Help Needed for Newb

[DarkShell]

Hi All,

I was hoping someone could answer a fairly straightforward question for me... I'm a bit of a newb to the Land of Matrox

Do the G200/G450 (Quad) cards support independent monitor resolution/refresh rates for all attached displays? For example, if I wanted to run one monitor in 800x600@85, one monitor in 1280x1024@100, and one at 1600x1200@70, could I do that?

Also, what are the advantages of the G450 over the G200? What does the extra memory on the card translate to in real world terms?

Thanks

[Chrono_Wanderer]

Just to make sure that... you know the MMS series are very expensive right? Even more expensive than Parhelia 256MB!

[TdB]

I don´t know how the mms cards handles multiple monitors, but I think it supports independent resolutions/refreshrates on all the monitors. The difference between the g200 chip and the g450 chip, is improved 3d, the g200 is a dx5 chip and the g450 is dx6.2, and is somewhat faster in 3d. The g450 also has improved 2d quality and performance, meaning that it will show a crisper and sharper image on the monitor(most visible on high-end monitors running in a high resolution).

[DarkShell]

Originally posted by Chrono_Wanderer
Just to make sure that... you know the MMS series are very expensive right? Even more expensive than Parhelia 256MB!

Yep, I know that much. But from what I understand with the Parhelia:

- It doesn't support independent monitor resolutions
- You can't have 3 x DVI monitors, you need to have 1 DVI and 2 Analog
- It can ONLY support 3 monitors (Not 4, like the G200/450)

There must obviously be some advantages to the 'G' series over the Parhelia, yes? That's what I need to know about. This *is* the Matrox Guru forum/website, yes?

[DarkShell]

Originally posted by TDB
I don´t know how the mms cards handles multiple monitors, but I think it supports independent resolutions/refreshrates on all the monitors. The difference between the g200 chip and the g450 chip, is improved 3d, the g200 is a dx5 chip and the g450 is dx6.2, and is somewhat faster in 3d. The g450 also has improved 2d quality and performance, meaning that it will show a crisper and sharper image on the monitor(most visible on high-end monitors running in a high resolution).

I'm not fussed about 3d performance really. If I wanted to play video games, I'd go buy a Radeon 9800 Heh. No, specifically, I'm interested in:

- Super sharp/clear 2d image quality
- Multi-Monitor Refresh/Resolution independence

[TdB]

- Super sharp/clear 2d image quality

the g450 is better there.

- Multi-Monitor Refresh/Resolution independence

the g450 supports higher refreshrates/resolutions than the g200


I don´t really no much about the mms series, But i guess that everything the applys to the "normal g200 and g450 cards" also goes for the mms series.

the mms cards aren´t discussed alot here, because none of us(almost) can afford it/need it

BTW, maybe you can find some answers here: http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/mms/home.cfm

edit: the mms cards have independent framebuffers for each monitor, so i guess you can run them at different resolutions, the huge amount of ram probably means that each of the 4 monitors have 8mb(for the g200mms) and 32mb(for the g450mms) for themselves.

my guess is that it will work as if you had 4 normal g200 8mb cards+dvi or 4 normal g450 32mb cards+dvi, in the same machine.

[DarkShell]

Originally posted by TDB
I don´t really no much about the mms series, But i guess that everything the applys to the "normal g200 and g450 cards" also goes for the mms series.

the mms cards aren´t discussed alot here, because none of us(almost) can afford it/need it

Heh, I can respect that

Well, if not the MMS Series, then what else can be used to accomplish what I want to do? I suppose I could literally have four video cards in the machine simultaneously, but that'd still end up costing me just about as much as it would for the single MMS card. Is there a cheaper, better solution?

On a completely unrelated topic, what are the Matrox 'Med' series cards all about? I understand they're used in the medical industry, but for what purpose?

edit: the mms cards have independent framebuffers for each monitor, so i guess you can run them at different resolutions, the huge amount of ram probably means that each of the 4 monitors have 8mb(for the g200mms) and 32mb(for the g450mms) for themselves.

my guess is that it will work as if you had 4 normal g200 8mb cards+dvi or 4 normal g450 32mb cards+dvi, in the same machine.

Good stuff It'd probably work with less compatibility headaches too I imagine. Occupy 4 PCI slots is not my idea of a good IRQ party

[TdB]

well, AFAICS the g450mms seems like a good multimonitor card, and would probably suit your needs. an alternative could be the nvidia quadro cards, some of the can handle 4 monitors too, 3dlabs and appian also have some multimonitor cards. but again, im not really an expert in such cards.

about the MED-product-line, this site http://www.matrox.com/mga/med/home.cfm
says:

X-ray imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), computed radiography (CR) and cardiology, in addition to many other technologies.

[Wombat]

The outputs of the MMS series are also a little different. They're more aggressive on the analog out, because they're made for driving monitors that may be much farther away, cablewise, than the average PC. You know, like stock market displays and such.

[DarkShell]

What do you mean by 'aggressive', exactly?

[WyWyWyWy]

You may find that buying a AGP G450 plus a PCI G450 is actually still much cheaper than G450MMS.

[DarkShell]

What's the difference between a G450 and a G450MMS then? Is it purely the fact that the MMS cards are like 4 individual graphics cards (Chips) on one PCB, as opposed to the non MMS cards which handle 2 monitors from one display chip?

If that's the case, again I need to ask: "Can each monitor be operated at a resolution and refresh rate independent of one another"?

This is... confusing.

[az]

Originally posted by DarkShell
What do you mean by 'aggressive', exactly?

More than 700 mv peak output, I guess. (700 mv is the standard peak output for any VGA card for a white pixel)

AZ

[FormerEx-SalesSoup]

Just to put a nail in it:

Yes, the G200/G450 MMS boards support independent resolutions and refresh rates on each display.

[Chrono_Wanderer]

hey soupy. nice new sig!