New ICD release when?

[Shreek]

Anyone hear any rumors of when it will be out? The 5.13 works OK, but I'd sure like to see a better one.

[Hunsow]

SOON

[KvHagedorn]

ARE WE THERE YET?

Not far now.

HOW LONG TILL WE GET THERE?

Not long now.

IS IT MUCH FARTHER?

YES! IT IS!

..now settle down and stop poking your sister.

[The PIT2]

Matrox definition of Soon is Six months approx plus or minus a few months.
Just enjoy your card relax and chill out.

[M Ragsdale]

I was assured that Pd5.2x will be released in "A couple of weeks". But a couple of weeks is kind of vague.

Rags

[franksch3]

Matrox really has to define a date at which they release new drivers and which functionality it shall have. In the computer industry (in which I work) we can't afford to say to our customers that we will release the newer version of the application in a few weeks and then you'll see what functionality it has.

They should use this also for driver programming. Then they will make sure that the driver does incorporate what they assured. And the customer is much happier.

Right now I'm not since for some games (Quake 3 Tests, Halflife). I still have to use my crappy Voodoo2, which I hoped to be completely rid off by now. Seems otherwise. Won't mention Unreal because it is the most badly developed game one could ask for. About twinty patches and still no decent Direct3D or OpenGL implementation.

[Buuri]

Yeah, I wonder if that hyped Unreal Tournament uses the very same BETA engine. If so, never mind the whole game..

_
B

[merchant2112]

real real soon or you can use my username/password u2ca toidi to download the prto drivers from the matrox developers site.

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i don't need no stinkin signature

noel

[Shreek]

Ahh, I can't say their driver support sucks at all. At least for the cards I've used in the past. Now, I skipped the Mystiques and G200's (I had the old original Millennium and Millennium 2 cards) but the drivers for those cards were always quality in their improvements and came out pretty regularly.

[Kruzin]

Matrox simply likes to make sure there drivers are in the best shape possible before release. Yea, some of the other companies release drivers more frequently, but look into those user groups. There are always 10x the number of complaints about TNT drivers sucking then Matrox drivers. How about 3dfx? With every driver release, they piss off more people because of instabilities, and other issues.

I personally agree with the policy of releasing less frequently, and having more stable drivers, than release every other week, and have a tech support nightmare that never ends...

[M Ragsdale]

Matrox driver support just sucks period

I don't think that supporting cards as far back as the original millenium could be considered sucky driver support. Show me how many other companies have bothered updating the drivers for cards that haven't been produced in over 3 years. Name one other. I think the driver release rate is a tad slow, but on the other hand, I have fewer problems with Matrox's drivers than I do with any other mfrs. drivers.

Rags

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Some people call me the Space Cowboy.....




[This message has been edited by M Ragsdale (edited 08-21-1999).]

[KvHagedorn]

You said it best, Kruzin. It's tough in such a fast moving industry to demand quality of oneself, but I approve of the concept. I am far too lazy to upgrade my drivers every week or two, and I want a rock solid stable product thats going to work for awhile and not bug me (pun intended). I think most of us here are patient enough to wait, since we know when we get an upgrade it will be worthwhile. As for gaming, since I got my original Millennium I just couldn't settle for lower picture quality in return for framerates. I just got too spoiled. My 4 mb Millennium 1 still runs my 19" Sony at 1152x864 in 32 bit color at 85hz refresh with never a complaint or problem for more than 2 years.

As for gamer's almighty god (fps), I too want as much as I can get, but without sacrificing one iota of the 2D picture quality I'm used to. And there's a point at which it becomes ridiculous. Who cares if a card can do over 100fps?? If you have been to an IMAX theater, you've had that more-than-real experience at "only" 60fps! TV is 30fps and regular movies are 24fps (Phantom Menace still thrilled those gamers who would think 24fps is way too slow). There's a point where all the cards have as many fps as matters, so we are back to the other things that make a great card, and that's why you're seeing so much praise for the G400 family. It's just a superior card in most every respect.

I can wait a couple of weeks for new drivers.. heck, they'll probably be out before I get my MAX. Have some patience, and enjoy the new drivers when they are here.

Kind regards,

KvH

[sixpac]

I agree with the last three

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Amd K6-2 350@452,Fic 503+ 1.2a,64mb Mushkin Samsung GHcas2,Maxtor 8.4gb,G200 Mill.8mb Sgram,Yamaha sound

[cpld006]

I agree with you guys, the card is far superior to everything else out there, and when the new drivers are released it will go back in my machine, I'm just saying that their driver revisions come out very slowly. How many people actually test these drivers? I think Matrox is the only company who doesn't have an open beta policy on drivers. I feel that people who want to try them should have the opportunity granted they accept the fact that if it screws up their machine it's their risk to take. Go ahead and flame me if you think im stupid, but that's they way I feel about it.

[KvHagedorn]

You're not stupid cp. I was just saying that's not the way Matrox operates, and I think it's better that they are a bit more conservative. Some people like to live a bit more dangerously than others, but some of us depend on our computers for more than just gaming and playing with software coding. I am going to play with my new setup a bit til it gets to where I want it to be, then more or less leave it alone til there's a reason to upgrade and mess with it again. It leaves me with less mess in this box, and a much stabler system.

That's part of the beauty of it.. different strokes for different folks.

Kind Regards,

KvH