I'M NOT ANGRY YOU SON OF A !$#@~@)$*(
Ok... that's good :-) ;-)
Sorry, but I doubt I can afford or use something like that in my PC.
Well, it's not like it's my habbit of forking out 490 euro for 1 gfx card, and 1200 euro for 3 Belinea 101570s (Highly recommend if anyone is looking for a good TFT screen)... I don't expect to buy any PC related hardware for say 4 to 5 years.. (How fast can a P4 2Ghz grow old :-o ......)
It just seemed absurd to go off on the broadcast equipment tangent when that is SO not applicable to this thread.
Hmm... The topic is what's happening with Matrox, and if he means that Matrox is more and more becomming a broadcast/profesional equipment manufactor it is related to this topic.. Maybe not to your first post.
I believe the banding also shows up in games. So... even the non-professional users are seeing this in recreational computing.
I had this with my Geforce 2 card, but not with games.. Or at least I didn't notice them when playing games.. Tho that was a driver isue.. And somewhat unrelated here ;-)
You see, that's what's been happening with several of the Parhelia purchasers. That's why they are beginning to get frustrated with Matrox and feel as though they have been betrayed or deceived.
I'm not saying this isn't true, but in the Netherlands a dealer must replace the defective product if it is returned within 1 week (it's then a DOA) or if the customer wants replace it with another similar priced product. This may not be the case in other countries, but I sure as hell would go to the dealer, not Matrox.. (Would be difficult if the card was bought directly from Matrox)
That's what gets my goat. How can you, as a business, just do that?
Well, it's easier then to try to make customers happy..
Matrox used to treat the customers much differently.
Well, if they are in financial trouble they would try to do as little exchanging/repairing as possible..
Then the G400 got rushed, apparently, and the G800 got crippled and turned into the G550 instead. Then the Parhelia came out. All the time Matrox started slowly bleeding employees and no longer investing in R&D.
How familiar.. C= anyone ?
I mean, the Parhelia doesn't even do bandwidth saving compression of geometry or, what is it, occulsion testing?...Basically, it doesn't test to see if something is visible before sending it to be rendered.
Indeed it doesn't, can't think of the correct term at all, but I do believe Matrox explained why they didn't include this in the Parhelia.. Can't find it tho..
which isn't supported by every game, last I checked, and also drops performance down a bit--which is a shame since the resolution is also limited in what you can choose?
Hmmm.. I've only seen 1 test in a magazine about surround gaming performance, and the drop was either minimal or just as fast... AFAIK, the max res is 3 x 1024*768 but that's only when using stretched desktop and in games.. (No problem for me either, the TFT screens won't go higher then that).. The first drivers also had a problem with displaying video within a triple monitor setup, but it's working great now.
I'll skip commenting on the links, I believe I've read them all allready... Besides, I don't beleive in most of these benchmarks, some of them are biased towards one card or another, I prefer live testing.. (Not always possible, I was lucky to be able to borrow a Geforce 4 when I got my Parhelia, so I could compare them)
If the card's great for what you use it for, excellent!
ThanX, it is ;-)
I would not buy a Parhelia unless it was guaranteed not to have banding issues or unless I had a need (and ability to get) multiple monitors/LCDs.
I've said it in other threads/forums, I only recomend the Parhelia if you want it's extra features.. If you want raw 3D power get a Geforce 4 or the latest radeon.
You can't look at Matrox's financials because it's a privately-held company that doesn't disclose that information.
Bummer ain't it ? ;-)... Who knows, if they are in financial troubles maybe they go "to market" to get some cash..
There's a difference between realism and blind optimism.[/]
Again; how familiar :-)
However, your responses seem to be somewhat apologetic or dismissive--the issues I'm bringing up are not FUD, they are fact. You can find this information elsewhere on the 'net if you look hard enough.
Well, the reason why I'm "dismissive" is because I also know of troubles about Geforce / Radeon cards, and you often hear only the bad experiences... A lot of the bad feelings also comes from the overhyping done at MURC and other websites and the computer press. Somewhere down the line Ben Hermans said this card was a Geforce Killer (Feature wise it may well be), but Matrox never claimed it would beat the Geforce 4 IIRC (If I'm not, then I stand corrected later on).
I'm stuck working on a holiday while the rest of my company is off so I have nothing else to do for 8 hours today
I know how you feel... This is the first year in 3 years time I don't have to "stand by" during newyear, and don't have to work on the first day of the year..
i][I think Matrox's PC product division is in big trouble and being horribly mismanaged.
I think it's more a PR problem at the moment, but that's after R&D "cancelled" the G800 / relabeled it to G550 and after the Parhelia overhyping..
You haven't upset me and I hope I'm not too bothersome to you.
If I found you bothersome, then I wouldn't reply.
It's just that you seem so out of the loop for a Matrox user
Hmmm At work I use some G200 type chip (not sure, can't check it) and the Parhelia is the first Matrox card I have bought.. Before that it was nVidia and before that Voodoo.. I couldn't care less about Matrox, I do know that my next card is another triplehead card, either from Matrox or from somebody else.. Offcourse, if none of them exists, ah well, live goes on.. I have other important things to worry abouth (Health being one)
It seems like you're only hearing about these for the first time in this thread.
No I heard them before, but having to hear problems of others on a daily basis, and hear people teling me something doesn't work but wont' listen when I tell them how to fix it (Really... If a network printer can't be "pinged" then it's either switched off, unplugged, bad cable, or kaput... Reinstalling the drivers isn't going to work.. Jet, they refuse to check any cabling ! (I can't do it for them, I work "remote") I take these kind of reports a little light.
I wish Matrox luck and I'd probably pick up a Parhelia 2 when it gets released... if they hadn't apparently cancelled the project.
Nothing on the Parhelia 2, AFAIK only rumors. I don't expect it to be released for at least another year (Matrox doesn't seem to release new products as fast as ATI/nVidia) and don't expect it to beat he competition powerwise either...
I hope these are all just unfounded rumors but seeing Matrox's conduct and the issues with their current hardware has me leaning towards assumption of the worst.
Time will tell... Hell, as an Amiga user we should be used to this....
2 hours to countdown... But happy newyear just in case....