Run two 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays on your PC
By Barb Dybwad 
posted April 11th 2005 8:51AM
posted April 11th 2005 8:51AM
This goes out to the reverse switchers among you, who want to set up those two 30-inch Apple Cinema Displays you happen to have lying around (don't we all?) to work with your Windows machine. This guide explains everything you'll need, including which obscure graphics cards will support this configuration and a step-by-step of how to get it all going, which isn't quite as easy as plug and play. When you're done, you'll have so much freakin' screen real estate you'll be able to rent some out.
The link's dead, but it just looks like some clown trying to flex his e-penis in front of everyone. Big deal.
umm couldn't u run two 6600 GT's with dual dvi using SLI (running two PCI-e video cards as one)
Mikey,
No, you need cards with dual-link DVI (basically, two DVI links within one DVI connector, one of the links replacing the analog signal). AFAIK, only the Mac 6800Ultra/GTs, Mac X800XT, some PowerBooks, and Quadros and FireGL cards have such a signal. If you ran the regular DVI signal into one of these the best you can do is 1920x1200, which is about the limit one DVI link can carry.
Maybe I'm insane.. but I have like 4 icons on my desktop.. the idea of putting aliases or shortcuts on your desktop for programs.. like that.. is just sooo clunky...
The items i have on my desktop are assignments due soon, and documents i frequently (i mean DAILY) open.. or internet links i've recently pulled (could have been bookmarks, but I like saving some to the desktop)
Programs i want to use..? They go in the dock.. Anything i don't use on a daily basis, i don't alias or anything...
Then again.. finding stuff in windows is absolute hell.. that's why there's so many shortcuts..
Did I mention his desktop looks friggin disorganized as hell?
Seems to me all you need is an card with two dual-link DVI outputs. Anyone who can afford two of these massive displays should be able to pony up for a Quadro FX 4400 or 4000.
Hey guys, on the picture you see 2 23 inch displays!
the 30 inch are much bigger.
you can run 2 23 inch on any dual dvi card (like ati 9200). no big deal.
he has a spoon on his desk.
ATI Fire GL will drive an Apple 30 inch display for about $600 on a PC.
...some clown trying to flex his e-penis in front of everyone. Big deal.
Dang, Matt. Got hate? Hahaha. Like we wouldn't all do some crazy things if we had money like toilet paper.
"AFAIK, only the Mac 6800Ultra/GTs, Mac X800XT, some PowerBooks, and Quadros and FireGL cards have such a signal. "
In fact, the Quadro FX-4000 has two dual-link DVI connectors. So this is not that difficult, and I wouldn't consider a Quadro card "obscure" (it's just a pro development card, but one that anybody can buy).
"Maybe I'm insane.. but I have like 4 icons on my desktop"
Well ... some of us multi-task, and some think a computer is just a piece of eye candy to look good as an accessory to your life style.
My site got swamped so I moved it to a faster server. Please try http://213.239.205.233/synapps/bin/view/Main/CinemaDisplayWindows
Btw: The icons are cluttered because of all this graphics mode switching I had to do to test the cards. And no, I don't have money like toilet paper and also a pretty normal sex life ;-)
Cheers
Rafael
"Maybe I'm insane.. but I have like 4 icons on my desktop"
Well ... some of us multi-task, and some think a computer is just a piece of eye candy to look good as an accessory to your life style.
What an idiot!
Wasting 2 gorgeous screen on a cheap ass Microshit infested system. You should be jailed for blasphemy!
Any they say PC users don't buy Macs because they're expensive! Pc users don't buy Macs causing they're f***ing morons!
"PC users don't buy Macs causing they're f***ing morons!" ... clearly a balanced and rational generalization. Jealous much? I know I am.
That's eye candy indeed, and a whole lot of it.
Geeze, Jay, your head spinning around like that must be painful. Hasn't anyone told you that those ECT treatments and the Thorazine aren't going to be enough? What you need is an exorcist, preferably one with some experience working in the kinds of altered reality environs you clearly inhabit...
DEFINITELY 23 inch!
I have mesured the keyboard and the screen.
Look here:
http://www.dzalifornia.com/23-30.jpg
Myria, what you clearly need is to get laid
stevo, theres a little thing called distance, and its suprising how much it shrinks stuff when its just 10cm further away. Nice try tho.
If this was marked as a review of "graphics cards you can use to add dual mac screens to pcs" i dont think most of you guys would be quite so harsh on him.
come on, Rafael, who are you trying to fool?
30-inch is much larger than that. now, here's the real 30" setup (compared to old 23") http://flickr.com/photos/spullara/1134457/
Why is there a spoon on the desk?
Why not be harsh on him... he states the the reason, yes THE ONE REASON why he couldn't switch to a G5 instead of an XP box, was because the G5 is too loud.
Not software, not security, not design, not user preference, not cost. Nope, the G5's fans were too loud for him.
Wow. Just wow.
C'mon now Fess up!! dupe or optical illusion!?!?
Something definitely smells....
diffledorf, there is no spoon.
I would give my left nut for his setup. TWO 30" Cinema Displays!!! ;)
Find the 30" proof and some more replies to my little experiment here http://213.239.205.233/synapps/bin/view/Main/CollectedRepliesToAllEngadgetReaders
Rafael
Hmmm, off topic, but do you guys ever see the days when flat pannels are as common place as CRTs were; i mean, you can walk around any office in the US and find a room with 10-20 random CRT monitors just lying around because no one wants them and IT doesn't know what to do with them. I wonder if we'll ever see a day when 17" flat pannels are regurlary dumped on the corner trash?
Okay Rafael I'm definitely going to rob you. Got your address from the WHOIS database. You should be lapidated in public for using those two 30" screens just for browsing the web and reading your e-mail. I'm gonna put those god sent displays to good use - watching HD movies, playing Doom 3... ;-)
Ball in your court Stevo...
All I can say is 5120x1600!!!
This puts that in perspective...
http://www.jason3d.com/blog/images/5120x1600.jpg
I'll take 4 please.
http://www.jason3d.com/blog/
What is that background on the monitors, the on that shows you the ibternet connections around the world, I want it!
Jay, what you clearly need to do is stfu already.
Jay: LOLLL! ok :-)
The real problem I see here with this much resolution on a windows machine is that it was not meant to do such things. XP is an aging operating system with no real window manager like expose on OS X. Mac is on version .3 soon to be .4 of there OS and Windows is still in version 1 ... xp. Not only that you could have built a sound dampening system for your os x box. This project sticks....
The news might seem newsworthy because you don't often hear about PC users using connecting the 30" to it... but video cards with two dual-link DVI outputs have been around for a while, just no one has bothered to post about it.
And a couple of weeks ago, the 6800 Ultra 512MB version was released which Nvidia officially states will drive 1 or 2 30" displays. So, if you had a spare 10k or so, you could put two of them into a PCI Express PC and drive 4 30" displays.
HUH? I multitask all the time.. my comment was that having 243 Shortcuts looks totally retarded, but I guess if you don't have a dock, or any half-decent search capabilities than, it's what you're stuck with. Don't worry.. Longhorn will be here, in.. ooooh a year and half... I'm sure they'll have this mess figured out by then..
These "Apple" displays are just some rebranded Samsungs or whatever, with the usual extra 100% Apple tax for cretin Maczealots like that Jay Mactard.
id pay the extra apple tax so my hardware wasn't as damned ugly - just look at some of the others out there. blech.
Samsung: http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/24-001-180-03.JPG
Apple: http://images.apple.com/displays/images/designtop06282004.jpg
But if looks aren't your thing, save the $200 (Samsung 24" $1599 vs Apple 23" Widescreen $1799). Don't forget you also get a handy little Firewire and USB2 hub.
Feedback page is filling
You'll now find the screen backgrounds in my feedback page as well.
http://www.synapps.de/synapps/bin/view/Main/CollectedRepliesToAllEngadgetReaders
Rafael
I second the comment about e-penis flexing.
Get a real job, hippy.
That's just so.... wrong!
All that elegance wasted on XP
seriously, if you're going to waste the amazing screens on a shitty pc just give 'em to me!
the funny thing is he had to get rid of the G5 becuase of noise. My Dual 1.8 is the quietest computer I've ever had, and I've had 60 or 70 different ones over the last 25 years.
My guess would be that you could'nt take the fans spinning up and down - that does bug some folk, but the damn things are so quiet, about 1/4 the level of my PC gaming machine.
Actually I think the wallpaper he has is the earth at night, lit by the light from cities. Like this photo...
http://www.bluecamaro.com/photo/Spacestation.jpg
i have 2 34 inch sony 34 inch hdtv crt's. beats appple on productivity anytine!! and i feel like king of bahrain(wide-scren)
The (cold) spoon is on the desk because he uses it on the head of his e-penis to get it back down after he has been flexing it.
What a waste, apple equipment hooked up to a PC. What kind of bonehead would spend close to 6 grand for two of the best displays in the world then connect then to a machine running windows? That’s like shopping for accessories for your Lamborghini in a JC Whitney catalog. And what is a “reverse switcher”? If you are referring to someone who went from a MAC to a PC, for any reason other then not being able to afford a newer MAC, good luck finding one. Even Microsoft couldn’t. The one ‘Switcher” add they ran was found to be a boldfaced lie.
Your all nerds.
"id pay the extra apple tax so my hardware wasn't as damned ugly - just look at some of the others out there. blech." by Kyle.
...and normal people operate looking at the front side of a screen...
Richard Williams, chill!!!
Don’t embarrass yourself! Windows rulezz! Apple started our earlier than Microsoft. Microsoft to Mac user ratio is 10 : 1.
Numbers show everything, Windows is clearly better!!
Well, I have a customer who bought 2 30" Cinema and we connected it to a MSI version of Nvidia GeForce 68000 Ultra, but all we got is just 1280x800 fixed resolution.
I think it is because XP recognizes the monitor as a generic PNP monitor.
Any suggestion ? Any idea ?
Thank you all.