R E L A T E D C O N T E N T

Matrox G400

newmedia newmedia, What PC? 31 Aug 1999

It's fair to say that Canadian 2D graphics specialist Matrox has had a few teething problems with its move into the third dimension. The company's early 3D products were no match for rival 3Dfx's Voodoo accelerators, and our graphics card group test (What PC? May 1999) showed that its current G200 cards still lack the performance required by today's top titles. Can the new Millennium G400 regain Matrox's share of the market?

Based on Matrox's new G400 processor, the Millennium card boasts either 16 or 32Mb of memory and resolutions up to an impressive 2056x1536 pixels. True 32-bit colour is available in all modes, twinned with an improved version of the company's VCQ (Vibrant Color Quality) system for noticeably rich images. The card is optimised for AGP 2x and 4x, and renders scenes three times faster than its predecessor thanks to the 128-DualBus architecture that can shift 256 bits at once.

Another interesting feature is the DualHead display option, which lets users connect either two independent monitors or a monitor and TV simultaneously.

You can split applications across two screens, or show DVDs to your kids on the telly while you get on with your work.

As with S3's new Savage 4 chip, the G400 can handle textures up to 2048x2480 pixels in size. This compares favorably with rivals - it's better than Voodoo3 cards - and could provide a vast improvement in image quality for games and multimedia titles if adopted by developers. Matrox has also incorporated environment bump-mapping, essential for producing realistic environments such as hills and water effects.

Of course, all this is nothing without real world performance and in our Labs tests the G400 outclassed both Savage 4 and TNT2 cards with a 3DMark 99 Max score of 3536. But, while the G400 produced high-quality images, 3Dfx's Voodoo3 chip still has the edge in terms of frame rate.

A well-rounded, feature-rich card that's far more what we expect from Matrox. This one will certainly be a popular choice with PC gamers. But it's not the fastest card out there.

SPECIFICATIONS

Max resolution 2056x1536 pixels in 32-bit colour

32Mb of memory

AGP 2x and 4x

128-bit DualBus architecture

DualHead display - two monitors or monitor and TV simultaneous output with separate refresh and resolution

Handles textures up to 2048x2048 pixels

16Mb: £116.32 (inc VAT)

32Mb: £151.57 (inc VAT)

32MB Max: £186.82 (inc VAT)

Matrox: 01753 665500

www.matrox.com