What happened to the VigilAnt Rant topic?

[3dfx]

Well Pace when I bought the card I knew the risks but there was something telling me GET onE GET ONE!!! ...lol and I did and I haven't looked back as it is a great card that just gets better and better as they update the drivers. Why dont you get one PACE and decide for yourself and I can assure you m8 you wont be disapointed

P.S. I have never seen porn in so many dimensions and clarity ...hehe

[DGhost]

Originally posted by 3dfx
Well Pace when I bought the card I knew the risks but there was something telling me GET onE GET ONE!!! ...lol and I did and I haven't looked back as it is a great card that just gets better and better as they update the drivers. Why dont you get one PACE and decide for yourself and I can assure you m8 you wont be disapointed

P.S. I have never seen porn in so many dimensions and clarity ...hehe

And when i bought the card i didn't know the risks. I bought it under the assumption (and in my case, a rather incorrect one) that the Parhelia had the analog output quality on the market. I bought it under the assumption FAA wouldn't have a fairly nasty issue with fog, that i wouldn't suffer from eye strain when using 3d apps (and i do a lot with 3d apps doing windowed rendering), and that it would be clocked right. I also bought it under the assumption that because Matrox's technical support is so good (and i do still think that the technical support group is excellent) any problems that i might encounter (like the ones above) would be resolved, even if they are hardware problems. Matrox allowed RMAs of G400's that were not fully AGP4x compatable, iirc.

For the $400 that Matrox is asking for the card, it is an aweful big gamble. In fact, for a $400 """Professional""" graphics card that has """superb output quality""" (to quote the In-The-Loop newsletter) i shouldn't be having these problems at all. If it was a $100-$200 ATI or NVidia card, i would expect this sort of shit to happen. Thats why i bought a Matrox card, and why i won't buy another ATI or NVidia card.

guess you are just happy cause you bought it for $200, despite the fact that at least 3 people flat out recommended that you didn't.


beyond that i do like the Parhelia. it is an outstanding card and it has some wonderful advantages to it. I just cannot recommend it because of the way things stand right now.

[TikiGod]

Dghost:

Matrox took my non 4x G400 Max back, and replaced it with a 4x model.

They whined. I gave them the URL of their page that said it was 4x.

They swapped.

[jackzod]

Originally posted by DGhost


And when i bought the card i didn't know the risks. I bought it under the assumption (and in my case, a rather incorrect one) that the Parhelia had the analog output quality on the market. I bought it under the assumption FAA wouldn't have a fairly nasty issue with fog, that i wouldn't suffer from eye strain when using 3d apps (and i do a lot with 3d apps doing windowed rendering), and that it would be clocked right. I also bought it under the assumption that because Matrox's technical support is so good (and i do still think that the technical support group is excellent) any problems that i might encounter (like the ones above) would be resolved, even if they are hardware problems. Matrox allowed RMAs of G400's that were not fully AGP4x compatable, iirc.

For the $400 that Matrox is asking for the card, it is an aweful big gamble. In fact, for a $400 """Professional""" graphics card that has """superb output quality""" (to quote the In-The-Loop newsletter) i shouldn't be having these problems at all. If it was a $100-$200 ATI or NVidia card, i would expect this sort of shit to happen. Thats why i bought a Matrox card, and why i won't buy another ATI or NVidia card. .

I totally agree with you.

And before somebody tell me I have no right to say those thing cause I don't own one, well I did owned one and got rid of it because luckyly, I could afford it (which is not the case for the majority). Seeing the direction Matrox is heading right now just proves me right for now (i would sure hope they do a nice turnaround, but it seems very very unlikely...)

[James_D]

Originally posted by DGhost


No, but it can probably damage your eyes. I have encountered several eye doctors (of both the optometrist and the opthamologist types...) that have stated that continual computer use does put a strain on your eyes. Many people see this when using low refresh rates. Higher refresh rates make it easier on the eyes. That being said, the fact that i get headaches from using Parhelia's and running 3d apps gives me a pretty damn good idea that its causing eye strain.

That being said, i'm not an eye doctor so i can't really verify any of this. pure conjecture.

Sorry DGhost, it will not damage your eyes, it can however cause slight headache, and if you are epiliectic it might cause an attack.
And the reason why computer puts a strain to your eyes are simply either that your refresh rate is to low, or you are indeed sitting to close. Or you're using your computer more than 6 hours straight. (try reading a book for 6 hours straight, and you'll have the same effect.

But then again, enable v-sync and replace the cable, and you can hardly notice it.

James D. Waxman

Edit: Typo.

[gordo-uk]

Originally posted by Pace
Gordo, I thought you were ignoring me? Ah well.

So...if I was going to buy a Radeon 9700 (and I might consider it), then I'd go see what issues there are regarding it.

3dfx, Gordo: If you were going to buy a Parhelia now, would you not rather know that there's no chance of getting banding? You're damn right I don't know how bad it is, but I'm still actually thinking about buying one. The incentive is getting bigger and bigger

Yes you are right, the P is a lot of money, I would research any product before I buy as you probably do and anyone else with any sense, that’s not the point of my posts though, and is not what I am trying to say.

I have never Criticized you or anyone else for reseaching the Parhelia before buying it, but researching a product is one thing, someone vehemently (I had to spellcheck that one ) criticising a product that they don’t have, as some people on this forum are, is something else.

[ElDonAntonio]

So Chief, what happened with those 7 conference rooms?

[Pace]

Gordo: Our criticism is meant to be aimed at the policies of Matrox support, and Matrox' official stance over the issues.

As with DGhost, I'd expect there to be no issues. And, if I wasn't a MURCer, I might not even know about them. I'm trying to get an answer on Matrox support that they will guarantee me against a badly banded card.

[UberLord]

Originally posted by James_D
But then again, enable v-sync and replace the cable, and you can hardly notice it.

But the point is that you still notice it and that is just not acceptable

[Wombat]

I have v-sync on, and the cable permanently attached to my monitor, and it's still quite noticable. Unless Matrox is sending out free cables, it's not a solution either.

[Admiral]

Guess the main issue here is Matrox's hypocrisy. They are putting 25 years of quality at stake to justify the 400$ they're asking for this card and yet they don't even bother to acknowledge the banding as an issue, it's supposed to be "normal". That's quality ?
And this when it all could have been avoided and fixed from the box by delaying the release for one month or so. After all the waiting I don't think anyone would have minded one more month.

I can understand that you have to pay extra for quality, though that extra has a common sense limit to it even when the card is flawless, yet the Parhelia is not flawless to justify its current price.

[drslump]

apparently the murcers (or matrox fans) are not a productive market for Matrox. Back in the summer, with the upcomming release of the Radeon 9700 matrox had very little time to put a winner in the market. Then the reviews were really bad for it and even if the people who will not take into account the fps with 3 zeros but they like the multi head features will not buy the card 'cos it had/have a high price and if they started to save some money (like some of my friends did) they will not completly sure to buy a faulty product for that price.

IMO the only thing that can save matrox is RMA the faulty cards to get rid of the banding. If FAA don't work in all cases it's a bad thing but nobody will complain too much about this. The 217mhz retail cards is a shame but can be easily fixed with a bios flash or maybe with a little overcloking app, they will still need to apologize to the user (I guess they know which parhelias have this underclocking problem) so they could easily fix this and clean a bit their image.

The banding in the other hand will be a really hard to justify bug. And if the professional will not buy a Parhelia for this because usually they do a bit of research first, the oems like HP or Compaq will not risk to put a faulty hardware in their equipment. I would imagine that they don't want to dirty their name using the P. and if they do they'll have to hire a couple more people for the custumer support

In the end they've lost most of the murcers, the oem resellers and the professional market. The gamers where taken apart in the first time by the (usually crappy) reviews of launch time and not many hw sites have done a revision of the P. with new drivers now that R9700 seems to be the standard and NV30 is in FOV.

I bought the parhelia when it came out, I was amazed with the features of the card and now that I tested it I can't change to any other thing. But my invest in this card was to boost productivity (dual head + TV) , now I realize that the productivity is worse that w/ my G400 'cos the banding don't allow me stay the same time in front of the IDE making what I most like to do, and this is sad

[ganyaik]

I just wonder that how this "glitch" affects/will affect the customer base of other M businesses(net, video).
For e.g.: if I saw that the company I have an RT from(well I personally don't, but let's suppose I do) treats its other customers like this, then I wouldn't feel very secure knowing that they can "close the shop" without any previous notifications or they can just simply "finalize" drivers...
IMHO Matrox should make some official statement. People most likely won't buy a P knowing that it has issues and knowing nothing about possible upcoming fixes.
Matrox! Please give us a sign that there will be a fixed P and there will be driver/tech support for it for some time and I promise I'll be the first to run and get one once they'll be available. Or just say that there won't be such thing and I'll go and start to evaluate what would be the least worse alternative. But don't leave us in doubt...

EDIT: VA, CI any news are very welcome.

[ElDonAntonio]

I'm surprised no one thought already of making a Ricky Martin remake...."SHE BANDS, SHE BANDS..." )

[Chief_Inspector]

So Chief, what happened with those 7 conference rooms?

The slaughter started early and finished sometime after lunch.

Jack's?

CI