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Danny Futuro

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 1, 2006
71
0
Just out of curiosity, is there any GPU performance sacrafice when driving a large external display, I.E. a 30" ACD? I posted this in the peripherals thread but didn't get an answer. Just curious as I am about to purchase Final Cut Studio.
 

ventro

macrumors 6502a
Sep 23, 2006
692
0
You probably won't want to use both the 30" ACD and the MBP display at the same time. But independently, the ACD should work pretty well.
 

poppe

macrumors 68020
Apr 29, 2006
2,248
53
Woodland Hills
Just out of curiosity, is there any GPU performance sacrafice when driving a large external display, I.E. a 30" ACD? I posted this in the peripherals thread but didn't get an answer. Just curious as I am about to purchase Final Cut Studio.

I have a 42" Westinghouse hooked up via DVI from my Macbook pro and running mirrored and it performs perfectly (so it seems) don't really run as a dual screen (though I leave my MBP screen running) because a 42" and a 17" are pretty mismatched and a little difficult to bring the head back and fourth. I haven't had a heavy editing session in a while so haven't been able to try this, but I plan to have my canvas and browser on my MBP and a the Timeline and the Bin on my westy.
 

robbieduncan

Moderator emeritus
Jul 24, 2002
25,611
893
Harrogate
I have a 42" Westinghouse hooked up via DVI from my Macbook pro and running mirrored and it performs perfectly (so it seems) don't really run as a dual screen (though I leave my MBP screen running) because a 42" and a 17" are pretty mismatched and a little difficult to bring the head back and fourth. I haven't had a heavy editing session in a while so haven't been able to try this, but I plan to have my canvas and browser on my MBP and a the Timeline and the Bin on my westy.

The size of the screen does not matter. It's the pixel resolution. At the very best your screen is 1920x1080. Chances are it's a lot less than that. This requires around a quarter of the pixel pushing power of a 30" ACD.
 

dpaanlka

macrumors 601
Nov 16, 2004
4,869
34
Illinois
I have a 42" Westinghouse hooked up via DVI from my Macbook pro and running mirrored and it performs perfectly (so it seems) don't really run as a dual screen (though I leave my MBP screen running) because a 42" and a 17" are pretty mismatched and a little difficult to bring the head back and fourth. I haven't had a heavy editing session in a while so haven't been able to try this, but I plan to have my canvas and browser on my MBP and a the Timeline and the Bin on my westy.

But that's a very low resolution display compared to the 30" ACD. You basically have a 17" display blown up to 42"
 

poppe

macrumors 68020
Apr 29, 2006
2,248
53
Woodland Hills
1080p isn't that low of a resolution... I know what you are saying and everything since the 30" can do 2500 something right? I'm just saying on a 42" 1080p there is no slow performance thigns or anything
 

dpaanlka

macrumors 601
Nov 16, 2004
4,869
34
Illinois
1080p isn't that low of a resolution...

It's actually an extremely low resolution for that size. TVs are not meant to be computer screens. It's a great resolution for TV. Horrible horrible for a computer screen of that size. I would expect a 42" computer screen (if they ever make one) to be way over 3000 pixels wide and probably around 2000 pixels up and down.

Of course there is no slow performance - your computer thinks your 42" display is a 17" display.
 

YS2003

macrumors 68020
Dec 24, 2004
2,138
0
Finally I have arrived.....
I agree with the previous post. The TV LCD is terrible as a computer monitor at whatever the screen size. It is not meat to be a computer monitor as it is made for TV usage. I have a Samsung 24" TV LCD and it has not even crossed my mind to use it as a computer monitor as the resolution is not up to computer monitor standards.
Going back to the OP's question. As long as it is used as a single monitor (ie. clamshell if he has a MBP), there should not be a performance degradation. If you span it with the onboard monitor (assuming this is MBP), the GPU's memory is split in half between the 2 monitors.
 

Danny Futuro

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 1, 2006
71
0
hrm...so from what I gather, might it be a better idea performance wise to go with a 20 or 23 inch ACD with FCP? The 30 inch behemoth is the equivalent of four of my 1440x900 displays! I'm on a C2D MBP with 128mb graphics memory.
 
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