New Monitor - resolutions?

I’m in the market for a new monitor. I have a Panda, a Beagle xM, a Pi (all running RISC OS) and an Iyonix. Is there a definitive answer to a simple question – what is the best resolution I can output from them (not the Iyonix)? Am I restricted to 1920×1200 (my Panda just about manages this on my monitor at work, with the right refresh rate) or can we get anywhere near the 2560×1440s that are available?. I seem to remember someone commenting on specific monitors with a resolution somewhere between that could be achieved, but can’t find the article.

As I mainly use my Panda, I guess I’m most focused on the best I can achieve with that.

Any advice/recommendations/experiences?

We’ve not done it here but I believe an Iyonix can do 2560×1440
A pi can go do 1920×1200 @ 60Hz
A Panda can only do 1920×1200 at a low refreshrate. Few if any manufacturers quote any monitors at less than 60Hz when at 1920×1200 ¹ A Panda though will do 1920×1080@60Hz
A BeagleXM has a lower spec. video output than a Panda.
What make and model No. is your work monitor?

It’s an Iiyama B2403WS – quite an old one. However, I am now beginning to think I dropped the screen resolution to 1600×1000 after issues with 1920×1200. I’ll check when I return to work on Monday.

I guess the upshot is I’m stuck with 1920×1080 as the only solution for all three new hardware RISC OS machines. Not that I use much more screen real estate than that!

Still tempted to get a 2560×1440 for the Windows PC and see if I can coax the Iyonix to work on it! Would it need twin graphics cards and Geminus to work at that resolution? Am I right in thinkiing the DVI doesn’t work on the Iyonix, so this would somehow have to be done over the D-sub port(s)?

The Iyo X100 had a max resolution of 2048 × 1536, according to iyonix.com’s press release:
http://www.iyonix.com/iyonix/news/x100.shtml
(no refresh rate stated). You definitely need a D-Sub connection – it won’t do DVI.

FWIW, a JPEG-rendering test* I did recently took the Panda 30 secs, the Iyo 32 secs, the Pi 40 secs and RPCEmu 0.8.11/5.20 (3.4GHz Core i7 Win7-64 PC) 40 secs also. So the Iyo is still a pretty useful tool purely from the graphics POV.

(*12 x 4-5MB JPEGS viewed using !Thump’s slideshow viewer with display time set to 0, so the timings above are pure rendering time)

The Iyo X100 had a max resolution of 2048 × 1536, according to iyonix.com’s press release:

I wonder if the specifications there referred to the earlier Graphics Cards used.

I’ve tried finding the specifications for the later FX5200 and FX5500 and found “RAMDACs (up to 400 MHz) for display resolutions up to and including 2048×1536@85Hz”. 85Hz is high. If my calculations are correct 2560×1440@60Hz would use less bandwidth! Though the firmware would probably not allow it:-(

Has anyone tried it?

One other problem is many 2560×1440 monitors are DVI only or won’t do that resolution with analogue input.

n.b. PNY say of their FX550 implementation:“Twin dual link DVI outputs drive two digital displays at resolutions up to 3840 × 2400 at 24Hz”