Video Drivers for Future Operating Systems...

[GDoes]

With companies pumping out so many different cards out there, I'm wondering how ATI and NVidia will be creating drivers in the future? I have a Matrox and a couple of years back they used to be the hottest cards on the block, however now they are refusing to write drivers for their older cards stating that this card was created for the Windows 98 market and they recommend buying a new video card if I want to upgrade to XP.

Now I was wondering if other companies are doing this too?

-Glenn

 

[BenSkywalker]

Now I was wondering if other companies are doing this too?

For nVidia, the drivers for the FX5950 will work on the TNT. Their unified driver model makes it that you shouldn't have to worry about them for a long time. If they switch to an architecture that requires an entire new build of drivers different from what they currently use, their will still be hundreds of millions of nV graphics cards that will all benefit from keeping that driver path updated.

For ATi, their current R300 parts are on a unified driver model and based on their comments it would seem that their future cards will also be built using the same technique nV does. This should help assure that they will have support for their legacy parts, when they are old enough to be legacy parts, for many years to come. I'm not sure about their older parts, however they likely sold more RagePro based parts then Matrox has sold for all the chips they ever made total(ATi was dominating the marketplace for years prior to Intel and nV taking over the majority of the market).

 

[Johnbear007]

matrox sux

 

[Mitzi]

Originally posted by: GDoes
With companies pumping out so many different cards out there, I'm wondering how ATI and NVidia will be creating drivers in the future? I have a Matrox and a couple of years back they used to be the hottest cards on the block, however now they are refusing to write drivers for their older cards stating that this card was created for the Windows 98 market and they recommend buying a new video card if I want to upgrade to XP.

Now I was wondering if other companies are doing this too?

-Glenn

My mate has a Matrox G400 and it runs fine on Windows XP 😕

Edit: If you look here you'll see that most of their cards are supported by XP, even back to the old Mystique cards which were released what 5 years ago??

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: GDoes
With companies pumping out so many different cards out there, I'm wondering how ATI and NVidia will be creating drivers in the future? I have a Matrox and a couple of years back they used to be the hottest cards on the block, however now they are refusing to write drivers for their older cards stating that this card was created for the Windows 98 market and they recommend buying a new video card if I want to upgrade to XP.

Now I was wondering if other companies are doing this too?

-Glenn

I don't think they were ever the "hottest cards on the block". How many years ago was this?

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: GDoes
With companies pumping out so many different cards out there, I'm wondering how ATI and NVidia will be creating drivers in the future? I have a Matrox and a couple of years back they used to be the hottest cards on the block, however now they are refusing to write drivers for their older cards stating that this card was created for the Windows 98 market and they recommend buying a new video card if I want to upgrade to XP.

Now I was wondering if other companies are doing this too?

-Glenn

I don't think they were ever the "hottest cards on the block". How many years ago was this?

 

[Mitzi]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024

Originally posted by: GDoes
With companies pumping out so many different cards out there, I'm wondering how ATI and NVidia will be creating drivers in the future? I have a Matrox and a couple of years back they used to be the hottest cards on the block, however now they are refusing to write drivers for their older cards stating that this card was created for the Windows 98 market and they recommend buying a new video card if I want to upgrade to XP.

Now I was wondering if other companies are doing this too?

-Glenn

I don't think they were ever the "hottest cards on the block". How many years ago was this?

The Matrox G400 MAX released about four years ago was arguably the best 2D/3D video card around at the time...it certainly beat the pants off the Nvidia TNT2 card.

 

[Schadenfroh]

i have a millinium II that runs fine in 2K

 

[GDoes]

Originally posted by: Mitzi
My mate has a Matrox G400 and it runs fine on Windows XP 😕

Edit: If you look here you'll see that most of their cards are supported by XP, even back to the old Mystique cards which were released what 5 years ago??

I have the Matrox Marvel G400-TV, which includes a TV tuner and recording software.
Matrox never released any TV tools for XP.

-Glenn

 

[GDoes]

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
I don't think they were ever the "hottest cards on the block". How many years ago was this?

It is just a matter of opinion that is why you said "I don't think...blah blah blah"!

-Glenn

 

[jiffylube1024]

Originally posted by: GDoes

Originally posted by: jiffylube1024
I don't think they were ever the "hottest cards on the block". How many years ago was this?

It is just a matter of opinion that is why you said "I don't think...blah blah blah"!

-Glenn

True. However if indeed Matrox was considered "king of the hill" their reign wasn't very big. If memory serves, it was a toss up between the Voodoo3 cards, the TNT/TNT2 and Matrox's offering.

 

[BenSkywalker]

True. However if indeed Matrox was considered "king of the hill" their reign wasn't very big. If memory serves, it was a toss up between the Voodoo3 cards, the TNT/TNT2 and Matrox's offering.

The G400 had certain advantages at the time it hit, but it was troubled with very poor OpenGL drivers during its launch which was quite a bit after the V3/TNT2s hit and not long before the GeForce made its way to the market. If they had their drivers all sorted out when it launched, they would have had a decent lead in the market for a few months, but as it was it was a part that didn't live up to its potential until after it had been eclipsed by a larger margin by the GeForce DDR.