Which Matrox card to recomend?

[DukeP]

I have a friend who just bought a AG Neovo F217 TFT monitor.
Its pretty, but its also lacking a DVI entrance.

Unfortunately, my not-so-computer-wise frind doenst own a grafix card capable of running at the recommended 1280x1024@75Hz - it doesnt go any higher than 1024x768 (its an Tsenglab pci something, with 2.25mb ram).

This looks like shit.

Now, she only does 2d stuff (she's a doctor, doing some research) - so I was wondering what type of Matrox card I should recommend her.

Ill accept answers in the line of:
"Anything Matrox, heck, she can have my old Mystique" or "She MUST get the g550, since this is the only card that can do x over y on that monitor".

I figured that since shop@matrox is delivering for free atm, this would be an excelent time to shop.

Thx,
~~DukeP~~

[thop]

You'll need at least 4MB for 32bit at 1280x1024, mystique 4MB should be fine.

[DukeP]

Thx!
Now where do I buy an old 4mb mystique?

On the shop@matrox, the cheapest AGP card is the g400 marvel, at 135$

Is there ANY reason to NOT prefer this over the same priced g550?

~~DukeP~~

[Ribbit]

I think what thop means is any Matrox card will be fine, as long as it has 4MB or more.

[Kruzin]

Originally posted by DukeP
Thx!
Now where do I buy an old 4mb mystique?

On the shop@matrox, the cheapest AGP card is the g400 marvel, at 135$

Is there ANY reason to NOT prefer this over the same priced g550?

~~DukeP~~

G400 Marvel can only do DualHead to TVOut
The capture functions of Marvel are meant for Win9x
G550 has a DVI port

[DukeP]

G400 Marvel can only do DualHead to TVOut
not a problem.
The capture functions of Marvel are meant for Win9x
Ouch. Does it work on win ME?
G550 has a DVI port
This TFT unfortunately, doenst have a DVI port - but having one on the grafix card would be wise, none the less..

Thx!
~~DukeP~~

[UtwigMU]

Here's my stance:

Get DVI, she's already running TFT, so she'll get DVI monitor next time.

You could go older card route and upgrade latter or get G450/G550.

For minimum option you'll need 8MB to drive 1280x1024x32.

As for current cards:
G550 regular has DVI and VGA connector, so she can use it with current monitor and latter add DVI or VGA monitor to 2nd head or switch to single DVI monitor.

G550 dual DVI comes only with dual VGA breakout cable. Dual DVI cable is available separately and costs about $50 on shopmatrox.com

When she'll want to move to dual or single DVI she'll have to buy this cable. This is a viable option, but it will be more expensive when going DVI but also better as it enables dual DVI.

I'd get G550 vanilla.

Also note that new Matrox cards come with 3-year warranty, but older 2nd hand cards are cheap, so you can just buy another when they break.

[DukeP]

Thx.

In Denmark, the G550 Dual DVI cost less than the G550 vanilla (???).

Am i right in thinking, that the G550 Dual DVI, out of the box, support the following:

1x vga and 1x dvi
or
1x vga and 1x tvout
or
1x dvi and 1x tvout.
??


~~DukeP~~

[UtwigMU]

From shopmatrox.com



As you can see card sports proprietary port.

Note: Analog cable included (Part Number: /15941-00)

Immediately take advantage of DualHead analog output, and upgrade to Dual DVI output at your convenience with the separate purchase of the Dual DVI cable— a flexible and future-proof business solution.

Dual DVI cable

Costs $60USD in Danmark's section of shopmatrox.


If she's going to drive two DVI TFT's in the near future, go dual DVI,

If she's going to stay with this monitor and or switch to or add single DVI TFT, it's better to go with vanilla.

[DukeP]

Thx UtwigMU.
That means, that out of box, it support vga and dvi.
But what about tvout? It doesnt say - but there exists a version know as g550 tvout. Is that (as I originaly thought) the plain vanilla version, or is it in fact a special version?


~~DukeP~~

[K6-III]

No matrox card can do more than one monitor and a tv at the same time...

[FormerEx-SalesSoup]

Originally posted by K6-III
No matrox card can do more than one monitor and a tv at the same time...

Parhelia = Dual-display + TV-output mode
Matrox G450 MMS = can do multi-display and TV-out (as well as multi-TV out)

[FormerEx-SalesSoup]

Originally posted by DukeP
Thx UtwigMU.
That means, that out of box, it support vga and dvi.
But what about tvout? It doesnt say - but there exists a version know as g550 tvout. Is that (as I originaly thought) the plain vanilla version, or is it in fact a special version?


~~DukeP~~

Mill. G550 can do RGB+RGB, DVI+RGB, RGB+TV, DVI+TV
Mill G550 Dual-DVI can do RGB+RGB, DVI+DVI, RGB+TV

for either product, you need the G550 TV-output cable.

[DukeP]

Thx ex-SalesSoup!

So, to go for the final question (drums please):
Does the G550DVI come equipped with the G550 TV-output cable?

To clarify, I would like for my friend to be able to do RGB+TVout, without having to buy any additional cables...


~~DukeP~~

[FormerEx-SalesSoup]

Originally posted by DukeP
Thx ex-SalesSoup!

So, to go for the final question (drums please):
Does the G550DVI come equipped with the G550 TV-output cable?

To clarify, I would like for my friend to be able to do RGB+TVout, without having to buy any additional cables...


~~DukeP~~

No, you'll have to purchase it separately through http://shopmatrox.com