TR Forums

Flatland_Spider wrote:

Daisy chaining monitors via Displayports is interesting. I'm disappointed that it cuts the refresh rate in half, and I'm not quite sure it would work with my setup. I'm going to wait until that gets a little more sorted to rely on it.

AFAIK it only halves the refresh rate when the Displayport connection is starved for bandwidth. If you aren't pressing the bandwidth ceiling for Displayport, it should be able to carry both with no degradation.

Foundation problems in Texas??!! What happened?

SecretSquirrel wrote:

JustAnEngineer wrote:

DVI and HDMI are obsolete. Displayport is the way to go for computer monitors.

I don't inherently disagree, especially for all new gear. However, obsolete doesn't mean unneeded. To plug a monitor into my existing, completely serviceable system, the monitor must support either HDMI or DVI. While I would certainly be using Displayport if I get a new video card, having older, obsolete interfaces is still pretty important for wide compatibility.

I agree with SS. You could say that DVI is no longer needed except for ease of compatibility, but I'd hesitate at the term "obsolete" when all 3 are indistinguishable under many scenarios. Displayport is also limited to 3-meters cable length for full bandwidth, so it's never going to get much usage in home theater setups. Because of this, display cards will need to have both Displayport and HDMI to allow connectivity to TVs.

It really surprises me how long it has taken for DisplayPort to gain momentum and market share. My old Asus M3A78-CM motherboard even had a DisplayPort output for the IGP; when I saw that I figured it would catch on fairly rapidly. But here we are 7 years later with DVI/HDMI still pretty well entrenched.

anotherengineer wrote:

Foundation problems in Texas??!! What happened?

Red clay soil and builders who cut every corner possible. There are two types of houses in Texas (at least the eastern part of the state): those that have foundation problems and those that will have foundation problems. The only way to get a house that likely won't is to have piers poured before the slab which requires a full custom or very high end house. It is not out of the realm possibility that we take the house down and rebuild on the same lot... unlikely, but not impossible.

--SS

Secret, if you want to stick with DVI for a while longer, how about some number of 30" 2560x1600 IPS LCD monitors from Monoprice for $349 each with free shipping (limit of 5 per customer)?
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=1 ... 1&format=2

JustAnEngineer wrote:

Secret, if you want to stick with DVI for a while longer, how about some number of 30" 2560x1600 IPS LCD monitors from Monoprice for $349 each with free shipping (limit of 5 per customer)?
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=1 ... 1&format=2

We something similar (I think it was a Dell 40") at work for a while. It got recycled because no one wanted it. It was an absolute beast. To be fair, on my earlier remarks, I'm plenty happy to move away from DVI if I get the opportunity. It's actually harder than you would think to find a card that will drive dual-link DVI.

I'm having a really hard time convincing myself to part with the money for something I don't absolutely need right now, especially after getting the fourth quote on the foundation. Add in tires for my daughter's car, brakes for my car, college for the daughter in two years and a full downstairs/upstair remodel on the house, assuming we don't just bulldoze and rebuild, and let's just say I'm feeling a bit of stress in the pocketbook. Yeah, I know, first world problems...

The monitors may actually get sidelined for a new desk though. My current one is almost 15 years old and it definitely showing its age. A new one might actually be a better upgrade to the office than monitors. We'll see.

--SS

SecretSquirrel wrote:

It's actually harder than you would think to find a card that will drive dual-link DVI.

Anything from a Radeon X1650 on up handles dual-link DVI for 2560x1600 @60 Hz.

The 100 dpi 30" monitor would be a good match for your existing monitor. The price is good, too. You could drive the new monitor off of your DVI port and connect the old one via HDMI, delaying a graphics card purchase.

SecretSquirrel wrote:

The monitors may actually get sidelined for a new desk though. My current one is almost 15 years old and it definitely showing its age. A new one might actually be a better upgrade to the office than monitors.

I know what you mean. I'm building a new desk in the shop right now, and I gotta say that I'm more excited about that than any of my more recent desktop upgrades.

I was looking at the Dell U2515h and Asus PB258Q, and the Dell could be daisy-chained via Displayports while the Asus cannot. Something to think about.

Windows 10 allows different scaling per monitor, making it easier to build a desktop with mismatched monitors.

JustAnEngineer wrote:

Windows 10

'tis a non-starter for me, other than in a VM when some brain dead development tool won't run on Linux. I do not have a physical machine running Windows anything anywhere in my house. Unless you want to count the 13 year old Thinkpad that I haven't recycled yet.

--SS