Will I need a DVD Decoder card with Matrox G400?

[sgopal2]

I'm planning on upgrading my system Generic CD-ROM to a DVD/CDROM combo unit in the near future.

Will I need to get a separate DVD decoder card or can I get away with a software solution? The Matrox website seems to imply that the G400's DVD ability is pretty good. I've heard otherwise and that video cards running dualhead tend to get slow if running a DVD in one monitor and using the computer in the other.

My system: AMD Athlon 750 | 3 x 128 MB RAM | Matrox G400 Millenium 32 MB Dualhead | MSI K7Pro Motherboard

All thoughts appreciated

 

[Biggs]

The G400 relies on CPU power for decoding. I'd say your 750 Athlon would do the job just fine.

 

[Workin']

You'll be fine. If your computer was 350MHz or less, then you might need a decoder card.

 

[sgopal2]

Thanks for your helpful responses.

Will I still be able to work in my primary monitor without any great hits in CPU load? (Assuming of course I have a DVD playing in the secondary monitor at full screen)??

 

[Workin']

You won't be able to play Quake very well, but Word or a web browser, etc. should run just fine.