Matrox
Millennium G400
Max
Although it
was introduced nearly a year ago, the Millennium G400 Max is still
Matrox's top performer in the 3D graphics field. This card was intended
for not only pc gamers, but also for professional graphics, where its
phenomenal 2D image quality still reigns supreme. This could be part of
the reason that Matrox has waited so long to produce a successor,
although rumors say that a G600 is in the works. The G400 Max has largely
failed in the gaming field, despite some innovative features, and
because it never could out-perform a TNT2 Ultra. The most useful of
these features is Matrox's patented Environmental Bump Mapping, which
makes 3D rendered scenes, especially walls and water, much more
realistic and pleasing to the eye. When this feature is enabled,
however, the card takes a noticeable performance hit. Another of
Matrox's innovative technologies is the support for Dual-Head monitor
display, via two VGA connectors on the back of the card. Unlike all of
it's competitors, the G400 Max can run two monitors at the same time,
although the second is limited to 1280 x 1024 resolution. The clock
speed of the G400 Max can only be guessed at, because Matrox has a
strict company policy not to release the core clock of any of their
cards. However, by doing the math, and dividing the 333 megatexel fill
rate by the 2 pixel pipelines, the speed can be accurately estimated at
166mhz. Matrox has already stated that the memory clock for the 32MB of
SDRAM is rated at 200mhz. While the Matrox G400 Max is not the best 3D
solution on the market by a long-shot, it is the most logical choice for
corporate users who also want moderate 3D power.
Reviews
are available at:
AnandTech
Sharky
Extreme
Thresh's
Firing Squad
Millennium G400
Although
it was introduced nearly a year ago, the Millennium G400 line are still
Matrox's top performers in the 3D graphics field. This card was intended
for not only pc gamers, but also for professional graphics, where its
phenomenal 2D image quality still reigns supreme. This could be part of
the reason that Matrox has waited so long to produce a successor,
although rumors say that a G600 is in the works. The G400 has largely
failed in the gaming field, despite some innovative features, and
because it never could out-perform a TNT2. The most useful of these
features is Matrox's patented Environmental Bump Mapping, which makes 3D
rendered scenes, especially walls and water, much more realistic and
pleasing to the eye. When this feature is enabled, however, the card
takes a noticeable performance hit. Another of Matrox's innovative
technologies is the support for Dual-Head monitor display, via two VGA
connectors on the back of the card. Unlike all of it's competitors, the
G400 can run two monitors at the same time, although the second is
limited to 1280 x 1024 resolution. The clock speed of the G400 can only
be guessed at, because Matrox has a strict company policy not to release
the core clock of any of their cards. However, by doing the math, and
dividing the 250 megatexel fill rate by the 2 pixel pipelines, the speed
can be accurately estimated at 125mhz. Matrox has already stated that
the memory clock for the 32MB of SDRAM is 166mhz. While the Matrox G400
is not the best 3D solution on the market by a long-shot, it is the most
logical choice for corporate users who also want moderate 3D
power.
Reviews
are available at:
AnandTech
Sharky
Extreme
Thresh's
Firing Squad
Marvel
G400-TV
The
Marvel G400-TV is Matrox's venture into the TV side of PC graphics. This
card was intended for not only pc gamers and home theater enthusiasts,
but also for professional graphics, where its phenomenal 2D image
quality still reigns supreme. The G400 line has largely failed in the
gaming field, despite some innovative features, and because it never
could out-perform a TNT2. The most useful of these features is Matrox's
patented Environmental Bump Mapping, which makes 3D rendered scenes,
especially walls and water, much more realistic and pleasing to the eye.
When this feature is enabled, however, the card takes a noticeable
performance hit. However, for this model, the most important feature is
the TV-out, and the cable breakout box. The tuner is capable of
displaying 124 channels, with excellent quality, as befits Matrox
tradition. In addition, the TV image can be viewed on a television set
and a computer monitor at the same time, because of Matrox's Dual-Head
technology. The clock speed of the Marvel can only be guessed at,
because Matrox has a strict company policy not to release the core clock
of any of their cards. However, by doing the math, and dividing the 250
megatexel fill rate by the 2 pixel pipelines, the speed can be accurately
estimated at 125mhz. Matrox has already stated that the memory clock for
the 16MB of SDRAM is 166mhz. The Matrox Marvel G400 is arguably the best
solution for both a TV-pc, and moderate 3D gaming power.
Reviews
are available at:
AnandTech
Gamespot
Thresh's
Firing Squad
Millennium G200
The
Millennium G200 was Matrox's high end business/consumer graphics card
before the introduction of the G400 line. The basic G200 board consisted
of a Matrox G200 graphics processor clocked at 100mhz, either 8 or 16MB
of RAM, and an optional TV-out. The Millennium design featured 8 or 16MB
of memory, but of the higher quality and faster SGRAM, but no TV-out.
The RAM was upgraded to provide distinction from it's Mystique brother,
and the TV-out was removed to keep down costs. This version of the card
was targeted at gamers, but they did not receive it well. The main
reason for this was the Matrox failed to provide a reliable and speedy
OpenGL ICD right out of the box. In fact, it took them several months to
develop one, and by then, the market had moved onto greater and better
things. In fact, the whole family was a flop, except for corporate
users, who liked their razor sharp image quality, and clearness at high
resolutions. These particular attributes stemmed from the fact that the
Millennium used 250mhz RAMDAC, while the other cards used 230mhz. The
Matrox G200 Millennium has little value today, except for those who want
a high-performance, low cost corporate graphics
solution.
Reviews
are available at:
AnandTech
Sharky
Extreme
Marvel G200-TV
The
Marvel G200-TV was Matrox's high end consumer graphics card before the
introduction of the G400 line. The basic G200 board consisted of a
Matrox G200 graphics processor clocked at 100mhz, either 8 or 16MB of
RAM, and an optional TV-out. The Marvel design featured 8MB of SDRAM
memory, and the optional TV-out. The RAM was maintained to provide
distinction from it's Mystique and Millennium brothers, and the TV-out
was left in place because of the card's centeral purpose; an all in one
tool for TV and video buffs. These cards were not received well, the
main reason for this was the Matrox failed to provide a reliable and
speedy OpenGL ICD right out of the box. In fact, it took them several
months to develop one, and by then, the market had moved onto greater
and better things. However, the Marvel G200 still remained the the
premier video enthusiest card of the era. Via the Marvel's 124-channel
break-out box, and the included software, it is possible to tape TV
programs on your PC in either .avi or MPEG-2 format. The s-video input
on the back of the card also allows video editing. The Marvel G200-TV
remained the prime choice for a multi-purpose pc videocard until the
debut of ATi's All-in-Wonder series, and Matrox's own Marvel G400-TV.
Reviews
are available at:
AnandTech
Sharky
Extreme
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