mine. theres no way they would fit on my desk without a stand..

but some day when im out of college i'll have more monitors than i know what to do with.
Click to expand...

We all have to have an upward path that leaves us things to look forward to! It sounds like you made a big leap forward. It must feel great! Cheers!
 
Yeah, but why 3? Wouldn't 2 - 23" monitors be about the same area (and doing some basic math says yes yes it would be if all were 16:9), and you wouldn't need to buy adapters? I've done the multiple monitor thing and frankly I would rather have one or two giant monitors rather than several small.
 
well for starters i didnt buy them all at once. i had one 19 inch and bought another every 2 years pretty much. but also because when you're playing games in windows with eyefinity, its nice not to have the middle (aka where all the important things happen) split on to two screens
 
That Apple "Supported display config" article doesn't describe all the possible configs. Do you think this would work?

One DVI display connected to Dual-Link DVI port +
One DisplayPort display connected to Mini DisplayPort #1 (with a mini-to-regular adapter) +
One DVI display connected to Mini DisplayPort #2 (with DVI-to-Mini DisplayPort adapter)


It's basically the second config Apple describes ("Two DVI displays"), plus a DisplayPort monitor.

Thanks!
 
I baught x2 22" monitors from HP for £320 including all leads/adapters and tax.

IMO they ae better than the iMacs screens.

I might pick up a 3rd when i upgrade to the ATI5770.
 
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