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G550 or P650 in a new PC ? please help me decide
Hi,
I'm about to order a new PC, and where I live I have the choice of either a G550 or a P650 card. There's no 450 or 400 models, and anything above the P650 is out of the question budget-wise. I've seen comparisson charts which show different numbers but I'm worried of either spending too much on a P650, or later regreting for choosing the cheaper G550. I would really appreciate some user's real world experience. The new PC will not be used for gaming. Main use, besides internet, will be: - Photoshop editing, - Basic video editing, - Watching videos on a conventional TV. The new PC's specs should be: P4 HT 2.8gz/ Abit AI7 mobo / 512 RAM / 7200 rpm 80-gig HD / Windows XP So, for such needs and specs, I'd like to have some idea of what difference it would make choosing the more expensive P650: - Would the image quality be noticeably better than with a G550 card ? - Would the P650 make videos look better on the TV ? - Would the extra 32 megbytes have any perceivable impact over the system's overall performance ? Any word of advice is highly appreciated. thanks for reading this Augusto |
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#3
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Larc wrote
The only thing I can think of that possibly favors the P650 is more years of support from Matrox. But I'm sure the G550 will be supported with updated drivers for as long as you'll be using it. Thanks, Larc So I might save the money and maybe get extra RAM or else. As far as compatibility issues with motherboards, should I feel safe with the G550 in an Abit board (IS7-G or AI7) ? best regards |
#4
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wrote in message m...
Larc wrote The only thing I can think of that possibly favors the P650 is more years of support from Matrox. But I'm sure the G550 will be supported with updated drivers for as long as you'll be using it. Thanks, Larc So I might save the money and maybe get extra RAM or else. As far as compatibility issues with motherboards, should I feel safe with the G550 in an Abit board (IS7-G or AI7) ? The P650 and later models support AGP8X/0.8v signaling. They'll have a longer lifespan than the G550 and earlier cards. Rick |
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#6
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Couple questions, do you plan to use dual monitors? If so, CRTs or LCDs?
If CRTs, there is little difference except the P650 can zoom the desktop (PixelTOUCH) for each monitor independently. In the G550, PixelTOUCH only works with primary monitor. If you plan to use LCDs, the P650 supports higher resolutions than the G550 when DVI (digital not analog) outputs are being used. Since budget is at limit, I'll be keeping a 15-inch Sony monitor CRT, to be used with a conventional 29-inch Sony television set. I understand that even the G550 allows for watching videos on the TV while doing other stuff in the CRT, right ? When money is again available, I plan on getting a bigger CRT (LCDs are just way expensive where I live). I'm between a totally flat 17-inch Samsung with dot-pitch 20, or an 19-inch Optiquest with dot-pitch 26. Could you give an example of when and how the desktop is zoomed ? Do you mean changing the screen resolution (right-click, Properties,Settings...), or is it something more at hand to quickly use a key or mouse to change the desktop area's size ? Oh, and by the way I got the following response from Matrox's support: The Matrox P650 and G550 cards have been tested with many Asus and Abit motherboards and they work fine. There have been certain issues on some Asus boards but this has been fixed with updated drivers and bios for the Matrox cards. For more information on this and other Matrox products you should contact the Matrox sales team at 1-800-361-1408 or fill out the email request form found here. http://www.matrox.com/mga/contact_us...sales_form.cfm So I did that, and again I was specific as to the use I will have for the card (Photoshop editing, and watching videos on the TV). The answer from a lady of Sales dept.: The P650 uses a more advance chipset, which will improve the performance of the card especially when using Photoshop and TV playback. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have other questions. So I wrote her again, asking her to elaborate on what performance improvement would be perceivable in the intended use, if it'd be better image detail/sharpness/definition/color and if it applied to video image or the quality of text/icons on the TV, or both, and if a difference could really be noticed at 1280x1024 resolution, so to clearly justify the extra investment. I'm waiting for another answer. But here I have some good informatio to help. And I understand that the P650 is better built to handle the electrical specs of the latest motherboards, so it could last longer than the G550. I wonder how critical is this aspect if we consider that a computer will be good for some 6 years, not much more than that when new software and working standards turn it obsolete. But really, I'd like to know about this independent zoom capability, and if the TV will look better with the P650 or if the system could run slower with the G550, the two latter already anwered in this thread. Many thanks for everybody's help, and please be welcome to add any comments. |
#7
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Couple questions, do you plan to use dual monitors? If so, CRTs or LCDs?
If CRTs, there is little difference except the P650 can zoom the desktop (PixelTOUCH) for each monitor independently. In the G550, PixelTOUCH only works with primary monitor. If you plan to use LCDs, the P650 supports higher resolutions than the G550 when DVI (digital not analog) outputs are being used. Since budget is at limit, I'll be keeping a 15-inch Sony monitor CRT, to be used with a conventional 29-inch Sony television set. I understand that even the G550 allows for watching videos on the TV while doing other stuff in the CRT, right ? When money is again available, I plan on getting a bigger CRT (LCDs are just way expensive where I live). I'm between a totally flat 17-inch Samsung with dot-pitch 20, or an 19-inch Optiquest with dot-pitch 26. Could you give an example of when and how the desktop is zoomed ? Do you mean changing the screen resolution (right-click, Properties,Settings...), or is it something more at hand to quickly use a key or mouse to change the desktop area's size ? Oh, and by the way I got the following response from Matrox's support: The Matrox P650 and G550 cards have been tested with many Asus and Abit motherboards and they work fine. There have been certain issues on some Asus boards but this has been fixed with updated drivers and bios for the Matrox cards. For more information on this and other Matrox products you should contact the Matrox sales team at 1-800-361-1408 or fill out the email request form found here. http://www.matrox.com/mga/contact_us...sales_form.cfm So I did that, and again I was specific as to the use I will have for the card (Photoshop editing, and watching videos on the TV). The answer from a lady of Sales dept.: The P650 uses a more advance chipset, which will improve the performance of the card especially when using Photoshop and TV playback. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have other questions. So I wrote her again, asking her to elaborate on what performance improvement would be perceivable in the intended use, if it'd be better image detail/sharpness/definition/color and if it applied to video image or the quality of text/icons on the TV, or both, and if a difference could really be noticed at 1280x1024 resolution, so to clearly justify the extra investment. I'm waiting for another answer. But here I have some good informatio to help. And I understand that the P650 is better built to handle the electrical specs of the latest motherboards, so it could last longer than the G550. I wonder how critical is this aspect if we consider that a computer will be good for some 6 years, not much more than that when new software and working standards turn it obsolete. But really, I'd like to know about this independent zoom capability, and if the TV will look better with the P650 or if the system could run slower with the G550, the two latter already anwered in this thread. Many thanks for everybody's help, and please be welcome to add any comments. |
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#9
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Thanks for the descriptions, Steven. The desktop zooming seems indeed
a very nice feature. Have you ever tried it on a TV, if possible at all ? As to LCDs, they're not only expensive and, like you said, not pixel-dense as desired. Unless I'm quite wrong, they require you to stay in a center front area to view the whole screen, so when two people look at it it goes out of perfect. At least that's my experience with laptops' TFTs. Steven Whatley wrote in message news: The desktop zooming on the G and P series card enlarges the desktop. Let's say you like using a 1600x1200 desktop. PixelTOUCH cycles the desktop between 1x, 2x, 4x, 1x, ... I have this feature assigned to Alt + Crtl + "Num +". Each cycle doubles the pixel size. So at 2x, you see a 800x600 area of the desktop but the actually screen resolution is still the 1600x1200. Like wase 4x zoom you see a 400x300 area of the desktop and the pixels are each 4x4. As the cursor reaches the edge of the zoomed area, the desktop pans. The panning is very smooth and is done in hardware so Windows doesn't realize what is happening. Video overlay still works when the desktop is at full zoom (4x). I have yet to come across any software conflicts with Matrox's PixelTOUCH. Being visually impared this is a great help. I can run at a high res (1920x1440) but still be able to reed the screen. BTW, like you I am not ready to get LCDs, yet. The displays are too expensive and the pixel density isn't high enough for me. I would like a 17" LCD that can do at least 1600x1200. Good luck, Steven |
#10
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OK, to wrap up this thread, I'd like to add some extra information
provided by Matrox. Again, it's tech talk which unfortunately I can't evaluate other than agree that the P650 "is a better card": "The P Series uses the Parhelia chipset, which offers UltraSharp Display Output Technology and over 1 billion colors with the 10 Bit GigaColor techonology. The g450 or G550 board does not offer any of these new technologies. Please see the following comparison table for other differences: http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/c...ies_parhelia.c fm The P Series offers Glyph Antialliasing technology for ultra crisp text rendering. The GSeries does not." |
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