Matrox G450 ... too bad for games?

[Guest]

I am contemplating the G450 for my new system
Athlon 850 / Asus A7V mobo
128Mb Ram
30Mb UDMA/100 7200rpm hdd
blah blah blah!!

and would be primarily using it for graphics/3D work so the dual head would be a real bonus. But I would want to play the latest flight sims on it (Janes or Digital F/A-18 etc). Does anyone have any experience with the G450, and can you tell me if it really is too bad for games. I realise it is not in the league of the latest nVidia cards, but it is hard to get a decent reference...

Thank

Chris

 

[Guest]

itll get you 45fps in 1024x768x16. its equivelent to a tnt2
not the fastest, but will run yer games nicely

 

[Guest]

Thanks for that, that is the first positive comment re games and the G450 I think I have ever heard!!! My mate has a TNT2 and his runs pretty good. Just have to buy another monitor now!!! If anyone else has any opinions, please let me know...

 

[Kodiak]

I don't have a G450 myself, but a friend of mine does; he does a lot of CADD work, he couldn't go back (he had a GF2 Ultra, GlADLY switched it for the G450).
In games, he doesn't get the best possible rates, simply because the dual-head is always on in his case -- that means when he gets about 2500 3dmarks, one should multiply it by two to get the real power of the card.

He plays Combat Flight Sim against us, has perfectly acceptable FPS on max detail, PLUS he beats us all, since he has the main forward view on one monitor, and an outside view and instruments panel on the other monitor... talk about having an advantage

 

[NarN]

What about those new MX cards with twinview?

I think Leadtek Winfast DH Pro is such a card.

It should be able to beat the G450 in gameland and also offer the combination of dual monitor or TV - monitor.

--
NarN - Ruling the world

 

[Guest]

yeah to be honest I did consider the MX twinview, but every review I read said that the twinview feature is nowhere near as good as the dualhead matrox. Pity cause the extra umph from the Geforce 2MX would have been nice for games... plus the matrox is meant to be much clearer for 2D stuff.

 

[NarN]

I also heared that you can connect your TV to a G450. Is that true?


--
NarN - Ruling the world

 

[Guest]

GF2MX cards don't offer dual monitor support. The TwinView architecture of the GF2MX is intended for use with a monitor and a TV set (not another monitor).

Take a look here:
http://www.asus.com.tw/products/Addon/Vga/agpv7100/feature.html

and here:
http://us.hercules.com/products/video/3dp2mx_ddv/features.php3



- Better go Green than Blue!

 

[Guest]

True.

Look here:
http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/mill_g450/features_dh.cfm




- Better go Green than Blue!

 

[Guest]

It is just such a pity that the G450 is not as good for games as it is for business cause this would be a blinding card. However, I do understand that matrox are aiming this card at the business end of the market, so the performance is understandable. We use G400's in most of our newer machines at work, and I really can't fault them at all.

 

[Guest]

True. But it's a good compromise.
It still has, at the very least, the performance of a TNT2. So, I think it can provide acceptable performance in games.

I'm not a Matrox user, but I know people who use their solutions. And since the HQ of the company is in my backyard, I take pride in defending their products a bit



- Better go Green than Blue!

 

[Guest]

The geforce2 MX will blow away the G450 for games. I have read three or four reviews about the Twinview on the Leadtek Geforce 2 MX DH Pro and none have said it has bad performance in twinview.
It supports two monitors and/or a monitor and a tv. I know of a guy who is running two monitors (split screen)at 1280 by 1024 and he says it's great. He does computer animation on it.
I would definitely get one over a G450.

 

[Guest]

I forgot to add that the Geforce 2 MX has much better OpenGL support than the G450. Faster graphics work.
The MX can be overclocked quite significantly as well.
Plus there is a hack to turn the MX to a Quadro2 MXR by moving two resistors.

 

[NarN]

After reading this thread I still don't know what to buy.

Both cards have twinview and TV-out.

The review on THG shows that the G450 isn't usable for 3D gaming at 1024*768 32b cause the fps drops to 26. Meaning, playing highres. games isn't going to work.

The Leadtek card on the other hand has very good 3D performance but lacks in 2D. I didn't find any benckmarks showing how bad the leadtek is to the G450 in 2D.

I'm planning to buy me an entire new box for (web-)development and design (2D). But I also want to be able to play a game once in a while.

So the final question comes to this: Has the Leadtek comfortable 2D performance? Usable for hours and hours and hours of development!

One other thing that could influence your purchase is the ability to play perfect, full size, TV-out DVD. I have no benchmarks for neither of them.

Greetings

--
NarN - Ruling the world

 

[Guest]

oh why do the choices have to be so difficult?! On the one hand we have the G450 which is superb for 2D and the Dual head, but lacks in the 3D department, whereas teh Geforce MX is certainly a winner for games, but may not be as clear in the 2D arena, plus the Twinview is not as matured as the Dualhead.... well at the moment I am leaning towards the G450 and just hoping that it provides my occaisional gaming needs (Janes F/A-18 etc ...)

Chris

 

[dbota]

Wondering what you decided in the end chris (morse). ?
I am building a new system, and stuck on the MX vs. G450 choice just as you were. (Also see some conflicting press about a ATI Radeon VE twin head). I am mainly a 2d person (and future twin view user) but hate to know that the G450 will have inferior 3d as everything seems to be gravitating towards video/motion. Also I haven't been able to ascertain for sure but it looks like the G450 will not support a DVI digital flat panel monitor (as will the Asus V7100 MX V1D) should I want to add one in the future.

Would be curious as to your final decision and anybody else's opinions also.

 

[Unolocogringo]

if you work on your computer for hours every day get the Matrox. the reason for this is the GTS 2 and MX cards do not have anywhere near the image quality as the Matrox.so be good to your eyes and save yourself a few eyestrain headaches............

 

[noko]

Well here is a review of the three mention candidates, G450, GFMX and Radeon VE
<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1423" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1423</A>
Looks like the 2d image quality and 3d performace of the Radeon VD is between the G450 and the GF2mx. Plus AnAndTech has a separate review of the Radeon VE by itself with benchmarks. Hopefully this will help you decide whats best for you.