Tweet
Parhelia, Frame Rates, and the Magic Roundabout.
Ok, a long post to sum up a lot of the feelings around here, and to possibly explain to outsiders where Matrox Fanboys are coming from.
Why buy the Parhelia, when it is not frame-rate competitive with the offerings from Nvidia or ATI?
1. Because it doesn’t matter! No game released today, or tomorrow, or anytime in the next 12 months will require the latest generation cards. No software vendor is going to ship a game that runs like crap on mass-market video systems. Most PC’s have some low-cost MX type card installed by default, and these cards are quite capable of running the latest games. Sure, you start needing better cards to get higher resolutions, but all current games run fine on hardware that is 2 years old. Even a humble Geforce 2 Ultra can drag 30+ fps in UT 2003 at 1024 res.
2. I am sick of the upgrade cycle! Here for your interest, are the graphics cards I have had in my system since 1995. I may have forgotten one or two!
Cirrus Logic CL4564
Tseng Labs ET4000
Tseng Labe ET6000
Creative Blaster 3D
Generic Voodoo 4MB
Matrox Millenium 4MB
Canopus Pure 3D Voodoo 6MB
Creative Voodoo 2 12MB
Matrox G400 16MB Single Head
Creative Geforce 256 MB SDR
PixelView Geforce 3
Asus Geforce 4 Ti4400
Gainward Geforce 4 Ti4200
Every time I laid down some hard-earned dosh, the absolute, cutting-edge, faster then God graphics card was made “Redundant” by the next gen card.
Look at the situation right now, Nvidia have just “lost” to the ATI 9700, but come November, they will almost certainly have their Directx 9 compliant card out, which will once again trump the opposition…for a while. For God’s sake, who needs 300+ FPS? These cards are way overengineered. I have spent too much money on the magic roundabout, buying cards with features that were NEVER USED! Remember the crap surrounding the Geforce’s hardware T&L unit? I wish, I really wish games would come out that look as good as the demo's that ship with the cards! eg Nvidia’s tree demo, but here we are 2 years later, and games are still not that good. Sure, they’re better, but not as good as if they were written for the top-of-the-line cards.
3. Of all these cards, the Matrox cards were hands-down the best quality. I want the next card I buy to still be in my PC next year, with a degree of manufacturing quality, and continuing driver support to see my way through whatever games or apps are released in that time frame. I read that many people are still using their G400 MAX’s. In 12 months, I hope to still be using my Parhelia.
4. OK, I also want the reef demo. Stupid maybe, but I want to see those sharks! Can someone ask Haig to tell the Matrox Software team to release a patch to turn that demo into a screensaver?
Why buy the Parhelia, when it is not frame-rate competitive with the offerings from Nvidia or ATI?
1. Because it doesn’t matter! No game released today, or tomorrow, or anytime in the next 12 months will require the latest generation cards. No software vendor is going to ship a game that runs like crap on mass-market video systems. Most PC’s have some low-cost MX type card installed by default, and these cards are quite capable of running the latest games. Sure, you start needing better cards to get higher resolutions, but all current games run fine on hardware that is 2 years old. Even a humble Geforce 2 Ultra can drag 30+ fps in UT 2003 at 1024 res.
2. I am sick of the upgrade cycle! Here for your interest, are the graphics cards I have had in my system since 1995. I may have forgotten one or two!
Cirrus Logic CL4564
Tseng Labs ET4000
Tseng Labe ET6000
Creative Blaster 3D
Generic Voodoo 4MB
Matrox Millenium 4MB
Canopus Pure 3D Voodoo 6MB
Creative Voodoo 2 12MB
Matrox G400 16MB Single Head
Creative Geforce 256 MB SDR
PixelView Geforce 3
Asus Geforce 4 Ti4400
Gainward Geforce 4 Ti4200
Every time I laid down some hard-earned dosh, the absolute, cutting-edge, faster then God graphics card was made “Redundant” by the next gen card.
Look at the situation right now, Nvidia have just “lost” to the ATI 9700, but come November, they will almost certainly have their Directx 9 compliant card out, which will once again trump the opposition…for a while. For God’s sake, who needs 300+ FPS? These cards are way overengineered. I have spent too much money on the magic roundabout, buying cards with features that were NEVER USED! Remember the crap surrounding the Geforce’s hardware T&L unit? I wish, I really wish games would come out that look as good as the demo's that ship with the cards! eg Nvidia’s tree demo, but here we are 2 years later, and games are still not that good. Sure, they’re better, but not as good as if they were written for the top-of-the-line cards.
3. Of all these cards, the Matrox cards were hands-down the best quality. I want the next card I buy to still be in my PC next year, with a degree of manufacturing quality, and continuing driver support to see my way through whatever games or apps are released in that time frame. I read that many people are still using their G400 MAX’s. In 12 months, I hope to still be using my Parhelia.
4. OK, I also want the reef demo. Stupid maybe, but I want to see those sharks! Can someone ask Haig to tell the Matrox Software team to release a patch to turn that demo into a screensaver?
Comment