ExtremeTech: Matrox Storms Back into 3D

[fav]

In an era where car-makers have produced model after model with meaningless, but trademark-able names, graphics chip makers have followed suit (GeForce/Radeon). "Parhelia" may sound like some kind of mental illness, but it actually means "next to the sun" (from the Greek, para – near, helios – sun) and describes an optical illusion that occurs near dusk where there appears to be three suns. The choice of this name comes straight from the top—Matrox founder and CEO Lorne Trottier wanted to name Matrox's next GPU, and being an astronomy buff (and come to think of it, he does remind us a bit of Carl Sagan), this was his choice. And while Matrox marketing types have made the name jibe with their messaging, where three attributes, quality, performance, and features all fuse together to create Parhelia, one might assume that the part is somehow trying to spoof us into believing it's three things when it's really one. But after we show you Matrox' stated speeds/feeds and the copious features that this GPU is bringing to the party, you'll see that Parhelia is something of a misnomer.


ExtremeTech.com on Parhelia

[TdB]

Tim Sweeney, Epic's chief 3D guru working on next-generation Unreal engine technology had this to say about it: "We've had our hands on a Parhelia for the past few days, and have Unreal Tournament 2003 up and running in triple-monitor mode -- it's very immersive, and surprisingly fast (rendering at 1280*3 x 1024)." The UT engine has had adjustable FOV for quite some time now, and UT 2003 obviously does too, so when that title ships this summer, it will in all likelihood support Surround Gaming.

seems like UT 2003 will rock on a parhelia.

[Jazzz]

cool UT2003 will indeed rock

[TdB]

this is indeed VERY impressive, afaik even a GF4TI4600 struggles in this game in 1280*1024, but tim says a parhelia gets nice fps in 3840*1024, how cool is that.

this card is WAY faster than a GF4TI4600.

[thop]

happy perhelia i say!
actually UT2 is the only game i care about until D3 comes out.

happy parhelia!

[OZZIE_NO_GOOD]

okay the ut 2003 will be included with the card heeh lets hope so you got the two best thing that could happen this year at once hehe

[Wombat]

There is no UT2
There's Unreal Tournament 2003, due out this summer, and Unreal 2 (a singleplayer game) due out Fall/Christmas. Two separate games so they can milk your wallet better.

[thop]

yes wombat i know. however ut2003 is pretty gay. thats why some people refer to it as UT2.

[OZZIE_NO_GOOD]

hhhmmm is ut2 i like it more a some peeps have to correct allways