Multiple monitors with Windows 7 and an ATI FirePro 2460 (FireMV)

Submitted by John on Fri, 2010-08-06 10:29

When planning a triple or quad monitor setup with Windows 7 and an ATI FirePro™ 2460 Multi-View Professional Graphics card, read the small print.

In my case, reading the following small print from the data sheet carefully would have saved some time:

Important: When using mini DisplayPort-to-singlelink DVI adapters, quad output is divided into two pairs (displays 1 and 2, and displays 3 and 4). The displays used in each pair must be identical (with the same manufacturer and model number) and must be identically configured (with the same resolution)...

In my case, I had two identical Dell 19" displays and one of the new energy-efficient G2210 displays. I paired the two 19-inchers on DisplayPort connectors 1 and 2, and put the G2210 on the third DisplayPort connector. All used the DisplayPort-to-singlelink DVI connectors that came in the box with the card.

Problem: In Windows 7 x64, when trying to configure multiple monitors in the control panel (Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display\Screen Resolution), I kept getting the message "Unable to save display settings" when I tried to extend the desktop.

Solution: What was meant by that cryptic message was really "the two displays you think are identical really aren't". Sure enough, one of the 19-inch displays was an UltraSharp 1901 and the other was an UltraSharp 1905. They look identical and have the same native resolution and connectors. I scuttled around, found another 1905, and swapped it in. When I powered up, sure enough, with two UltraSharp 1905's the control panel doesn't complain at all.

Did I mention the 2460 is fanless? Yum.

Topic: 
Dell
ATI

Comments

Submitted by Jason (not verified) on Mon, 2010-10-11 10:35.

Thanks for th info! I too was banging my head... rtfm!

Submitted by SJ (not verified) on Thu, 2010-11-25 14:20.

Hi. I came across this page by way of google, since I could not find ANY forum or thread somewhere to help me with this particular graphics card :( You have the dubious honour of being the unofficial FirePro 2460 users thread *lol*

I have 4 DELL E2010h 20" 1600x900 displays, all have dvi inputs (no displayports) and I'm running win 7 x64 - will this card drive all 4 of them if connected by the provided dp to dvi connectors? any idea if this constitues Ati's so called 'Eyefinity' setup? Also, I will be using the pc mainly for stock trading and charting, no gaming etc - any idea if this card is upto that task? (I think it should be, its not very graphic intensive work) You notice any lag etc onscreen across the monitors? Are you able to have a unified/extended desktop on all 3 screens? Lastly, what resolutions are your monitors?

I emailed AMD, but haven't heard back yet. Would appreciate any input you might have, thanks a lot.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 2011-02-23 04:48.

Hi Guys,

Not too much out there on this card. I can confirm that I am running dual 2460's in my new Core I5 2500K, with 16GB RAM.
Using DP to DVI adapters that came with the card. My monitors are all 19" Dell 1908FP's which I got cheap. All running at 1280 * 1024. Installed ATI drivers but used Ultramon to configure as the ATI software couldn't understand my 4 X 2 monitor mounting. Very happy with this card. Thinking of getting a third for a 12 monitor rig ;)

Submitted by Justin (not verified) on Wed, 2012-09-05 15:16.

YOU just saved me! I've been banging my head against the wall for 2 hrs (updating firmware...swapping cables...prayer). Just swapped in another monitor of the exact same type and...BINGO! THANK YOU!!

Submitted by Phil Wadman (not verified) on Mon, 2012-10-22 19:37.

Justin, just went through the same thing setting up for multimonitor setup. Just stumbled on this site,thank you John Vandyk! So I will need to pick up two identical monitors, to get this thing setup. My question is does it matter what the third monitor is? As I'm only setting up for three displays for now.............

Thanks........... Phil

Submitted by Fode (not verified) on Tue, 2012-10-23 09:35.

Anyone has tried this card on Linux/Ubuntu or Mac OS ?

Submitted by Jakub Rybář (not verified) on Thu, 2015-05-21 05:47.

Hi *,

I just crossed the site while still struggling in turning my 4x DELL 1905FP over ATI Firepro 2460 working in Windows generally - tried Windows 10 Technical Preview and Windows 7 x64, both resulting in initializing just 2 of 4 monitors, but with not standard resolution 1152x864 resulting in a blank screen, but monitors are getting signal. Do you think that Ultramon can help me in resolving the issue? I will just try it once I will be back to my rig.

Anyway, why am I replying to this post, I have a good news regarding ATI Firepro 2460 + CentOS 7 - It works right out of the box, no additional AMD drivers required. Actually I have correctly configured desktop over 5 screens (4 over 2460, 1 over internal VGA), which is just nice.

I am still trying to make it working on some Windows + will play with Debian Jessie/LXDE later on.

Jakub