Testing observations
Usage on a 24in panel
To test the ATEN CS1782's capabilities, we ran through both its advertised features, to see if they worked as expected, and also a few scenarios that we know trip-up the Avocent 4SVDVI10 four-port DVI KVM switch we currently use in the HEXUS labs.We had two of our test platforms setup for the test. The first was powered by an NVIDIA nForce 680i motherboard and GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card. The other included an Intel X48 chipset-based mainboard with an AMD Radeon HD 3870 card. Initial testing was with the 24in, 1,920x1,200-resolution Dell 2405FPW, and, later, with a 30in, 2,560x1,600-resolution Dell 3007WFP. Using our Avocent 4SVDVI10, any visual artifacting was more apparent at higher resolutions where there is a greater need for signal integrity.
Before powering the computers on, when the KVM detects no sources, pressing the source buttons on the KVM will result in no action. Hold one button down and you will force a switch. Powering up the NVIDIA system, the KVM detected the presence of an active DVI and USB connection immediately.
In Windows Vista everything worked fine. It booted with the generic VGA driver at 1,280x1,024, with the keyboard, mouse and audio all working as expected. The front-mounted USB connector detected our Icybox USB HDD without problem. We then installed ForceWare 169.12 drivers, rebooted and set the display resolution to 1,920x1,200. No visual artifacts were apparent, even at the increased resolution.
Upon powering up system number two, equipped with the AMD HD 3870 512 graphics card, the ATEN CS1782 detected the active connections and allowed us to switch over. We encountered no problems with installing the driver and configuring the resolution.
Pressing the source-select buttons on the KVM's front-panel switches between the two displays, with the orange LEDs indicating both computers as having active connections, and with the currently-displayed connection somewhat brighter.
Handily, one can switch the selected audio source independently of the video source, by double-tapping the source select buttons. Pleasingly, jack-sensing doesn't lose and redetect ports when you switch audio sources.
As mentioned previously, the ATEN CS1782 is able to switch between USB connections, thereby allowing you to transfer files from USB devices to one computer, whilst using the other. We set up a large file transfer on one computer and switched over to the other system, and the transfer process completed successfully
The button presses described above are just the default settings, though. Should you wish, you can alter them so that a single tap of a button will bring audio, video and USB focus to a source, and holding the button bringing video/KVM focus only. It's down to your personal preference which mode you would prefer to use on a day-to-day basis.
