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8790 DVI Output at >= 1680x1050 ... Does it work?

post #1 of 18
6/7/04 at 12:03pm
Thread Starter 
I'm thinking about getting either a 20" (1680x1050) or 23" (1920x1200) Apple Cinema Display to hook up to my 8790 / Radeon 9700 via DVI. Some questions:

1.) Has ANYONE gotten DVI Output to work at above or beyond 1680x1050? There seems to be a couple threads where people complain about this not working, and no definitive answer on whether or not it does...

2.) Would DVI work at 1920x1200 (above the max resolution of the laptop's LCD)?

3.) If DVI does work at 1920x1200, would the laptop's LCD simultaneously
be able to operate at it's native WSXGA resolution of 1680x1050? Would it not work at all while DVI is operating at such a high resolution?

Thanks.
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post #2 of 18
6/9/04 at 4:30pm
In my case, it doesn't even work at 1600x1200. So I have my doubts.
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post #3 of 18
6/9/04 at 6:04pm
i have samsung lcd 19" with max 1280x1024 and connected to 8790 dvi and it displayed ok. i checked 8790 display properties and it automatically reduced its capabilities to max 1280x1024 with no further adjustment.
i disconnected the samsung lcd and reboot the 8790 and its display capabilities came back to native 1680x1050 with advanced adjustment up to 2048x1536.
i then increased the 8790 frequency out of its native frequency and the samsung lcd could not take it because of its 1280x1024.
i can only go this far because i don't have the apple cinema display to play with ... but as i saw the display capabilities of the ati 9700 card to the samsung lcd i believe that it can do with the apple cinema display without problem .. and that is only my opinion.
if you want to be sure you can take the 8790 to bestbuy or compusa or fry or wherever to try it yourself.
hope that help you somewhat ...
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post #4 of 18
6/9/04 at 7:03pm
quoted from Dell's i9100/XPS:
"Max. External Monitor Resolution 1600 x 1200 "
:dunno:
I would think that it would be the same under the 9700 series.
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post #5 of 18
6/9/04 at 7:24pm
I have the 20 Apple Cinema display. I will test it out when i get home today for you. I haven't got the time to hook it up to my monitor.
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post #6 of 18
6/9/04 at 9:44pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks. bigbad... I think it's extremely important to clarify this issue. I'm very interested to see what the real deal is...
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post #7 of 18
6/13/04 at 12:37am
Bumping to the top.
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post #8 of 18
6/14/04 at 12:29pm
Thread Starter 
Yeah, any update?
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post #9 of 18
6/15/04 at 12:25pm
Thread Starter 
As a note, ATI's Mobility Radeon 9700 page ( http://www.ati.com/products/mobility.../features.html ) states that the max DVI resolution is 1600 x 1200. I can tell you for a fact that this is not entirely true for a few reasons...

1.) Modern Apple Powerbooks ( http://www.apple.com/powerbook/graphics.html ) have Mobility Radeon 9700 adapters and, if you check out that page, it clearly
states that it will drive a 23" Cinema display @ it's native resolution of 1920 x 1200.

2.) The Powerbook Mobility Radeon 9700 cards have 64 Megs of RAM. Our cards have a ridiculous 256 Megs. For this reason and the plain old fact that they the cards utilize the same graphics chipset, there is seemingly no reason that our cards cannot support resolutions higher than or equal to 1600x1200 via DVI.

I would really, really appreciate it if someone could confirm this. If it isn't currently working, I'm going to have to theorize that it is purely a driver issue, and that some hacker out there needs to devise a clever workaround.
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post #10 of 18
6/15/04 at 2:40pm
Certainly, there is no reason for the DVI output not to work at 1600x1200. With the laptop LCD already at 1680x1050, wouldn't you think that someone connecting an external flat panel would want a higher resolution, say at least 1600x1200? Yes, certainly you would.

But the fact is: the DVI output does *not* work at 1600x1200.

Alex (enjoying right now the poor result you get when connecting a 1600x1200 flat panel to the laptop with a VGA cable)
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post #11 of 18
6/15/04 at 2:55pm
Thread Starter 
I've seen approximately two people complain of problems with a resolution >= 1600x1200, and approximately ZERO say that it works so far, so, yeah, I'm inclined to agree... It doesn't seem like it works, and, well, that's really bad. Not only is the card not performing as advertised, One of the big reasons I bought this machine was to make use of the DVI port at a good resolution.

This is hopefully just a driver issue. Perhaps we should contact ATI directly?
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post #12 of 18
6/15/04 at 4:19pm
Thread Starter 
Also, Interesting bit of information on necessary amount of RAM for various resolutions (taken from an Apple whitepaper referencing the Mobility 9700) --

When the flat-panel display and an external video monitor are operating at the
same time, each is allocated 32 MB of video memory in 64 MB VRAM systems or
64 MB of video memory in 128 MB VRAM systems. This allocation is enough to
support the full 24-bit pixel depth at resolutions up to 2048 by 1536 pixels.

Sooo... What gives.
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post #13 of 18
6/15/04 at 9:48pm
Thread Starter 
Got a problem? ... Take it into your own hands.

I bit the bullet and bought a 20" Cinema Display and the Apple DVI <-> ADC Converter to test it out ... I didn't believe it wouldn't work, and figured I could return it if there was any issue.

Got it, hooked it up. Initially, with the current drivers from Sager, the apple display panel would only display at something like 1400x900. I said "Hm." ... Downloaded the latest Omega drivers, installed them, rebooted ... Bam. 1680x1050 on both the displays. Works beautifully. ... So, yeah, Driver Issue. Try the new Omegas.
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post #14 of 18
6/18/04 at 10:39am
Quote:
Originally Posted by nintariman
Got it, hooked it up. Initially, with the current drivers from Sager, the apple display panel would only display at something like 1400x900. I said "Hm." ... Downloaded the latest Omega drivers, installed them, rebooted ... Bam. 1680x1050 on both the displays. Works beautifully. ... So, yeah, Driver Issue. Try the new Omegas.
Good for you. Here I haven't had any luck in 1600x1200 with the Omega drivers.

I forgot to say: 1650x1050 is not really more than 1600x1200 (lines are larger, but there are fewer lines, and the total number of pixels is smaller as well). So the question remains: does anybody have any luck in 1600x1200? Even better if it's with a Viewsonic VX2000.
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post #15 of 18
7/10/04 at 1:07am
hey i read this one from another user but i am now in the process of buying a apple display lcd and i just wanted to know from all of you out there if this monitor will work with my pc as long as i have the adaptor and a ati 9800?will it still require to run under the apple operating system or can i continue working with xp? will the pc "conversion" still be as effective as if it were on a mac? let me know what you guys think..thanks sabersaw


"I bit the bullet and bought a 20" Cinema Display and the Apple DVI <-> ADC Converter to test it out ... I didn't believe it wouldn't work, and figured I could return it if there was any issue.

Got it, hooked it up. Initially, with the current drivers from Sager, the apple display panel would only display at something like 1400x900. I said "Hm." ... Downloaded the latest Omega drivers, installed them, rebooted ... Bam. 1680x1050 on both the displays. Works beautifully. ... So, yeah, Driver Issue. Try the new Omegas.[/quote]"
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post #16 of 18
10/24/04 at 9:29pm
I seem to be having the same problem; I've got some new Dell 2001FP screens in, and using the DVI inputs I cannot get a reliable/performance-orientated 1600x1200. I was, briefly, able to disable the laptop screen and run the external DVI LCD at 1600x1200; I then ran 3DMark2001SE and benched a 3800. For comparison, my brother's vanilla GeForce3 got the same score, and my Matrox Parhelia got 2500 running 3200x1600@32bpp. My brother's machine (P4 2.26, "533" Mhz bus, got around 8000 running with an old Radeon 9700 Pro.

Has anyone gotten this to work? To be honest, I'm starting to get a little frustrated (and am considering returning these damn Dell LCDs, in case they're the problem).
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post #17 of 18
10/25/04 at 7:42pm
Just got off the phone with Sager tech support; any resolution DVI on the external monitor is not supported over 1280x1024, *unless* you have an LCD that runs in Native 1680x1050. Completely unsupported.

I've noticed that if you run analog, you can go above 1600x1200 (I think I was doing 1800x1440 before on my NEC monitors).

Just FYI for everyone hoping to use this laptop with an external LCD...

Quote:
Originally Posted by burbel
I seem to be having the same problem; I've got some new Dell 2001FP screens in, and using the DVI inputs I cannot get a reliable/performance-orientated 1600x1200. I was, briefly, able to disable the laptop screen and run the external DVI LCD at 1600x1200; I then ran 3DMark2001SE and benched a 3800. For comparison, my brother's vanilla GeForce3 got the same score, and my Matrox Parhelia got 2500 running 3200x1600@32bpp. My brother's machine (P4 2.26, "533" Mhz bus, got around 8000 running with an old Radeon 9700 Pro.

Has anyone gotten this to work? To be honest, I'm starting to get a little frustrated (and am considering returning these damn Dell LCDs, in case they're the problem).
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post #18 of 18
10/28/04 at 5:41pm
I'm in the same boat, trying to run the Dell 2001FP. ATI's site says they won't answer questions about the ATI Mobility, you have to go through your notebook manufacturer. But it does clearly state on their site the 1600x1200 is supported, so I'm gonna try their Hydravision utility and see if I can get things rolling from there. If not, maybe I'll give the Omega drivers a try, has anyone had any 1600x1200 success there?
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