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Fanless Card for Two Monitors

H

hthomasa

n00b
Joined
Mar 4, 2013
Messages
8
Does anyone know of a fanless graphics card that will drive two monitors at WQHD, e.g. 2560x1440?
 
If you're not going to game on it, the IGP on an Ivy Bridge or Sandy Bridge CPU will do it.
 
After 100+ views, no one offered an answer. i found one fanless card that will push four monitors at up to 2560 x 1600, the Matrox M9148. So my revised question is "Does anyone have experience with the Matrox M9148?
 
hthomasa said:
After 100+ views, no one offered an answer. i found one fanless card that will push four monitors at up to 2560 x 1600, the Matrox M9148. So my revised question is "Does anyone have experience with the Matrox M9148?
Click to expand...

a Matrox? those are made for stockbrokers :)
 
Actually yes, my understanding is that a lot of multi-screen computers in brokerage offices are driven by Matrox. I do not play video games, but color rendition and stability are very important to my mix of photo editing, business graphics and oversized spreadsheets.
Silence is a virtue, and i want a virtuous card, thus "no fan" I only need to drive two monitors. The M9148 drives four, but that is okay.
So I repeat my question. Does anyone have first hand experience with the Matrox M9148?
 
hthomasa said:
Actually yes, my understanding is that a lot of multi-screen computers in brokerage offices are driven by Matrox. I do not play video games, but color rendition and stability are very important to my mix of photo editing, business graphics and oversized spreadsheets.
Silence is a virtue, and i want a virtuous card, thus "no fan" I only need to drive two monitors. The M9148 drives four, but that is okay.
So I repeat my question. Does anyone have first hand experience with the Matrox M9148?
Click to expand...

Hate to say, but you're probably going to be on your own with this one. I googled away and couldn't come up with a review. :( That said, Matrox has always had some good graphics cards if color fidelity and image quality is your thing. But yeah, not too sure about how well this card could perform. Obviously, you could purchase on Amazon and use the return policy if it all doesn't work out.
 
$580 for that matrox card. What is so special about it? :eek:
 
Hagrid said:
$580 for that matrox card. What is so special about it? :eek:
Click to expand...

I remember that in the past, Matrox made some really good cards when it came to pure image quality. They had this color mode that gave you 10-bits per RGB channel, for example. Instead of 256 shades of RGB, you'd now have 1024. So - perhaps the company is still functioning along these lines? That is, give really good output chips and circuits that provide fantastic image quality.

Before you jump to the "why is it $580 then" question, consider that you can purchase a $6000 Blu-Ray player. So while this card is probably a slow graphics card when it comes to 3D rendering and such, it's probably made with quality components that are a few notches above normal consumer cards. Believe it or not, there IS a market for these things, albeit a very small one. :D

EDIT: Matrox also made the "triplehead" display adapter a long time ago, and were the only company that could actually get multi-monitor gaming to work in the same vein as Eyefinity and SurroundView back before AMD and Nvidia ever did it. So they have a ton of experience with multi-displays. You can even buy another card and have 8 displays going at once - all up to 2560x1440 each!
 
Last edited:
Thank you "ibltecnicspro" Your input is helpful I found a two monitor alternative, the Matrox M9128 for $215 at Provantage verses $520 for the M9148. At $215, the M9128 has two Display Ports and the same memory and processing engine as the M9148. The Matrox software seems far superior to that offered in Windows for arranging the content of the monitors, e.g. screen layout. I think i'll buy one to use with my current two 24" monitors, see how it works, and buy two new 27" monitors later.
Am i missing something? thanks, tom
 
hthomasa said:
Thank you "ibltecnicspro" Your input is helpful I found a two monitor alternative, the Matrox M9128 for $215 at Provantage verses $520 for the M9148. At $215, the M9128 has two Display Ports and the same memory and processing engine as the M9148. The Matrox software seems far superior to that offered in Windows for arranging the content of the monitors, e.g. screen layout. I think i'll buy one to use with my current two 24" monitors, see how it works, and buy two new 27" monitors later.
Am i missing something? thanks, tom
Click to expand...

Don't think so. Give it a shot, and make sure who you're buying from has a good return policy. Either way, let us know how it turns out. I'm very curious. :)
 
jbltecnicspro said:
I remember that in the past, Matrox made some really good cards when it came to pure image quality. They had this color mode that gave you 10-bits per RGB channel, for example. Instead of 256 shades of RGB, you'd now have 1024. So - perhaps the company is still functioning along these lines? That is, give really good output chips and circuits that provide fantastic image quality.

Before you jump to the "why is it $580 then" question, consider that you can purchase a $6000 Blu-Ray player. So while this card is probably a slow graphics card when it comes to 3D rendering and such, it's probably made with quality components that are a few notches above normal consumer cards. Believe it or not, there IS a market for these things, albeit a very small one. :D

EDIT: Matrox also made the "triplehead" display adapter a long time ago, and were the only company that could actually get multi-monitor gaming to work in the same vein as Eyefinity and SurroundView back before AMD and Nvidia ever did it. So they have a ton of experience with multi-displays. You can even buy another card and have 8 displays going at once - all up to 2560x1440 each!
Click to expand...
That is the question!

IS it worth that much over a $100 card like the one in the above post?
 
Hagrid said:
That is the question!

IS it worth that much over a $100 card like the one in the above post?
Click to expand...

To some people, yes. To me? No. Again, going with the same argument. I could get a $6000 Marantz Blu-Ray player (or at least, I could - seems they discontinued them. WONDER WHY? :D) But a decent Samsung works just fine for the screen/system I'd use it on.
 
jbltecnicspro said:
To some people, yes. To me? No. Again, going with the same argument. I could get a $6000 Marantz Blu-Ray player (or at least, I could - seems they discontinued them. WONDER WHY? :D) But a decent Samsung works just fine for the screen/system I'd use it on.
Click to expand...
But if that 6000 unit played the same as the 50, wouldn't the cheaper one be..... better?
You would have to see them side by side to make a comparison.
I would choose the cheaper of the 2 and see if that one works for me.
 
Thanks to everyone, particularly to jbltecnicspro. I ordered the Matrox M9128 E1024 LAF from Provantage for $215.62 plus freight. I'll let you know what i discover in about a month.
 
Thanks, look forward to hearing what you say. My main machine uses a normal card since I game, but the wife does a lot of photo/video work. Currently uses onboard video and a cheapo monitor, but we've pondered upgrading that to better quality.
 
Hagrid said:
But if that 6000 unit played the same as the 50, wouldn't the cheaper one be..... better?
You would have to see them side by side to make a comparison.
I would choose the cheaper of the 2 and see if that one works for me.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I would too. My point is that there are different classes of equipment for different needs. The Marantz in question is a reference-quality player and thus would be paired with other reference equipment that would likely blow the lid off the $50 player and reveal all sorts of flaws that would drive a videophile mad. Again, not saying that this is a good or bad thing, but just pointing out the difference in markets. OP seems to desire quality and honest video output over "good enough." I honestly don't do photo editing or anything business related. But I only offered up the fact that I know that Matrox had at one time been considered king for output quality.
 
Gordo74 said:
Being a 10 day old newbie to the forum, he may not. Just want to make sure he doesnt waste hundreds of dollars on something he could have gotten for $20.
Click to expand...

Good point. Only reason I ran with the Matrox suggestion is that other people have already suggested much cheaper alternatives and he didn't want those. :)
 
I uninstalled the ASUS G-Force card and installed the Matrox. I was surprised at how small the Matrox card is in comparison to the ASUS. The second think i noticed is the simplicity of the Display Port cables. Huge improvement over the DVIs. The Matrox is both smaller and cooler than the ASUS it replaced. I used to get eratic behavior from the ASUS including flicker and momentary blank screens when i moved the mouse or track ball.. The Matrox is rock solid. Video quality is excellent and i like the support software Said simply, i love the Matrox.
 
I have a fanless 1GB AMD HD4850 card.

It used to be mine several years ago, but its been passed down to the kids.

I wonder if it's worth selling.
 
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