Multi-display Cards P750 or P650?

Please help me decide between the multi-display cards, Matrox P750 or
P650.

Option for 3rd display with P750: I only own 2 monitors now, but CRT's
are cheap. Don't know if I'd find 3 useful or unmanageable.

Matrox says, "TripleHead is available only in "stretched" mode with a
maximum resolution of 3840x1024.." Does this mean Dual head is
available in a mode other than stretch? Doe this in any way mean
Triple head doesn't look as good due to the resolution?

P650 passive cooling, P750 active. Is fan a plus or minus? i.e. if
fan dies, house burns down? Or, it's always nice to have more air
moving around in the mini-tower? Is the extra room required by a fan
a problem?

Price: $215 vs $159 = $56 difference.

P750 is RETAIL and p650 is OEM: I can't think why I would care in
this case. I don't think there are any parts except the card, and I
assume I could get any drivers and manuals from the Matrox site.

Thanks for additions, corrections, and advice!
Teffy

Teffy wrote:

Matrox says, "TripleHead is available only in "stretched" mode with a
maximum resolution of 3840x1024.." Does this mean Dual head is
available in a mode other than stretch?

Yes, it is. There's 3 different modes (4 if you count built-in Windows
functionality) to use two monitors:

1 Primary + 1 Overlay - Video overlay will go on the second monitor (or TV)
1 + 1 Stretched mode - Works as one larger monitor.
1 + 1 Independent mode - Works as separate monitors, where you through
Windows can choose which desktop is primary, and whether to extend your
desktop to the secondary monitor or not.

The nice thing about the independent mode is that the monitors doesn't have
to be the same resolution, and you can position monitors the way you like
too. If you blow up a program, it will fill one monitor only, but you can
drag programs so they cover some of each monitor.

Stretched mode isn't too useful for two monitors, due to everything that
would normally show up in the middle will be broken up by the edges of the
monitors.

Doe this in any way mean
Triple head doesn't look as good due to the resolution?

Well, you have to have the same resolution in stretched mode, and a fairly
low resolution too. However, the super-widescreen effect of triple-head is
also pretty awesome for 3D games and (especially) flight simulators. But
then you'd better get a Parhelia or better.

Price: $215 vs $159 = $56 difference.

Which is substantial for cards in this price class. FYI, the Parhelia OEM
is $229 (+$9 shipping) at www.microx-press.com

P750 is RETAIL and p650 is OEM: I can't think why I would care in
this case.

Well, Matrox tends to clock the OEM cards lower than the retail cards. For
2D, this doesn't matter too much (the RAMDAC remains the same speed, so you
won't miss any resolutions), but for 3D this can be an issue.

Regards,
--
*Art

Hi there,

Well, I used to have a G550 Dual Head, and since some weeks I have the P750,
now with three identical 19 inch TFT's.... Simply amazing...

I use the P750 in 'stretched mode', this means the resolution of all 3
monitors is the same... Of course, this resolution looks as good as any
other.. Stretched just means, Your desktop is stretched... Make a wallpaper
with Adobe, and You can create any desktop You want...

Get rid off those CRT's, if You can, and buy TFT.... Such a difference..
Maybe 3 CRT's on Your desk will take up too much space.. My TFT's are simply
mounted to the wall... They don't occupy any space on my desk...


"Teffy" schreef in bericht
m...
Please help me decide between the multi-display cards, Matrox P750 or
P650.

Option for 3rd display with P750: I only own 2 monitors now, but CRT's
are cheap. Don't know if I'd find 3 useful or unmanageable.

Matrox says, "TripleHead is available only in "stretched" mode with a
maximum resolution of 3840x1024.." Does this mean Dual head is
available in a mode other than stretch? Doe this in any way mean
Triple head doesn't look as good due to the resolution?

P650 passive cooling, P750 active. Is fan a plus or minus? i.e. if
fan dies, house burns down? Or, it's always nice to have more air
moving around in the mini-tower? Is the extra room required by a fan
a problem?

Price: $215 vs $159 = $56 difference.

P750 is RETAIL and p650 is OEM: I can't think why I would care in
this case. I don't think there are any parts except the card, and I
assume I could get any drivers and manuals from the Matrox site.

Thanks for additions, corrections, and advice!
Teffy

Hammer Toe wrote:

As stated (I TRIED!, with 3-19"ers), you can only run 3 monitors at
3840x1024 'stretched' (ie. 3x1280x1024) which I diddn't find really
useful at all - in MY case, have to give up a lot of 'pixels' on the
first two monitors to get the third to 'work' so didn't gain much.

You can always run two monitors in independent mode plus a third monitor for
video overlay.

Plus, ones task bar (assuming 'bottom docked') stretches annoyingly
across 3 monitors, wallpaper is a problem (can work around theseis
BUT you must 'work').

Wallpaper is a problem in 2-monitor independent mode too, at least under
W2k. It really only works if having the same resolution on both monitors.

Regards,
--
*Art

Francis Arteel wrote:

Get rid off those CRT's, if You can, and buy TFT.... Such a
difference..

Yeah, not the least of which is horrible colours, especially in the reds and
bright colour nuances, which no TFT display can display even near correctly.

Never mind if you need to run in a resolution different from the native
resolution - that looks just horrible. Or if you've been unfortunate enough
to get a 1280x1024 native mode screen -- then your aspect ratio is screwed
up too, and circles look like ovals and squares look like rectangles.

Regards,
--
*Art