Re: dual-link DVI on Mac Pro: connect to single-link or analog displays?

As far as I can tell it should work, presuming they followed the spec.
DVI supports the first channel as a mandatory thing, the second channel
is "optional" and should downgrade gracefully, presuming you can get the
appropriate adapter. In fact dual link displays only use the 2nd link
to support resolutions that require the additional bandwidth. (Granted,
that's likely to be all the time unless you're deliberately downgrading
your resolution due to a vision problem or such).

YMMV.

-Jay

Greg Merritt wrote:
>
> Can anyone help me with a question about the dual-link DVI jack on the
> lower-end video card on the current Mac Pro? I've done some reading,
> but haven't come up with a clear answer to a fairly basic question.
>
> Here's the description of the video card from Apple:
>
> ''NVIDIA GeForce 7300 GT -- For excellent all-around performance in
> creative and productivity applications, choose one or more NVIDIA
> GeForce 7300 GT. It features a 256MB frame buffer and both a
> single-link DVI port and a dual-link DVI port, making it capable of
> simultaneously supporting one 23-inch and one 30-inch Apple Cinema
> Display.''
>
> I'm interested in simultaneously connecting a 19" DVI LCD and a D-SUB
> CRT to this single video card. (This is the arrangement I have with a
> G5 tower that features two *single-link* DVI ports.)
>
> Any reason why I can't connect, say, the D-SUB CRT to the single-link
> DVI port (via a vga/dvi dongle), and the DVI LCD to the dual-link DVI
> port? Or will the dual-link DVI port be "unhappy" to see only a
> single-link DVI display attached?
>
> Thanks!
> -Greg
>
>
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-- 
Jay Bryon
Senior Network Engineer, U.C. Berkeley/IST/IS/NSO 
jay_at_berkeley.edu
2-5636
"Any idiot can be complex, it takes real genius to be simple"
"Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler" -Al Einstein
[Unless stated explicitly otherwise, all opinions are my own (or Al's) and do not represent official policy of any part of IST, U.C. Berkeley or the U.C. Regents.]  
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