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What is this cable? (macpro, dvi-dvi)

W

wdhpgx

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 11, 2006
74
69
So there were two "dvi" cables in the box with the MacPro. One is the DVI-VGA cable that's mentioned in the manual. The other appears to be a DVI-DVI cable, and I can't figure out what it's for or what it does. It's male-female, so essentially a 5" extension, which would seem silly. So I'm guessing it .. does something, in those 5 inches, but I don't know what.

The two cables were in little plastic bags, with two different model-type numbers: 603-8525 and 603-8471, but I can't find either of them on the web anywhere.

 
Its probably used so you put that in your computer and then plug the monitor into it to reduce wear on your video card port. That way your dongle gets messed up and not your videocard. Just my guess.
 
I got one too.

My only guess is if you put your graphics card in a top slot and try to use a cinema display, the cable may not reach (I don't have one, so I don't know). Look at page 8 of the manual. Maybe because of the way the cables all come out of the one cable with the cinema display, there is not enough reach to get to the top PCI express slots, so they added this little extension cable.
 
tobyg said:
My only guess is if you put your graphics card in a top slot and try to use a cinema display, the cable may not reach (I don't have one, so I don't know).
Click to expand...
95% sure this is what it's in there for; they changed the port layout, and with multiple graphics cards the ports on the card can now farther away from the firewire/USB ports than the cable built in to a cinema display can reach. Therefore, 5" extension so you can plug it in properly. Was quite nice of them to toss it in, really--I can just imagine everybody getting home with their new Mac Pro and saying "My 30" ACD doesn't reach the ports!"
 
What is this cable?

That cable is included because you probably have a video card that has two DVI connectors on it. The conncectors on these cables are not very far apart. That cable is just a little bit narrower than a normal DVI connector and is provided to use just in case you have two connectors that are too wide to plug in to the connectors on your video card.
 
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I didn't get one with my new Mac Pro that has the x1900xt dual dvi card in it. It is a nice surprise to find in a box since that cable would retail for about 50 USD.
 
Mine came with that same cable. I thought it had something to do with the dual-link stuff if you want to run a 30" ACD. I guess I was wrong.
 
justgregk said:
That cable is included because you probably have a video card that has two DVI connectors on it. The conncectors on these cables are not very far apart. That cable is just a little bit narrower than a normal DVI connector and is provided to use just in case you have two connectors that are too wide to plug in to the connectors on your video card.
Click to expand...
This is correct. Two wide DVI connectors might not both fit attached to the video card. The short extension is to allow two wide DVI connectors to fit.
 
Does anyone know where I can get one of these DVI-DVI cords? I've looked on Apple's site and I can't find one! I need to get it because I want to run dual displays.
 
justgregk said:
That cable is included because you probably have a video card that has two DVI connectors on it. The conncectors on these cables are not very far apart. That cable is just a little bit narrower than a normal DVI connector and is provided to use just in case you have two connectors that are too wide to plug in to the connectors on your video card.
Click to expand...

This. Exactly.

(Edit: Aggggghhhh old thread. Fooled. :( )
 
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