A dual DVI graphics card for CS2…

P
Posted By
pjbw
Nov 13, 2006
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393
Replies
9
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Closed
I have to replace my two elderly CRT monitors running from an X300 Radeon card. This setup needs daily recalibration and so I need a new PCI Express card for Win XP Pro and two digital monitors – Bridge on one and Photoshop on the other. For better or worse I have ordered the first new monitor – an NEC LCD2090UXi. If it is Ok I will order a second.
The new card must have dual DVI connections but there will never be a need for 3D or gaming or TV though I may have to accept some of these. I have seen "rock steady" in some reviews – this would be nice!
There is such a huge range of cards available that any suggestions will be appreciated,
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JJ
John Joslin
Nov 13, 2006
Most big name cards are fine. You won’t need to go for more than 256 Video RAM for Photoshop.
AC
Art Campbell
Nov 13, 2006
I’ve had problems with ATI cards lately, after being happy with them for years. The suckers would black out for no good reason, then come back on.

Swapped them for NVidias and have been very happy.

As a PS — you may want to actively serach for gamer’s experiences with whatever card you choose. Although you’re not going to use them for that, gamers tend to wring the most out of hardware, so if a problem exists, they’re likely to find it and complain. After the fact, I found that the ATI problems I had were a known problem.

Art
L
LenHewitt
Nov 13, 2006
Matrox P650 PCIe would be my choice…
DP
Daryl_Pritchard
Nov 13, 2006
Hi Len,

I’m just curious, as I have never seen a display driven by the Matrox p650 but have used AGP 450s on a few PCs here at work but, assuming you have seen and compared them to nVidia and/or ATI cards, what do you find better about the Matrox? I ask that only for knowing the P650 PCIe goes for around $250 US when for $100 less you can still get a good dual-DVI nVidia-based card such as the GeForce 7600GT that I bought for my system. I’ve yet to hook up a 2nd monitor and suspect the 7600GT may not have dual LUTs as the specs on the P650 cite that it does (Dual Hardware Overlays – gamma correctable), so I’d think that is a strong point in favor of the Matrox. But, I believe there are ATI cards that do have dual-LUTs and probably could be had in a similar $150-ish price range. I know too that Matrox has long had a reputation for very good 2D quality graphics and that was once not so true of the other cards, as they focused on 3D grahics quality. But, without anything to support my opinion, I’d have thought that most all vendors would be delivering good 2D graphics quality now. So, the Matrox card seems overpriced, but maybe not?

Thanks,

Daryl
L
LenHewitt
Nov 14, 2006
Hi Daryl,

what do you find better about the Matrox?<<

Trust in their drivers.

I’ve used Matrox cards since the first Millennium cards came out, and run one machine here on P650 PCIe and another on a P750 AGP (mainly because AGP cards which will do WSXGA on DVI output are few and far between!).

Yes, they’re not the cheapest, but build quality, tech support and driver support are as good as you will are likely to find.
DP
Daryl_Pritchard
Nov 14, 2006
Thanks Len…I don’t doubt their tech support would be good. When the quad-head card we bought from Colorgraphic (ATI-based) failed to work with an IBM Intellistation M Pro, I searched out other options for quad-head video and came across the Matrox QID PCIe. Although I found a pair of nVidia cards worked fine for our needs, I did call Matrox and discuss the QID with them. In the course of that conversation they told me that if there was any peculiar problem unique to our needs the QID wouldn’t solve, they’d work to provide a driver that would serve our needs or else refund the purchase. That’s good service in my book.

Daryl
P
pjbw
Nov 16, 2006
Thanks,
Having got my NEC LCD2090UXi (from Germany to Ireland in 36 hours from order acknowledgment to my doorstep via DHL) I found a URL for compatible graphics cards in the documentation:
<http://www.necdisplay.com/naviset/naviset_compatibility.htm> It looks like ATI are the front-runners.
I remember some years ago when I wanted to dual-monitor in Win98 I bought an AGP Matrox card. I cannot remember the model but I had to bin it in favour of an impressive X200 Radeon card. Naturally when I went to PCI Express I bought an X300, not dual DVI-I unfortunately.
Peter
CK
Christine_Krof_Shock
Nov 22, 2006
Len…will the new Matrox work with Premiere Elements…I’m attempting to hold on to the G450 as I have been ever so happy with it, but now that I am getting into Elements I wonder if I need more?
DP
Daryl_Pritchard
Nov 22, 2006
Christine,

I know you weren’t asking me, but even without any experience with Matrox cards, I see no reason for them not to work as well with Premiere Elements as they do with Photoshop. Video is still a 2D image type and as long as your card has the memory sufficient to support your display in Photoshop, then it should do equally well in Premiere (or Premiere Elements).

Regards,

Daryl

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