RT.X10 Questions

[RGrizzzz]

So my grandfather upgraded to Windows XP Pro and his old Asus V6600 doesn't work any more. He wants to get a Matrox RT.X10. This looks like a great card with maybe a little more power than he needs, but it looks like a great card and I've only heard great things about Matrox so I told him sounds good. Can someone tell me how well this card works? Is the software fairly user friendly? What are the feature sets like? What will it do better than his old card? He is already familiar with Premiere so there shouldn't be much of a learning curve there.


The only problem is that his system is a bit dated. He's got a P3 733 with 512MB RDRAM. I know that the minimum system specs are a P3 1Ghz. He thinking about getting a Powerleap adapter with a P3 1.26Ghz. The thing is, that thing costs about $280 and for that money we could slap a new motherboard in there and a P4 1.8a. I've been reading through some posts here and it seems that the usefullness of the card can be limitted with a slower system. Could someone tell me what the benefits are of using a faster system?

Thanks
(This is my first post here so forgive me if I'm off base)

[Pace]

Off base? Maybe, there's a Desktop Video forum which will probably offer more help in these matters.

Btw, is he using an i820 machine? I regret not getting one of those...

I fine welcome to you my man though

[Chrono_Wanderer]

huh? so ur grandfather's V6600 is dead and you are trying to replace it with an RT.X100? just wondering... do you know that the V6600 is a graphics card and the RT is a capture card? Do you mean you want to get a parhelia? Because RT.X100 costs ~1000 US and i am pretty sure that's not he card you want... besides it doesn't do any 2d acceleration and render 3d games

[Wombat]

Yes, the X100 is that much, but the <B>X10</B> goes for half of that.

[Pace]

Yeah, I should maybe have mentioned that

The X.10 is an addon card, and strictly does the video editing. You'd need a standard graphics card to go along with that (Matrox G550/Parhelia, or ATi 9700 for example).

P.

[Kruzin]

Welcome to MURC.

As stated, the RT cards are editing cards, not video cards.
They can not work alone in a system.
The users of these cards post in the Desktop Video forum. This thread will be moved to that forum now.

[RGrizzzz]

I guess I was a bit vague. There is no driver support for the capture features on his V6600. That's why I just need a video editing only card. Can someone expand upon my original post now that I've cleared this up.

[gt40]

I just moved up from a rainbow runner-g - for the same reason- no driver/capture support - to the rtx.10, and after struggling for so long with various issues (with the rr-g), I am quite amazed at the capabilities of the rtx.10.
The speed of the processor will dictate how many effects you can apply to more/less video/audio sources you can do in REAL time. These are things I could never do in real time with my g400/rr-g.
For simple home/hobby use a 1.8 processor will yield more than adaquite results.

[Dr Mordrid]

And if you happen to be able to handle getting an RT.X100 you won't be amazed....you'll be flattened

Dr. Mordrid

[Ted222]

I have an RT.x10 and an RT2500, used to use the G450eTV. I would suggest getting a Motherboard on the RT.x10 Matrox list, 512 RAM and the fastest processor you can afford. As far as the video card goes the G450s are getting pretty cheap and are very compatible with this setup.

Although the P3-1.26 is about the best P3 chip out there and performs about the same as a P4-1.9. (trouble is, its not that cheap of a CPU)

Go to the RT/x10 forum and read a few of the posts, especially "pre-sales" - might be interesting.

I think the RT.x10 is a remarkable Video Accellorator with fantasic slow-motion and excellent quality video.

Ted