Matrox Millennium G550 Dual-DVI

Advantages: Brilliant 2D, great for business use, also comes in PCI
Disadvantages: Bit long in the tooth, poor 3D performance compared to latest cards

.... The only problems I ever had were in trying to get the card to run at AGP 2x, which both the card and motherboard supported, but I could never seem to get it to run properly, but I believe that this was more the motherboard chipset (VIA MVP3 Super Socket7) than the card itself. Unfortunately for Matrox, only a couple of months after releasing this card, nVidia released the TNT chipset and then began nVidia's domination of the graphics card market, at least in home machines. When it comes to business machines Matrox are still ruling the roost primarily because of the afore-mentioned 2D performance. Since the G200 Matrox have launched the G400, G450 and will soon be releasing a new chip the G550, and the 2D performance is still ruling the roost, although 3D is lagging behind nVidia and ATI. One thing that Matrox has in it's favour is multi... Read review

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Advantages: high performance at low price
Disadvantages: Instructions not clear

...Not being too sure on the quality of Gainward I was hesitant in buying this card but was swayed by the price and performance ratings. This time I won't go into the basics and history and go straight in to the review of the card. ~ The Package ~ Mine came in the exact box next to the title, it's a large box and the card is then encased within another box so I would say is well protected. In the box came the card and all the cables you need for standard monitor or digital and power. ~ The Card ~ At first sight I was quite impressed, it has a red PCB and black heat sink and fan with a large mesh type casing around it. Normally I would rip off the stock heatsink and fan and replace it with a high performance one, no need to here as it cools the card very well. I noticed straight away that it has dual DVI but it... Read review

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Advantages: Image quality, dualhead, DVD playback, TV out
Disadvantages: 3D performance is only adequate

...The Matrox Millenium G450 DH. I've used one now for almost 2 years, and can honestly only use superlatives to describe it except in one area: 3D performance. Let's get this out of the way to start with. If all you ever use your PC for is playng fast-action games, then there are now much faster graphics cards on the market if you pay the price. Thus said, 3D performance is not exactly a big disappointment on games like Quake III. The cards which can significantly beat the G450 in this area cost almost as much as a cheap new PC ! The G450 has been around for a while, but there are still retailers with some in stock - and the price is now VERY competitive. It replaced the G400 'MAX', which was the suped-up version of the G400 (faster clock speed). Used on a system which supports 4x AGP, it performs. Image quality: I have not come across... Read review

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