i switched back to Matrox!

[thop]

hello,

i used to have a G400 some time ago, but it eventually became too slow for gaming. I've been through various Nvidia and ATI Cards (Geforce2 Pro now) since but i stopped gaming some months ago and thought: why dont you dump that GF2Pro while it's still worth some money. And i will! I'm coming back to superior 2D Quality

The question now is: Is there a noticeable difference in image quality between any of the Matrox Cards (400/450/550)? Oh and i also need TV-Out and DVI. Is the G400 capable of DVI?

Thanks.

[Kruzin]

Welcome back

As far as difference in visual quality between the cards, this has been a subject of debate. Some think G550 does not look as good as G4x0, others think it looks the same or better. Personally, I think G550 is juat a tad sharper.

G400 can run a single DVI, if you add the DVI upgrade:

http://shopmatrox.com/usa/products/datasheet.asp?ID=107

G550 is available in a dual-DVI model (which will also run dual CRTs)

[prkl]

Yeah, U-turn back to home rulez!

Last spring I replaced my thrusty G400 with Radeon AIW. After a eight month regration period I said no more to driver problems - that piece of crap hw made by Ati was replaced by the mighty G400 MAX

[Kastuvas]

I see you were trying to get the best from both worlds hehe i hope you learend your lesson, that you can't
Welcome back !!

[thop]

thanks for the replies.

yes unfortunately it's either speed or quality. i wasn't really satisfied with anything between. i'm still undecided between the good ol' g400 MAX and the g550.

matrox should finally present the long awaited killer card with excellent speed and the great 2d we are used to. that would surely make many many people happy (even it would cost big $$$). i heard the 8500 is supposed to have great 2D too but only the original ATi and not the cheap OEM versions that are mostly sold.

[thop]

another question: what 17" or 18" TFT can you recommend? i've read some reviews but i don't trust people who don't see the difference between some regular geforce MX and the g400

MURCers surely have better eyes

[prkl]

I haven't personally used any other TFT-displays than Nokia's 15" series, 530L was superior compared to it's predecessor 500XA.

If money is no subject, then Eizo or Sony can't be all wrong choices?

There is an article (a comparison of 13 LCD monitors) at Tom's hw, which might be helpful: http://www4.tomshardware.com/display...114/index.html

[Schattenreiter]

A friend of mine has a really sharp 17´TFT at home (together with a G450). I will see him tonight, so i´am going to post you the modell tomorrow.
But I think it was SHARP or so (yes, the model also - not only the display .

In any case this is urgent do it the good old way: go in the shop of you´re choice and look at the displays. Take the one you like most from the look of the picture. But only take the one you were looking at! Not one of the others in a package. These may vary in quality (that´s really the same between TFT and good old tubes)

That´s the most simple way and grants the most satisfaction

At least it did with me, my CTX19´Flat and my G400

[Sparko]

Originally posted by thop
another question: what 17" or 18" TFT can you recommend? i've read some reviews but i don't trust people who don't see the difference between some regular geforce MX and the g400

MURCers surely have better eyes

I really love my Compaq TFT8030. especially when using the DVI input.

[Darcanion]

Check out the Samsung SyncMaster TFT displays. I got my 170T a year ago and I'm still nuts about how great it looks--especially combined with a Matrox card of course.

[impact]

Originally posted by thop
...

matrox should finally present the long awaited killer card with excellent speed and the great 2d we are used to.

...

I wouldn't bet on that.

[Goc]

Welcome back!

[thop]

ok i got a vanilla g400 16mb SH for now. will most likely update to a g550 when i get that DVI. feels (and looks) good

[insomnia]

i used to have et6k, because at the time i couldn´t get a matrox card instantly in my computer package including 166mmx@3x83. upgraded with voodoo1, then voodoo3 2k pci(because i didn´t have an agp-slot, this one stayed with me for long with my k6-2 and FIC-motherboard including 2Mb cache), one leadtek tnt2 was purchased for my celeron500(that has been upgraded to cel2 800), then it was time for duron600@6x165 and gf256sdr(the picture quality wasn´t good enough, looked like i was looking my games with hendrix-effects, hazy), radeon ViVo(picture was good, speed reasonable, but the drivers made me grazy, every game needed specific drivers), Gf2pro(reasonable good picture, until..), a riva128 to my second computer(i cant count further=), two numbers are needed zero and one), then i found g400 16 SH second hand and bought two of them, WOW i really liked the 2D picture, even thou it wasn´t fast, and started looking for a 400max or g450 with 32 DH, now my xp1600+ and gf2 has been silent for a long time because i mostly use my p3 450, because of the matrox 400max. watching movies is easy, picture is good, i can irc while gf is watching movies, only thing it could be do more is feed me and do my dishes(and i wouldn´t even need gf anymore).. so now that i am in the know of matrox, keep up the good work, keep the excellent drivers and features, speed up to gf3+ and i am buying your next card with ti4600 price.

PS i would be willing to beta test, i could a lot of configurations to test with, from ppro to amd xp and most between=)