Graphics Triple monitor display with matrox p750....

zup peeps,

Well I dont have a tripple monitor display, but I do know someone that has the cash to do it! So he's asking me to help him out.

After some research it seems like Matrox does a pretty good job with multiple monitor displays. I found Millennium P750 vid card for tripple display here . The card only has 2 outputs yet it supports 3 monitors?!?!? I've never done this so I wonder what's missing? Is there some type of splitter? 2 flat panels out of 1 video port? Is that correct?

Some knowledge would be appreciated!

Thkz
ceez

 

Yea they have a splitter cable which splits 1 output into 2.

 

there are some quad display radeon 7000's out there........

 

anyway... if he is going to use the pc to do anythng else than photoshop or video editing... He'll need a more powerfull video card.

 

video editing is different: you need a Matrox X10 or something.
Photoshop - as long as it does FSAA and has a lot of mem you should be ok.

 

my point was...

if you want to play.. a matrox is not a good choise.

Better you get a dual monitor nvida or ati AGP card and a single mionitor PCI one...

 

That's a myth. Up until about 4 months ago I was quite happily still gaming on a Geforce. With that card he'll get very adequate gaming pleasure

 

I could play on my G550. Ok, it was about as fast as an R100, but it still could do 3D. If he's gonna do SERIOUS games then yea, he'll have to get an Nvidia/ATI and a PCI card as a 3rd monitor. But Matrox software for multidesktop is far superior to windows offerings over 2 cards.

For 2D quality, TV out, multidesktop-ness and general windows apps then itll do them fine. Itll do 3D fine too, 3d studio max should run perfectly fine on the latest P750s.

 

Well, i'm also in the market for some multi-LCD goodness. I've already got a dual AGP card (asus 9520) and i'd like to add the option for 3-4 total LCDs. I've found a similar card (jaton Fx5200 something) in PCI format, and the LCDs I want. So here's my questions:

1) Will it be better if all three (four) monitors are the same size/resolution? I've ordered a 19" (Philips 19" 12ms) but it's a bit too pricey for additional ones of the same size. I've spec'd out a 17" samsung (710N-2) that's pretty similar (12ms too!) that is more reasonably priced.

2) I want the center display (19") to be the primary display for most applications/games as not everything out there will cooperate in multi-mon mode. Is it possible to assign the center as the primary display for DOS/DirectX mode games and still allow the mouse to move across the screens in proper order? I.e.: [17"][19"][17"] where priority assignment is [2][1][3]

3) If i set it up as stated above, would it be better to put the center display on the AGP card and the two sides on the PCI, or two on the AGP and one on the PCI? Like i said, i don't expect most games to be able to cope with spanning all three, so I won't need that much 3D power to the side two displays (in theory).

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Yeah you seem to have it pretty dialed

Basically make sure the AGP card is set as the boot card in bios. Start off with just the display plugged into that on that card. Then put in the pci card (dual outputs on that?) Set the other two up around it. In the windows display properties you can drag the displays around onscreen and position them as they are on your desk and it'll sort out the pointer and general desktop orientation on the desk.

A great piece of software to help you once its all plugged in would be Ultramon

 

It would be better if they were dentical resolutions, if not identical, because, in my three monitor setup, having different resolutions and tracking from one monitor to the other became annoying quickly.

Yes it is, put the center display on the agp card, and assign it as the primary display in windows, arrange the other monitors in the display control panel as they are physically placed.

It doesnt really matter, however I suggest you invest in a copy of Ultramon

 

Well "Geforce" is pretty inspecific... a 6800 Ultra is technically a Geforce card, just 6 series. On the other end, I think an MX420 is as well.

Xen0 try dragging the monitors to actually be "where they are" in the desktop properties. You can do more than horiziontal alignment I have my laptop on my keyboard tray at 1024x768 with the 19" CRT at 1600x1200 as secondary a good six inches above it, and playing around in there makes it hella easier. Of course since 1px isn't the same on the two monitors it's a bit off but it's a big improvement.


Just looking... anyone else notice this is from 2003?

 

Well the 9520 is a ATI card if im not correct and the Fx5200 is nvidia, their drivers dont play well together.

 

Well, I think that's enough info to get me moving in the right direction. Thanks all! The 17" is about US$300 and the 19 is about US$430. In the end it's only another 300 to go up to triple 19's, and with the money I've got set aside, that's just a drop in the bucket.

Yes, this thread was started in '03, but I used the search to look for multi monitor stuff and figured it would look like I was actually trying to help myself first

What started me on this whole cavort was when I was looking for a keyboard/mouse arm/tray and I stumbled across Ergotron. They make a sweet line of LCD mounting stands and after seeing the possibilities of a wraparound parabolic curve with 3+ displays, I was hooked! Yes, i'ts seriously expensive stuff, but it's industrial/office/medical grade stuff with a lifetime guarantee and whatnot.

 

I think I misquoted the asus model number, but it's a Fx5200 series. I've never been a big fan of ATi. I figured that using different vga chips would cause trouble, so I'm staying away from anything but the same base grafix processor (Fx5200). Different brands shouldn't be a huge issue as most of them use the nVidia unified drivers anyway.