VigilAnt Rant and Some Observations

[Xplora]

Everyone thinking that Matrox can get on top with features alone is kidding themselves. Pitou MUST be out as soon as possible, and its going to need to be around as fast as a Ti4600 with EVERYTHING turned on, in a higher resolution (1280, even 1600 perhaps?).

The card needs to be such an obvious choice no gamer would dream of being without it. Graphics companies live and die on their last revision. nV got to the top of the heap within two GPU cycles. ATI are the same right now.

Bear in mind, I do say Gamer. No one else in the consumer market needs such power, however, the review sites will promote the cards for them.

Management simply MUST swallow their pride on this and take a chance. Their last sure thing in the horse race fell over badly, and it needs to be put down.

[DGhost]

Gamers drive so little of the market its not even funny. Especially the High End gamers market, with the $300+ video cards.

The internet is horribly deceptive because everywhere you look its Enthusiasts here, Enthusiasts there, 3Dmark here, UT2k3 there...

it still is simply not the case. like has been said elsewhere, a large majority of NVidias video card sales has been MX level cards. from personal experience selling these things i have to agree.

That being said, if Matrox is gonna charge $400 for a brand new video card it *better* be competetive with performance... Parhelia (as good as it does perform) is about 1 year (could be streched to 6 months), but looking at how rushed it is (quality and performance of drivers, quality of hardware) it would appear it was doomed from quite a while ago.

The only reason Matrox should be charging $400 card for a card like Parhelia is if they are acctually gonna do their work and get it to be a true professional card (its sooo close, but its certainly not something i would sell as one right now). Don't market it like a gaming card, not for $400. $300 would have been a good price introduction. a slimmed down one for cheaper would have been wonderful, you would probably be moving a ton and a half of them.

Matrox needed a large technology leap from what they were selling. the G450 and G550 level cards were unsutible for most games right now. Especially when you can buy an MX card (or an older GF2/GF3, or an Radeon 7xxx, 8xxx or 9000) for relatively cheap.

but, Matrox took huge jumps where they should have done baby steps... to be truely successful they needed a product that could compete with the 4200 on (relative) price and performance. to be *truely* competetive they would need a lower priced part.

they could have been successful without going gung ho at the high performance crown. if they chopped triplehead, made FAA 4x instead of 16x, dropped the core speed a bit (or kept it where it is, HEH), and dropped the price a lot... you would probably move a lot of them.

a particular card may only maintain the high performance crown for 6 months... that really is a bad choice of a market to target with the exception of to get your name out, and to get companies saying that you're the shit...

[/rant]

[Kurt]

Originally posted by Wombat
No, they didn't stop then. I had an SX2/50 that was permanently on, and I'm pretty sure I remember some Pentiums that way too. Anyway, the point is that they did it for their own in-house benefit, not to make it "upgradable."

I'm not saying you couldn't find them anymore, let's just say the majority has moved away from soldered chips. Heck, you can buy mbo+cpu combos from ECS and VIA with 1GH+ CPUs soldered on them. They're a niche product though.

[borat]

DGhost your right to an extent but the way nvidia and now ati have conquered the market is by having the fastest product then using that to pudh their brand names, if you walk into a computer store geforce and raden hold clouhght just like 3dfx used to when they had the best product. it doesnt matter if you are actually selling stiped down rubbish people like to think they are getting the best for their money and feel secure in buying something from a brand with a big reputation.

[DGhost]

in the same token, there are a *lot* of people who have never heard of NVidia or ATI, really have no idea what each one does, and just know they need a 3d accelerator.

and the second largest group of computer shoppers are the ones that read the requirements for a piece of software and buy a card based on the requirements and recommendations of the software.

third largest is the group that has heard of this stuff... having a high end card is one thing, as it does get the product name and brand name out...

i am glad matrox did release the parhelia as it shows that they are capable of competing... but, in a market sense it is a downright failure because there is no way you can pitch to most people that buys this stuff... they are targetting two niche markets, 1) the professional market, which i honestly think that the Parhelia is too immature and buggy for, and 2) the gamers market, where it is horribly overpriced for what it does... a $400 video card should show tangible improvements over the previous generation of high end cards, and at the time of release the Parhelia most certainly didn't do this. the current parhelia is perfect for an upper-midrange gaming card, if you are gonna be targetting that market... and there is no shame in that...

its just that Matrox doesn't appear to be getting it, or the market... it would appear that they have just been out of it far too long...

i do still love my Parhelia... it really is a great card... i do wish i didn't spend $400 on it (especially since i will probably wind up buying a new video card next summer because of the deficencies in the current product), but its a good card...

[Wombat]

and the second largest group of computer shoppers are the ones that read the requirements for a piece of software and buy a card based on the requirements and recommendations of the software.

And what game manufacturer DOESN'T recommend the fastest card for their game?

[Amiga Blitter]

Price drop

Price drop for the current and (future) product are also welcome.

40% price drop current parhelia

Tomorrow we will see the nv30 launch. A price drop is necessary.

We need more sharp idea....

[GT98]

Re: Price drop

Originally posted by Amiga Blitter
Tomorrow we will see the nv30 launch. A price drop is necessary.

But won't be able to get one unless we are really lucky by the end of the year. not that it matters since the R9700 outperforms the P in gaming and what not, but seriously M needs to do what ATI did in the market and have mix of products that perform well. Having one card that is up to date isnt gonna cut it, need at least two more models and fix the problems they currently have.

[Kurt]

Re: Re: Price drop

Originally posted by GT98


But won't be able to get one unless we are really lucky by the end of the year. not that it matters since the R9700 outperforms the P in gaming and what not, but seriously M needs to do what ATI did in the market and have mix of products that perform well. Having one card that is up to date isnt gonna cut it, need at least two more models and fix the problems they currently have.

They need to introduce a cheap version of the P. The 64MB version seemed to be the right thing to do...as long as they sell it below 250$...

[Chrono_Wanderer]

speaking of sockets... maybe some day we will see gfx cards with g/vpus removeable... would have been great if P, P8x and P2 are pin competible...

damn can't wait for NV30 launch... nvBlur all the way... yes nVIDIA making 2d blury

[DGhost]

NV30 will probably offer far better picture quality than anything they have offered so far. NV officials have already stated that this is one of their highest priorities with it. They will probably have much tighter restrictions on what quality components can be used for filters, or might possibly integrate the filters into the core. the pictures of the NV28 suggest that they have already done the latter.

[ElDonAntonio]

I don't know but I was shocked when I saw typedef enum's pictures of his Geforce-driven monitor. I never saw a Geforce run dualhead, but I'm pretty much convinced it's useless.

[Chrono_Wanderer]

found this funny

http://www.nvidia.com/content/areyouready/index.asp?task=play&format=WMP&bandwidth=BROADBAND&video=thenvidiaproject

true nVIDIOT style

[DGhost]

acctually, as lame as that one is (and the Scary Graphics one is too) i'm happy to see that the company is capable of 1) having fun like that, and 2) willing to foster projects to get employees on camera..

either way it helps boost company moral and shows that the company really does care about its employees...

silly videos tho.

[ElDonAntonio]

They sure have time and money to waste! a damn good sign for the company's health.