HP OEM Radeon HD 8570 limited to 1929x1200?!?

[Hugh R]

I just bought an HP Envy 700-019 desktop. It came with a Radeon HD 8570.

Much to my surprise, it won't drive my 2560x1600 monitor at full resolution (it will do 1280x800, the only fallback the monitor has).

Reading the specs from HP, the card supports dual-link DVI but only up to 1920x1200@60.

This seems a bit funny.

- dual-link isn't needed for 1920x1200 resolution

- AMD's specs for the card are much higher (but of course OEMs can do what they want to degrade a card)

- what's the point of this discrete card if it cannot do better than the i7's GPU (i7 seems to only support single-link DVI)?

- Earlier HP Envy models use a OEM Radeon HD 7570 which does support 2560x1600

How can I tell if the card is actually dual link (as specified)?

 

[SolMiester]

wow, how strange....i dont see the point of the card, what ports does the motherboard have?

Spec for card...


Form Factor: Low profile with ATX bracket

Dimensions: 16.7 cm x 6.8 cm (6.6 in x 2.7 in)

Maximum resolution:

HDMI resolution: 1920 x 1080 (1080p)

DVI (dual-link) resolution: 1920 x 1200 x 32bpp at 60Hz

Analog VGA resolution (with adapter): 2048 x 1536 x 32bpp at 60Hz

2 GB onboard memory

Memory interface 128-bit DDR3

HDCP support

Supports Blu-ray

Total power consumption ~50 W (single slot)

Supports up to two displays at the same time

 

[wlee15]

I just bought an HP Envy 700-019 desktop. It came with a Radeon HD 8570.

Much to my surprise, it won't drive my 2560x1600 monitor at full resolution (it will do 1280x800).

Reading the specs from HP, the card supports dual-link DVI but only up to 1920x1200@60.

This seems a bit funny.

- dual-link isn't needed for that resolution

- AMD's specs for the card are much higher (but of course OEMs can do what they want to degrade a card)

- what's the point of this discrete card if it cannot do better than the i7's GPU (i7 seems to only support single-link DVI)?

- Earlier HP Envy models use a OEM Radeon HD 7570 which does support 2560x1600

How can I tell if the card is actually dual link (as specified)?

You are wrong about the Dual Link DVI, you do need dual link DVI 2560x1600.

 

[Hugh R]

You are wrong about the Dual Link DVI, you do need dual link DVI 2560x1600.

I'm sorry that I wasn't clearer. By "that resolution", I meant "1920x1200@60".

What I was trying to say in that point was: if the card can only support 1920x1200@60, there is no reason for it to be dual link (single link can do that and it takes less hardware).

That makes me suspect that the card has this limitation because they only implemented single link. But I don't know if one can tell simply by looking at traces visible on the card. Or perhaps querying the card some how.

 

[Hugh R]

wow, how strange....i dont see the point of the card, what ports does the motherboard have?

The motherboard has two DVI connectors, labelled, but with a cover is screwed over each of them. The product specification says "Integrated video not available if a graphics card or an Intel processor ending with “P” is installed". My processor does not have a P suffix. So I imagine that, if I have no video card installed, those connectors would work (but be single-link).

 

[wlee15]

I'm sorry that I wasn't clearer. By "that resolution", I meant "1920x1200@60".

What I was trying to say in that point was: if the card can only support 1920x1200@60, there is no reason for it to be dual link (single link can do that and it takes less hardware).

That makes me suspect that the card has this limitation because they only implemented single link. But I don't know if one can tell simply by looking at traces visible on the card. Or perhaps querying the card some how.

DVI single and dual link connectors are different looking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface

 

[Hugh R]

DVI single and dual link connectors are different looking.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Visual_Interface

Thanks.

But all single-link DVI sockets that I've ever seen (including this one) have sockets for the second link's pins. I guess that that is done to allow cables with those pins to work.

I assume (but do not know) that single-link plugs are missing those pins (as shown in the wikipedia page). That would not prevent one from being plugged into a dual-link socket.

 

[wlee15]

Your monitor probably doesn't have a built-in scaler, so in order to use any resolution other than 1280x800 or 2560x1600 you have to go into the Catalyst control panel and enable GPU scaling under My Digital Flat-Panels/Properties tab. However have you actually tried a dual-link DVI cable? My gut feeling is that a specs are just incorrect.

 

[Hugh R]

Your monitor probably doesn't have a built-in scaler, so in order to use any resolution other than 1280x800 or 2560x1600 you have to go into the Catalyst control panel and enable GPU scaling under My Digital Flat-Panels/Properties tab. However have you actually tried a dual-link DVI cable? My gut feeling is that a specs are just incorrect.

Good thoughts.

My monitor does not have a scaler. The only resolutions it will accept are 2560x1600 and (fallback) 1280x800. There is no way that a video card can drive it at other resolutions. So what good would GPU scaling be (except for videos)?

The Win8 video control panel only offered me 1280x800.

I'm using the same monitor and cable as I did with another computer that could do 2560x1600.

I'm now using the same monitor and cable and my new computer, but with a GTX650 and driving the monitor at 2560x1600. My HP Radeon HD 8570 is sitting on a shelf.

My gut feeling was that the specs were wrong about the maximum resolution. More fool me. Now I think that the specs are wrong about dual-link.

I'm mad at HP for including a crippled card -- who'd expect this out of a discrete card in 2013.

(I'm also mad at HP for claiming that it is simple to add disks when in fact that requires proprietary screws. The support department tells me to get them from the parts department and the parts department tells me to get them from the support department. But that's another story.)

 

[ViRGE]

That makes me suspect that the card has this limitation because they only implemented single link. But I don't know if one can tell simply by looking at traces visible on the card. Or perhaps querying the card some how.

I agree with your conclusion. They may be using a DL-DVI port, but they've clearly only wired it for SL-DVI. Unfortunately there isn't a good test for this on AMD cards; there aren't any software tools that I'm aware of (one of the few edge cases where NV comes in handy) and looking at the board isn't likely to tell you much.

 

[Black Octagon]

You can use ToastyX's custom version of CRU to see if the monitor will accept custom resolutions. If it rejects anything above a 165Mhz pixel clock limit then that would effectively 'prove' that the DVI port is single link.

But that seems like unnecessary effort. Based on what's already been posted I daresay that driving anything higher than 1920x1200 off this card is a lost cause...