Quad display support...

[IcoNyx]

I know this one has been covered to some degree... but my question has not been...

I want to have quad displays, and I like my desktop effects (compiz). So what is my best solution for this? I am aware that a dual video card solution is not possible at this time. I can live with that. My question comes down to the Workstation graphic solutions.

So I started looking into my QUAD head supported graphic cards and came across the NVIDIA Quadro FX 4500 X2.

Now comes the problem, I'm a gamer... please don't look at me funny. I have no experiance with Workstation graphic cards so I have no clue weather this card will be able to hold it's own in say... Unreal Tournament?

Is this card a viable solution to my desire to have compiz, 3d gaming, AND quad display support? Or am I just wasting my money?

[JaXXoN]

My understanding is that the FX 4500 X2 holds two GPUs and
a PCIe switch. So from the software perspective it is pretty much
the same as having two cards with one GPU, each. However, i'm
not aware if nvidia did any special hackery for the FX 4500 X2 to
make it appear as a single GPU.

Even if this would be true, then there still does exist a cheaper alternative
that would allow to run even up to six displays (5040x2100 resolution) off
one GPU! For details, please refer to:

http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=126134

The basic trick is that you can connect two Matrox TripleHead2Go
boxes to the two DVI-D outputs of a video card and then attach
up to three LCDs (1680x1050) to each TH2G.

regards

Bernhard

[IcoNyx]

NICE!!!

thanks!

But it leads me to another question... this will fool X into thinking my display is REALLY wide... I use gnome... will that screw with my panel? or is it possible to tell X that there are three separate displays and define the dimensions?

[JaXXoN]

Originally Posted by IcoNyx

Is it possible to tell X that there are three separate displays and define the dimensions?

Yes, just use the TwinviewXineramaInfo and TwinViewXineramaInfoOverride
options as suggest in the xorg.conf to be found in the link above.

However, my experience is that not all window managers and/or applications
take notice of xinerama (and i.e. expand to the whole screen rather then to
LCDs boundaries), but gnome and related apps should work fine.

regards

Bernhard

[IcoNyx]

Kick... friken'... A$$!!!

Mods; please close this thread as my question has not only been answered but a best case option has been suggested, tested, and proven accurate.

Now I just need three vertical dual display mounts, two TH2Gs, and I'm set!

Thank you JaXXoN.