Planning to get a Matrox G550, but need some advice first

[Nevermorez]

Well, the title pretty much explains all. I'm planning to get a Matrox G550 and replace my current video card Voodoo5 5500 with it.

The reason I'm doing this is:
First of all, the time I spend on games is less and less.
Secondly, the Voodoo5 5500 XP drivers are really unstable compared to some of the offical Window 9X drivers.

Now, I use computer for homework assignment, research and net surfing mostly. And from wut I have heard, Matrox have always been the top excellent 2D acceleration graphics card in windows applications. Quoted from Matrox official site "The Millennium G550's high-performance 2D core re-draws application windows, toolbars, and desktop content efficiently and without disrupting productivity". Well, I'm just wondering that if I replace my Voodoo5 5500 with Matrox G550, will I be able to notice the difference though like in web page loading and windows applications stuff like that? And will it be worth?

Any commend and advice is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Czar]

loading time wont change, that depends on your cpu and internet connection.

What you will notice is better quality in 2d, more crisper image, your eyes will not get tired as much. This starts to matter at high resolutions.

also the voodoo5 has rather good 2d

 

[hans007]

you wont notice any difference. the g550 is pretty expensive too...

if you just want good fast 2d, just a radeon 7000 or something.


a g550 costs nearly $100.. for $100 you can do a lot better... 2d is about the same speed on all the latest ATI, Nvidia and matrox cards, you might as well either get faster 3d for your $100, or spend less.

 

[The_Lurker]

Well, just to let you know, the V5 has really good 2d compared to some nVidia cards, and is about the same when compared w/ the ATi cards. If your looking for more stability and good 2d, get a Radeon, since as hans007 said, for the price of a G550, you can get a card that does gaming too, just to leave an option open for you.

When Matrox's 2d really kicks ATi's ass would be 1600x1200 and upwards, and to a lesser extent, from 1280x1024. YOu also have to keep in mind the quality of your monitor. If your running a low end NEC compared to a high end Sony AG monitor, you probably wont notice a difference with a Matrox vs. a ATi card, whereas w/ a Sony running a 1600x1200, you might.

At Any rate, g'luck picking a new card. If you can, you might want to go for the Matrox G450 to save some money, the 2d's the same. COming to think of it, i dont know what's the real difference between the G550 and the G450.