Home | Forums | Article Search | Subscribe & Shop | Contact Us | Log Out Matrix Orbital MX610 Email This Print This View My Personal Library Heavy Gear October 2005 • Vol.5 Issue 10 Page(s) 26 in print issue Add To My Personal Library Matrix Orbital MX610 MX610 $109.95 Matrix Orbital www.matrixorbital.com CPU Rating: 3.5 Specs: Characters: 20 x 2; display size: 18.2 x 82.2mm; interface: USB (serial optional); environment: 0 to 50 degrees Celsius; voltage supply: 25mA The MX610 is a 5.25-inch bay display accessory with 20 x 2 character lines and a yellow/green-on-black PLED (polymer LED) display. PLED is awesomely bright and clear, with a 160-degree viewing angle and fast refresh time. Behind the screen the PCB has connectors for three fans and four temperature probes. You also get an included 3-foot, external USB cable (or you can buy the optional internal USB cable for $8.25). Installing the MX610 was easy. Although compatible with most titles for driving similar bay displays, the MX610 comes bundled with LCDC software, which is by far the most robust software I’ve seen in this space. Forget just displaying time, temps, and system info, LCDC displays everything: weather forecasts, stock ticker scrolling, email alerts, RSS feeds, FRAPS readouts, a spectrum analyzer for Winamp, SETI@home status, and more. Despite how robust LCDC is, it’s also the MX610’s greatest weakness. An initial setup wizard that you could fine-tune via scripting would have been the smart path. Instead, you have to script every function from ground zero. You have to create a new item to configure in the Screen Builder area, select the item’s display attributes, and then go to another screen with a hierarchical list of functions. Double-clicking the subfunction you want, such as current humidity, pastes that function’s script back in Line 1 or Line 2 of your function configuration. That’s the easy part. Getting readouts to span text across both lines, integrate animations, and whatnot requires hours of study on the LCDC forums. In short, the UI is designed for people used to command line work who won’t be bothered by a lot of extraneous window hopping and a cumbersome configuration experience. For those willing to do the time, though, the MX610 is one killer bay display. by William Van Winkle Heatsinks (degrees C/F) Vendor Model 3.8GHz idle 3.8GHz load 4.27GHz idle 4.27GHz load Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 56 68 57 71 Intel (for LGA775) Reference 56 68 54 67 Zalman CNPS9500 49 63 52 67 Zalman CNPS7700-Cu 49 65 52 65  User Reviews Be the first to write a review of this product Want more information about a topic you found of interest while reading this article? Type a word or phrase that identifies the topic and click "Search" to find relevant articles from within our editorial database. Enter A Subject (key words or a phrase): ALL Words (‘digital’ AND ‘photography’) ANY Words (‘digital’ OR ‘photography’) Exact Match ('digital photography'- all words MUST appear together) Home      Copyright & Legal Information      Privacy Policy      Site Map      Contact Us Copyright © 2010 Sandhills Publishing Company U.S.A. All rights reserved.