price is it really so bad?

[Morte]

I think that the price is brilliant. While comparing the Parhelia to ATi and nVidia consumer-level cards makes it seem a bit expensive, it is a multi-head workstation class card that is useful for much more than gaming. It should be compared to Quadro 4s and Wildcat IIIs.

For gaming, the Parhelia offers a slew of features that make existing games look better and run better now, not at some undefined point in the future. Case in point is the pixel/vertex shading features of NV20 and NV25, which are not being used much at the moment, and are about to be made obsolete with NV30, which will have features that few games will use until 2004. Also, I think that we can trust Matrox to write drivers that don't fudge up image quality for the sake of Q3A benchmarks. I would be looking forward to the R300 if I were able to trust ATi at all...

Another subtle, but nice thing about Matrox cards is that you only have to deal with one vendor, which makes troubleshooting and support much easier. Plus, Matrox isn't going to go belly up anytime soon.

Going forward, Matrox will have to introduce cards with programmable vertex and fragment processors as well as support for Cg. Occlusion culling also needs to be implemented in the next gen Matrox cards. It's perfectly acceptable to be without those capabilities now, but not in a year or so from now, especially if Matrox wants to move into the 3D workstation market after securing its hold on the 2D workstation market while making inroads back into the gaming market.

[Lord Edmond]

Look at this

Parhelia 128MB DDR AGP OEM
Mfr code: PH-A128B
Quicklinx: 224ZWS
Long Lead Time Expected £286.00
inc VAT £336.04


Parhelia 128MB DDR AGP Retail
Mfr code: PH-A128R
Quicklinx: 2250WS
Long Lead Time Expected £306.00
inc VAT £359.54


note the product code the first one is OEM ( Slow)


Its Cheaper to buy direct from matrox here in the UK

LE

[Neomagic_Twist]

It's expensive by any standard, but I do feel it is worth every penny. A feeling I didn't get when I splashed out 550 for my current GF3, which is a dog in 2D and tv-out is just horrible. And which is probably worth 2x nothing today.

[torhelge]

Anyone from Norway here ?

Because today a dollar is only worth 7,6 Norwegian Kroners. That means that you by ordering the card from shopmatrox, can get it for around 3200 NOK. Just half a year ago, that was equal to ca. 320$. I liiiiiiiike it ;D

The only thing i don't know is if "taxes" or some other stuff are applied when ordering from Europe. Anyone here knows ?

At the moment the shopmatrox.com site is down, so I am unable to check it further out :/

[az]

Torhelge, it's +20% Value Added Tax all throughout Europe (except for GB and Germany), plus shipping (don't know how much though).

AZ

[Maniac]

The only way I could justify being first in line to get one, is if I was a graphics proffessional and made my living off it. Being an occasional business/entertaintment user I can wait until after Christmas when it should be a much easier to swallow $199US

[Wombat]

I doubt that will happen. G400 prices took a long long time to come down.

[HaloFX]

I totally agree with Morte, this card should be compared to Quadra, WildCat, and Fire GL cards. Who cares about Quake FPS? How clear and sharp are my renderings and Photoshop docs going to be? How about superior multi-monitor support? And all those things that have kept most of use buying Matrox cards for years?

I am still using both my original Millennium cards and even my ancient MGA+! They are all PCI and running in servers, 1 Linux and 2 Win2K; and they work great.

I was really worried when I first heard the rumors that this thing was going to be over a grand, like so many WildCat cards. I am delighted with the cost. I have been waiting a year for a beefy new Matrox product. I was about to buy a PCI AND an AGP G450 so I could get quality and reliable 3 head support.

Another thing about Matrox, they tend to not bone users on cost when a new product comes out, and then dramatically lower the cost a few months later. I paid $150 for an AGP G400 in 1999, the price has changed little between then and now for the 450, and 550. This makes me feel comfortable being an earlier adopter, and not worring it will be $100 in a year. Unlike the Nvidia cards. Where a GF 2 GTS came out at about $300, and now is $50!

[Kruzin]

Yup.
Anyone who thinks the card will be 1/2 the initial price in six months is fooling themselves.
3 years later, G400 is still not 1/2 it's original price.

[CHHAS]

I just had around $500 worth of overtime this weekend, now what to spend it on .....

[stev1337]

i want to buy one too.

i live in Australia and checking aus price here...

http://www.focalpoint.com.au/fp_xls.asp?c=matrox&l=Public

$1061 AUD for retail??? i can buy 2 19" monitors...

i have a c433 now and looking to upgrade to p4, and want to wait for a Parhelia..but not at this price

maybe i have to succumb to GeForce....

[xortam]

You can always wait and check out the price of the 64MB version in about three months.

[Cobos]

Torhelge, as the NOK is very strong I suspect the norwegian webshops shouldget good deals on the Parhelia too. So I would wait a week or two until you see the price it is selling for in Norway. If you order it it would be (3000,-+ shipping) + 24% MVA + 3% toll+ 80,- fortollingsgebyr at least. So I would wait a week or so

Cobos

[stev1337]

xortam you are right but to draw 3 mons might need a lot of ram, 64MB seems to small to do that.
besides Matrox might remove some feature that i want to make the card cheaper.
anyway ill wait for the review

[R.Carter]

Originally posted by isochar
Considering that the cheapest GF4 ti4600 costs $300USD, and the Parhelia offers approximately the same speed plus a heap of features. I'd say we're get a bargain at $400.

Well, then I would expect the Matrox Parhelia based card to have equal if not better performance considering the lack of a software bundle.

But... we do get the cables for multiple monitor output which (I think) you have to pay extra for with the GeForce4 based cards.