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Kerry Pierce 2003-03-26 00:21
I want to add a monitor and am trying to decide which card to get. I've narrowed the choices down to a Matrox G550 or an Asus Geforce 4 Ti4200 Deluxe.
I do some casual gaming, no online stuff. The dual setup is for graphics editing.
Any opinions or info on either of these cards would be appreciated.
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Christian Studer 2003-03-31 10:56
Both cards should work fine, the Nvidia has faster 3D, the Matrox probably has slightly better 2D.
Christian Studer - www.realtimesoft.com
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rangertim 2003-03-31 22:40
I have just purchased a Matrox G550. While I am not completely unhappy with the card, I have had some surprises:
First, the card comes in two flavors. One supports either 1-dvi/1-rgb or 2-rgb. The other supports 2-dvi or 2-rgb and possibly 1-dvi/1-rgb. The first flavor will never support 2-dvi.
The second requires an expensive cable [~$50] to support 2-dvi. If you opt for 2-dvi, both monitors must be set at the same resolution and color depth.
Unknowingly, I purchased the first flavor thinking I was getting the second and could run 2-dvi. Since I run a 19"@1280x1024 and a 15"@1024x768, I am lucky I have the first flavor. With this card and my current monitor configuration, I must be content running 1-dvi/1-rgb.
If running two monitors with the G550, the maximum supported resolution is 1280x1024.
Video will play only on the primary monitor. Dragging a video window to the second monitor results in the video going black.
Some people have problems with vastly differing screen colors on two monitors and compatibility with MSI motherboards. You may want to visit the Matrox technical support forum:
http://forum.matrox.com/cgi-bin/mgaforum/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro&BypassCookie=true
Once again, I am not completely unhappy with the card. I should have done more homework before purchasing.
For what it is worth, if anyone is considering a flat panel I strongly recommend spending the money for one that will rotate. I use the portrait position as much or more than landscape.
Asus A7N8X
AMD XP2500
2x Corsair pc2700 512mb
Maxtor Diamond Max 80gb
2x Maxtor Diamond Max 120gb SATA striped RAID
2x Highpoint Rockethead 100 ATA/SATA converter
Matrox G550
Samsung 191t 19" rotating flat panel
HP 1520 15" rotating flat panel
XP Pro
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Kerry Pierce 2003-04-04 13:51
Thanks for the info, guys. I ended up buying the g550. But, I have an MSI motherboard. I hadn't heard of any issues with that... Well, I'll install it this weekend and see if it flys. :-)
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scorpionbruno 2003-04-08 06:38
Go for a GF4 TI4200 from msi.
Works great with your mobo
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Juan Lopez 2003-04-08 13:25
I think you picked the right card.
I have had a G550 for some time now and use it with 2 Viewsonic 19" E90FB. There's no 1280x1024 resolution limit as rangertim stated. Although with my monitors I am limited to 65Hz refresh rate at 1600x1200, but the card has no limitations. I also haven't had any problems with color. Although there are limitations like the inhability of the card to play DVD movies or simmilar stuff in the secondary monitor.
For most uses there are no problems, and many people might not even notice that there are limitations on the 2nd monitor.
Matrox support has been superb, while I haven't had to use Nvidia's with the other computers that I use. ATI's support is non-existent so hopefully you will not go that way.
I am planning on adding a 2nd card to run more monitors and I wouldn't go with anything that's not Matrox.
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