The Matrox "Parhelia"...The next King?

Prof.Wizard

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Stereodude

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It looks like it should be king of the hill until at least August (when Nvidia rolls out it's new toy that incorporates 3Dfx technology and some other intersting features). It's hard to say if the new Nvidia card (NV30) will be equal, better, or just different.

Suffice it to say things should get interesting. Supposedly 3dlabs and Creative have a new uber-powerful card in the works too. I guess we'll see if Nvidia and ATI have spent too much time trying to outdo each other and not enough time innovating.

Of course bowing out for a few years at a time and making a huge evolutionary leap all at once can be very risky. If your timing is off you won't be ahead of the generational improvement people (like ATI and Nvidia).

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Handruin

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With all these faster cards on the table, can most of the motherboards and CPU's take advantage of what they offer? The software is another story, what games benifit from this type of hardware?
 

CougTek

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The games using DirectX 9 features should benefit from the goodies of the G1000. The 3DLabs P10 will only have a few DirectX 9 features, it won't be fully compliant with it.
 

Prof.Wizard

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Handruin said:
With all these faster cards on the table, can most of the motherboards and CPU's take advantage of what they offer? The software is another story, what games benifit from this type of hardware?
Obviously you haven't played some of the latest titles with full-graphics (all features on!) and a resolution of 1600x1200 with decent FPS, have you?
 

Handruin

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Those titles don't really interest me. ;) I can't play at 1600x1200, but I'm not overly concerned about that. I wonder if these graphics cards are really getting that much better.

I saw the demo for the GForce 3 a year ago and they said it could provide graphics just like the movie toy story, but in real time. They also had a demo for doom 3, but where is that? What games are really taking advantage of all of this?

If all the newer cards are striving to play games at 1600x1200, and don't offer better graphics, then the advance in technology isn't anything special. I looked through all the graphics in that link you posted but none of them blow me away. It looked like the only "cool" looking effect they produce is chrome like water, but even then it looks too reflective.

I'm being a pain in the butt, I realize this, but for all the hype, I really wonder what DX 9, GForce 5, P10, and matrox G1000 will offer gamers.
 

Tea

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Stereodude said:
Of course bowing out for a few years at a time and making a huge evolutionary leap all at once can be very risky. If your timing is off you won't be ahead of the generational improvement people (like ATI and Nvidia).
Hmmmm ... yes. Consider Tseng. Remember the huge gap between the release of the ET-4000 and the ET-6000 chips? Then, if I recall correctly, another huge gap while they readied their never-released follow-on part. It was never released because by the time they had it nearly ready, it wasn't going to be competitive.
 

Prof.Wizard

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Handruin said:
Those titles don't really interest me. ;) I can't play at 1600x1200, but I'm not overly concerned about that. I wonder if these graphics cards are really getting that much better.
I have a 17" monitor. I don't care either about resolutions higher than 1024x768. However, bear in mind that many (serious or not) gamers are using 19" or even 21" CRTs... They need the higher resolutions.
I saw the demo for the GForce 3 a year ago and they said it could provide graphics just like the movie toy story, but in real time. They also had a demo for doom 3, but where is that? What games are really taking advantage of all of this?
Yeah, that was a usual Intel-like announcement...
If all the newer cards are striving to play games at 1600x1200, and don't offer better graphics, then the advance in technology isn't anything special. I looked through all the graphics in that link you posted but none of them blow me away. It looked like the only "cool" looking effect they produce is chrome like water, but even then it looks too reflective.
I think games' generations move along the current version of DirectX. Version 8.1 (the current) games have some pretty cool effects. I strongly suggest you see Comanche 4's trailer and watch the special water effects in the end... this is definitely amazing and only DirectX 8.1-capable cards can do it 100% credible as the real thing...

I'm being a pain in the butt, I realize this, but for all the hype, I really wonder what DX 9, GForce 5, P10, and matrox G1000 will offer gamers.
Probably more fluid FPS, even higher resolutions with even higher refresh frequencies, more advanced Anti-Aliasing technics, more complex programmable graphics algorithms, etc.
 

Pradeep

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It's downat the moment for me too James. But I have noticed that some people cannot resolve the address at any time.
 
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