Montreal,
Canada, June 14, 2000-Matrox Graphics Inc. today
announced the Matrox Millennium G450 Series, based
on the Matrox G450 chip which integrates
DualHead, DVI, and TV output. This new series of
graphics cards consists of the Millennium G450, a
powerful dual-VGA, 2D, 3D, DualHead, and DVD
graphics card, and the Millennium G450 DVI, which
adds DVI support. As the company that
pioneered DualHead technology, Matrox is now
taking its award-winning dual-display feature set
to a new level. The Millennium G450 Series brings
DVI and next-generation DualHead features to the
corporate desktop market at a time when the
competition is just beginning to implement
introductory-level dual-display support. In
addition to highly advanced technologies like
DualHead, the Millennium G450 Series' leading-edge
image quality, driver stability, and all-around
performance have readied this card to blaze trails
in the world of corporate productivity and
multitasking. In addition, the Millennium
G450 Series doubles as a well-rounded
entertainment solution for home users with 2D, 3D,
DVD, TV output, DualHead gaming, and more.
The Millennium G450 Series:
Equipped with up to 32 MB of Double Data Rate (DDR)
memory, the Millennium G450 Series is designed
around the highly integrated Matrox G450 2D, 3D,
and DVD graphics chip. As the Millennium G450's
power source, the Matrox G450 chip builds on the
Matrox G400's award-winning technology. Plus, it
integrates a digital flat panel transmitter, TV
output encoder, secondary RAMDAC, and 64-bit DDR
memory interface. Hosting all of these components
onboard the Millennium G450 has allowed Matrox to
introduce a more feature-rich product series that
is set to standardize DualHead across more markets
than ever before. The Millennium G450 Series'
DualHead technology provides immediate and
valuable benefits by letting users double their
display real estate by connecting two displays to
a single graphics card. In fact, the Millennium
G450 supports as many as six different
configurations of VGA monitor, analog flat panel,
and TV via two VGA connectors and one adapter
cable. The Millennium G450 DVI supports an
additional three display configurations.
Merging business and entertainment:
The Millennium G450 AGP 4X/2X Series features an
impressive array of productivity-boosting hardware
and software. The cards' powerful 2D engine,
256-bit DualBus architecture, and 360 MHz primary
UltraSharp RAMDAC pump out super crisp 2D image
quality at resolutions up to 2048 x 1536, at the
highest color depths and refresh rates. Users in
the mainstream and high-end corporate desktop
markets, as well as in the 2D and entry-level 3D
workstation markets, will benefit from the
Millennium G450 Series' DualHead feature.
Businesspeople and professionals can now enhance
the way they use everyday applications with a
selection of DualHead operational modes and
next-generation software utilities. Finally, the
Millennium G450 Series is equipped with Matrox's
high-quality unified drivers, making it easy for
users to install, manage, and update their
graphics capabilities when needed. But even
serious business types such as the Millennium G450
Series have to kick back and have fun. Because
these cards build on the Matrox G400's 3D and
video core, they also double as a well-rounded
entertainment solution. Value-conscious home users
and mainstream gamers will find the Millennium
G450 Series flexible enough to power educational
applications, home finance applications, Web
browsing, email access, DVD playback, and 3D
gaming-including DualHead-enhanced head-to-head
gaming and Environment-Mapped Bump Mapping (EMBM)
enabled games. EMBM title support is growing
steadily, with more than 25 currently-shipping
games taking the visual reality of 3D gaming to
unprecedented levels with never-before-seen
special effects and intricate visual details.
These easy-to-install cards also pack unique
features like Matrox's DualHead DVDMax and TV
Output, both of which will leave users pleasantly
surprised. With DualHead DVDMax, people can output
high quality video full-screen to a TV while
simultaneously using the desktop displayed on
their monitor. For someone surfing the Web for a
music video, for example, this means never losing
sight of the Web page on the monitor while
streaming video directly out to TV.
Well timed to respond to trends:
The Millennium G450 Series is well positioned to
respond to trends that are currently changing the
worlds of business and entertainment. Digital
content creation is booming, with professionals
and home users alike designing their own Web
sites. The convergence of PC and TV offers home
users more entertainment options than ever before.
The Internet is feeding new, unique content into
homes-content that isn't available on TV. These
trends make the combination of the Millennium G450
Series' graphics and DualHead capabilities even
more appealing since they introduce new and
enhanced ways of getting more out of the PC for
these and other applications.
Pricing and availability:
The Millennium G450 will be available via
traditional distribution channels in Q3 '00, while
the Millennium G450 DVI will follow in Q4 '00.
Retail pricing will be announced as the Millennium
G450 cards begin shipping.
Drivers and OS support:
Matrox offers support for Microsoftâ Windowsâ
2000, Windows 98, and Windows 95; Windows NTâ
4.0; Linux; OS/2; and the upcoming Windows
Millennium Edition.
Software bundle:
The Millennium G450 Series bundles Micrografxâ
Picture Publisherâ 8, Micrografx Simply 3DT 3,
the Matrox Software DVD Player, and a handful of
the latest playable game demos enhanced by
DualHead and EMBM.
About the Matrox G450
The 0.18-micron Matrox G450 2D, 3D, and DVD
graphics chip leverages a die shrink of Matrox
G400 chip technology to become the most highly
integrated discrete graphics chip on the market.
In addition to the components and capabilities
that made the Matrox G400 such a successful
productivity and entertainment accelerator, the
new Matrox G450 integrates a
Transmission-Minimized Differential Signaling (TMDS)
digital flat panel transmitter, TV output encoder,
second RAMDAC, and 64-bit DDR memory interface.
The chip also hosts two CRTCs, which form the
support base for Matrox's DualHead feature.
DualHead allows a single chip to simultaneously
support independent output to two physically
separate displays, including a VGA monitor, analog
or DVI-based digital flat panel, or TV. Fully
OpenGL and DirectX compliant, the Matrox G450
supports hardware-accelerated Environment-Mapped
Bump Mapping for real-time special effects and
stunning visual detail in 3D games. Furthering
image quality, Matrox's Vibrant Color Quality2
(VCQ2) rendering architecture preserves trademark
true-to-life color quality for cutting-edge,
32-bit color in single- and multi-textured
software applications.
Information about Matrox products, drivers,
technical support, and more can be found at www.matrox.com.
