Optiplex 780 Mini Tower + dual 30" U3011 Monitors

The 9500 GT dual link DVI card should work at that resolution as shown HERE.   It is $5 less after rebate HERE with free shipping.  This card should work fine with your 305 watt power supply.  

Thor1961

Before you spend good money on a replacement video card, please check to see if you have the right kind of DVI-D cable between your computer and your new monitors!

This is an exerpt from the Radeon 3400 family overview on the ATI site:

"Two integrated DVI display outputs

• Primary supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)1 "

Have a look ath this link which shows you how to identify all the types of DVI cables. I suspect that you are using single link cables. If so, buy dual link cables and problem solved!

Masi_GC

It appears I have the right cables, but I can only drive the primary at 2560x1600, and I need both primary and secondary at 2560x1600.  The DMS-59 to dual DVI-D is dual link, the cables are dual link, but card won't handle it on BOTH monitors.

Thor1961,

I should have read more of the 3450 overview :emotion-6:

• Two integrated DVI display outputs
  • Primary supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI) or 2560x1600 (dual-link DVI)1
  • Secondary supports 18-, 24-, and 30-bit digital displays at all resolutions up to 1920x1200 (single-link DVI only)1
  • Each includes HDCP encoder with on-chip key storage for maximum resolution playback of protected content2
• Two integrated DisplayPort™ outputs
  • Supports 24- and 30-bit displays at all resolutions up to 2560x16002
  • 1, 2, or 4 lanes per output, with data rate up to 2.7 Gbps per lane

I don't suppose your 3450 has DisplayPort output does it? Although ATI's chipset supported DisplayPort since the 3000 series, I only remember seeing DisplayPort connectors on some higher end 5000 and 6000 series cards.

BTW, the nVidea 9500 suggested by someone else is also limited to single link on the secondary DVI port!

I suggest that you need to do your reseach and buy a RECENT new card. Since you already have monitors that can support DisplayPort, you might want to have a look at cards that support this interface. Some consumer class cards from ATI can support 3 or more monitors as long as at least one is Display Port.

And Matrox, nVidea and ATI all offer Workstation/Professional class products that support 4, 6 and even 8 Display Port monitors at high resolutions.

I have a new 960 optiplex mini tower with the 3450 card AND I'm using the supplied DVI dual link cable but can't get 2560x1600. Unfortunately the corporate IT installed XP over WIN7. Are you running WIn7?

I am running into the same issue.  Optiplex 980 with 3450 and a dual link dvi cable.  I've tried installing the latest drivers off of Dell's site as well as the latest catalyst drivers, but it will not recognize a valid resolution greater than 1280x800.  Could the DMS-59 > DVI splitter be the source of the problem?

Yes THAT is the problem. The DMS 59 can't handle the bandwidth. I bought a cheap $40 card and all is good now. Its a pity that DELL doesn't know the limits of their support for such a great monitor. I spent 20 minutes on the phone the other day trying to find out if one their laptops DEFINITELY supported the U3011 via displayport and they couldn't tell me!!!