No more rumors and hints on G800?

[labrador]

I saw little tidbits on the G800 last fall on MURC and in these forums, but there isn't anything recent. Is there any guess as to when the G800 might be released?

Isn't it now about 2 years since nVidia announced the GeForce?

[Greebe]

Those who know can't say if there is even a G800 and if you actually looked to see what is posted in this forum, this question wouldn't have been neccessary.

[labrador]

I find it hilarious that you can actually write "this question wouldn't have been neccessary". Look at the volume of stuff here! Pictures of a Matrox Support person eating a banana - ya, only post what is absolutely neccesary! Sure. I've been watching and participating at MURC since I bought the original Mystique, and I've never seen anyone respond like that to the question of speculating on the next generation product from Matrox.

Looking at the subject lines of the posts in this forum there are very few in the last 30 days mentioning the G800, and of those few most are just pulling our leg.

Last Fall some people were saying Matrox had better get a next gen product out by the end of 2000, and they have missed the mark on that, so it makes one wonder if there might be an announcement at any logical point coming up soon.

One of the great advantages Matrox had over nVidia based products was price (especially with OEM wrapped product). But this isn't the case anymore with the GeForce MX series, so it is tempting to try out one of those beasties.

[Rags]

Then try out one of those beasts, more power to ya buddy.

Rags

[labrador]

I guess what I'm getting at, is that if you compared the buzz in this forum just before the G200 and G400 came out, against the relative quite here, there is a marked difference.

Perhaps Matrox made sure that anyone who might have connections to Matrox signed an NDA, and one way to get them to do so is to sign them up as beta testers. As these people are so hot to see the future, none could refuse the opportunity.

Perhaps some of you beta testers should rethink that. Read the February editorial in Maximum PC for their new policy on signing NDAs. I don't know if it cooresponds closely to the Matrox beta testers case - you are not journalists - but at least it is worth thinking about.

[Ant]

Well I'm not under any sort of NDA so I can tell you all I know. Nothing. There's not a sniff coming out of Matrox, so either they've plugged up all of the leaks they usually sprout or they are a long way off their next next gen product. Hell the G450 eTV hasn't even been released yet, if they are struggling to get that out of the door what hope is there for the Gx00?

[DentyCracker]

blue_helix, I've bought a 450 from mwave.com, and am about to buy another one from them for another system.

[ccoltas]

OK, here goes the closest thing I've heard that leads me to believe that something might be happening at Matrox very soon. Its the last line in the Matrox Newsletter:

********************************************

We’re gearing up for an exciting March, so be sure to read all about it in the next issue of Matrox Graphics In-the-Loop!

Have a great day!

Matrox Graphics Web Team

*******************************************

Now doesn't that just sound interesting? With our luck, the excitement in March will be non '2nd gen G400 max' related. Probably a contest again about Dual-head. "How many dual-head PC's can you set-up and play PONG with?"

I just want the '2nd gen G400 max' to come out so a few months later, or by the time I can afford to even think about buying it, it might be affordable.

How about we stop calling it the G800 and just settle for '2nd GEN G400 max", since thats essentially what we are hoping for. That and a Marvel version, this time identical to the non-Marvel version save for the video-editing and tuner. Thats my dream. Of course, a Rainbow Runner would likely work just as well with a '2nd GEN G400 max'

Hoping.......

[Himself]

Given that the last Matrox product was the G450, I think the next product name should be the G900, not G800. You should be talking about a second gen G450 Max type product.

[superfly]

Remember guys,GDC is only a few weeks away... .

[hella356]

I think everyone is tired of speculating about the G800. Matrox is either not working on any such thing or they are being very quiet about it. In the meantime Matrox isn't in the ballpark anymore as far as gaming. It's looking like Matrox is just going to pursue the business market and not worry about gaming performance. Which is fine but I know a lot of people would like to see a monster gaming card with Matrox visual quality. I'm not holding my breath though.

[labrador]

Well, I don't know if it is ever possible to predict the next move at Matrox. I remember they wrote a white paper on their website on why 3D wasn't important to users in general. This was just prior to their scramble to provide a 3D solution. It was answered by quickly slapping together the M3D with the PowerVR chip.

In general we wait for far longer than anyone would expect to see the solutions come forth. But they do eventually appear. The G200 seemed to take forever to appear after our dissatisfaction with the limited 3D in the Mystique 220 and Millenium, but the OpenGL support dribbled on. The G400 wasn't quite as long coming, but the MAX version seemed to be impossible for them to produce in quantity. There are similar trends like this on the video edit hardware side and compatibility between add-ons for Matrox hardware products. The general trend is that a Matrox loyalist will wait an unusual long time for Matrox to answer the desires for the next product. But it does usually come. This is likely where we are in waiting for the hardware T&L level of performance. It'll come, some day. Just like Max Payne.



[This message has been edited by labrador (edited 06 February 2001).]

[CHHAS]

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[labrador]

blue_helix,

There are many techniques in 3D that are yet to be developed in a video card (e.g. ray tracing, or something that simulates it, similar to the way MP3 simulates a WAV file 10 times its size). Yes they would require more power to support such features but they would be "interesting" features that differ from nVidia's strategy of more, more, more polygons.

For example Matrox was first to support bump mapping in this market segment. Personally I feel it has only been supported in a token way to merely illustrate the novelty, by most game developers. It is most often used only on the surface texture of a player's ship or car. Not much exciting in that. The game developers probably want to see more broad support for bump mapping in other cards before developing the types of textured environments we have seen in the bump mapping tech demos with moving light sources. But in any case, this is an example of how they have in the past tried to get to the market with something unique in 3D. There is certainly room for more surprises.

[Zyn]

G800 anytime soon, is the biggest loada crap Iv heard in a long time.

I'm sure matrox can come out with quite the card, but by the time it is available, NV30 will be out.

Nvidia's product cycle single handedly destroyed Matrox's 3d market.

Lets face it, as far as getting cards updated, and getting them out on shelves, Matrox can't touch nvidia.

There are a lot more aspects to this, but this argument can not be denied.