Pathetic check before choosing P650 over P750 or ATI

[Kurt]

What brand of card is the Ati chip is on?

If you compare Hercules, Gigabyte, Connect3D and Sapphire you'll see a pretty big difference in IQ.

If yours is ATi-branded, you've got about the top in IQ for a Radeon card...same with Sapphire. Others....


[PERSONAL RANT] will ppl who buy ATi cards that come here ever mention what brand their card is??? It's not because Matrox makes the chips AND the boards that a Matrox chip on a 3rd party board wouldn't suck big hairy donkey d*cks in IQ!!! There's more to IQ that just the brand of the chip! [/PERSONAL RANT]

[Taylormade]

I'm a little confused. I clearly stated that I purchased an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro, which is the name of the card made by ATI. Not sure how I could be any clearer than that.

If it was a Sapphire card or any other brand of card, it wouldn't be called an "ATI Radeon 9600 Pro." The Sapphire card is called either "Atlantis 9600 Pro" or "Ultimate 9600 Pro". I really can't see how "ATI Radeon 9600 Pro" could be mistaken for anything other than the "Built by ATI" product.

Seems like a waste of time to rant about something you're completely wrong about.

[Kruzin]

ATI is not the only company that produces Radeon cards.
They sell their chips to other board manufacturers, who also call their cards by the same names, based on those chips.
If the box doesn't say "Built by ATI" on it, it could be by any number of board manufacturers, some of whom use lower quality components on their boards. Not all Radeons are created equal.

Just saying it's an ATI Radeon xxx doesn't always mean it's an ATI card...just an ATI chip on that card.

[Taylormade]

I never said that ATI is the only company that makes Radeon cards.

Apparently my sapphire example wasn't clear enough. The ATI card made by ATI is called the "Radeon 9600 Pro". These are the words I used in my post. How is this confused with other brand names such as Gigabyte's card, called Gigabyte GV-R96P128D? or the Hercules cards which names all start with 3D Prophet?

Just saying it's an ATI Radeon 9600 Pro does in fact mean it's a "Built by ATI" card. None of the other "Powered by ATI" cards are named "ATI Radeon 9600 Pro". The Connect3D card is called "Connect3D Radeon 9600 Pro".

I must be in the minority who actually would pay attention to product names and would use the appropriate name in a post. If I had a CP Tech card, I would have said that I purchased a "Powercolor Radeon 9600 Pro".

Oh well, I think I've wasted enough time with this useless post. The reply to my statement wasn't relevent anyhow. I'm using a "Built by ATI" card and it's 2D is inferior to Matrox. Enough said.

[Kruzin]

1) Your "Sapphire example" was an edit to your post, which you made at the same time I was typing my post. Your original post did not indicate that you where aware that other companies use ATI chips.

2) Just saying it's an ATI Radeon xxx does NOT mean it's a built by ATI card. The same chips are used by many companies, and many users will not distinguish the difference. So, you are in the minority of people who pay attention to product/manufacturer names. Many, if not most people will post "I just got a Radeon xxx", and never mention if it's a built by ATI card or not. They are just going by the chip name, and ignoring the manufacturer.

3) Don't get pissy with us. This is a tight-knit community, where most of us have known each other for years. We don't take kindly to newbies coming in here and copping an attitude.

4) re: your first post-P650/750 are definatly faster than G400. Matrox has a product comparison on their site that estimates the difference in the cards. If you look for it, you can find it. I don't really feel like looking it up for you right now.

[Taylormade]

1) I have already seen the data on the Matrox website stating that the P750 is aproximately 500% faster than the G400, so the fact that you don't really feel like looking it up right now for me isn't a problem. I was hoping there was someone who could give insight as to what this means in actually gaming playability as compared to the ATI or NVidia products.

2) Why would my original post need to refer to my knowledge of other companies using ATI chipsets? I have no experience with any of their products and I used the name of the product I own, not just the name of the chipset.

3) You state that most people post using "Radeon 9xxx", etc. and don't use the name of the manufacturer. I did use the name of the manufacturer and then Kurt rants about me and others not using the name of the manufacturer. Why would that not be a little annoying? I took his personal rant as being a little pissy but I guess since he's in your tight-knit community, that's ok and that since I'm the newbe, I'm the only one copping an attitude.

[Kruzin]

Maybe in your own mind you specified the exact product you purchased, but nowhere in that post do you specify it's a built by ATI card. As I said, most people will just list the chip (as you did), and never say "built by ATI" or "Sapphire" or whatever. Kurt's question about what manufacturer made the card was perfectly valid. His 'personal rant' was not directed at only you, but at all users who fail to specify who made their card.

[Taylormade]

Nowhere in my post did I say I had a "Built by ATI" ATI Radeon 9600 Pro because I didn't realize that it would be that confusing. I have yet to see a review or vendor listing that uses "Built by ATI" in the product name.

[Kruzin]

Well, now you know.
You can expect the same question to be asked again, on this or any other forum, if you continue to omit the important "Built by ATI" info.

[az]

Taylormade, if you go somewhere saying you have a "walkman", it would not be clear that "it's a sony", because most people just say "walkman" when in fact they mean "portable cassette player". So you'd need to specify that you indeed have an original Sony Walkman®, lest people misunderstand you, even though you're technically correct. Now get over it already and we can be friends

AZ

[sparky001]

It is true I always refer to my card as a 'ti4400' if nesseccery I say 'Asus ti4400'. I do not say. 'Asus V8440'. Most will do the same with their radeon cards. If you want people to know that it is 'ATI' then you are looking for something like 'Original ATI 9600pro'

To your question you are looking for a card that has all the advantages of a 9600pro and a p650/750. Sorry but no card exists. My solution to this problem was to have two computers one for work (Matrox g450) and one for games (ti4400).

[Kurt]

@Taylormade: As Kruzin said, the rant wasn't directed at you. There was nothing wrong with your post and the fact that you didn't know about the ATi nomenclature doesn't make you a bad person.

Now you know that ppl tend to use misnomers (and you didn't), that's all there is to it.

cheers.

[shanebrooks]

lol - if anyone else posts in this thread I think I'm going to puke.

Move on everyone, nothing to see here....

[Chrono_Wanderer]

LOL... :insert the pic that says "I see stupid people... and they post here too":

anyways... let's move on...

If 1280x1024 is not good on a Matrox G-card, then i don't know what else is good.

My BBA Radeon 8500 is worse at 1280x1024 comparing to my G550. Not to mention that Asus GeForce FX... G550 by far has the best 2D output quality I have ever experienced! 1280x1024 is simply crystal clear on G550, and IIRC G550 is almost identical to G450 in terms of 2D...

This maybe a stupid question, but did you use an appropiate refresh rate? (like if your monitor does not support 1280x1024@85Hz or you were using 1280x1024@60Hz etc) (tho I think you that's not the problem for you)

If G450's 2D is not good for you, then I don't know what you can buy to replace it. Namely a P750, but 3D won't be close to acceptable...

I'd rather forget 2D and go for a BBA/Sapphire Radeon 9500PRO if you can still find one... (for me, 2D is not an issue on my 8500, its perfectly fine. And that is from a user like me who have not used any non-Matrox cards after Matrox G200 was released) (Tsang Labs were great hahahaha)

Even for everyday use, IMO the output quality difference between ATI cards and Matrox cards are so insignificant, you can make your decision based on other factors... like 3D performance... even photoshop is fine on ATI cards

Of course that is another story if you are doing medical imaging. lol

[fleabus2]

Hi:

Interesting thread. I was a long-time Matrox user (spoiled for 2D) beginning with the original Mystique PCI card -> G200 Mystique -> G400Max -> Parhelia 512.
Last fall I tried/kept a (built by) ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. My monitors are pretty good ones (see sig) and both are always running at 1600x1200 32bit 85Hz.
My eyes haven't noticed any 2D quality loss going from Matrox to ATI.
DuaHead is better implemented with Matrox but this doesn't affect my needs/uses.
DVD movie playback ... don't know ... I have a progressive scan DVD console player (and HD/PS TV and use component cabling) in the same room so I don't care.
I use the above res etc in games (where possible) with all the goodies tuned on and up ... ATI performance is way ahead of any Matrox offering.
It took a lot for me to change (all those years of bragging on/defending) Matrox products but I am not sorry I did. BTW, I've not had any driver issues with ATI ... Yet

Happy trails,