Radeon mini-display on PC and Apple Thunderbolt

[jbraslins]

Does anyone know if you can connect two new Apple Thunderbolt Cinema displays to a PC using a Radeon card with 2 mini-display ports?

Thank you.

[Forge]

Do the Thunderbolt displays have Displayport inputs? If so, they'd work fine. All the TBolt displays I've seen look for Thunderbolt ports, which are not even sort-of like Displayport. Whole other thing.

Edit: Looked up the TBolt monitor/hub. Apple's TBolt monitor wants a Thunderbolt port. Displayport is something very different.

No go.

http://www.apple.com/displays/specs.html

[jbraslins]

If i am not mistaken, thunderbolt port and mini-display port are exactly the same shape.
I was not asking about cards with displayports. I was asking about cards with mini-displayports.

Thanks anyways. I'd like to hear a more definite response from someone who knows for certain, has tried it.

[Forge]

USB and Displayport are almost the same shape too. Are you going to ask me to hammer one of those into the other kind of port, to see if it *might* work.

Displayport is not even kinda compatible with Thunderbolt. They are VASTLY different. I think it's cute how you dismissed me, though, since I'm clearly an idiot.

[jbraslins]

They are not almost the same shape. They are the same shape. Thanks for trying to help.

After more searching, i find this article that prooves they are the same shape and confirms it even works in one direction. Unfortunately not in direction I need:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20043524-263.html

[Forge]

They are not almost the same shape. They are the same shape. Thanks for trying to help.

I didn't say TBolt and DP were almost, I said USB and DP were almost. Sarcasm; I've been doing it longer. Need to be pedantic, too.

After more searching, i find this article that prooves they are the same shape and confirms it even works in one direction. Unfortunately not in direction I need:

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20043524-263.html

Yes, Thunderbolt is a combination of Displayport signals and PCIe signals, muxed onto a single physical connection. TBolt ports can talk to DP devices, the reverse is not true.

I'm fairly certain that you *could* get a mini-DP port to give a signal to a TBolt monitor, but Apple's TBolt monitors are actually more like combination monitors and I/O hubs. Because of the way Apple laid it out and locked it down, it requires a TBolt port to talk to, as you noted.

But to go back to your initial question; "Radeon card with mini-DP outputs + TBolt monitor"? No go.