This card was more than enough until early 2000. (Updated 10/24/01)
Written: May 08 '01 (Updated Oct 24 '01)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very fast 2D. 3D isn’t too bad. Two head model very worthy of praise.
Cons: A good deal now, but still not worth the price.
The Bottom Line: There are too many better cards, with more modern features for around $100. 2 Head model may be only thing making this still a good choice.
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| grimjack2's Full Review: Matrox Millennium G400, (16 MB) AGP Video Card |
Stats: Machine primarily tested on was P3-500 running Win98. Monitor is a Viewsonic PS790. The card I bought had 32 megs of memory on it, but was neither the Max version, nor did it have the dual head capability.
I bought this card during the summer of 1999, and I only felt the need to replace it in early 2001 with a Hercules Prophet II Geforce MX (see my review of that card on Epinions as well). I replaced this card because it just wasn't cutting it for the newest games, most of which are using Transform & Lighting effects.
When discussing its strengths it seems important to mention that it may have been a faster card for pure 2d graphics. 3D Gameplay with it was very good when I got it, and wasn't too bad at the time I replaced it. Actually, I should specify that the exception was for games using 3D Transform and Lighting, which unfortunately almost all new 1st person shooters now use.
Another strength with the card is that the software and drivers uninstall extremely easily. This isn't a sarcastic criticism, but an honest praise, since many cards cannot even have new drivers added without a horrible process of removing the old drivers manually. There is actually a software program on the Matrox web site that did all the work for me. I wish more card manufacturers had this sort of thing.
The card has a feature called Environmental Bump-mapping, but I don't think any game I played ever really used this. And if it did, supposedly things would look slightly better, but I would have had a heavy framerate hit, much like other cards today do with Anti-aliasing. Another problem was that the newest drivers I installed don't like the taskbar being on the top of the desktop which I like to have. Not a big deal, as long I remembered to put the taskbar back on the bottom of the screen before I ran a direct-X game. If I didn’t the screen image seemed to be the height of the taskbar ‘higher’ than where it detected mouse clicks. I had a very hard time exiting from some games.
There are also some weird desktop 'extras' that are always there when I load. They did stuff that let me move around the screen image, change resolutions easier, etc.. I doubt they slowed down my system or anything, but I never really used them. I just looked at them when I first installed the card, and then never thought about them again.
The card came with a very cool demo that showed off its special 3D features. I wish more software did that so you feel more justified for just spending the money on a great new card. Not all games use all the features your particular card might have, and the demo showed you the potential. The camera swoops around some environmental bump-mapped objects in a forest with reflective water and flying pixies that give off real time lighting in the environment.
Unfortunately, all in all, I cannot recommend this card today simply because there are much better choices available if you are a game player. ATI has a Radeon VE dual head edition that costs less than $100, has 64 megs of memory on board, works better with two monitors, and has better game features. There is also a Matrox G450 that costs more, but is probably worth it. Stick with Matrox if you don't care about games, or want great TV features. The G400 may be a deal right now, but you'll wish you spent a little more money on a newer card.
My review of the Hercules Geforce 2 MX I replaced my Matrox G400 with:
http://www.epinions.com/content_21595000452
My review of the ATI Radeon VE I installed and set up in an office environment:
http://www.epinions.com/content_43268738692
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): 170
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Epinions.com ID:
grimjack2
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 - Top 500 |
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Location: San Rafael, CA, Marin County
Reviews written: 181
Trusted by: 124 members
About Me:
Film is my favorite art form. I live a life of constant amelioration.
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