Matrox reveals M9188. 8 monitors, WDDM 1.1 support coming

icrontic.com

11 points·primesuspect··7 comments

Matrox's new hydra of a video card will support 8 simultaneous displays, supports Aero in Vista and Win7, and will support WDDM 1.1 in the first half of 2010.

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Since this is using mini DisplayPort connectors, it will have the same problem that the RadeonHD 5000 series have for 3-way Eyefinity setups: if your monitors don't have DisplayPort connectors, you'll need an active adapter to convert to a DVI port, and those run about $100 each.

I really doubt that the market for this card will be very big, given that ATI's Eyefinity is capable of driving 6 displays with more advanced drivers, and at a much lower cost.

I have an MBP with miniDisplayPort and an Apple DVI adapter which cost more like $45. Why might you need an 'active' adapter for this card?

The $99 adapter is necessary for dual-link DVI, which is necessary to drive a monitor that is over 1920x1200. I don't really know whether people using 8 monitors are typically using high-resolution monitors, or indeed whether the card in question can actually drive several high-resolution monitors, but the necessity of a more expensive adapter has already pissed off many gamers trying for a 3-way eyefinity setup.

Excellent! Maybe I can use this to build my very own Situation Room.

Linux support?

Yes, Matrox has beta Linux drivers for x86 and x64 distros. Here's a set of release notes: ftp://ftp.matrox.com/pub/mga/archive/linux/2009/readme-1.1.1.txt

$1995

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