Widescreen Gaming Forum

That I know of 2560x1600 / 4096000 is the max a dual-link can push. From what I gather the max 16:9 res. that can fit in triple head is about 1558x876. Theoretically though it should be possible to encode a full 1920x1200x3 signal through the dual-link port compressed just slightly to fit, of course it would be unreadable to anything but the matrox. And the question remains if it could be done without too much delay.

Response from Matrox:

In regards to your question, Dual-link DVI displays offer a maximum resolution of 2560x1600 – this is correct, but the maximum pixel clock supported by the dual-link DVI output could, in theory, enable the triple 1680x1050 resolution. Matrox has no plans to enable this mode because the GPUs that are available on the market are not able to drive a windows desktop at this resolution and this mode has not been tested on TripleHead2Go Digital Edition.

Disappointing. We know games can be driven at this resolution, but Matrox says they won't do it because Windows won't do a 5040x1050 desktop. So, use one resolution for games and another for the desktop - is that so hard?

Actually, aren't there dx9 limits too like a max of 4096 width or such ?

The 4096-pixel limit exists because of DX9 hardware, but apparently not because of DX9 itself. Thus, 5040 resolutions are possible on nVidia 8000-series hardware even in a DX9 application.

Some time ago I played with a prog. that lets you stretch any window to any size you want (I forget the name) I could not make a 3d window wider than 4096, and that was on these 8800s. While it did let me set the size, the 3d stopped working (hall of mirrors effect) when it got over that size. By the way, anyone know a good ressource/howto to adding fresnel lenses in front of a TH2G setup to minimize bezels?

The 4096-pixel limit exists because of DX9 hardware, but apparently not because of DX9 itself. Thus, 5040 resolutions are possible on nVidia 8000-series hardware even in a DX9 application.

Where did you get that information?

On the WSGF boards, by reading this site carefully. For example, if you click here you will see GTR2, a DX9 game, running at 4960x1600 using SoftTH. The center screen is at 2560x1600, while the side screens are 1200x1600 in portrait orientation. 4960>4096 by quite a bit.

OK, but is not possible with one hw accelerated display like TH2Go uses it?

It is possible. Look again at the email I posted from Matrox: the maximum pixel clock supported by the dual-link DVI output could, in theory, enable the triple 1680x1050 resolution. If 5040x1050 can be pushed through one dual-link DVI cable, then the Matrox hardware can split it into 3. Furthermore, Matrox goes on to state Matrox has no plans to enable this mode, implying that it is possible for the hardware to accept it.

Then they state that the mode will not be enabled because the GPUs that are available on the market are not able to drive a windows desktop at this resolution. So Matrox is saying that the hardware can handle the resolution. We know certain games can handle the resolution. But Windows can't, so we don't get the option. I see no reason to assume a user will be running the same desktop resolution as that which is used for gaming.

We are not talking about the same thing but you did come up with something new for me (the question or triple 1680 is irrelevant for matrox because of the DVI limitation).



But as I said SoftTH is limited by the problem with the hw acceleration that runs on two chips and over the pciex bus.