Strange Idea: Matrox Kyro-based Card

[Gary Hendershot]

What if....

What if Matrox were to just put a "quick and easy" graphics adaptor out for the 3D-gaming market just to at least keep a placeholder for their name in that marketplace, without resorting to a bunch of R&D (like a G-800).

They could do this by leveraging their board building and driver writing experience by designing around the ST Micro Kyro II chip. They likely wouldn't have the top-selling Kyro II solution, but they just might be able to stay in the Top 5 with a good product.

[MK]

Gary - this is nonsense. And you are not the first one to suspect that ...

MK



------------------
Celeron II 860 MHz + Golden Orb
256 MB PC133 Crucial 7E (CAS2)
G400 16MB @ PD 5.52 + TGL
20 GB IBM on HPT U-ATA100 RAID
Iiyama Vision Master Pro 400

[Nuno]

Now introducing the Matrox m3D-II Condor
(who want to bet that this entry will be in the next driver release?)

[Ali]

Most of the 'quotes' from Matrox employees go on about the huge cost of launching a new card. If they were going to launch a card, and pay for each kyro2 chip then their profits would be lower than they are making on the G450.

There is also the problem that they would have spent lots and lots of money on R&D, they obviously have silicon from their new cards (G550, G800) or else there would be no need to have entries in the drivers for them.

Another thing, if there are driver issues, Matrox wont be able to fix them, and they will probably have difficulty adding them to their driver package. Remember Matrox has the one driver download for all their cards (talking Certified, not beta ones). Makes it very easy for OEMs and large companys to update all their various Matrox cards at one time.

I think the only time Matrox has used a non-matrox chipset was the M3D, and they still havent heard the last about that. I think they would be very foolish to try again.

Just my thoughts.

Ali

[Damien Green]

I agree, I think to do this would be a very foolish move, the whole point of Matrox cards is that they use their own chipset. Basing a card around the Kyro chip would sacrifice image quality and no doubt Dual head capabilities. These are the very things that have made the Matrox name in recent years.

From what has been said about the G550 (rumours?) it should make a reasonably good stop-gap for the time being, especially if the speed is somewhere between a Geforce 2 mx and Geforce 2 GTS - I think this would be a perfectly good compromise until they bring out something faster.

[Dogbert]

I don't agree.
Hercules/Asus/Elsa make nice profits using nVIDIA chips.
I think too that matrox can make a KyroII based card with the beloved powerdesk, a hight quality RAMDAC and some other nice features.
Another option it to buy (remember, matrox is stil profiable) BitBoys Oy completely and use their engineers to replace those stolen by nVIDIA.

------------------
I like to con people, but I also like to insult them. What if I could combine the two, I would call it - Consult !

[Alec]

The one thing that keeps me from buying a faster 3D card is the image quality. I´m already needing more speed, but after owning a G200 and a G400, nothing really satisfies me 2D-wise. ATI is a probability, though...
I´d like to see a superfast 3D card just to stick in (err...) my G400. But 3D only cards are a thing of the past, I guess...

[moreau]

Gary!
Is that you from SR?
Welcome to my first home.

BTW, are you also iGary?

you have the sweet 370DE6 + G450 setup, if I'm not mistaken.

Charles

[moreau]

Oh, BTW fellow murcers:
Please show Gary a good time. He is a professional and very knowledgeable. I assure you he is a valuable addition to our Matrox community.

Charles

[Gary Hendershot]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by moreau:
Gary!
Is that you from SR?
Welcome to my first home.</font>

Yes it is me, at least I think I am me. I do go to StorageReview more regularly than here.

[Gary Hendershot]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by Ali:
Most of the 'quotes' from Matrox employees go on about the huge cost of launching a new card. If they were going to launch a card, and pay for each kyro2 chip then their profits would be lower than they are making on the G450...</font>

The practical side of me would have to agree with you, but, other companies sell cards with nVidia and/or Kyro processors and make some level of profit, why couldn't Matrox -- albeit with their twist on the card design.

If Matrox doesn't want to design graphics coprocessor chipsets for the gaming market, then they might consider using someone else's -- as long as it isn't ATI's ;^)

Hey, a twin Kyro II card with Matrox DACs and fine-tuned Matrox PowerDesk drivers pushing 2 monitors might just do the trick!



[This message has been edited by Gary Hendershot (edited 27 April 2001).]

[The Lamb]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Originally posted by Dogbert:
I don't agree.
Hercules/Asus/Elsa make nice profits using nVIDIA chips.</font>

I would imagine that those 3rd party vendors rely on nVidea's own marketing efforts to advertise their product.
They also use the standard nVidea reference boards design. I'd say that a Matrox adaptor using an IMGTEC 3D part would require some re-engineering - maybe enough to bump up the cost of the board beyond what you would might hope.

Not to say this isn't an attractive idea! Buying a board with Matrox dual head support and VCQ2, with a KyroII(MP) core (British is best) would be fantastic.

[SOLILOQUY]
I'm glad I bought my G400. It crashes my system something rotten, and I get single figure framerates in 3D games... But the DH visual quality beats anything I've seen hands done, and since I'm mostly doing texturing & 3D modelling work I'd spit in your tea if you offered to exchange my G400 for a Geforce3 (although if I got to keep the G400... ).

[orangejulius]

> Matrox Kyro-based Card?

No thanks.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">Nevertheless, it is clear if developers do not go to minor efforts to support the Kyro II, the performance can be pretty low. Imagination Technologies seems to have a dedicated developers relation team, however. According to latest reports, Unreal II and DOOM 3 will both support the Kyro II. You can apply patches to the final version of Giants and several other games to enable high performance with the Kyro II. The owners of Kyro II cards will probably have to apply more patches than owners of NVIDIA cards. - Ace's Hardware</font>

[This message has been edited by orangejulius (edited 30 April 2001).]

[CHHAS]

Funny how different settings can change performance

[az]

Orange: As was also pointed out in the article, every better game WILL have optimisations for the Kyro II, and I don't mind having to install a patch - you wouldn't want to play games that won't run decently on a Kyro even if you owned a GF2, just because if the game doesn't contain optimisations for it, it will most likely be a bad game.

Aside from this, a Matrox Kyro-based card won't happen

AZ