Matrox Users where are you?

[machow]

Everytime I go to forums I see people with GeForce cards here, Geforce cards there. Doesn't anybody have other cards? Or is it that GeForce cards are always the problem... Anyway Matrox rulz because I own one. :tongue:

Morgan 1.6Ghz + 256DDR = Dream on
However dreams are approacable <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by machow on 11/12/00 11:39 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[Stringy]

Another Matrox user...
just chiming in...
they do rule.....



Craig

P3-700@933|G400DH|Asus P2B Rev.1.10 /w MSI slocket|128Mb PC100|SB PCI64|20Gb IBM 75GXP

 

[machow]

Well you can see how many Matrox users there are out there...

Morgan 1.6Ghz + 256DDR = Dream on
However dreams are approacable

 

[Guest]

The reason we don't hear anything about Matrox is because their latest release is a G450 DDR. I'm not saying it's a bad card, I'm just saying that most users want the absolute fastest sh*t money can buy and it just isn't fast enough for them. When the G800 comes out then we should hear a lot more about Matrox and I personally I think they are gonna make the G800 to be more powerful than what the rumors say about it cause they are taking their sweet time realeasing the damn thing. I'm really close to buying a G-force myself but I want some decent competition here (that's why I love AMD) and i know Matrox makes kick ass hardware.

 

[machow]

The fact that most users here are gamers really makes me sad... There are no balance between professionals in each field. Looks like the whoel community tend to follow a path... :frown:

Morgan 1.6Ghz + 256DDR = Dream on
However dreams are approacable

 

[Guest]

I just built my first system from scratch about two and a half months ago, and after probably eight or nine months of planning, I too went with a Matrox card, G400 32M DH. For my money, it's the most bang for my buck, readily available, and looks great! I figured the Dual Head would be useful, but now I wonder how I'd ever live without it! Nvidia's Geforce2MX is taking it's sweet time being available in dual monitor, and is actually still more money than I paid for my Matrox. Having been around over a year, the G400 is very stable now.

I do hope Matrox hasn't given up though (either that or ATI's Radeon VE doesn't suck), because sooner or later I will want to play some games from newer than 1999 in high res, and still have a dual monitor/one card solution. I guess there's the Geforce MX with Twin-View, but I don't really consider that an option. If I did, I wouldn't have bought an AMD Athlon, nor a Tyan motherboard, nor a Samsung monitor, nor drive a Saab! Always vote for the underdog I say. Especially when they fit me better.

Cheers!

Aaron

 

[machow]

Let's wait for G800 then. Also, from Anandtech's review MX's Twinview feature does not have the flexibility of G400. I will go for Matrox.


Smart guys are not smart because they only see things at a different perspective.

 

[Fredi]

It's not really that Matrox rules, but the DUAL HEAD feature is what really rules. So yes I admit it, I am a also a Matrox fan (or at least a fan of the DUAL HEAD feature) and I am almost alone with this in the Tom's Hardware Guide team...
It's just us webmasters here who really need at least 2 monitors for professional work.

It's like with a big sized monitor (22") or girls, once you have it you can't do without. I could even make use of 4 or so... monitors that is of course.



Fredi
Tom's Hardware Guide

 

[machow]

I like developing sites (thought never completed one) with Macromedia. And Webmasters like you should know what Macromedia programs look like. at least 5 floating windows which almost cover 50% of your working area. How I wish I could drag all this to the second monitor (I only have one Samtron 50E 15" now :frown: ) and work more effeciently.


Smart guys are not smart; they only see things in different perspective.
1st <b>member</b>!

 

[Fredi]

Hi!

I wonder how you do this on a 15". You must be loosing a lot of time just finding the program-window you are looking for. I feel for you...

Congrats for being the first 'member' at Tom's Hardware Guide Community. In fact you have written the most messages so far. Keep it up!

Fredi
Tom's Hardware Guide

 

[Guest]

I have 2 systems with the G-400 cards. Nice cards for the money. I don't game much though, so a GeForce doesn't interest me.

Andy

 

[Guest]

Could someone explain what one would use the Duel Head stuff for? Can you play 2 player games on 1 pc? Is it like the linux virtual desktop where you can 'alt-tab' between them or are they mouse wrapped. Just interested, since I've never had a go on one. I just got a 17" (stole it from my brother actually) and there's no way i could use a 15" now, although i've got one spare.
Cheers, Chris

--
Black holes really suck...

 

[Guest]

Yes, I run a G400 dh on my pIII 500, the first system I have ever bought. 128mb of pc100 all on an Asus p3bf, I really......really......REALLY wanted a G400 max but, even though the Australian distributor of matrox products told me in a telephone conversation, that they had shipped the units to OEM's, I couldn't for the life of me, get my hands on one. Only one OEM in my tiny corner of the western world (perth western australia) had the temerity to offer the max in the local paper column, but then removed the ad after it seemed obvious that they could not or would not be receiving any of the coveted max units in the very near future. In fact, I could probably get my hands on a G-Force 2 ultra before I ever see a G400 max running.
Australia must not be considered an important market share, or could this be very similar to intel's inability to provide volume?
To finnish my post, I would like to applaud matrox on what is a very stable card, for their attention to software support (driver updates and util's)and the versatility of thier cards from the Gx--- range.
Something that really come to mind about thier products is that, when released the G400 DH was $100 cheaper than the TnT 2 ultra (in australia) and it is now more than $100 dearer and even overtaking the older G-force cards in the way of value retention.
With any luck, matrox might get their hands on enough kick ass ddr ram to supply even my little old unimportant corner of the world with G800's.

Fingers crossed
DrNick

 

[Stringy]

Could someone explain what one would use the Duel Head stuff for?

well, I use the Dual head for an extended desktop... this is the most used mode of dualhead IMO... Currently I run my Nanoa 17" monitor at 1280x1024 and my cheapo monitor I found at the curb at 1024x768... while not ideal, it works...

Develpers and Web designers like to have 2 monitors in order to be more efficient, having two apps full screen can be very helpful, not to mention those programs which require all those "tool" windows which can get cluttered on even the largest of screens...

Other modes include DVDMax, for watching a DVD on a 2nd display device while keeping the main screen avalible and useable...
Also for those Graphic artists there is a ZOOM feature where a part of the main screen can be zoomed in one and displayed on the 2nd display....



Craig

P3-700@933|G400DH|Asus P2B Rev.1.10 /w MSI slocket|128Mb PC100|SB PCI64|20Gb IBM 75GXP

 

[hippo]

You know what the current problem with Matrox is? The Win2K drivers suck. Yes, we all know its MS daredevil fault, that the DualHead feature doesn't work the same way as under Win98 but why is there nor WORKAROUND? Have you tried to use the G400 under Win2k? It's virtually impossible to use it in any effeciency enhancing way...
And where is the G800?

Mmmh. I have been an admiring Matrox user for 5 years, started out with a Ultima+, I had an Impression, I had a Millenium, I still have two Millenium IIs and I just sold my G400 for good reasons...

Matrox needs some new hardware and some major improvement on driver performance to become top notch again...

 

[Guest]

Hi, I have a G40016mb single head and it is nice but I had/have so many problems trying to get to run some games that from a game standpoint I am disa pointed. BUT..I don;t play games very much (even less because of the G400 problems) and I do like the appearance I get with the card. Now to my reason for posting....I'm moving into a dual monitor setup in a few weeks and need to decide between a G400DH or the G450DH. What to get and why, any opinions would be appreciated.
j

 

[Guest]

jn1,

What drivers are you using for your G400? I have VIA KX133 system, reportedly among the worst as far as compatibility with the G400 series of cards, and I've been able to get all my games to run just fine (one required the game patch). I haved used the PD6.01, 6.04, 6.10. I definitely recommend the latest 6.10 drivers, they gave me a little boost in speed and a few minor glitches are now gone. If you have a VIA chipset, you might try uninstalling your Matrox drivers, then uninstall and reinstall the latest VIA 4-in-1 drivers (4.24 is what I use), then install the latest Matrox drivers.

As to the G400 vs the G450, most things I have read point to the G400 as still being a hair faster in 3D gaming. The G450 adds something that the G400 doesn't have in terms of dual head, but what that is escapes me at the moment. Either way, they are both similarly priced, so logic would point to getting the G450 I guess..

You can also overclock the G400 pretty easily with a little program called MGA Tweak, it's at http://www.matroxusers.com. Have been successful with a 25% overclock on my G400 32M DH, which puts the core and memory speeds (though not the RAMDAC) near G400 MAX levels. I'd recommend adding a fan if you do this long term though, people have reported an old PII CPU fan works well.

Good luck!

Aaron

 

[Guest]

Does anyone have any specs on the G800 and how they stack up compared to the other new cards- ie. Radeon II, GeForce3, etc...? Or know of someplace I can find some?

 

[Fredi]

Yes the w2k 'support' for DUAL HEAD is a shame.

For the ones who don't know: Both screens can only be in the same resolution and refresh rate, in fact the screen is spanned over the 2 monitors with the center of the desktop in the middle of them, so every pop-up window is cut in the middle, so half part is visible on either. Unusable for serious working. You are better of with an AGP and a PCI graphics card for that matter.

Fredi
Tom's Hardware Guide

 

[machow]

Most big guys would change their monitors to have the same size when they want to use dual head, seeing that Windows 2000 Pro users can afford a $300 OS, so should they afford another $300 for the monitor (unless someone downloaded w2k off the net...).

Tom's Hardware Guide's dated comparison of graphic cards:
<A HREF="http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/99q3/990906/" target="_new">http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/99q3/990906/</A>

No they do not show how it stacks with current graphics card but you could imagine how it performs with current cards by looking at the cards you know.


Smart guys are not smart; they only see things in different perspective.
1st <b>member</b>!

 

[Diablo]

Sure the "dualhead" feature of the matrox is a very interesting feature indeed, in fact my first "Serious" Graphic adapter WAS a matrox (I believe it was the first of the millenium series...), but you must admit that when it comes to 3D matrox is quickly loosing terrain to Nvidia.
Remember also that Nvidia has an answer to the dualhead feature with their "twinview" feature (which is basically the same thing) I have a GForce 2 GTS now and this thing ROCKS, but anyway kudos to Matrox for making some nice Gfx cards...

Visit me at <A HREF="http://casemod.tripod.com" target="_new">http://casemod.tripod.com</A>

 

[machow]

Yes there are TwinViews but they are not as good as Matrox's Dualhead in terms of flexibility... not to mention graphic quality that is superior to GeForce (try Video2000 at <A HREF="http://www.madonion.com" target="_new">http://www.madonion.com</A> - I think you already know that don't you?)


Smart guys are not smart; they only see things in different perspective.
1st <b>member</b>!

 

[Guest]

Aaron,
Thanks for the reply. I'm using pd5.52(I think).I really got tired of using the latest and then finding that I lost stability or something else. In my case I wanted a great business card and one that I could ocationally use for gaming. I found that I was spending more time just trying to get the gaming thing going then it was worth to me.
I do have a fan on the chip and have the proggy for overclocking but since it never was stable to begin with (Qlll,NFS) I just gave up).
Currently my sys is a TBird @1050,msiK7pro,yadyadayadayada.
From your experience....do you still think I should try the 6.10?
j

 

[Guest]

Fredi,
Is there any way around the pop up being centered...I would find that really troublesome. Also, one of my desires is too view some pages I'm working on in diferent resolutions....are you saying that each monitor must be at the same res? is there anywhere on the net that tells one about compatability with various video cards in the same sys? Were you suggesting that I keep my G400sh and just add another (pci) card? would that be better? the same? more choices?
I see that I can pickup the g450dh for $135usd. That seems like a good deal if it works and isn't just a toy. Opinion?
j

 

[machow]

I think WHQL drivers are the safest drivers. 6.04 is the latest WHQL driver. I am using 6.04 for w2k and i have n problems (just like I have no problems in 5.52).

On your question to Fredi, you could resize and move your window to the desired screen instead of having one windows stretching to monitors. Does that answer your question?


Smart guys are not smart; they only see things in different perspective.
1st <b>member</b>!