[Desertfish]

My current setup:

- Asus P5N-E mobo
- Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 2600PRO 512MB 2xDVI graphics card
- 2 x Samsung Pebble SM2232BW 22" TFT monitors.

I'd like to add a Wacom Cintiq 12WX (12" pressure sensitive monitor/tablet) to this setup. However, I don't need the Cintiq to be a 3rd monitor but rather a clone of my primary 22" TFT. What's the best way to go about this? Do I need a second graphics card or could I use a DVI-splitter cable.

Furthermore, if the splitter cable is an option, does anyone know if this will have any negative effect on both the TFT and the Cintiq

Cheers:
Desertfish

[Klunk]

Hey Desertfish.
I advise using a DVI splitter, i use a similar setup at home. Keep a 'primary' monitor,(One plugged directly into the computer) Just to be lag-safe.
If you need a link to a DVI splitter in a store, gimmie a shout.
=)

[Desertfish]

Thanks for your advise Klunk
Much appreciated.

Cheers:
Desertfish

[Klunk]

No problem.
=)

[jazzmeister]

Does anyone know if the 2nd monitor has to match the resolution of the cintiq, or does the cintiq set its resolution independently?

[Desertfish]

I have no idea jazzmeister because in the end I abandoned the idea of getting a cintiq. After reading the user posts on the Wacom web site, I found that £800 for such a peace of crap was a bit too much to pay. Go and have a read and you'll understand what I mean.

On the other hand, if you got a cintiq already, especially the 12wx (I'm not willing to pay £2000 for a 21ux) than I would be very interested to know if you are having the same problem as loads of those people on the Wacom site.

Cheers:
Chris

[jazzmeister]

Hi, thanks for your reply, I mananged to get my setup to work somewhat, and yes I do have a Cintiq 12wx, and whilst I would not say it is completly perfect overall I think it is worth the £800. I think my only wish was that it was a little bigger, the 21 or new 20 version would be great but are just too much money for me to justify at present.

I have read that some people are complaining about the configuration utility on the 12wx,, and to be honest once you get it configured to your usual angle of working, I did not really see this as much of a problem, I would imagine if your required absolute positioning in all areas of the screen for Technical drawing or the like that it may cause you a bit of frustration, but I have only noticed there to be a bit of inaccuracy at 100% size and at the edges of the screen, but as the screen size is not huge, I do tend to zoom in to the area I am drawing and you really do not notice it. I do work in quite a loose style, for animation and illustration work, so maybe that is just me.

My only other gripe is that the screen res is only 1024 by 800 so as I have an extra two monitors, I have one set as a clone of the cintiq, and can only get it to display at the same res, which is a bit annoying.

What other problems, (if any) have you heard about? I would give the Cintiq 12wx a 8 out of 10 overall. Its great for scetching, and animation work, its light and stays cool, the cables are a bit on the bulky side, it is nice to draw directly on the screen, but the small screen size does mean you will zoom in a lot. I do think that I will eventually upgrade to the larger versions oneday, and hopefully they will come down in price a bit.

Cheers

Jason

[Desertfish]

I read the forums on Wacom and apparently there are a lot of people complaining about innacurracy especially around the edges as you mentioned yourself. The problem is that some people have more problems than others and to make a long story short, from reading the whole tread, it looked to me that - although there is naturally a bit of inaccuracy - there might have been a whole batch of bad ones gone out and it's a bit of a lottery at the moment to get a good one. I might be wrong though but at £800 that is bit too much of a gamble to me. Especially because you are already working on such a small screen as you mentioned.

Eventually I stuck to my first choice and got an Intuos3 A4 tablet. The reason I was looking into the Cintiq was because my whole life I have been doing illustration work directly on paper so I thought it might be a real pain getting used to moving your hand on a tablet while having to look on a screen to see what was happening. I only recently received my Intuos so I'm still getting used to it, but it's not as bad as I had thought.

If money would not have been an object, I would have gotten myself a 21UX because this would have had the best of both worlds. But at £2000+ that is a bit too much to pay for at the moment. If I would have been a pro already I might have gotten one but at this stage, where I'm actuallay still trying to break into the world of freelance illustrating I think it's a bad idea to spend so much money on a peace of kit. Well, some day maybe. Or should I say "hopefully".

Anyway, I'm glad to hear your cintiq is doing the job for you.

Cheers:
Chris