Just ordered a Matrox G450; stupid move?

[fs5]

I wanted the dual-head support and the quality. It's good enough for 800x600 gaming, since that's all I would run anyways. Paid $145 for it.

Should I have gone with the GeforceMX? I understand it only supports 1 VGA and 1 other (tv, digital) correct?

 

[Fumiup]

NOOOOOO!


ATI Radeon VE!http://www.ati.com/na/pages/products/pc/radeon_ve/index.html

 

[fs5]

So I can run a 17" monitor and a 14" monitor w/ seperate desktops with the VE? I assume I can with the G450 with the reviews I read, but tell me if I'm wrong ). When's it going to be out and what's the price?

 

[Fumiup]

I don't know the release date but it's not too far off.



<< With the Radeon VE ATI presents quasi the successor of the Rage-128-Serie. The abgespeckte Radeon is to begin in the middle price segment against GeForce MX cards and offers like the competition multi-monitor support.
The Radeon VE essentially corresponds to its large brother, whereby ATI did however without one of the two Render Engines. All other well-known functions such as ATIs HyperZ technology, the hardware T &amp; l-engine (see tecChannel 3D-Lexikon ) as well as features the videos engine the HDTV and DVD format hardware-accelerated decoded, were preserved. Took over the Radeon VE also features like the TMDS transmitter - and the 350-MHz RAMDAC , from which now two units on the chip are. Likewise in double execution is the DVI - and VGA CONTROLLER integrates.
Thus a multi-monitor operation is possible, which permits according to ATI all combinations between VGA, DCI and TV Out as well as a parallel operation of to two CRT or two DCI monitors. Also the TV Abspielsoftware was extended. Now it is possible to rewind also during current recordings and to regard recorded sequences again or subsequently. A schnellvorlauf is just as possible as a playing in slow motion as well as the zoom in scenes. For the first time with the Radeon VE HydraVision of Appian Graphics future ATI cards is enclosed. The monitor Desktop management software permits the administration of up to new virtual Desktops.

First products of the Radeon VE will be cards with 32 MByte GDR RAM for 129 US Dollar and a 16-MByte-SDRAM-Version for under 100 US Dollar.

Besides ATI submits the past Radeon to a Tuning process, which ATI &quot; Enhanced 18µ &quot; calls. ATI in a Ultra version up to 240 mc/s trims wants the past products for the Retail market, which run with 183 mc/s CCU and storing ATS. The current OEM and Bulk cards with 166 mc/s each are then replaced by the today's 183-MHz-Karten.

Also in mobile market does not want to be dormant the Canadian manufacturer and the Radeon to center next yearly into mobile version as direct competitors for on Sunday on the Comdex GeForce2 Go introduced of NVIDIA offer.


>>

 

[Le Québécois]

You CAN use two vga monitor with the Geforce MX-DVI, but your need a dvi too vga adapter.

 

[fs5]

a dvi adapter? what is that and how much does it cost?

 

[kwango]

Hello 5-speed
The G450 is just a modified version of the G400. Both cards are of excellent quality and fast enough to run games at 800*600. They also run both monitors at different resolutions and do it very well. The only downer is the fact that they are not state of the art when it comes to game play but they perform well enough.

regards MD

 

[fs5]

yeah, I read numerous reviews on the G450 all saying that the dual head feature is excellent, the 2d quality is top notch, while it's slower than a 80yr old grandma a pinto for gaming. Just wondering what everybody thinks about the G450. Thanks for the feedback

 

[Varborta]

NO!!!
No!!!

Bad move bad move!
145 is too expensive I just got a Geforce2 GTS, well tv0-out thou from Decoy for 150
you can get those from Geforce2 MX for about the same price but FAR better in 3d and performance and driver support. Lost in 2d and um.... um.... cant think of anything else.

 

[fs5]

<< you can get those from Geforce2 MX for about the same price but FAR better in 3d and performance and driver support. Lost in 2d and um.... um.... cant think of anything else >>



The dual monitor support? Only about 1/4 of my time on the computer is actually gaming and the G450 has enough speed to keep me happy. After this next finanical aid comes in I'm movin' on up to a 22&quot; iiyama so the 2D will be VERY important. Dual monitor support was #1 on my list because I've used a machine w/ 2 monitors hooked up and it was very useful.

I though Matrox had the far better drivers?

Other than the Radeon VE which isn't out yet, I didn't have much of a choice. The GeforceMX was very tempting because I thought it could handle 2 SVGA's out of the box but someone said you need a DVI adapter? Plus Anand said in his review that the dual-head was a better solution for multi-monitors.

Hopefully I made the right decision!

 

[Taz4158]

If you don't do a lot of gaming and 2D is important then the G450 is a solid choice.

 

[Yoshi]

Let us know how you like the G450. I'm considering one for our second computer. I think it's a solid choice. I think Matrox has gotten their drivers under control. The G450 will be no GF2 GTS in terms of 3D performance but I think the image quality is a nice trade off if you are not a hard core gamer.

 

[Rigoletto]

fivespeed5, what model is your MAG monitor? Is it a trinitron?
Unless you are running a big monitor at very high res, I don't see that the Matrox quality could impact. I think you've just bought from the most overpriced guys in video cards, almost. Considering you have a chokey 14inch monitor, it is overkill, you will never see the difference with that. Actually I'm surprised you can bear to use the 14inch. When I get a new monitor the old one tends to look unbearable when switching between screens.

 

[subhuman]

since i dont game, i have to agree that you made the wise choice with the G450. the best dual monitor support - you can be watching a DVD on one monitor, and browsing the web on another monitor, in a different resolution, no problems. i am 99.9% sure you cant do this on a geforce2mx. plus, as mentioned numerous times in different threads on this board, the 2d quality of the geforce2mx line is definitely not as good as the matrox.

good move.

 

[pdo]

Right now I'm using G400 DH and I wouldn't trade for any card. It's an excellent cards for for occasional gamer like me and top notch 2D. TV-ouput is superb. Not everyone's a gamer and a speed freaks.

 

[Rigoletto]

what kind of G450 do you have? 16 or 32Mb? Do you have the SDR or DDR? I've seen a massive price cut on these things recently. £65 for 16 Mb SDR dualhead OEM!!!!
I might even get one actually.

 

[fs5]

<< fivespeed5, what model is your MAG monitor? Is it a trinitron? Unless you are running a big monitor at very high res, I don't see that the Matrox quality could impact. I think you've just bought from the most overpriced guys in video cards, almost. Considering you have a chokey 14inch monitor, it is overkill, you will never see the difference with that. >>



I planning on upgrading to an iiyama (19 or 22&quot soon so hopefully I'll be running a 22&quot; beside a 17&quot; I ordered a 32 meg DDR OEM fro $149 from www.compuplus.com. I ordered from there because they had cheap prices on a 45G 75GXP so I saved on shipping costs. Pricewatch has it for $145 at some places.

 

[Rigoletto]

I notice the SDR version was not included in Anands review. So I was thinking, though really quite cheap, it's on a par with the M64 maybe! Not even as fast as Voodoo3

 

[BillyPackerFan]

What do you want to do with your PC???
I am looking for a Dual Head card that has SVideo output and DVD support so I can surf the internet and play DVD's on the tube at the same time (option - GForce2 MX SDR with Svideo out). Let me know what your choice is.

 

[Rigoletto]

Don't know who you are talking to but I know what I want in another graphics card:

1) to use my second monitor successfully. My SIII crashes coming out of suspends and seems to do funny things to my monitors. If it weren't for that I would keep it.
2) I like using 1024x768 on my 15&quot; monitors and don't want to choose one with cack image quality.
3) if I got a card with better DVD software I would be chuffed
4) greedy as it may seem, I would like a card that could make games seem pretty in the next couple of years. I would quite like FSAA, hardware bump mapping and anything else good.

The G450 price is most definitely right in thatit could replace my two current cards and I could get possible as much for the two of them together as what the G450 costs. I would certainly like to get rid of the SIII for £25.
What I will do is order a Geforce2 MX DDR which is at £85 (unusually cheap) but not coming in for two weeks. Meanwhile I will be putting up ads for the SIII. It is a funny card and not every config should have such probs with it.

 

[Dean_Jen]

Well, 5speed5, if you want 2D as your main concern, then you can't get wrong with this G450...

My friends got a GeForce MX with dual-monitor out(dont' ask me how...he got this baby from Taiwan directly). With one Iiyama 400Pro(17&quot; Trinitron) and my Mitsubishi 900U Pro(19&quot; Trinitron), the texts are so fuzzy that we have to force down to both 1024x768 on BOTH(he runs 1152x864 on his Iiyama, and I have 1280x980 on my Mitsubishi. We have to pump out both the contrast and lightness setup on both monitor to get a readable image.

Then we go back to his roommate's G400 Dual-Head. The difference is clear...2D is sharp...so sharp that we need to downtune the bright/contrast setup to about half...

So you make a wise choice.

 

[Rigoletto]

was that Geforce worse than most cards? I would like to know how much better the G450 is than my Voodoo3 which seems good enough. In image quality that is.