ATI All-In-Wonder 8500 questions...

[ProdigySim]

Can I hook up a VGA monitor to an AIW 8500?
If not, do 3D Apps/Games work on TVs I hook up to it?

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[ferrari]

of course you can hook up a vga monitor to an 8500. it does come with a vga 15 pin connector, doesnt it? . yes you can also hook up a tv to the card. I think it does have an s video out. yes you can play 3d stuffs on tv i think up to 1024x768 which is the max res that the ati tv out will do. not sure if your tv will take such a high res output. anyway, the tv will never look as good as the monitor.

 

[ProdigySim]

Well, I'm just a little unsure, the downloadable User's Manual for the AIW 8500 contradicts itself...
http://www.ati.com/support/manualpdf/AwRa8575.pdf
On page 13 of the "Installing the Hardware" section, it shows the back of the card, and shows pictures of connectors. It shows a VGA connector and says "TO VGA MONITOR (ALL GRAPHICS CARDS)" and then a DVI connector and says "TO FLAT PANEL DISPLAY (DVI-READY CARDS ONLY)".
Then, it shows a picture (drawn, not of real life) of hooking up a DVI-I to VGA Adapter. Now if all their cards have VGA, why would you need a DVI-I to VGA adapter?
Then, on page 20 of "Installing the Hardware" it shows the card from a side view (drawn, not a picture), and it labels each connector on the end of the card. It shows that the AIW 8500 has a Video In, CATV in, Video out, and DVI-I out.
Now if all their Graphics cards have VGA conncetors, why does this one not have one?
I just don't want to spend money, and then have to spend more to get the thing working.


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[Crashman]

LOL, OK, OK, LOL, wait, LOL, Woooooo, ahhhh.

OK, the reason it has a DVI to VGA adapter is this: Some Digital Flat panels use the DVI adapter only. Now, rather than have TWO outputs where only one could be used at a time, they combined the DVI and VGA into ONE connnector called a DVI-I and the extra pins needed for VGA are tapped into with that adapter. The adapter is included and works perfectly.

Why not just put both DVI and VGA connectors on? Because that would lead people to believe they could use both at the same time, and when they couldn't, they would call it a defect. Also, did you see how little ROOM there is on that card for extra connectors?

Anyway, in summary, both DVI and VGA signals are sent through the DVI-I connector. Some pins (I think 4) on that connector are unused by DVI signals, those pins are fed through the adapter for VGA. The adapter is included and works perfectly for VGA output.

<font color=blue>You're posting in a forum with class. It may be third class, but it's still class!</font color=blue>

 

[ProdigySim]

Thanks! That clears everything up for me.


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