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Well, it's been a long time since Matrox has released a new graphics card chipset - so long, in fact, that 3d users have completely given up on Matrox as a 'big player.' nvidia and ATI have pretty much ruled the 3d graphic card market, leaving Matrox and their frail G400/450/550 (all same chipset) in the dust.
But after 3 years of silence, Matrox strikes back. This time, they don't just go for top dog status, they aim to completely dethrone the known leaders of the graphic card industry.
Just to make a side-note: while nvidia and ATI have lead the 3d graphic card market, they have always suffered poor 2D display quality (when compared to Matrox). As far as 2D display quality is concerned, Matrox has always lead the pack. Now, they not only lead the pack, but they left the pack behind in a cloud of innovative smoke.
This newest graphics chipset from Matrox, called the Parhelia-512, is the first chipset to process at 512-bits. Incredible, if you think about it. Not only that, but it BOASTS a memory bandwidth of 256-bits, enabling TWICE the data transfer rates of the current leading graphics cards, giving it an astounding 20.0 GB/sec. The 3D speed of this card has yet to be benchmarked, but theoretically, it is a monster. It should score some three times as fast (if not more) than the current 3d graphics cards (this is a guess - again - no benchmarks are available yet). The hardware on this thing is amazing. Not just that, but it can utilize three monitors at once - all 3d accelerated too.
Another important feature to note: it renders everything all the way out to the monitor at 10-bits per color channel - as opposed to the traditional 8-bits. Some other noteworthy features of the card are: hardware accelerated anti-aliased text for Win2k and WinXP (no performance loss), hardware displacement mapping (for 3D), 16xFragment Anti-aliasing for 3d rendering (adaptive), TWO 400 MHz 10-bit RAMDAC's with an optional THIRD RAMDAC, plus a lot more.
Check out the impressive specs of this next card by going to the link below:
Matrox Parhelia-512
If this card turns out to be what it is on paper, it will truly be a dream-come-true for all graphic designers, 3d animators, and gamers.
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Well, it's been a long time since Matrox has released a new graphics card chipset - so long, in fact, that 3d users have completely given up on Matrox as a 'big player.' nvidia and ATI have pretty much ruled the 3d graphic card market, leaving Matrox and their frail G400/450/550 (all same chipset) in the dust.
But after 3 years of silence, Matrox strikes back. This time, they don't just go for top dog status, they aim to completely dethrone the known leaders of the graphic card industry.
Just to make a side-note: while nvidia and ATI have lead the 3d graphic card market, they have always suffered poor 2D display quality (when compared to Matrox). As far as 2D display quality is concerned, Matrox has always lead the pack. Now, they not only lead the pack, but they left the pack behind in a cloud of innovative smoke.
This newest graphics chipset from Matrox, called the Parhelia-512, is the first chipset to process at 512-bits. Incredible, if you think about it. Not only that, but it BOASTS a memory bandwidth of 256-bits, enabling TWICE the data transfer rates of the current leading graphics cards, giving it an astounding 20.0 GB/sec. The 3D speed of this card has yet to be benchmarked, but theoretically, it is a monster. It should score some three times as fast (if not more) than the current 3d graphics cards (this is a guess - again - no benchmarks are available yet). The hardware on this thing is amazing. Not just that, but it can utilize three monitors at once - all 3d accelerated too.
Another important feature to note: it renders everything all the way out to the monitor at 10-bits per color channel - as opposed to the traditional 8-bits. Some other noteworthy features of the card are: hardware accelerated anti-aliased text for Win2k and WinXP (no performance loss), hardware displacement mapping (for 3D), 16xFragment Anti-aliasing for 3d rendering (adaptive), TWO 400 MHz 10-bit RAMDAC's with an optional THIRD RAMDAC, plus a lot more.
Check out the impressive specs of this next card by going to the link below:
Matrox Parhelia-512
If this card turns out to be what it is on paper, it will truly be a dream-come-true for all graphic designers, 3d animators, and gamers.
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yahoo, this is terrific news...thanx for the posting
I use ATI, which also offers pretty good color quality and performance, and always questioned my buddy, who own's a Matrox, why he did, when it was a slower card and for all intensive purposes, only those who had the same configuration as he did would be able to see the same greaat results if posted anyhoo...but...now that it looks to be this quick, I will have to take another look in the Matrox direction [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
more speeeeeeeed
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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Matrox basically invented great 2D display quality - and they've always led in this area. I used to be a DIE-HARD Matrox fan. It all started back when I first got into computers 8 years ago or so. Back then, (I was under my parents wing), they didn't want to spend a BUNCH of money on my (at the time) latest obsession - they figured I'd get bored with it shortly and thus paid for a pretty cheap machine. Well, the graphics card in the machine was a Trident card, which I quickly switched with an Oak Technology card. But, with either of these cards, I can into so many incompatibilies. I couldn't play all the latest games (which at the time were JUST beginning to display in VGA - lol!). So, I was determined to only get top-of-the-line from that point on, and purchased (on dealer recomendation), the newest and greatest thing at the time - the Matrox Millennium!
Well, to make a long story short - I never had a graphics problem since, and the quility was utterly astounding (for the time). But, sadly, when the 3d graphics market took flight, Matrox turned its back on 3d acceration. They only catered to 2D display. Since 3d modeling and animation is my primary department, I had to break my die-hard loyalty to them and buy an nvidia 3D chipset.
ANYHOW... to see that Matrox is making another stab at the 3d market is AWESOME - because they're bringing their unsurpassed display quality with them. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
I would DEFINITELY watch their product line in the next couple of months to see what develops.
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Earl, I'm a fellow Matrox devotee! I've owned several ATI cards and two Matrox cards, and there's NO doubt that the output from Matrox - on the same monitor - is MUCH sharper than from the ATI cards. I don't give a damn about 3D game performance, as I don't own a single game (I hate ALL games). The supposedly poor 3D performance of the G200/G450/G550 cards are totally irrelevant for people who only do 2D work, in XaraX or Photoshop or whatever.
Re this: "Another important feature to note: it renders everything all the way out to the monitor at 10-bits per color channel - as opposed to the traditional 8-bits."
But if there is no support in our software for 10 bit color, that won't get us far! But luckily, Matrox will be releasing a Photoshop DLL which will let you see 10 bit color if you work in the high-bit, 16 bit formats! Now that's good news!
K
K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara
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Earl, will the speed of the Parhelia-512 matter for any of the previews in 3D rendering programs? Like Bryce, Vue 'd Esprit, MojoWorld, Cinema 4D, etc.? I've always thought this was a CPU-issue only - but please feel free to tell me I'm wrong! You know 3D stuff, I only 2D.
K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara
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http://www.tomshardware.com/graphic/...rhelia-09.html
The "Glyph Anti-Aliasing" features sounds intriguing, too - especially that it will be possible to adjust the gamma of the anti-aliasing of text! User-tweaking of text anti-aliasing! Of course, will this work with our software? That's the tough question.
K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara
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Agreed Klaus. I was so sad the day I had to take out my Matrox card and replace it with an nvidia GeForce3. I only did so because I needed powerful OpenGL acceleration for LightWave. To answer you question, YES, 3d acceleration has EVERYTHING to do with using applications such as Bryce, LightWave, Cinema 4D, etc. If you don't have a powerful 3d accelerater, then your CPU has to make all the calculations to display the real-time 'mesh.' What this means is that if your CPU has to put ALL its energy into simply displaying your image, then it has no power left to perform deformations, boolean cuts, transformations, etc.
Here's an example: LightWave. Since version 6 (released a couple years ago), LightWave redesigned their interface to use OpenGL exclusively. OpenGL is a type of real-time 3d display. It added so much more power to LightWave, because you could see all of your work without having to "render." The only drawback was that without a 3d accelerater card that was FAST, your display was really slow, making working in the program very frustrating and difficult - much of your time was simply spent waiting for the screen to draw. Anyhow, I'm happy because now I can go back to my old friend Matrox (back to their SUPERIOR display quality), and still have fast (VERY FAST) 3D acceleration.
And to make something clear, the last Matrox card, G400/G550, did NOT accelerate OpenGL in hardware - it had to rely on the CPU to do it in software. That's why up until now, Matrox cards were unacceptable for applications like LightWave.
That 10-bit color precision per channel is so exiting! Even if you don't have a plugin for PhotoShop, it will still mean more accurate representation of color on the screen - and less color banding. But yeah, it will require the plugin to make full use of it - but hey, that's fine for me. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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I am still using a Matrox Millennium in my old dinosaur, it has served me well.
Some day I may upgrade, Its nice to see Matrox is getting there act together.
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and triple display ....oooooh ya gotta like it [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
there goes this year's budget...haha
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Triple display ... awesome! ... dang that solitaire game will rock now! ... hehhe sorry just felt like saying that [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] .
Seriously , it all looks interesting and is something to watch for the future
David K ... www.dkingdesign.com http://www.dkingdesign.com/stuff/signature.jpg
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hahaha, durn toot'n... listen Dave, you can insult my feeble art worx, perhaps even insult my better half, but taking pot shots at my favorite past time? why I otta...
http://www3.telus.net/thegidgitzone/monkeyme.jpg [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
( painted just for you using ZBrush [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] )
but yes, seriously, this new card does sound awsome on paper, here's hoping that it delivers
[This message was edited by gidgit on May 23, 2002 at 02:55.]
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Earl, thanks for illuminating me! But on the Tom's Hardware site, and also on Matrox (though I've only quickly peeked), I did not see anything about Parhelia's OpenGL features - have you read anything specific about this?
I fear I may have to get my hands on this baby sometime this summer . . .
K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara
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Earl, I just downloaded a PDF datasheet from Matrox, and it says Parhelia has "full OpenGL 1.3 compliance."
So maybe I got to enlighten you a bit in return? :-)
The totally amazing, partly very UI-annoying MojoWorld is OpenGl based, and its preview - what they call "Real Time Renderer" (hah!) is slow and ugly on my otherwise splendid Athlon XP1800 system. Hopefully, getting Parhelia might improve this?
K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara
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David: "Triple display ... awesome! ... dang that solitaire game will rock now!"
LOL!!!
K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara
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Yup! You got it Klaus. The Parhelia is 100% fully optimized to hardware accelerate even the most demanding OpenGL applications. 1.3 is the latest software version of OpenGL, so this card does it all. And boy am I glad to hear that too. MojoWorld's "real-time" display would probably benefit greatly from this card (I've never used MojoWorld, so I couldn't say for sure - but any 'real-time' 3d app or interface would see a very large and significant speed increase).
Even if this baby costs $400-$500, it's well worth it for me. Right now, there are NO graphics cards on the market that excell at 3d rendering as well as displaying 2D graphics at professional quality. I get tingles every time I think about it. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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Earl, I get tingles every time I think about it too!
K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara
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I've read that the anticipated price is US $400 - $450 with shipping in earl July 2002. The analyst also expected that Matrox will soon after release a "lite" version with a lighter price tag.
Question: Would such a card make the most of a modest quality monitor or highlight its weaknesses?
Regards, Ross
<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>
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is a comprehensive article on the new card. A detailed walkthru of all the features and how they relate to other high-performance cards.
Regards, Ross
<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>
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Now that was a good indepth review....thanx Ross...though I must say that upon reading the end summary I felt somewhat grounded...
Basically, with all the muscle this card has, there is very little that can/will make use of such...
yes triple head support would be kind of neat, but... the cost is pretty steep...if they allow this feature on a LE card then well, yahoo...
The only good point that I can come up with regarding all is that for those die hard Matrox user's who insist on having the best quality in display, this is good news for you... [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
I did notice that this article did not delve into just how this card would perform using 3D creation software... I suppose the whole world has gone to games... haha...
I will wait and see what ATI has in store to counter this advance from Matrox...
Thanx again Ross
[img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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This card supposedly will offer pretty much THE best OpenGL support - so anyone using 3d creation software would see a significant difference.
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Who will be the first?
Regards, Ross
<a href=http://www.designstop.com/>DesignStop.Com</a>
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Ross, does your "On sale now!" mean
A. it can be bought now
or
D. it can be bought at a lower price now.
???
I'm getting it, for sure, but will wait a little until they've lowered the price!
K
www.xaraxone.com/FeaturedArt/kn/
www.klausnordby.com/xara
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Sorry - It is now available for purchase. Visit the Matrox site to find out more details.
Regards, Ross
PS - It comes with a 'fishtank' demo that they designed to showcase the card's capabilities. It can be used as a screensaver. It features 100 animated high-res fishies. They say no other graphics card can display the demo without problems. With the multiple monitor setup your fishies can swim from one monitor to another to another! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
