New To Matrox: should I drop ATI for medical workstation

[IronYuppie]

Hello,

So glad to find this forum. I need help on deciding between an ATI 9800 pro and Matrox parhelia. We've always run radeons here, but we're building a new dual monitor (2x20" sony crt's) workstation that will be used for viewing MRI image studies. It's used for both neurology and general radiology and 2D image quality is very important. No gaming or movies, just 2D.

1. For a dual head set-up, is the Parahelia better than a 9800 pro?

2. What Parhelia card do you recommend? We'd like to stay below $400.00 US but it's not a hard limit.

3. I've been searching and it seems most of the articles on these cards are fairly old. Do you have any recent links/reviews on Matrox that you'd recommend?

[gpremec]

There are no new articles of Parhelia, allthough I was planning a new one this winter (and the article will be on croatian).

IMA, if you are looking for supirior 2D image quality in dual-head high-resolution workstation, Matrox Parhelia is the top player. 128MB version would be OK, but 256MB version is better (and more expensive). There is no real competition with Matrox Dual-Head tehnology, especialy for dual-CRT high-resolution high-quality monitors.

[IronYuppie]

So is there anything apart from the parhelia line that you'd recommend in that price range? I notice you have a g550, how does that compare to the parhelias?

[Hulk]

I would go with the Matrox P650 since all you need is the best possible analog output quality and support for dual displays. This card can do analog out for two displays at up to 1920 x 1440 resolution (1600x1200 for DVI). I think it is exactly what you need. The P750 would add TV out, and the Parhelia would add better 3D on top of that. None of which it seems you need from your post.

Yes, for the best 2D output and great dual head functionality I would go with the Matrox P650. It is pretty reasonably priced too.

- Mark

[gpremec]

Millennium G550 is one fine product, with the best 2D image quality (acording to the only 2D image quality test on web), even beter then Parhelia. G550 has drivers that are allmost perfection, becouse it is so long on the market (G400, G450, G550 are the same arhitecture). G550 have Dual-Head, but it only has 32MB of RAM. It gives 1600*1200 on two monitors in the same time.

http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/mill_g550/dh_chart.cfm

On the other hand, Millennium P650 would be interesting option for your use: it si Parhelia-LX based GPU, Dual-Head (not Triple-Head), and it has 64MB of RAM. Price is about US$170 (I think).

http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/mill_pseries/p650.cfm

IMA, Millennium P650 would be a better choice.

Matrox Parhelia 128:

http://www.matrox.com/mga/products/parhelia/128mb.cfm

Maybe Parhelia would be overkill.

What about Matrox MED series?

http://www.matrox.com/mga/med/products/mainmed.cfm

Those cards probably have special support for programs connected with: "It's used for both neurology and general radiology"
And they are probebly very expecive.

[Chrono_Wanderer]

G550 has EXCEPTIONAL quality on the first display, but I don't really know the secondary, as I haven't tried it myself...

I think you should get a P750 / P650 over a Parhelia. They have great image quality, designed as a replacement of G550 (esp P650), much cheaper than Parhelia, and has bugfixes from the original Parhelia core (750/650 chip is a slowe, but a revision of the Parhelia, so the tech is a bit more mature) Besides, Parhelia has banding, although you will not run 3D, I won't excetly call "banding" good quality.

I usually don't recommend Matrox anymore, but in your case I would because ur looking for the absolute BEST 2D analog output quality for work. I have used ATI and nVIDIA cards, but Matrox is still the king!

Cheers,

Ron

[Indiana]

Originally posted by Hulk
I would go with the Matrox P650 since all you need is the best possible analog output quality and support for dual displays. This card can do analog out for two displays at up to 1920 x 1440 resolution (1600x1200 for DVI). I think it is exactly what you need. The P750 would add TV out, and the Parhelia would add better 3D on top of that. None of which it seems you need from your post.

Let me add to that that the P650 even has advantages over the Parhelia: no banding. Mostly the seems to occur in 3D-applications, but there were at least some reports about banding in 2D as well in heavy load situations..

For this reason I would definitely NOT recommend using a Parhelia in this setup (I'm a radiologist myself and if the screen I had to look at the whole day had banding, I'd go mad..), at least not until you have a definite statement that the banding issues have been resolved.

The P650 has this issues resolved, is cheaper and has all the features you need, so it seems a quite perfect fit.

To ATI: IQ on the ATIs is good, but still not really up to Matrox standards.

(You surely know that the most critical part in this field is the monitor (insane contrast/brightnes-levels, etc. have to be guaranteed), the gfx-card is much, much less important..)