Dual-Monitor Card

Drummer4Life05

Drummer4Life05

Say Something Smart!
I've zero-ed in on the Matrox G450 Dual-Monitor card.
Now, they come in 16MB and 32MB versions. Which would be the better choice?

Obviously, one would think "the more the better!" True, but I'd like to save the money and get the 16MB, but only if it will be sufficient.
This will only be for my DAW, so no gaming will be taking place. The most I will drive this thing is watching a DVD, so that makes me lean towards the 32MB version.

Any inputs are appreiciated!

-Justin
 
Hmm...

I think 16 megs should handle a dvd...
I have heard rumors that more graphics memory speeds up the system, theoretically it sounds good but Im not sure if it actually helps or not.
How much more expensive is the 32?
 
Second the Radeon 9800...got two 19" monitors...very cool with SONAR. The CRT's are getting cheap by the way.
 
Come on, seriously, with the exception of Pentium, how many of you actually read my first post?
No, I'm not buying that Radoen 9800 hulla-baloo. I don't have that kind of money.
I'll say it again, this time in english:
I have made up my mind. I will be buying a Matroc G450 off eBay. I see two different versions. One with 16MB, the other with 32MB. Do I really need 32MB, or can I get by with the 16MB. I'd like to save money, but if I need the extra RAM on the card, I'll pay it. The most I will be doing is watching a DVD -- no gaming at all.

Thank you and have a great day.
-Justin
 
Personally, even though I read your post, I would reconsider on the Matrox. The Matrox G4xx series cards have been known to cause issues with many different sound cards and recording apps. If you insist on the Matrox, get the 32 if you can easily afford it so the screen redraws will be faster. The less buffering your graphics card has to do, the less possibilities of it affecting something else in your system.
 
Thanks xstatic, I will look into that.

Has anyone here had problems with that card as xstatic mentioned?
I know they have been reccomended extensivley here, which is why I leaned towards them in the first place.
 
I have an integrated card for my #1 monitor and a PCI card that I got out of an old PC that I couldn't even get xp drivers for, but it works for some reason. ..basically probably a $2 PCI card at this point I would guess. I have NO problems. I would think that the diff between 16 and 32mgs would not make a difference in your situation. I have heard of 4 and 8 mgs working just fine in other systems. Save your pennies for you gaming computer. How fast does your screen really need to move for audio purposes?
 
hmmm - i'm surprised. ive never heard a negative on matrox cards.
so xstatic surprised me. but maybe matrox have changed something. i dont know. all ive ever heard is positives on matrox.
 
I've been a happy Matrox user for many years. Went from the ancient Matrox Millenium (1MB/PCI) to the Millenium G200 (8MB/AGP) to the Millenium G400 dualhead (32MB/AGP) and I've used them with Soundblasters, M-audio PCI cards, the Echo MIA and now an RME Fireface 800 and I can't say that I've encountered any problem that can be accounted to the use of Matrox cards.

Whether to get 16MB or 32MB... For 2D work, unless you run your screens at very high resolutions (like 1600x1200 and up) you won't benefit from the extra memory. So most of us will be perfectly happy with a 16MB card.

With all due respect but what xstatic said seems to be based on nothing more than unfounded hearsay so take that for what it's worth.
 
Thanks a lot guys.
I have never heard a negative about the Matrox cards either, so that threw me off.

Thanks again for the comments. Looks like I'll be going with the G450 16 Meg!
 
I had a Matrox G450 dual head for quite some time. I too had heard things that were great about it. It worked pretty well for me. Maybe its like MOTU sound cards. When they work they work great. When the conflict, they can make you want to pull your hair out. If i remember right, the problem was that somehow they seemed to hog certain resources that affected sequencers and occasionally gave users problems with pops and clicks. I am no computer expert, but at the time when I saw people with those problems, I remeber clicking links to soundcard manufacturers websites. There were posts on their FAQ's that mentioned possible conflicts. It seemed to only be the Matrox 400 and 450 cards, and not every one. It may have been tied to different motherboard brands and chipsets. In general I was pretty happy with mine.

What I can say for sure is that for less than $100 I picked up a new 256 meg dual head Radeon. Since then I have had no problems (not that I did before) and I like the way it handles dual screens much better than the Matrox. I am not saying don't buy the Matrox, just sharing some memories from about 2 years ago.
 
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