Interesting read (ExtremeTech)

[FormerEx-SalesSoup]

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1330014,00.asp

[K6-III]

Yup, fully agree. With the move to the latest drivers and .net 1.1 and the decreases memory utilization, it is better in every way in ease of use!

[[GDI]Raptor]

Yes, I think Matrox drivers has a good layout, only miss one thing, the ability to turn of a monitor when playing a game like C&C generals, I only use one minitor, and the windows desktop is on the other. When I move the mouse in generals to much it jums over o the other monitor, and this offen cause Generals to crash, and if I turn of the second minitor in Windows, it's so much work to re-organize the icons...

[UtwigMU]

Well, I've seen 2 news appearences mentioning Matrox.

One was here:

http://www.gambit.si/default.asp

A front page of major dealer. (can't find Archive).

It was basically: "Matrox is quitting gaming market."

Another one was in local weekly computer news magazine:

http://www.racunalniske-novice.com/main/

In 11th. September issue.

It was basically stating that Matrox still thinks there's no need for fast 3D cards and they unveiled DSUB P650. It's nothing special as it has only 64MB of RAM, but it has 2 DSUBs. It will cost 180$, if it's worth the price, the sales will show, which are going to be most likely low.


Basically you need to:
A do a lot on PR, reposition as professional company.

B do marketing

C coming out with P850 next year or uncompetive card would be a disaster

D you need to work with white box builders/OEMs. Average people just use the card, the system builder sees fit for their price performance point.

Usually GF4MX/FX5200 or Radeon 9100 +/-100




I really like Matrox drivers and I think they're better than nV's and Atis and they were the main reason I used my G400 over my GF2MX priorly.

[bsdgeek]

I'm not going to pretend I know what's going on inside of Matrox, and tell you guys what to do, but P-Series & Parhelia cost a bit much, don't you think? I think a price cut would be a good idea.

Say:
Parhelia $299
P750 $199
P650 $129
G550 Sub-$100

Maybe adjust new prices a bit, but something like that.

Ignoring what I may want from Matrox, P850 might not be a bad idea. You've said sales were up, meaning P-Series is a success, correct? But really, if there was a P850 you should update your entire line and bring out (at the least) a Parhelia.5 or some such high-end upgrade.

[Zao]

I'd say that if the Parhelia cost $299 I'd buy one for my secondary PC.

[UtwigMU]

P850 is only a good idea if it's a G450 style cheaper to make replacement for Parhelia with a price cut.

But it should be paired with Parhelia II which would come in PCI-Express and AGP 8x versions and feature DX9+ with 500MHz core and 300 to 500MHz DDR 256-bit memory, or be competitive with R400 and nV40.

[Chrono_Wanderer]

LOL Stop dreaming UtwigMU!

[Tjalfe]

Hmm.. a friend of mine in sales mentioned seeing a Matrox PCI Express card .. I guess there is a chance

[sparky001]

I'm not going to dream of a R420 competitive chip from matrox. although I do think about it.

Really if parhelia 2 surfaced now I would like to see it be as fast as a 9600pro and retain the image quality matrox is known for. That means that not only should it have no banding issues but it should run say 16tap AF and 16FAA as default. And be as fast as a 9600pro.

I don't think I ask that much.

Really what I dream of is the same kind of model as ATI/Nvidia. ie One chip designed but two sets of drivers. So they create the parhelia bump up the price with full spec workstation class drivers. And based of the same chip (a blast from the past) they could sell the Mystique. That would match ATI/Nvidia's Quadro/GeForce, FireGL/Radeon families. I dont see Matrox selling to the low end (MX series) so their Millenium series could compete by them selves in the same maner as the current P-series. ie non-3D workstation.

And yes I absolutly hate it when I have to change AF or AA in my ti4400's drivers. Why cant I have hot keys or App preferences saved in to the drivers. The KyroII had drivers that could do that.

[FormerEx-SalesSoup]

Matrox's current strategy is looking good. In fact, I haven't been this optimistic about the future of the company in quite a while. This doesn't mean that a high-performance gaming board is on the way. In all likelihood, Matrox will continue to focus on markets in which it has been most successful. The fact that the Marketing Department now reflects this strategy means that everyone's now focused on the same goal.

From the outside, I understand how difficult it is for some of you to assess how well the company is doing. All in all, the future definitely looks bright and although I'm among the breed who would love to see an ATI/Nvidia-killer sooner rather than later, I'm pretty excited about Matrox's fit in this industry.

[Mikko]

Thanks, Soupy!
It's nice to hear words like that from the official Matrox employee.

Btw, I also like Matrox drivers very much. They are so easy to use.

[Tempest]

I admit that the Parhelia is, in some ways, unique. But I'm sure that all of us realize that it isn't what it could've been, and its performance isn't what it should be according to those (pretty impressive) tech specs.

Let's face it, any major graphics company has a definite need to pursue a high-tech, cutting-edge image. Yet I'm glad to hear that you're all now striving for a common goal around there, because as long as there is life, there is hope... And by what you stated, it seems that Matrox Graphics isn't going to fade away anytime soon.

Let time heal the wounds, and stick at what you do best. But stay up to date on current development in the business, and when the time is right, see if you can give the world a little of that old Matrox magic

[bartch]

Digital Home Entertainment? Media Center?.... Leave gaming.

[sparky001]

It is indead nice to hear that matrox is doing well. I am very happy now.

I am very pleased with the general state of the p series. but I find the parhelia somwhat lacking. I think matrox would be much stronger with a more fitting front runner. As I said previously I do not mean a R300, I mean a parhelia with a lot of polish.