Montreal, Canada, June 18th, 2002-Matrox Graphics Inc.,
the leading professional graphics company, announces the Matrox Parhelia(tm)
family of graphics accelerators * the first graphics boards based on the
revolutionary, new Matrox Parhelia-512 high fidelity GPU. Delivering the highest
quality, excellent performance and unique features, the Matrox Parhelia line of
graphics boards is the first to offer a multitude of new features, including a
full 256-bit DDR memory interface, partial compatibility with Microsoft®
DirectX® 9.0 and the most advanced multi-display computing capabilities.
"We are excited to see hardware implementation of an
important part of Microsoft DirectX 9.0 technology in the Matrox Parhelia
graphics adaptors," says Channing Verbeck, Director of Windows Graphics and
Gaming Technologies at Microsoft Corp. "With its DirectX 9.0-compatible Quad
Vertex Shader Array and Hardware Displacement Mapping support, Parhelia takes a
significant step toward increasing the realism of 3-D graphics. And, with
Parhelia's support for innovative multidisplay features such as TripleHead
Desktop, its users will greatly benefit from the enhanced productivity made
available by running Windows XP in a multimonitor environment."
Matrox Parhelia graphics adaptors represent the highest
quality 2D and 3D multi-display computing solutions available on the market.
Ideal for desktop publishing, web design, software development, digital
photography, video editing and gaming, the Matrox Parhelia is targeted to the 2D
workstation, professional and PC enthusiast markets.
"Matrox has a long history of leadership in professional
graphics, display quality and multi-display computing," says Jon Peddie,
president, Jon Peddie Research. "With Parhelia, Matrox brings substantial
ingenuity and compelling features to the 2D workstation and high-end enthusiast
markets."
Widest variety of display outputs
All Parhelia boards are full-height ATX form factor with
two DVI-I connectors integrated on the bracket and allow Matrox to offer the
widest variety of display output options on the market:
* Dual independent DVI-out at 1600 x 1200 resolution
each (165MHz)
* Dual independent RGB-out at 400MHz each (dual 2048 x
1536 @ 85Hz)
* Triple independent RGB-out in extended desktop mode at
3840 x 1024 32bpp
* Various mixes of DVI-, RGB- and TV-out
The full flexibility of display configurations are
offered to end users by the standard bundling of three cables/adaptors:
* One "Y-shaped" DVI-I to dual HD-15 cable
* One DVI-I to HD-15 adaptor
* One HD-15 to S-video and composite cable
Matrox Parhelia boards employ highly developed
electronics and fifth-order filters, which-coupled with the Parhelia's dual
10-bit RAMDACs-ensure that signal quality is maintained at the highest frequency
desktop settings, resulting in flicker-free, ultra-crisp displays, free of any
pixel ghosting, sparkling or shadowing artifacts to deliver the highest-fidelity
RGB, DVI and TV outputs.
The Matrox Parhelia boards deliver the fastest 2D
performance, and are the first full-speed AGP 4X devices capable of accelerating
3D across three monitors. All boards offer an incredible range of cutting-edge
2D and 3D features, including 10-bit GigaColor Technology, four quad-textured
pixels rendered per clock, 64 Super Sample Texture Filtering, 16x Fragment
Antialiasing (FAA-16x), Glyph Antialiasing, a Quad DirectX 9 Vertex Shader
Array, a 36-op pixel shader array, and many more.
Surround Gaming
For the ultimate gaming experience, Matrox Parhelia
boards uniquely offer Surround Gaming for three- display game play, providing
the most immersive 3D experience for many popular gaming titles including:
Flight Simulator 2002, by Microsoft Corporation; Quake III Arena(tm), by Id
Software(tm)/ Activision®; Return to Castle Wolfenstein, by Gray matter and Id
Software, Inc./Activision; Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast(tm), by Raven
Software/LucasArts® Entertainment Company LLC; Unreal® Tournament 2003, by
Digital Extremes and Epic Games, Inc./Atari®; Imperium Galactica 3: Genesis, by
Philos Laboratories/CDV Software Entertainment AG and many, many more.
Included software
All Matrox Parhelia graphics boards will ship standard
with full-featured drivers for Microsoft Windows XP and Windows 2000 including
support for Microsoft DirectX 8.1 and OpenGL® . Parhelia comes with Matrox's
completely new PowerDesk-HF utility suite, providing easy-to-use controls for
hardware configuration and multi-display desktop management. Parhelia is bundled
with a special version of the Waytech Coloreal® advanced colour calibration
system. The Matrox version of Coloreal takes full advantage of the Parhelia's
dual, high precision 10-bit RAMDACs and allows users to precisely colour match
multiple monitors.
Also included is the Matrox GigaColor plug-in for Adobe®
Photoshop®, allowing users to view extremely high colour .TIF and .PNG files in
10-bit per colour channel employing one billion simultaneously displayed
colours. This applet is launched through Adobe's plug-in architecture and allows
interactive viewing of images at the highest fidelity. Matrox technology demos
include the stunning Reef demo-which showcases Parhelia's 3D technology and
includes more than 100 realistic underwater denizens rendered simultaneously-and
demos of Matrox's Hardware Displacement Mapping, which provides a new method of
representing and rendering complex 3D geometry using a simple and compact data
representation for the most realistic 3D scenes.
Pricing and availability
At introduction, Matrox Parhelia graphics boards will be
available with 128MB of DDR memory in both retail and bulk packaging. The retail
packaged version of the Matrox Parhelia 128MB board will have an estimated
street price of US $399 and both versions are expected to begin shipment by June
30th, 2002. Additionally, Matrox plans to bring a 64MB and a 256MB version of
the Parhelia to market later this summer.
About Parhelia(tm)-512
A source of unparalleled quality, excellent performance,
and the widest range of innovative features, ParheliaTM-512 is designed to bring
outstanding graphics quality to professional users and PC enthusiasts alike.
This AGP 4X, 80 million transistor, 0.15µ, 2D, 3D and DVD/video GPU supports a
unified frame buffer of up to 256MB in size and features a true 256-bit DDR
memory interface. ParheliaTM-512 delivers advanced multi-display computing with
support for TripleHead RGB output, DualHead digital output and TV output for the
ultimate in high fidelity graphics. With an unprecedented number of
groundbreaking technologies, ParheliaTM-512 takes 2D quality and 3D realism to a
whole new level.
About Matrox Graphics Inc.
Matrox Graphics Inc., the leading professional graphics
company, has been delivering high-quality, innovative 2D/3D and video graphics
accelerators for more than a quarter century. Pioneer of the trend-setting
DualHead® technology, Matrox is a graphics chip designer and board manufacturer
whose products have been awarded over 1,000 times worldwide for their superior
image quality, practical ingenuity and unwavering stability. A privately held
company headquartered in Montreal, Canada, Matrox has international offices in
the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, and Hong Kong.
Information on Matrox products, drivers, technical support and more can be found
at:
www.matrox.co.uk/mga
Matrox Graphics Inc. and Matrox are registered trademarks or trademarks of
Matrox Graphics Inc. and/or Matrox Electronic Systems Ltd. Other company,
product and service names and/or logos indicated above may be trademarks or
service marks of such other companies.
