Radeon 7000 vs Matrox G550

[Booster]

The thing is, I have two cards right now - the Matrox Millennium G550 32MB AGP Dualhead and a HIS Radeon 7000 64MB (also dual, but also with a TV output). And I'm running all this on a HP 15" LCD with DVI (both cards have DVI-I output). More than that, the Radeon works like a charm, and I can't get the Matrox card to work w/o reinstalling Windows.

I have to get rid of one of the cards, and I can't decide which one. On one hand, the G550 will increase the selling value of my system since it's a more expensive and more quality card that's renowned for it's superior 2D. On the other hand, everyone knows non-ATI made Radeons (HIS for example) have crappy 2D quality. But I don't think it should matter for me since I'm using it on DVI.

My questions for experienced people are:
1. The DVI quality is always the same since it's digital, right? Or would it be better on name brand cards?
2. What would you keep yourself if you were in this situation?

Thanks in advance for any replies.

 

[bluemax]

Tough call... The Radoen 7000 doesn't perform much better in 3D either. I'd stick with Matrox, I think...
Of course, that Radeon 7000 is working fine. You could do well to sell off that Matrox card...
It's 50-50 really....

Whichever one you don't want, you just send to me.

 

[SickBeast]

Originally posted by: bluemax
Tough call... The Radoen 7000 doesn't perform much better in 3D either. I'd stick with Matrox, I think...
Of course, that Radeon 7000 is working fine. You could do well to sell off that Matrox card...
It's 50-50 really....

Whichever one you don't want, you just send to me.

I'm a CAD monkey, and the Matrox cards are simply amazing for the stuff I do. ATI is good as well, but Matrox is in a league of their own IMHO.

 

[The_Lurker]

Personally I'd keep the Matrox G550 because it is a higher calibre card whereas the Radeon 7000 can be picked up anywhere really for a low price if you ever wanna get another one.

 

[Booster]

Well people, might give you some ideas about these Matrox 'cards'. No, I don't have anything against them. If you don't wanna or don't believe the guys on Matrox support forums (why would a company even need official support forums, how do you think?), read this.
No, I didn't become another Matrox fan. And it's not b/c my monitor is a DVI LCD D). I couldn't get that card to work. But other people couldn't get it to work either. I got that card for $20 from a guy I somewhat know. And no, he wouldn't take it back b/c it works (only not for me). Today I went to the computer market and sold the d@mn thing to the guy who buys all old PC stuff (read: crap). He first started to check whether the card worked or not. Put it in an Intel board with a BX chipset and a P3 533. Fired it up. It detected and booted into Windows just fine (unlike on my system, where the image was so much corrupted I couldn't see a thing - maybe happens with SiS chipset boards). Then, upon the driver installation, his testbed hung. LOL. I thought he wouldn't buy it. He rebooted. It hung again. Then he took it out, put back the GF2MX in there which worked just fine. I started to murmur BS about how this is such a quality card, and that it works like a charm, only with a fresh Windows install and WHQL certified drivers. Of course, I knew I was on thin ice at that moment. But he told me he would give me $25 for it. Whooppss!!! I took the money and never looked back. Of course, that was a lot of unnecessary pain in the ass, but at least I got my money back+$5, so I wasted only time with that Matrox POS. Still sad though.

From now on, I'm never going to get any 3rd party video cards. They just don't work right. No Matrox (or even ATI) for me from now on. The fact that the Radeon 7K works means nothing. Put a 9500 in my system, it would just hang, I'm pretty sure. So I think I'd just stick with nVidia since there doesn't seem to be any reason to do otherwise. Maybe not the best and (or) cheapest solution, but at least I wouldn't be blowing my time and money on a POS which hangs after the installation of the latest WHQL drivers.

 

[Peter]

There are 3rd party Radeons, even from the old 7000 series, that do have very good analog signal quality. However on DVI, that doesn't matter anyhow.
So on the performance side it's a give and take. I wouldn't bother ripping the working system apart. I say keep the Radeon and sell the Matrox.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

If you're going to sell the G550, you PM me first.

That being said, sell the Radeon.

/matrox fan

- M4H