Studio XPS 16 Radeon HD 5730 Eyefinity multiple monitor setup

Anyone with a working 3 x monitor display setup with their Studio XPS 16 laptop?

I can't get it to work with VGA - HDMI - LED display as only 2 can be active at a time. From what I read so far, it sounds like you have to utilize the DisplayPort to enable 3 monitor setups.

I don't have a DisplayPort monitor so will need an adaptor to either HDMI or DVI or VGA. From what I read the adaptor needs to be active as well, correct?

If so, does anyone know any good place to get such an adaptor?

Thanks for your help in advance.

 

Are you talking about driving multiple monitors off of the displayport? Or use it for 1 monitor and the second monitor on hdmi or vga? (with the 3rd monitor being the lcd) I'm pretty sure you can go displayport to hdmi or dvi with a passive adapter and it'll work fine for driving 1 monitor.

Ebay is a good place to get adapters for cheap. You can find adapters and cables for 1/10th the price they are at Best Buy, etc. You just have to wait for them to be shipped from Hong Kong usually.

 

Thanks maxh, I want to drive 3 monitors off the laptop. Either laptop LCD + HDMI + DisplayPort adapter or VGA + HDMI + DisplayPort adapter.

I tried laptop LCD + VGA + HDMI and only 2 can be displayed at any one time with the ATI Catalyst Control Centre. I also tried a cheap passive DisplayPort to HDMI adapter + VGA + LCD and still only 2 display can be used at any one time.

From what I read so far, you can only have 2 "legacy" displays (LCD / VGA / DVI / HTMI) as the graphic card have only 2 TMDS signals needed by those display - source Wikipedia. The third has to come from DisplayPort and it needs to be an Active adapter as otherwise it will be detected as a legacy display.

I will have a look at best buy for adapters. Thank you for the suggestion.

 

i think you can only have hdmi and display port no vga.

 

You should be able to run monitors off of the HDMI , VGA and Display port.

 

The card only supports up to two displays without the help of display port.

 

Kycheng, I don't think anyone understood your original post. I DO! I know exactly what you're trying to do, and I've also had ZERO success with other notebooks. Please let me know what it takes to make a three-screen setup work, as I would love to get this going on my desk at work!

 

I know what you mean. Anyway, I still haven't got a working setup. May be it is not supported for a mobile graphic card.

What I tried so far, I bought a Sapphire Active DisplayPort to VGA Adapter to try but ATI Catalyst Control Centre will only still allow 2 monitors to be active at any one time even though it can see 4 displays (LCD, VGA, HDMI, DisplayPort).

Will keep trying though!!!

Edit:
Also tried using 3 x BenQ 22" monitor of the same model connected via 1) VGA 2) HDMI -> DVI 3) Sapphire Active DisplayPort -> VGA and still no success. In addition, updated to the latest Catalyst Control Centre from ATI as well.

 

I haven't even looked yet, but maybe there is an Eyefinity utility we're supposed to be using? I mean, why tout the abilities and then cripple us with software? ... er... That DOES seem to fit the MO on the laptop side...

 

lwinstead,

I got in touch with my Dell tech support and he has checked and confirmed that the maximum displays my laptop can support are 2. Very disappointing. :-(

Don't know if it is a physical limitation of the particular Mobility Radeon HD 5730 version Dell use or a firmware / driver limitation. Hopefully it is the latter so I can update in the future.

 

Ok, Dell tech support has confirmed that it is basically a limitation of design of the motherboard that restricts XPS 1645 to a maximum of 2 monitor with a single Mobility Radeon HD 5730.

 

Im surprised they even told you that.

Its definitely not a limitation of the video card, thats for sure. Its a limitation of DELLS bad design...just like their throttling.. its horse crap..