What exactly is Matrox up to .... get the <facts>

[GT98]

Originally posted by borat

nvidia and 3dfx have both showed this to be the case when they released their high end cards.(untill 3dfx got complacent)

I would have to dissagree with this statement. The thing that killed 3DFX was it buying STB, its inabitly to get out its next gen Card (think it was called Spector or something ghost related) that was in develpoment since the Voodoo2 Days (it almost happened too.....but Nvidia bought them before it happened), and the total lack of getting into the OEM market.

I think the only reason Matrox Graphics is staying in Busniess is that its making a killer profit off the G450/550 series since they been in production so long and like most electronic/computer related products the costs go down as the product ages..I can't wait for them to come out with a new product, but like everyone else is saying they need to come out with something thats faster then the comp to make a name for themselfs again like the G400. If they don't they be stuck in mediocorty then out of busniess in the Graphics department.

Scott

[borat]

scott in my opinion 3dfx could have continued to do business enen after they bought stb and even without oem support.
this is because they had a loyal fan base who would have been willing to buy another of their cards had it have been a good performer.
however there was only 16 mb of ram on the voodoo 3's and they could only do 16bit colour coupled with the fact that both matrox and nvidia had quicker parts out their which meant that sales werent what they could have been. also the voodoo 5 was very late and not as quick as the geeforce 2 in the benchmarks.
it was also underfeatured compared to the geeforce 2 and unfortunately the voodoo 5 6000 which had the potential to beat the geeforce 2 and would have been the only 128mb mainstream graphics board even today didnt make it out before they went bust.
matrox have survived nicely on there g400/450/550 sales but can you really see businesses buying slightly newer versions of these over the coming years? me neither as ati and nvidia are getting closer in the 2d game of late and offer more bangs per buck in 3d!
this is why we need a new supercard, so that matrox can restore public opinion in its name so oem's buy matrox and they stay afloat.

[birdy]

i dont know about everyone else but i would buy a new Matrox card that was 'only' as good as a geforce 2.
I have started to notice my g400 needs lower resolutions to play newer games more fluidly but my gf2 has handled pretty much everything at medium resolutions so i would be happy with that.
The complete lack of anything remotely new is bound to hurt matrox in the long run.

[SmellYfeeT]

hehe, well too bad birdy, I don't think you will get a card like that? Matrox apparently didn't think being the king in 3D is that important after G400, so they stopped making a high end card , or maybe their plans were not so good so they scrapped them. But I know that the next card will go head to head with ATI and Nvidia, meaning it will be faster than both their flagship products at this time. The Parhelia or whatever it is called, was suppose to be comming out around this time! so if it was out now, it could totally KILL ATI and really heart Nvidia ! That's why I shorted Nvidia stock at the end of summer and I am loosing way too much!! I have also heard rumours that Matrox beleives that more speed and performace will be unnecessary after that point at this time! So the product after might not be the next killer beast they will do the same as they did with G400, make as much money as the can then spend more for another design!

[Hati]

SmellYfeeT:
so I guess they are holding back the chip because it would break their heart if they killed ATI and severely hurt nVidia.
They must be waiting for their opponent's next gen chips to give them a chance to survive!
Very gratefull!

'Hati

[borat]

i have to agree that after the next card wich matrox (might?) release performance will not be so much of an issue.
i think this because in order to be more demanding on the graphics cards games and 3d programs need more complex and lengthy code which will mean more people to develope a game andlonger developement times and ultimately higher cost games.
people will not pay much more for games hence they will not get much more complex therefore graphics cards will not have to be updated that frequently.
i believe that once this point is reached the emphasis will be placed on features and the ability to generate good image quality at fast speeds with these features.
thats just my opinion though!

[mdhome]

UT2 and Doom3

I'm sure anything that Matrox has available will be slowed significantly when running games such as UT2 and Doom3. These games and their visual rich game engines are about a year away. Unfortunately I want it now

regards MD

[TdB]

TdB

perhaps matrox thinks that their parhelia-card will be fast enough FOREVER for ALL games

seriously, all we need is constant framerartes=refreshrate, #polygons=#pixels, and even if we talk about advanced features like raytracing, then at some point in the future, the bottleneck will ultimately be the monitor nomatter what, and that doesn´t sound like science-fiction to me.

and even in science-fiction movies, the monitor never exceeds 64"
atleast monitors located indoor

[Indiana]

Originally posted by TDB
perhaps matrox thinks that their parhelia-card will be fast enough FOREVER for ALL games

If you look at their "recent" offerings ("recent" in Matrox/Amiga/BitBoys time-continuum, this is where time advances about 5 times slower than in the universe we know), Matrox seem to think that the G400 is fast enough forever for all games

But I'd like a pair of those 64" monitors as well, we might need them to be able to read the text in a future where NVidia is the only company producing gfx-cards...

[Tempest]

I have to disagree with borat. The graphics business might seem quiet for now, but new revolutionary technologies are just waiting to emerge. New innovations (some might even be developed by Matrox themselves) allow gamemakers to quickly create complex 3-dimensional models, and once a complex model is ready, it can be reused infinitely. New memory technologies and graphics with 64-bit colours are knocking at the door. If Matrox thinks that it can release a new chip now and the HoloRunner add-on five years later then the new chip had better have support for at least 3 add-on processors and fully programmable WorldCasting&trade;.
But I have faith in Matrox. I believe that they have learned from the past years and will from now on ensure that new technology is adapted at a sufficient rate. Consumers are starting to confuse Matrox with Maxtor, for chrissake.

[mdhome]

Graphics cards will never be too fast. There isnt a single one that can do 1600*1200*32 at 60hz with full AA on the newest games. In 10 years time, we may even be near to real time Shrek quality but it still wont be fast enough. All I can say is Roll on the holodeck.

Regards MD

[Hati]

I guess it's too optimistic to think a new chip will serve the needs for the next couple of years. Development in this sector is at a high pace (DX9/OGL2.0 already beeing worked on), and being 'king of 3D' will never last longer than a few months.
I am hoping that Matrox will present some very innovative technology with a new chip soon. But some comments here (e.g. from Ant) make me wonder if Matrox is pushing works in this respect. After the Bitboys seem to be stopped by Infineon I hope Matrox will be the next to try some kind of revolution with their next gen chip. But until now all we have are some rumors.
Too sad people who might know more are not allowed to speak because of their NDAs.
Still putting my hopes on Matrox !
Hati

[KeiFront]

Hati I hope you were refering to this quote from Ant.

Originally posted by Ant
Don't expect any more video capture cards from Matrox Graphics. Do expect high performance, high priced 2D/3D, with the usual disclaimer of course, if they have the resources left to get it to market.

We should expect high performance in 2D and 3D otherwise no Matrox for me anymore . The pricetag isn't that important for me (for some it is) I had 3 years to save . Once bought a Nvidiot great 3D but 2D sucked big time it took me two weeks to switch back to my Max .

[Hati]

Well, what makes me worry is the last part :

...if they have the resources left to get it to market.

Maybe Ant could explain why he is not so sure about this?
Hati

[KeiFront]

If they can't get something to the market, because of lack of resources we got ourselfs a new 3dfx.

A dead graphics company . But I hope Ant can clearify his quote.

[edit] typo [/edit]