Matrox Parhelia - is it worth it to spring for 256 mb?

[utahraptor]

I am finally stepping up to a 512 bit chip and I am trying to decide if its worth it to shoot for the 256 mb or if I can get by on 128 for now.

Anyone know if upcoming titles will be able to make use of the full 256 or is the 128 running at 512 bits make up for it?

Who is the place to order from these days? I see a quick search yields a pretty wide price range

http://www.google.com/products/cata...S5OkCoS-Nsnk5e4I&sa=title&ved=0CAcQ8wIwADgA#p

Thanks for any input.

 

[manimal]

Is this for a workstation? Or did your flux capacitor put you in the wrong timeline.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

He's from the past!!

 

[v8envy]

Well, google wasn't around back when Matrox was still making a viable product and AGP was all the rage. So I'll have to go with "what in the butt?"

 

[Insomniator]

That card has a beast of a fan on it.

 

[thilanliyan]

You should go with a recent ATI or nV GPU, if your purpose is gaming.

 

[dualsmp]

Welcome to 2002, err.. I mean 2010.

 

[utahraptor]

I am mainly hoping to boost my Age of Mythology / Warcraft 3 performance if that helps.

 

[alyarb]

this is the fastest AGP card you can get.

http://cgi.ebay.com/HIS-ATI-RADEON-...tem&pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item2ead2b213f

 

[dualsmp]

3850 is going to slaughter anything a Parhelia can dish out. I used to have a 3850 AGP at one time and it's a fast card for AGP. If your machine is ancient though your CPU is going to bottleneck. Anyways, buying a 3850 is certainly better than spending $350 on a Parhelia.

http://www.google.com/products/cata...VL6bw2wTN0vy5CA&sa=button&ved=0CAkQgggwADgA#p

Edit: BTW you should also upgrade your PSU if your going to upgrade to a 3850 AGP. A few PSU have gone up in smoke with crappy PSU's trying to push a 3850.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341016

 

[ZimZum]

Parhelia was never really a viable gaming part. Even a Ti-200 smoked it back in its day. The 9800pro utterly obliterated it.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Matrox...

Now that's a name I haven't heard in a long time... a long time.

 

[OCGuy]

I am trying to figure out if this thread is real, or if I just had too much coffee this morning.

 

[Knavish]

I was looking at the parhelia, too, but I think I'll wait til the Bitboys Oy Glaze 3D comes out!

 

[OCGuy]

http://web.archive.org/web/20010203063800/http://newegg.com/

 

[EarthwormJim]

Here let me check http://www.webcrawler.com/ to see if it's worth the upgrade.

 

[Ares202]

The opening poster of this thread is either from the past, or this is some sort of joke thread :O

 

[SithSolo1]

Maybe the original poster clicked Post in 2004 but it was lost in the intarwebs until today.

 

[Qbah]

If you're serious, OP, forget about anything Matrox. Either grab a used Radeon X1950Pro or a Radeon HD3850 (most powerful AGP card ever made). Remember to make sure that you buy an AGP one, as they're also available with a PCI-e connector (provided you need the AGP one in the first place!). Though you'd need a somewhat beefy PSU for either of those - say a good brand 400W one.

If you're joking - you got me!

 

[GaiaHunter]

Maybe the original poster clicked Post in 2004 but it was lost in the intarwebs until today.

Well he is hoping to boost AoM and WC3 so it might be... except he replied.

Well, for WC3 and AoM just grab a 6600GT or something like that for $5 from ebay and have fun (although those cards might be considered antiquities and charge a premium for it?).

 

[nonameo]

Well he is hoping to boost AoM and WC3 so it might be... except he replied.

Well, for WC3 and AoM just grab a 6600GT or something like that for $5 from ebay and have fun (although those cards might be considered antiquities and charge a premium for it?).

Just about anything pci-e will cost you 20$

 

[utahraptor]

Just about anything pci-e will cost you 20$

Tell me, will my DFI Laparty PRO875 run this pci-e?

 

[Qbah]

Tell me, will my DFI Laparty PRO875 run this pci-e?

No, it has an AGPx8 slot.

But, what exactly are you running now? I mean, a 6600GT was a nice card back in its days, but that mobo is from 2003 and it really pre-dates a 6600GT. The two cards I gave you are total overkill most likely.

So just write us what are you running right now (which CPU and graphics card mostly) and we will tell you which card would be a good upgrade for you to play W3 and AoM.

 

[utahraptor]

No, it has an AGPx8 slot.

But, what exactly are you running now? I mean, a 6600GT was a nice card back in its days, but that mobo is from 2003 and it really pre-dates a 6600GT. The two cards I gave you are total overkill most likely.

So just write us what are you running right now (which CPU and graphics card mostly) and we will tell you which card would be a good upgrade for you to play W3 and AoM.

I am using a Pentium IV 2.6c with hyper threading. I also have a geforce fx 5600, but I upgraded it to a 9800 pro that I got for xmas.

 

[Qbah]

I am using a Pentium IV 2.6c with hyper threading. I also have a geforce fx 5600, but I upgraded it to a 9800 pro that I got for xmas.

Well then, my recommendation wasn't that bad in the end. A 6600GT is just a bit faster than a 9800Pro, hence not worth it.

I had a Pentium-D with an X1950XTX and the card was a bit underutilized. I'd say if you can find a used Radeon X1950Pro, that would be a great upgrade from your Radeon 9800Pro.

However, I checked some scores for AoM and your 9800Pro should be sufficient. Same for Warcraft 3. Are you sure there's nothing wrong somewhere else? How much RAM do you have? Are you running anything in the background - like an antivirus? When was the last time you ran a cleaner software - for spyware for example. Perhaps there's something bogging down your PC thus making the games run slower than they can? As, again, a 9800Pro should be plenty for both W3 and AoM.

EDIT: Also, are you running Vista? Or XP?