Christian Studer 2002-07-13 13:01
My review of the Matrox Parhelia is now online, read it here.
I'll leave the card installed for another week or so, post any questions/comments here.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Wag 2002-07-15 08:44
How's the DVD quality? I hear it has no IDCT/DxVA support like ATI's cards. Pitty, especially at that price.
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Christian Studer 2002-07-15 08:58
Looked fine to me, a lot better than with the G450. But I noticed some tearing from time to time, which I didn't have with my Nvidia cards.
See the AVS Forum for more on DVD playback quality.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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kuglvinkl 2002-07-15 11:03
Nice review.
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Nite 2002-07-18 06:42
When you have time, can you do a couple of shots?
Matrox claims that the image quality on Parhelia with lower resolution and FAA16x+Aniso surpasses ATI's and nVIDIA's quality with higher res. Since you havea GF3 and P, I'm sure more people than me would be interested in a comparison.
What I'm after, is Parhelia at 800x600 (or 2400x600, which is the recommended Surround mode) with FAA16x and Anisotropic filtering enabled, versus a nVIDIA card at 1024x768, 1280x1024 and/or even 1600x1200, with and without FSAA.
If the quality is even or better on P with those settings than on GFx with 1024x768, then I'd say the P is worth it.
(also, some fps number, say, NWN, Quake3, etc. with those settings on P would be nice.)
If P can run a game with max quality, FAA16x and anisotropic enabled in 800x600 (or 2400x600 surround), there's no need for nVIDIA to even apply to my "next on upgrade" list ;)
(for fps-fanatics, I played NWN for a week without knowing the fps rate and I was quite happy with the performance, then I looked and it was like 17FPS ;) JK2 was finished with ~30FPS, so if Parhelia can excess 40+fps or even achieve the magical 60fps, it's more than enough for me ;)
for a sidenote, human eye can recognize only about 60-80Hz, so those 100+fps people claim are "vital" are nothing more than bragging. :)
my two cents. (more like $2 for the lenght of it. :)
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
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Christian Studer 2002-07-18 08:35
I have uploaded two Parhelia screenshots:
Quake3, 800x600x32, default settings
Quake3, 800x600x32, FAA-16x, Anisotropic
I'll make some screenshots with the GeForce3 next week (when I have removed the Parhelia).
I really can't do any serious benchmarking, I have zero experience in this area and a slow system (P2-400). Anyway, for what it's worth: I got between 20-60 fps when playing the level shown above with best settings, a bit better performance with default settings (approx. 25-70 fps).
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Nite 2002-07-18 17:51
Thanks Christian, you really are a marvel among people. It's less than 12h since I posted that, and you already did the shots. *thanks*
If all helpdesk/techsupport/customersupport/pr people would be like you, there wouldn't be such things as an "unhappy customer" :)
To the point, I think the "with FAA16x and aniso" image is definetly on par with my GF2Ultra and 1024x768 (even with 2xFSAA enabled), so if P can run that at 30-60fps on p2-400... *whee*
Matrox designed the P (and drivers) in mind that FAA16x/Aniso combined with lower resolutions would deliver results on par or in excess with higher resolutions on other brand cards, and they seem to have achieved that.
So the Parhelia reviewers (who almost exclusively compare on fps numbers on same resolutions with any AA/Aniso.) should compare the cards quality-wise, not resolution wise. Can a GF4Ti4600 deliver at 1280x1024, what Parhelia can at 800x600, FAA16, Aniso?
Now, the only problem lies in how to get the Parhelia, since I don't have the money :(
\Nite - "can't rain all the time"
Multi-Monitor Gaming Web
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paul 2002-07-27 20:26
I don't have a Parhelia yet, but I'm looking into it.
Hope this isn't to dumb of a question...
I want to connect 3 CRT monitors to the Parhelia, which shouldn't be a problem. As I also use TVOUT (SVideo) a lot I am wondering how that will work. To put it simple: Will I have to change any cables & adapters and even hook off one of the 3 monitors in order to use the TVOUT? Crawling under the table sucks ;) And if not, what happens with the monitor displays when I change to TV mode, will just one of them blank out while the other 2 remain useable?
As for the limitation about the triplehead only being useable in stretched mode. Can you already tell if this is a hardware limatation, or is there a hope that this could be fixed with later drivers?
And one last silly question: Do the dirvers support 1152x864 resolution and 3456x864 in stretched mode?
Thanks
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Christian Studer 2002-07-28 03:51
TV-out doesn't work in TripleHead mode, supported display configurations are 3x VGA or 1x DVI + 2x VGA.
If you boot with a TV connected, only the primary display will be enabled, and you can't choose any of the TripleHead display modes.
TV-out in dualhead mode: you can't use 2 displays + TV at the same time, due to the way the displays have to be connected. In dualhead mode, you can either use two monitors or 1 monitor + 1 TV. Switching between TV and VGA for the secondary display would require a reboot, at least according to Matrox, it's possible that simply switching the cable won't do any harm, but I haven't tested this.
Regarding 3-monitor stretched mode: I don't know if Matrox plans to add a 3-monitor independent mode, but it certainly doesn't look like it when reading the documentation.
3456x864 mode: I couldn't test this, my secondary monitors are limited to 1024x768 (15" LCD). My guess would be that it is supported, in independent mode 1152x864 is available.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Christian Studer 2002-07-28 04:09
To clarify how TV-out works in dualhead mode: say you have
- monitor connected to DVI1 (bottom connector)
- TV connected to VGA1 of DVI-to-2xVGA cable (TV has to be connected like this, no other option)
- monitor connected to VGA2 of DVI-to-2xVGA cable
It might seem that you'll be able to run both the secondary monitor and TV at the same time, at least in clone mode, but that's not the case.
What happens is that the TV is display 2, and the second monitor stays blank (also doesn't show up in Display Properties).
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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paul 2002-07-28 06:06
Thanks for the reply Christian.
Looks like this setup isn't for me after all. I really would love having 100% equal color/birght/contr on my 3 monitos (all same model/brand), but I'll just stick with a independent card setup.
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paul 2002-07-30 12:13
Afer looking at that reef demos again and again the damn Parhelia is still itching me ;)
However, I must have an *easy* TVOUT one way or another option, can't live without that.
So what if I get something like a PCI-TNT2 with TVout besides the Parhelia. I wouldn't have a 4th monitor to connect it to (no room), but I guess I could just leave the TNT2 disabled and use ultramon to activate it while having the output device set on TV as default in display properties.
Is that something that would/could work, or must nvidia cards be primary for TV output?
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Christian Studer 2002-07-30 12:56
I guess that would work fine, I used a PCI TNT with TV-out some time ago, TV-out worked fine when it was secondary (both in Windows and BIOS).
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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paul 2002-07-30 13:40
sounds good. If it works, activating the TVOUT of the PCI card wouldn't require changing any cables or reboots and the 3 displays of the Parhelia would even remain useable while doing so... am I right? Sounds too good to be true, hope it works.
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Christian Studer 2002-08-06 11:51
Here are the promised GeForce3 screenshots, done using the 29.42 Nvidia drivers:
1024x768x32 default settings
1024x768x32, 8x anisotropic filtering, 4x anti-aliasing
1600x1200x32 default settings
1600x1200x32, 8x anisotropic filtering, 4x anti-aliasing
Framerates: 40-80 fps with 1024x768 and 1600x1200 at default settings, 30-60 fps with 1024x768 high-quality, and 20-40 fps with 1600x1200 high-quality.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Geotpf 2002-08-14 10:33
Hmm, you got a Parhelia with a Pentium 2 400. I'm kinda surprised it worked at all. The specs say the minimum is a Pentium 3 600.
In any case, for the TV out/whatever, this may help. There are two DVI ports on the main card. It comes with a 1 DVI to 1 VGA connector, a 1 DVI to 2 VGA cable, and a 1 DVI to video and S-Video cable. Either of the cables can be plugged into the second DVI port, but not the first. So you can have (DVI or VGA) + (DVI or Video or S-Video or DVI or (VGA + VGA)), if that makes sense.
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Rock 2002-10-16 20:28
That was an awesome review. I have a question regarding your last sentence. "Personally, I will go back to my previous system with an AGP GeForce3 and 2x PCI GeForce2 MX. This configuration offers more functionality at the moment than the Parhelia." What do you mean by that? Do you get a triple monitor by doing that? How can I do that? I believe I have a 2x PCI GeForce2 MX on my computer. Do I just place a AGP GeForce3 and its drivers and it should work? Thank you.
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Rob Smith 2002-10-17 00:05
Could you take a few more screenshots in surrond gaming mode, 3xVGA with for example the included matrox fish screensaver and some other games with maximum quality settings on. Could be nice wallpapers.
http://www.agreathost.net/multiscreen2/index.html
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Christian Studer 2002-10-17 05:37
I have a 3-monitor system with an AGP GeForce3 and two PCI GeForce2 MX cards (single-head only). A dualhead PCI card instead of two single-head cards should also work fine, but you might want to check the database first.
Note that you can't do surround gaming with such a setup, you can't tell Windows to treat all 3 displays as a single large one.
The advantages for me are video overlays on every monitor, DirectX acceleration on all monitors, and with the latest beta drivers you could also get OpenGL acceleration on all monitors (I'm using the default XP drivers myself though, no stability issues).
Rob: if I get around to testing the Parhelia with newer drivers, I'll do that.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Christian Studer 2003-03-09 06:47
I have updated the Matrox Parhelia review using the latest drivers. Driver quality has been improved a lot, and most of the issues I encountered have been fixed. A new feature has been added as well, you can now use 2 monitors for the Windows desktop and a 3rd monitor or TV for video mirroring or zooming.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Vegard Skjefstad 2003-03-13 13:35
Well for some nice pics, both of chicks and some kickass 2 and 3 piece monitors (have to say that, my company makes them).
The pictures are taken at a Norwegian lifestyle convention and use a XPC cabinet at 2.4GHz with the vanilla 128Mb Matrox Parhelia Bulk board.
PS! The babes names are Gry and Anita, the guys names available on request. :-D
http://www.crusaders.no/members/shady/Mann2003/
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Mike 2003-03-15 08:41
Hey studer, so are you saying that using 3 Nvidia cards can't really do surround gaming? Cause I was thinking of going that route, Geforce3 Ti-500
with 2 PCI G4 440mx
Mike
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Christian Studer 2003-03-16 10:50
Hi Mike, this won't work because you can't make the game see all 3 monitors as a single widescreen monitor (as you can with the Parhelia).
You might still be able to play some OpenGL games in windowed mode, stretched across all 3 monitors. I couldn't get this working with Quake3 and UT2003 but it might work with other games. Also see the FAQ for more information.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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Scott 2003-12-17 04:29
3 Screen Powerpoint presentation HELP. Thanks a ton for your extensive review. I need to create a 3 screen PPT presentation and thought the Parhelia might do the trick... apparently not. Is there another way to do this? a dual head card and another single PCI display card? (combined to create a 3072 x 768 presentation)
thanks in advance for any info that you may have
EPSstudios.com
Cool Stuff to Look At...
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irfi 2004-03-10 22:44
I am final year master student,i am using Nvidia GeForce2 MX dual head display card. i tried severl time but i could not sucessed. If some one have idea how i can slove this problem.
i will bi very thankfull.
irfi
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lee welch 2004-11-28 21:43
i want to play a video over 3 monitors. so if i make a video that is 3 times as long as a regular one and use the Matrox Parhelia card, would it work? thanks and i hope that is clear enough.
lee welch
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concerned citizen 2007-08-06 08:41
I don't really understand how you could rate the triple head configuration of the Parhelia as disappointing. The only real reason for owning a Parhelia, is the ability to stretch the desktop across three monitors thus enabling "surround gaming". If you wanted three independent desktops, then other video cards would obviously do the trick.
What's disappointing is your slandering a great product. Bottom line is it seems you don't really understand the market for this product.
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Simon 2009-10-18 22:11
Forgive my waking of this thread, but I simply had to reply to this.
I completely agree with Christian (owner of both AGP and APVe cards) about Tripple being disappointing after all.
I started using my first Pathelia for audio in triple mode from beginning. But this lasted barely a few weeks. There was no getting way, that Tripple would never be substitution for commodity of additional independent screen. So Tripple ended as nothing but unusable feature for my work with Parhelia cards.
----------- old school BBS quote :) -----------
concerned citizen 2007-08-06 14:41 I don't really understand how you could rate the triple head configuration of the Parhelia as disappointing.
----------- old school BBS quote :) -----------
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