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Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga News and Community Announcements => Amiga Hardware News => Topic started by: GadgetMaster on May 12, 2002, 03:12:02 PM

Title: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: GadgetMaster on May 12, 2002, 03:12:02 PM
It seems that some  people around the world are not to keen on conforming to NDAs.

The following is a translation of a russian article with the leaked specs including photos and explanations of the new technology.

Digit Life Article (http://www.digit-life.com/articles/matroxparhelia512/index.html)

Enjoy :-D

Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: yssing on May 12, 2002, 03:55:58 PM
IF this is the one... I hope it is

It really looks good... YYYHHHHAAAWWWW !!! :-D  :-D
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: Weasel on May 12, 2002, 04:58:43 PM
Impressive :-)
but will likely be expensive.
Will Os4 support multiple displays?

now imagine something like this:
Amiga1G4 + this card + surround sound + three svgaprojectors on 3 side by side screens :-D

Its almost possible (and about time , it is the 21st century )
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: Elektro on May 12, 2002, 05:07:40 PM
I don't understand half of it :) but it sure looks cool :-D
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: Weasel on May 12, 2002, 05:21:23 PM
uhm
svgaprojector = like filmfrojector for computer ( on a big screen on the wall)
surround sound = sounblaster live/audigy with 5 speakers
(right,left,center and 2 rear)

It is possible to build something like this today, only the resolution of those projectors is not too high and the room needs to be dark (-ish)
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: redrumloa on May 12, 2002, 05:34:41 PM

Quote
Even if the company sells less than 10000 Parhelia-512 cards. The announce of this unique chip alone can draw the fixed attention.


That's us!! Just like the AmigaOne/OS4.0! Even if less than 10000 are sold, the hype alone will start a snowball effect! Matrox and Amiga. back for the future!

(http://plauder-smilies.com/party/dazzler1.gif)
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: Herewegoagain on May 12, 2002, 06:15:41 PM
Notice that most of the games shown there on the tripple monitor are based on Quake III engine, two of which I have and play (Return to Castle Wolfenstein and JediKnight II: Jedi Outcast).  Would be nice to have an Amiga executable so I could bring them along with me to the A1 (love my online multiplayer games).  RtCW could probably be done quickly as there is already a Linux and Mac version.
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: GadgetMaster on May 12, 2002, 07:29:32 PM
It think it's no use having release dates anymore.
All the info gets leaked on the web anyway.

More pics here:
Matroxusers.com Forum (http://forums.matroxusers.com/showthread.php?threadid=32858)

Some conspiracy theorists think Matrox "allowed" the leaks in order to create more interest. I doubt it though.

We should be seeing many benchmarkers put it through its paces soon enough.

There are enough people out there who keep an eye on Matrox. Its just that previous launches have dissappointed them. Rumours about a nextgen Matrox card have been circulating for years so we can only speculate the it has been in the works for a long time.

They have quietly been watching the competition whilst sesecretly developing the Parhelia.

Lets see how things pan out. :-D
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: anarchic_teapot on May 12, 2002, 08:35:15 PM
For those that can't read Russian ;-)

http://hard.zol.com.cn/2002/0511/40598.shtml

Notice the NDA bit and the fateful date of May 14th, 2002.

Now I'm ready to wager some A1 dev board owners will be making some agonising graphic decisions over the next couple of weeks... :-D
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: ShadesOfGrey on May 13, 2002, 12:12:53 AM
It would seem that the Digital Life Article (http://www.digit-life.com/articles/matroxparhelia512/index.html) has been pulled from the server.  Can anybody provide specs?
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: GadgetMaster on May 13, 2002, 12:38:36 AM
Yep the leak has been plugged apparently.

You only have to wait till the 14th May to get the official announcement anyway.
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: GadgetMaster on May 13, 2002, 12:38:37 AM
:-?
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: System on May 13, 2002, 01:57:26 AM
I read the whole press  pre release and this chip is One Bad Mother! :-o   I wish I could tell you the specs, but from what I read it Smokes Nvidia and all others in almost all areas. Supports Direx X9  And once again Matrox has set NEW standars for 2D Graphics.  Man, there was alot of information, but I tell you this, I will be putting one of these babies In My Amiga One when the Drivers are avaliable :-D
I will also get one for My Toaster 2 Editor
 :-D
Title: for webpage look here
Post by: Weasel on May 13, 2002, 01:58:44 AM
[color=FF0000]Pssssssst, don't tell anyone but....[/color]

I have ripped the digitlife page  to my homepage (http://home.hetnet.nl/~richardmtechrat/matrox/matrox.html)

:-D  8-)  
Title: Re: for webpage look here
Post by: GadgetMaster on May 13, 2002, 02:37:10 AM
Once its out its out!
The wonders of the web eh! :-D  :-D
Title: Re: for webpage look here
Post by: JetFireDX on May 13, 2002, 03:46:47 AM
I had heard that Microsoft dropped Nvidia for the next XBox's GPU....wonder if Matrox's (or a version there of) is the choice? Sounds like a beast of a chip, but lets see programmers put all that hardware to use.
Title: Re: for webpage look here
Post by: System on May 13, 2002, 05:50:39 AM
According to one site, which showed the chip  and display ad of 3 monitors side by side with one desktop spread across all of them...

* Up to 350 Mhz clock
* 0.15  micron process
* 80 Million Transistors
* Up to 20 GB/sec memory bandwidth
* 256-bit memory interface
* Up to 1.4 GB/s Fillrate and
* AGP2x/4x/8x with SBA and Fastwrites
* 4 Pipelines
* 4 Texture blocks per pipeline
* Triple Ultra Sharp-II 400 Mhz  RAMDAC
* Resolution up to 2048x1536x32bpp at 85Mhz
* Vertex 2.0 Spec
* EMBM & DOT3
* DX9 N-Patches
* Highend card will cost ~ $500
* Released end Summer
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: Skyraker on May 13, 2002, 06:32:54 PM
This all sounds well and good, and I would crawl on my belly naked over broken glass to have one of these inside an Amione... however...

With the current amione using a G3 it seems pointless to have so much graphics power as it simply won't be used...

Also can someone explain to me what 3d drivers does the Amiga currently use (we obviously can't have directx, what about opengl?) and will they take full advantage of these new cards?

I know some people are using voodoo chipsets so I guess thats under opengl and not glide.

Regards

Skyraker.
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: Herewegoagain on May 13, 2002, 08:03:18 PM
Quote
This all sounds well and good, and I would crawl on my belly naked over broken glass to have one of these inside an Amione... however...


Well, a 600MHz cpu is what Haig at Matrox Tech Support have said will likely be the requirements for the card, so yes the G3 @ 600 should do just fine.  But you are correct that it will not use it to it's fullest potential, because A1 currently only supports AGP2X.  That's not to say it would be a total slow dog either.  Just that it would not be able to reach it's maximum.

The Amiga uses Warp3D for 3D stuff, along with Mesa (OpenGL compatable).  So it has a good foundation, and will be getting a few other things like input devices, and sound (?) etc in the upcoming versions.  Someone else may know more than me about this, so feel free to jump in and correct me if I'm wrong.
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: Skyraker on May 13, 2002, 08:34:13 PM
AGP 2x deliveres a bandwidth of 528mb/sec, My point wasn't to do with the AGP but with the processor, is 600mhz going to be fast enough to keep up with this monster (and before someone tells me off for quoting clock speeds... I know, I just think they should have started off at 1ghz)

Regards

Skyraker.
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: Blackbeard on May 14, 2002, 02:47:45 AM
Just when we thought that things were looking good, all of a sudden that look even better! This is great news for the future of Amiga and it appears that they have made the right choices. With the newer PPC chips not far off and this totally SMOKIN' graphics card, Amiga will RULE the universe!
Title: Re: amiga will finally rule
Post by: System on May 14, 2002, 05:46:25 AM
Better Amiga rule than Apple or Sony. Amigans have suffered enough. :P
Title: Re: for webpage look here
Post by: ksk on May 14, 2002, 11:03:06 AM
Parhelia-512 (G1000)
80-90 million transistors
4 rendering pipelines with 4 TMUs each
512bit internal  structure
256bit memory access
TripleHead
SurroundGaming (3D image similar to the one used in IMAX theaters)
350MHz GPU
256MB DDR SDRAM working at 700MHz.

Matrox Parhelia-512 Launched in Japan
http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/story.html?id=1021332234
Title: Re: Real Matrox Parhelia Details leaked
Post by: redrumloa on May 14, 2002, 06:45:54 PM
Quote
That's a bit misleading and an oversimplification. The simplest way to explain what is wrong with that statement is encapsulated in one word: Amithlon.


That's probably not true.

Remember the old Geforce-II Ultra benckmarks? A 700Mhz P3 gave nearly identical FPS in all test against a 1.6Ghz P4.

And *YES* I would rather have a faster CPU than 600Mhz. 1Ghz would have been a better starting point, bit I can live with 600Mhz as a start!