Next Matrox card

[Kurt]

April is approaching....

[K6-III]

Originally posted by Twilight
From what scraps of information I have seen, Matrox is definitely working on a upgraded Parhelia chip. They certainly want to have a card ready for the new workstations that come later this year. My guess is PCI Express, a die shrink, a graphic core that run a little faster and several tweaks and fixes. Basically a Parhelia Pro sort of chip.

That's at least what I'm praying for.
____________
Eirik Andersen

Parhelia MAX, woohoo!!!

[Kruzin]

Ain't gonna happen anytime soon.
Parhelia is the fastest we're gonna see for quite some time from M.
Any new cards will continue to be based on the neutered sundog chip, up to and including their first PCI-Express offerings, which ain't gonna happen for at least a year.

[Twilight]

You really know this for a fact? It seems strange to me that Matrox invest in all these new systems that are capable of making existing designs faster, and then not release any updated chips this year. One year is a long time in this business, even for Matrox.

I got the P650 last autumn because I thought the Parhelia was to slow and to buggy for the asking price. And even though I love the P650, an updated Parhelia is what I and many of my friends are waiting for. This is what people want, and don't you think Matrox listens even a little bit to their customers?
___________
Eirik Andersen

[xortam]

Originally posted by Twilight
... This is what people want, and don't you think Matrox listens even a little bit to their customers?

Sure they do ... but who are those customers? Not gamers. Matrox has had real setbacks in recent years and it will take some doing for them to pick up the pieces.

[Kruzin]

Originally posted by Twilight
You really know this for a fact? It seems strange to me that Matrox invest in all these new systems that are capable of making existing designs faster, and then not release any updated chips this year. One year is a long time in this business, even for Matrox.

Eirik Andersen

Can I say I know it for fact? No. But I have my reasons for thinking this, and I'd wager that we don't see any new (chip-wise) for over a year, maybe closer to two.
One year is nothing to Matrox. They have always released the best of a series, then milked it with cut- down versions for several years. G400/G450/G550 kept them going for years, and are still selling well in certain markets, but the best of them was the first (G400max).

They will milk the P core for all it's worth before they move on to any improved core.

[rylan]

Yeah, that and they don't have enough design people left to crank out a new core and board within the next couple years.

[bsdgeek]

I wonder how much design staff they actually have, the only thing I can see with near-absolute certainty is that they wouldn't have the software resources to write any drivers for a new chip.

[Jon P. Inghram]

They'll probably use the new layout software to make a smaller PCI-Express G450 card that doesn't extend past the edge of a 1x slot.

[Nappe1]

Originally posted by Twilight
From what scraps of information I have seen, Matrox is definitely working on a upgraded Parhelia chip. They certainly want to have a card ready for the new workstations that come later this year. My guess is PCI Express, a die shrink, a graphic core that run a little faster and several tweaks and fixes. Basically a Parhelia Pro sort of chip.

well, die shrink and PCI-E support is a new... rest of this is New Revision that I heard about 2.5 years ago. and IMO it would have been competitive IF they would have launched it to Holiday Season 2002... it is also certain that die shrink could make possible to clock it higher (Matrox up to clocking chips to the limits?? bah...), but I still doubt it's possibilities against more aggressive priced 9600XT and 5700Ultra. (There's no way chip based on parhelia design could compete against R420 / NV40 based chips. It has to be completely scratch made able to do that.)

most likely it is now it is just a way too little, a way too late. (and most likely a way too expensive.)

[K6-III]

But if Pitou was launched as a triplehead competitor to the cards from 3DLabs, they could sell some cards and capture some marketshare...

Competing with FireGL/Quadro may even be possible should the Pitou offer features the others do not, even if the Pitou ends up slower in the end.

[Nappe1]

Originally posted by K6-III
But if Pitou was launched as a triplehead competitor to the cards from 3DLabs, they could sell some cards and capture some marketshare...

Competing with FireGL/Quadro may even be possible should the Pitou offer features the others do not, even if the Pitou ends up slower in the end.

New Revision isn't pitou. these are completely different projects.
(the history from my point of view.)

- New Revision was finished. it includes new package (FCBGA), AGP 8x Support, Stencil Support for FAA and fixed/new memory controller. clocks were said to stay under 300MHz. it is still unknown if matrox ever brings it to market. (another wasted R&D money for development that was finished then put on the shelf.)

- Pitou was next generation upgrade for Parhelia core. I don't know the exact planned specs but most likely it would have been PS 2 / VS 2. It never taped out (though VigilAnt said here so. I had several sources stating that it never taped out.) Still it was on drawing board and when rumour it's scraping was flying on the net, one "unnamed" company was having a negotiations with Matrox about licensing their technology to save Pitou. I don't know which level these negotiations were going on and how deeply they were, but result was that M's Management thought it being NIH (=Not Invented Here) and this nailed Pitou.

[GT98]

Originally posted by Nappe1
Still it was on drawing board and when rumour it's scraping was flying on the net, one "unnamed" company was having a negotiations with Matrox about licensing their technology to save Pitou.

Amiga?

[bsdgeek]

Originally posted by GT98
Amiga?

Not quite. It was none other than Rendition & #9, who got secret funding from the Illuminazis to reform and take the graphics market by storm.

I have it from a reliable source. Seriously. No foolin.

[Nappe1]

Originally posted by bsdgeek
Not quite. It was none other than Rendition & #9, who got secret funding from the Illuminazis to reform and take the graphics market by storm.

I have it from a reliable source. Seriously. No foolin.

LOL!
a good one.
ahem...
- Rendition went under Micron and after they finished Verite V4400 (with 12MB edram) and Micron scrapped it, old workers of Rendition went here and there.

- Number Nine's last try was PixelFuzion 150 based card, that they unfortunately were unable to finish because company went bankcrupt. After that, S3 Inc bought the company or what was left of it and signed off from PixelFusion deal. (this caused to PixelFusion make full turn to Network routing side and leave Graphics.) Since Number 9 going under S3, S3 has joined to Diamond Multimedia which changed it's name to SonicBlue, SonicBlue sold it's Graphics section (exluding Diamond trademarks) to new co-operational company that it founded with VIA. Later on when SonicBlue's financial situation got worse they sold the their part to VIA, so now Number Nine is basically owned by VIA. well, what happened to Diamond Multimedia trademarks? they sold FireGL section to ATI and when SonicBlue was declared to bankcrupt, some small company bought Diamond trademarks and based on things @ http://www.diamondmm.com , it seems they are trying to bring old name back on market.


and if someone still doesn't know what company I was refering to, maybe it is just good that way... No one of general public believes that they really were doing great stuff, but were very misfortune to get it released as a product. Now they are selling a real stuff, but it's on quite different market segment. so it is a bit too much of off topic here.


back to subject...
in fact, I don't believe that we see even mainstream card (that would be ok, for casual player that plays up to date games.) from Matrox for a while. it is certain that they haven't given up, but damage that they took on Parhelia takes a bit more than few generations I am afraid.