Zalman puts the lead back in the stereoscopic pencil

17 Apr 2008 | 10:31 BST

By Wily Ferret

ZALMAN has finally managed to ship out a version of its 3D 'Trimon' monitor with Nvidia drivers that actually work, according to websites that have started posting 'final' reviews.

First unveiled at Snobit in 2007, the Trimon is a standard 22" widescreen monitor with a glossy coating. For the special 3D sauce, Zalman uses a pair of stunningly attractive polarized glasses (similar to those what one wore to go and see Beowulf in 3D at the arse end of last year) as well as the positively archaic Nvidia stereoscopic drivers that trace their lineage back to the crazy old Elsa days.

Zalman, better known for its cooling supplies than its 3D technology, has had its Trimon hardware up and running for months now, even seeding magazines and websites with devices before Christmas. But Nvidia, we hear rumblings, has been painfully slow getting its stereo driver working with the latest GeForce hardware and Vista.

Well, a new release of the driver - a still-behind-the-times 91.31 - appears to have added support for a few games that people actually want to play (read: Crysis). Zalman also claims that aside from gaming, the hardware/software combo will also add depth to your existing films.

The reviewer at TweakTown seems to be pretty enamoured with the setup, although the praise is a little gushing for us normally restrained Europeans. You can check it out for yourself here.

Is '3D' gaming the new 'XHD'? We doubt it somehow. µ

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