second matrox card recommendations ?

[demonseed]

Hello,

Currently I am running a matrox p750 under linux and driving three screens.

All is well, except for one thing - when you go from dual head to triple head the resolution drops to 1280x1024 ... and these nice expensive 20" screens are all 1600x1200, so it really bugs me that I am not getting the most out of them.

So I have decided to add a second video card to my system. I think I would like the second card to be a matrox card, since then I still only need one video driver.

The problem is I only have one slot left, and it is a PCI slot.

So does that mean the P650 LP PCI card is my only option ?

Am I correct in assuming that since I am in Linux I don't need to worry about "spreading" my desktop across two cards, since X just takes care of the displays anyway ?

The only reason I want this second card to be matrox is so that I can run a single video driver - is this flawed reasoning ? That is, will I have to run multiple drivers to get the p750+p650 to work anyway ?

I really, really wish there was a triple-head card that could go 1600x1200x3screens...

[Mikko]

I really, really wish there was a triple-head card that could go 1600x1200x3screens...

Hello,

If you absolutely need 1600x1200x3, then you may want to consider of buying one of the Matrox QID series cards:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/finent/products/qid/qid.php

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/cadgis/products/qid/qidpro.php

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/finent/products/qid/qidlppcie.php

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/finent/products/qid/qidlp.php

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/finent/support/drivers/203se/home.php

However, Matrox Millennium P650 LP PCI is much cheaper solution and it should work just fine with Matrox Millennium P750.

[demonseed]

hmmm...yeah I thought about the QID, but (correct me if I'm wrong) it does not handle

1920x1200x3

Does it ?

I am just trying to wring a last year or so out of these 1600x1200 monitors, and happy to get there with just a hundred or so dollars (on ebay) for a 650 ...

I don't want to invest $500 or so in a QID and be stuck in the exact same situation a year or two from now because I have 3x 1080p monitors and can't drive all three at full res with the QID...

Make sense ?

[Mikko]

OK, I understand. You just didn't mention 1920x1200x3 in your previous post...

I'm not sure if Matrox QID will handle 1920x1200 resolutions, but you can always ask from Matrox sales:

http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/corpo/about/contact/home.php

[demonseed]

yeah ... I don't need 1920x1200x3 _now_, since my current monitors only go to 1600x1200, I just figure if I am going to invest some sizable ($500+) funds in a vid card I want it to be a little future proof for the next three monitors I get in a year or so.

Since it won't do that, I am going to skip it and just get the PCI card cheap for now...