j^aws wrote:

The OP should test these cards in his system - shouldn't be too difficult.

Agree

The thing with S3 cards is that they can vary a lot from one card OEM to the next. I have a modest pile of S3 Trio64 PCI cards and they vary from great to horrendous output quality. Also some look better on LCD while others look better on a CRT.

Matrox made all their own cards though, so you get more consistency there.

Two benchmarks I use where my eyes notice instant differences between Matrox and S3 are Hexen and Windows 98.

The background in windows 98 will be a deeper more solid greenish colour with the Matrox cards.

The mouse will feel 10x more responsive in Windows 98.

In Hexen I always find the colours more vibrant with Matrox and the skin colour on the players arm is a dead give away.

Was it my system or the cards reacting differently with my monitor I don't know but the S3 cards always underperformed in pcpbench at varying resolutions too.

However S3 does generally have better compatibility. So if the Matrox didn't play my favourite games well that would be a deal breaker.

Try all three and make your own decision.

This was my experience in the system below and one other when comparing a Matrox Mystique and Matrox Millenium with a S3 Virge and a VLB S3 805i with a VLB ET4000

SYSTEM ][2]
Cyrix 5x86 133GP x4 (stepping 0 revision 5)
Biostar MB-8433UUD-A v2.0 (voltage trimmer mod, feipoa’s modded bios) AWARD 4.51PG BIOS (20/05/96) UMC 8881F 
512 KB 10ns TAG (W24257AK-10) 10 ns cache (IS61C1024-10N) – Chinese Reprints
64 MB RAM “SEC KOREA” Fast Page Memory – 16x36 PARITY SIMM (60ns) (1 x 72 pin)
PCI Matrox Millennium G200, 8 MB 250mhz SDRAM (MGA-G200) GPU Fan (1998)
ISA Creative AWE64 Gold, CT4390 w/28MB RAM (Simmconn board)
SCSI Adaptec AHA-2940U2W Ultra2-LVD (Bios 2.00.0)
SCSI Compaq 18.2GB Wide Ultra3 SCSI 10,000RPM 
SCSI Plextor PX-32TS CD-ROM
Roland Sound Canvas External Module (SC-55ST) 

Other Video hardware tested: 
Rendition Verite V2200 (4MB)
Matrox Millenium (MGA-2054W Storm) (2MB)
S3 325 VIRGE GUI Accelerator (2MB)

Solarstorm wrote:

badmojo wrote:

Solarstorm wrote:

I still have in mind that the Matrox cards had a pretty nifty RAMDAC and were therefore advanced in the picturequality but they never had enough power for gaming.
That's why later on Matrox specialized on medical picture stuff.

Yes but toss a Voodoo in next to the Matrox and you have a force to be reckoned with!

Indeed.

If you were unable to utilize a Voodoo (UMC chipset), would a Power VR be suffice? Overkill for a 486 I know.

Matrox image is more vivid (brighter and pleasant) than S3 Virge GX. But it seems that the sharpness is the same (very sharp).
So i guess i will keep S3 and one Millennium.

smeezekitty wrote:

vetz wrote:

A post I made some time ago with screenshots from Matrox and S3 PCI cards: Signal output quality difference S3 Virge vs Matrox Mystique

The S3 is is a little dimmer (and I notice mine is a little dark too) but other than that I honestly cannot tell the difference

Along edges, or rather, where there's a large difference in contrast/colour the image from the Matrox card appears sharper. It may not be "OMFG KITTENS!" level of difference, but it's about as much as you can expect to see from two same generation graphics cards.

Solarstorm wrote:

I still have in mind that the Matrox cards had a pretty nifty RAMDAC and were therefore advanced in the picturequality but they never had enough power for gaming.
That's why later on Matrox specialized on medical picture stuff.

They also specialize in broadcasting type graphics and things like multi-screen applications such a control screens for railways or video walls for advertising. And funnily enough they did most of these things before they got into "consumer graphics" as well. Unfortunately it's difficult to combine the consumer market and professional market segments, as both require costly R&D, and the profit margins in the consumer segment is smaller. I totally understand why they decided to drop the consumer division, but it was a sad day when it happened.

I doubt that the GX2 is as fast as the Matrox in DOS but I've read that it's faster than the DX so maybe it is up to speeds with latter.

Please think twice before necroposting. Does the thread really really need your answer? Does your post add value to the thread?
In this case, no, so thread closed.