XFX ATI HD5450 - Is DVI-DVI AND HDMI-DVI possible?

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Max Dread
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XFX ATI HD5450 - Is DVI-DVI AND HDMI-DVI possible?

Post by Max Dread » Mon Feb 09, 2015 2:40 pm

Hi all

I am about to replace my nVidia card with an HD5450. I have two 19" Dell Monitors (1907fpc) and predominently use them in extended desktop. Occasionally I use them in Clone mode.

I always presumed that I could connect one monitor using a DVI-DVI cable, and the other one using a DVI-HDMI cable. But I've just been reading through the user guide on the CD that came with it and now I'm not so certain. The user guide says:

CRT analog display • VGA connection • DVI-I-to-VGA adapter

LCD display • DVI-I connection and DVI cable • DVI-I connection and DVI-I-to-VGA adapter

HDTV display • DVI connection and DVI cable

HDMI HDTV • DVI connection and DVI-to-HDMI adapter and HDMI cable

Can anyone tell me for sure before I install it whether I can cannect one monitor to DVI and the other to HDMI, and then get the exact same behaviour as I currently do with my dual DVI out nVidia card?

Cheers

Max

washu
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Re: XFX ATI HD5450 - Is DVI-DVI AND HDMI-DVI possible?

Post by washu » Mon Feb 09, 2015 6:21 pm

I'm not sure why you would think this might not work, nothing in the manual snippet you posted says otherwise. It should be fine. I've done the same with several AMD cards of that vintage and it has never been a problem.

Lucky Luciano
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Re: XFX ATI HD5450 - Is DVI-DVI AND HDMI-DVI possible?

Post by Lucky Luciano » Mon Feb 09, 2015 11:29 pm

You might need to change a few settings like color space or overscan. See this guide https://pcmonitors.info/articles/correc ... -amd-gpus/

Max Dread
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Re: XFX ATI HD5450 - Is DVI-DVI AND HDMI-DVI possible?

Post by Max Dread » Tue Feb 10, 2015 1:39 am

Thanks washu. In the section I quoted, for LCD monitor it makes no mention of HDMI. So I started to worry that the HDMI output is "HDMI HDTV"s only and/or only for devices with an actual HDMI port. It is not mentioned in any other parts of that snippet. It's great news though that I am over worrying and that my set up will work.

@Lucky Luciano - that's the first I've heard of that issue. Thank you very much for pointing it out. I was hoping to install just the drivers for my card and not CCC because I do not need any of its features. I guess that might change now. I think I'll still go ahead and try a driver only installation. But at least I know what to look out for and if I have the scaling problem the article describes I'll know to install CCC and make the adjustment described. The other problem (pixel format) should not apply to me because I will be using a HDMI-DVI cable.

Saying that, if I do find I need to make the scaling adjustment, is there a much smaller utility I could install to do it, instead of CCC? The smaller the better....

Thanks again

Lucky Luciano
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Re: XFX ATI HD5450 - Is DVI-DVI AND HDMI-DVI possible?

Post by Lucky Luciano » Tue Feb 10, 2015 3:51 am

It doesn't matter if you're using the monitor's DVI input or not. As long as you use the video card's HDMI output, the colorspace will be limited if(likely) windows/driver decides you've connected a a TV rather than a PC monitor. Since the monitors are identical it should be easy to notice any changes.

Max Dread
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Re: XFX ATI HD5450 - Is DVI-DVI AND HDMI-DVI possible?

Post by Max Dread » Tue Feb 10, 2015 6:11 am

Lucky Luciano wrote:It doesn't matter if you're using the monitor's DVI input or not. As long as you use the video card's HDMI output, the colorspace will be limited if(likely) windows/driver decides you've connected a a TV rather than a PC monitor.
Are you saying that in response to me saying:
Max Dread wrote:The other problem (pixel format) should not apply to me because I will be using a HDMI-DVI cable.
Or have I misunderstood? If I am correct in my assumption, here is the part from the article that I was referring to:

"First solution: use a DVI to HDMI cable. In contrast to Nvidia GPUs, connecting an AMD GPU up using an HDMI to DVI cable causes it to use the colour signal it would usually use for DVI; ‘Full RGB’. If you have such a cable handy or are happy to buy one (perhaps if you don’t have a regular HDMI cable handy) then this is one solution."

If I have misunderstood, would you mind explaining?

Cheers

washu
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Re: XFX ATI HD5450 - Is DVI-DVI AND HDMI-DVI possible?

Post by washu » Tue Feb 10, 2015 7:43 am

Lucky Luciano wrote:It doesn't matter if you're using the monitor's DVI input or not. As long as you use the video card's HDMI output, the colorspace will be limited if(likely) windows/driver decides you've connected a a TV rather than a PC monitor. Since the monitors are identical it should be easy to notice any changes.
As far as Windows is concerned HDMI and DVI are the same. Windows will use what the monitor reports over DDC/EDID. As long as that is correct it will be fine. Windows will not do anything with the colourspace over HDMI unless the device says to.

I've only seen a problem once with a cheap Acer monitor that reported that it was a TV over HDMI but a monitor over DVI. All other monitors I have ever seen report correctly over HDMI. As Max Dread has two good Dell Ultrasharp monitors there should be no issue with the DDC/EDID being wrong.

Lucky Luciano
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Re: XFX ATI HD5450 - Is DVI-DVI AND HDMI-DVI possible?

Post by Lucky Luciano » Tue Feb 10, 2015 7:46 am

You said "HDMI-DVI" the first time so I assumed your card had 1 DVI output and 1 HDMI output in which case my point stands.
If it has 2 DVI outputs then the cable should help you avoid the color/overscan issues altogether.

Max Dread
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Re: XFX ATI HD5450 - Is DVI-DVI AND HDMI-DVI possible?

Post by Max Dread » Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:32 am

washu wrote:As far as Windows is concerned HDMI and DVI are the same. Windows will use what the monitor reports over DDC/EDID. As long as that is correct it will be fine. Windows will not do anything with the colourspace over HDMI unless the device says to.

I've only seen a problem once with a cheap Acer monitor that reported that it was a TV over HDMI but a monitor over DVI. All other monitors I have ever seen report correctly over HDMI. As Max Dread has two good Dell Ultrasharp monitors there should be no issue with the DDC/EDID being wrong.
I won't pretend I'm not confused :? So is the info in that article wrong?
Lucky Luciano wrote:You said "HDMI-DVI" the first time so I assumed your card had 1 DVI output and 1 HDMI output in which case my point stands.
Yes that's right, my card has 1 DVI output and 1 HDMI output (as well as a VGA). That much I can say and understand. The rest I'm still confused about.

My apologies if I'm being ultra thick here.

washu
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Re: XFX ATI HD5450 - Is DVI-DVI AND HDMI-DVI possible?

Post by washu » Tue Feb 10, 2015 8:48 am

Max Dread wrote: I won't pretend I'm not confused :? So is the info in that article wrong?
I'll admit that I have not used any of the most recent 2-3 generations of Nvidia cards, but I have done exactly as described in Lucky Luciano's linked article and have never encounter those issue before. I've hooked up 1080P monitors via HDMI to slightly older Nvidia cards and they were fine with no adjustments.

I've used more recent AMD cards and again never had the problems described. My personal desktop has a 7870 with a 1080P Dell monitor hooked up via HDMI and I never had to adjust any overscan or colourspace. They were correct without making any adjustments.

Even if the linked article is correct it seems to apply to only "TV" resolutions. Your 1907fpc Dells are 1280 x 1024, not a resolution used in any common television.

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