It's the11th of September ...

[rob_b]

All this sounds great ! The G800 is coming soon ! Too bad we won't have final release
drivers for another year

[HedsSpaz]

I have a theory, which goes something like this. I'm sure that many of you have noticed that the time since the last driver release is starting to stretch out again. I think, just maybe, the next driver release will come with the release of the G800(or whatever it's called).

So thats my theory, I have abolutely positively no evidence whatsoever to back it up, it's nothing more than a random thought that I had before I had my second cup of coffee(that should tell you how much credibility there is in it ).

And now, I am going to go get said second cup of coffee.

Ian

[Electric Amish]

rob_b- Final Release Drivers?? How long have you been working with computers? Have you EVER seen such a thing as FINAL drivers??

amish

[Maggi]

Originally posted by Electric Amish:
rob_b- Final Release Drivers?? How long have you been working with computers? Have you EVER seen such a thing as FINAL drivers??

amish

Wouldn't that be the latest release, right before they drop to support it completely ?

[LAMFDTK]

Hang tight guys, I think there will be "final release drivers" for some S3 video cards very shortly.

[Jorden]

Like all the final release drivers for any ATI videocard you might have (even if it's brandnew, and just came out yesterday)... Too bad you're running Win2k then. You'd better have bought a normal vid-card

BTw, how come the Hardware Compatibility List shows so many ATI's running perfectly with Win2k, when the ATI says it doesn't?

Jord.

[2Whyzzi]

...... Begin rant here:

Geez... I'm kinda waiting patiently for the "G800" too, but IF this is the product that replaces the G400, and IF this product doesn't get released soon, are Matrox users going to be left *again* with using a product that just makes the cut, or will they actually come out ahead? I certainly hope it's the latter, but...

The G200 was released behind the best 3D of the it's day, the voodoo2. The G400 fell just shy of the TNT2 Ultra, then a few months later nvidia releases the GForce.

nvidia has such a fast time to market. Will Matrox be able to produce a card that seamingly "skips" a nvidia generation in terms of speed? History says that this is unlikeley, and always dares to be repeated

By stalling the release of this card, they also quite possibly loose profit margin (ie, well, at least in Canada - Voodoo5 about $450, GForce2 GTS DDR $475, ATi Radeon $450), unless gaming performance is noteably better that whats out there. That of course, without samples, has yet to be proven.

I'm just not sure of how much more I can take.

End Rant....

Whyzzi@themail.com
-------------------
Celeron2 566@875 1.8v stable
BH6 + Abit Slotket!!!
256Megs of PC133
OEM Matrox SH 32Meg
MonsterSound MX400

[DentyCracker]

I have not too much doubt that Matrox are planning a "gaming" solution. It will be a very good card and most likely contain some innovative features. It will not be faster than the NVIDIA card it competes against but will be able to do things that the ATI or NVIDIA card can't. I will buy it for Christmas or (more likely) for my birthday next Feb.

[Electric Amish]

Could be Maggi, but I'm not sure...

I've always used Matrox...I don't think they've ever dropped a product, have they??

amish

[Joel]

Hell Electric,

I don't even know if I have ever seen a final release OS yet either. They are always putting out patches, updates or service packs.

Joel

[Humus]

To make you all happy, I got some news ... found an interesting doc here which is written by Matrox.

So, I'm quite sure that the G800 will support T&L, pertubation mapping and Matrix palette skinning. They are all mentioned in the doc.
And see ... they talk about a DirectX 7 extension for Matrix palette skinning ... which makes me conclude that it'll be released before DirectX 8 at least (otherwise they wouldn't need the extension) ... which isn't far in the future ...

[paulcs]

Whoa! Too much math!

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[Admiral]

Nice to see that Matrox's back to posting proto (called pre-release now) drivers on their Developer Relations page.
Gives you a hint that new drivers are on their way

[paulcs]

It's interesting. The word "alpha" is studiously avoided these days.

Paul
paulcs@flashcom.net

[xortam]

As I said in another thread ... that's because the term Beta has replaced what was previously described as Alpha. Pretty soon, they'll ask for your money up front ... before they develop the code.
AFA final-release drivers ... Diamond always ships their products with final-release drivers.