Matrox's New Three-Head Video Card

This Anonymous Coward was one of many readers to point to sites with information on Matrox's upcoming Parhelia-512 graphics card: "It appears that some foreign hardware sites have violated NDA and posted some very juicy details on Matrox's next generation hardware. iXBT's review can be found here(1), and a MURC posting with some other pics from China can be found here (2). It looks like the real deal. Will Matrox wake up from their long slumber in the 3D gaming market, or will this card be another stopgap like the G550 was?" Update: 05/12 14:07 GMT by T : Alexander Medvedev of ixbt.com points to the English version now online as well, and notes : "Please note, we can't violate NDA becouse we _do _not _sign _anything with Matrox Graphics. And never receive any info from Matrox."

Comments

Parhelia 512

[sxpert]

It seems this thing will kick major (major) major ass...
The thing works with 10 bit resolution
has 5 outputs, and 2 display controllers (dunno how they will have 3 monitors attached)
There is a glyph antialiasing unit (ahem...)
DVD/HDTV decoder (10 bits) and also a 10 bit video digital interface.

more info at
http://ixbt.com/video2/parhelia512/chip_diagr.jpg

Since its in russian

[MrBandersnatch]

The only things that I can make out are :-

1) It has some VERY fancy graphics tricks up its sleave.
2) 16xFSAA
3) 3 Head support for "surround gaming" which appears to be supported by the driver rather than requiring the developers to support it.
4) Support for 256mb of DDR ram.

The rumours I've head about this card are that its also FAST enough to give nvida some competition. Hopefully tom will have some benchmarks soon :)

Re:VERY low FPS

[Toraz Chryx]

It should be noted that the very act of taking a screenshot can stall the system.

try taking a screenshot of 3dmark using a utility that writes it to disk immediately, most likely the system will stutter, and it's DURING that stutter that the image is actually captured (hence the low fps readout)

the phenomenon occurs with Quake engined games as well. probably others...

More details at El Reg

[joe_fish]

The register has more details (and isn't dead):
Go http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/54/25238.html

Translated from Russian... I want one

[SHiFTY1000]

Specification:

80 million transistors
Technological standard 0.15 gm
Graphic nucleus/kernel and memory work with the clock frequency up to 350 MHz
Valuable is 256 bits (!) OF DDR the busbar/tire of the memory
The capacity of local memory on the order of 20 GB/sek
Capacity of local storage 64/128/256 MB.
AGP of 2kh/yakh/8kh including regimes/conditions SBA and FastShrites
4 piksel'nykh conveyors
4 textural blocks on each conveyor (!)
To fillrate:up to 1.4 gigas-peaktorrent and up to 5.6 gigas-flowtorrent
Apical sheydery of version 2.0 (Vertekh Syuader 2.0), four parallel fulfilling blocks
Piksel'nye sheydery of the version of 1.3 (Pikhel Of syuader 1.3), 4 textural + 5 combination stages on each piksel'nom conveyor, with the possibility of the association/unification of conveyors in pairs (we obtain 2 conveyors on 10 combination stages)
YEMBM and DOTE the imposition of the relief
Fixed/recorded T & L DKH8 (including the extended possibilities of matrix blendinga and skininga).Is actually special apical sheyder
Construction, storage in the local memory and conclusion/derivation to the monitor of image with the accuracy of 10 bits to the component of color (!). the technology of the 10- bits Of gigaCholor
Two built in the chip, 400 MHz, 10 bits to the channel RAMDACH, which use technology Of ultraSyuarp
Valuable of 10 bits.> 10 bits are tables for the arbitrary Gamma-korrekqii the concluded image
DVD and YUDTV of video decoder with the accuracy (at the output/yield) of 10 bits
Is supported the conclusion of image in the permissions/resolutions up to 20ya8khyshche'khe2bpp8shch Hz
Built-in the chip interface of TV -Out with 10 bit accuracy signal shaping
Two digital TDMS of interface for the digital outputs/yields or external RAMDACH.Is supported permission/resolution up to y920khy200khe2bpp
Two*** TRANSLATION ENDS HERE ***

There was also a mention of glyph antialiasing... And 64 / 128 bit per pixel colour...

Re:Major problems with Matrox drivers: Explanation

[Cloud 9]

"You can obtain an RMA for your board through Tech Support. Just make sure that you have registered your Matrox board on our web site http://www.matrox.com/mga/registration/home.cfm and have selected the option 'Obtain your tech support client id number...' [snip]

That's the way Matrox's tech support procedures have been since the days of the g200. After you go through their faq, you'll find a tech support e-mail address, where you can ask for support. After it's been determined that the problem is not a result of user error, the techie(who responds from his/her own address within Matrox) can then give you a RMA number.

They're not trying to make anybody jump through hoops, they're ensuring that the user has done everything they can to get the card working before tying up their resources by processing an unnecessary RMA.

Re:Free Software Driver ?

[mcelrath]

Matrox has been traditionally very friendly to linux. They produce Their own set of drivers (with source!) as well as a tool called "powerdesk" which lets you switch X resolutions on the fly. In addition, they are very friendly to developers.

All of my video card money goes to Matrox. End of story. I won't waste my time with these half-assed, hostile companies like ATI and Nvidia. (Yeah, so I'm a little behind the curve on this whole "3D game" thing...;) I'm extremely happy that Matrox will produce a good 3D card! I have owned the Millenium II, Marvel G200, and G450 dualhead and been extremely happy with them all. Now I'm just waiting for the Marvel G1000!

--Bob