3Dlabs Oxygen GVX1 PCI

Multi-head Options

With the introduction of the PCI GVX1, 3Dlabs enabled the Oxygen GVX1 to become one of the most flexible graphics cards in its class. At the beginning of this article we discussed three methods to allow for multiple output display from a professional workstation graphics subsystem.

The chipset itself supports multi-head configurations of up to 8 displays using 8 separate boards. The beauty of this configuration is that each of the up to 8 displays receives the same performance power, provided that all of the cards are identical, and when moving from one rendering display to the next there is no drop in performance.

Courtesy of 3Dlabs' excellent drivers, a multi-head configuration can accelerate a 3D application spread across one or more displays without any performance loss due to the multi-head configuration. An application window can be open across two different displays and the rendering or animation will continue uninterrupted at full speed.

The theme of flexibility comes into play when you consider the number of options you have for configuring your 8-way multi-head display configuration. You are given the option of using an AGP Oxygen GVX1 and multiple Oxygen VX1 PCI boards (the VX1 is like the GVX1 only without the Gamma G1 geometry processor) for a cost effective multi-head display where your secondary displays don't need the same acceleration power as your primary display. You can also setup a single AGP Oxygen GVX1 with multiple PCI Oxygen VX1 and GVX1 cards depending on what your specific needs are. And of course you can go with the most powerful setup, a single AGP Oxygen GVX1 and multiple PCI GVX1 boards.

Once again, 3Dlabs' excellent drivers make this possible, without causing any problems in your current crop of professional 3D rendering applications and without any decrease in performance.

2D Output

The Oxygen GVX1 provided a crisp and clear 2D image, courtesy of the high quality filters placed between the RAMDAC and the VGA output as well as the 300MHz integrated RAMDAC. Capable of driving resolutions of up to 2048 x 1536, the GVX1 also supports, through its GLINT R3 rasterization processor, an MDR-20 digital flat panel output at up to 1280 x 1024. We were a bit disappointed that 3Dlabs is still using the MDR-20 DFP interface rather than a more flexible DVI port that would enable higher resolutions.

The 2D performance of the GVX1 is identical to that of the Oxygen VX1 simply due to the fact that both boards use the same GLINT R3 rasterization processor.