question about g450 PCI card features

[schmosef]

Here's my question:

I'd like to buy a PCI card for dual head use. The Parhelia PCI is too expensive and out of the question. The G450 PCI seems like a viable option but I can't seem to find a clear answer on Matrox's site as to whether it will work for my specific use.

I'd like to drive the card in dual independant display mode. One monitor running at 1024x768x32bpp @85Hz, the other at 1600x1200x32bpp @85Hz.

Can anybody confirm whether this will work?

Also, the AGP card in the system is an original Parhelia. Does anyone know if there are any compatibility problems?

[schmosef]

oh, here's a little follow-up question. My mobo has an Nvidia chipset. The specs on the Matrox site recommend Intel chipsets and say that features like DVD Max will not work without them. I don't care about this as long as I can run in dual independant mode. Will this be ok?

[Mikko]

I quess you have a reason for not using your current Parhelia card for dualhead independent, right?

[schmosef]

Yeah, see this thread at the Matrox forums for an explanation:

http://forum.matrox.com/mga/viewtopic.php?t=9577&highlight=

[Ribbit]

I'm 99% sure it'll work - only 99% because I don't have a G450 and can't test for myself.

You might need to make the 1600x1200 head the primary head.

Edit: Ah - just read the Matrox thread - you're obviously concerned there might be driver limitations. Can't help you there, but the hardware is certainly capable of what you want.

Edit2: And the mobo chipset won't make any difference either.

[schmosef]

Hmm... I guess I'll have to post this question on Matrox's forums to get a definitive answer.

Thanks Ribbit!

[UtwigMU]

I'd wait for G550 and P650 PCI to show up sometime in September/October.

[schmosef]

Yeah, I'll start holding my breath now!

Or do you know something?

[G400SG16mb]

schmosef, the G450 PCI seems to work with non-Intel chipsets fine but only if you disable bus mastering, which means no DVDMax or OpenGL.

[Haig]

Hi Schmosef,

I'll start holding my breath now!

http://www.matrox.com/mga/archive_story/aug2004/p650_lowprofile.cfm

Also, the AGP card in the system is an original Parhelia. Does anyone know if there are any compatibility problems?

With our current SE driver, you won't have any issues since it supports G, P, & Mill P cards with no dot net but the pdesk is scaled down.

However, a future version of the SE driver will ONLY have support for the P & Mill P cards.

If you just want the DH feature of the pci card, then let windows hardware wizard install whatever it has to & you're all set.

Can anybody confirm whether this will work?

Got it set up right here & it works fine.

[schmosef]

Hi Haig,

What do you mean by "SE"? (It's probably obvious but it's not registering for me right now.)

Your web site says it will be released in Q3 2004 but I've been reselling hardware long enough to know that Matrox doesn't usually hit their shipping targets. I realise that you can't be too specific but can you say if Q3 is realistic? Remeber Q3 ends next month. Supercom doesn't have it SKU'd yet and neither does your web site.

If it's only going to be about a month to wait then I can do that. But if it's going to be longer, I'd just as soon buy the G450 card and upgrade when the P650 PCI comes out.

Finally, maybe I missed it but I didn't see an MSRP on your website. Has a price point been set yet? Can you tell us roughly what it will be? Personally, I wouldn't want to pay more than $250. Is that in the ballpark?

[Haig]

The SE drivers are in our corporate home page. It's a scaled down version of the HF drivers where there's no .net needed and also since the corporates don't really care for all the features that are in the HF drivers and are allways mixing G & P cards in their stations, it mainly has what they asked for.

Drivers are here:

http://www.matrox.com/mga/corp/support/support.cfm

Features for each card are here:

http://www.matrox.com/mga/corp/support/features_se_driver.cfm

Can't really comment on the price and the availability. If you're willing to wait a month, then there's no harm in waiting and if there's a no show, then go ahead with the 450 pci.

[schmosef]

Thanks Haig,

I wasn't aware of the SE drivers. One driver set for all seems nice!

Me thinks I'm not going to wait for the P650 PCI. But before I buy the G450, I have another problem to deal with.

I have a thread for it on your forums, as well as here:

Matrox Forums

Matrox Users

Any idea you might have would certainly be appreciated. I can't really afford to drag this problem out much longer. If you think I might be best served by switching to a P4 based platform then I'll do it without thinking twice.

[Haig]

Tough to say. It sounds like some kind of electrical problem, maybe a beat issue from the PSU.

I wouldn't change to a P4 system before you can try out a new PSU.

Another thing you can try are the different settings from the agp drive strength field in your cmos.

[schmosef]

Originally posted by Haig
Another thing you can try are the different settings from the agp drive strength field in your cmos.

Do you mean the AGP voltage? I tried 1.6V and 1.7V but it made no difference.

I'm going to try what Wombat suggested and then make my mind up from there unless anybody has another suggestion.