Matrox G400 32MB DH or G450 16 MB DDR DH??

[Masterblaster]

Hello,
I have the possibility to use either a Matrox G 400 32 MB Dualhead or a Matrox G450 16MB DDR Dualhead.

The card is used in a buisness PC, where no real 3D performance is needed (maybe 6 times a year a opengl/d3d game has to run).

Where are the differences between the two graphics cards in terms of usability, features, Dualhead, heat production, other and stability?
Which card should I use?

[thop]

Are you using DVI? If not the G400 is the better choice.

[Masterblaster]

Both cards are AGP and Dualhead VGA (no DVI) because i am using 1 - 2 CRT monitors.

@thop: why is the G400 the better choice?

[thop]

It is faster, has 32MB and supposedly better TV-Output.

[Ribbit]

If you want to run the second head at higher resolutions (like, greater than 1152x864) at a decent refresh rate, you'll have to go with the G450.

[Masterblaster]

@ribbit:
Is it because of the lower RAMDAC of the G400?
How much has the G400 and the G450?

[Tempest]

I'm not Ribbit, but... Yes. Secondary RAMDACs for G400 and G450 are 135 and 230 MHz, respectively. The 64-bit DDR memory used in the G450 makes the card slower than the G400 (which has 128-bit SDR memory).

More about the differences:

http://www.matrox.com/mga/archive_story/dec2000/work_g450vsg400.cfm

[Wombat]

It's because the G400 has a dedicated Maven chip for the second head, while the G450 does a lot of that work in software. You could sort of say that on a G450 the second head is "more like the primary display."

[Ribbit]

I thought the Maven was just a TV-out encoder/scaler?

[Ribbit]

Originally posted by Ribbit
If you want to run the second head at higher resolutions (like, greater than 1152x864) at a decent refresh rate, you'll have to go with the G450.

Actually, doing the maths, the 135MHz secondary RAMDAC on the G400 should be fast enough for about 1280x960@72Hz. If you want to do any better than that, you'll need the G450.

The 230MHz 2nd head on the G450 should be good for about 1600x1200@80Hz.

[dZeus]

afaik, the Maven also contains the secondary ramdac.

[Brian R.]

The secondary display on my G400 MAX is no where near as clear as the secondary display on either my G450 or my G550.

[dZeus]

yes, the secondary ramdac on the G450/G550 is integrated into the core, and much better than the one in the Maven