Introduction

The Matrox graphic cards using the MGA-G200 graphic chipset are among the most popular 2D/3D combination graphic card on the market at this moment. With this new chipset, Matrox almost took back the top of the hill they were used to occupy when they launched the original Millenium. Today, the Millenium has been replaced by the Millenium G200 and has been followed by the Mystique second generation named the Mystique G200. The only difference between these two cards are a 250mhz Ramdac for the Millenium compared to a 230Mhz Ramdac for the Mystique, the use of SGram for the Millenium while the Mystique is using SDram and a TV out for the Mystique. The unique 128-bit DualBus of the MGA-G200 graphic chipset employs two independent 64-bit buses that operate in parallel inside the graphics engine to effectively double the raw performance of almost every operation. Additionally, the 128-bit DualBus architecture uses Dual Command Pipelining which permits read and write phases of two consecutive commands to be overlapped and executed simultaneously. The 64-bit granularity of the 128-bit DualBus means for frequent copying of small bitmaps and fonts, performance is much higher than with a traditional 128-bit architecture.

Installation

There are no specific difficulties to install the Mystique G200 and all you have to do is to insert the installation CD-ROM and give the correct path. The users manual included with the card is pretty thick as is written in three different languages including English, French and Spanish if I am not mistaking. Besides, this book contains very detailed information covering the hardware/software installation and setup for Win95/98 and NT4.0, an extended troubleshooting section, a display information section and of course an index. The software bundle in contained on two separate CD-ROM and is including full version of Motorhead (included on the installation CD) , Tonic trouble and Incoming as well as some other 3D demo games.

The performances

How I tested.

All tests were performed with the following system setup:

Motherboard: DFI P2XBL
CPU: Intel Pentium II 350mhz
Memory: 128mb PC100 SDram (LGS)
IDE first channel Primary port: Quantum Fireball EIDE UDMA ST 3.2A
IDE second channel Primary port: AOpen CD-936E UDMA
AGP slot: Matrox Mystique G200 16Mb AGP 2X
ISA slot number 2: Ensoniq Soundscape soundcard
ISA slot number 1: US Robotic 56k X2 modem
OS: Win95B OSR2 4.00.950B
DirectX 6.0

Unless than otherwise specified. the graphic cards drivers used were version 4.26 Beta 2. The only foreign drivers used was the OpenGL driver from Matrox and all the options enabled were the default options. No tweaking has been applied neither in the cards control panels nor in the games control panels.

All tests were performed with the VSYNC disabled except for the 3D Winbench98 benchmark tests.

The 2D results

Wintune97 Results

The Wintune97 results are the best results I've seen to date on this Benchmark. The closest result to this performance is belonging to the Matrox Millenium II. I know that Wintune97 has not a very good reputation but all things being equal when testing different graphic cards on the same computer it cannot lead to a very great error margin. The performance measured here is 2 times and a half better than my original Millenium using 4Mb of Wram memory on the same system, quite a difference isn't it !

Winbench98 Business Graphic Winmark

The Ziff Davis Winbench98 Business Graphic Winmark tests results are once again revealing that the incredible 2D performances of the Mystique G200 graphic card are reaching the top performances measured to date on this site.

The 3D results

The Forsaken FPS tests were performed 3 times each and the mean value obtained is the one indicated in the above results. We have a good indication here that this graphic card is not reaching a performance level comparable to a Voodoo 2 based graphic cards, however, the results obtained are very acceptable.

All the tests have been performed 3 times each and the mean value obtained is the value indicated in the above table. The OpenGL driver used was the one from Matrox web site. Again, these results are not even close to a Voodoo 2 graphic card but after I used to play Quake 2 for about an hour I can say that the visual quality displayed by the Mystique G200 is really excellent.

Special notes: While using the Quake 2 Benchmarks, I experienced many computer lockups when using the 800 X 600 screen resolution mode. These lockups may have been caused by problems with Matrox drivers version 4.26 which are only in their Beta 2 states. It could also have been caused by a localized problem in my system setup but it would be very surprising as I've never experienced such lockups with my computer before under these conditions. According to this, we can suspect a possibility of potential problems when using the 800 X 600 screen resolution mode with this graphic card while using drivers version 4.26 Beta 2. These information have been transmitted to Matrox so we can expect these problems to be fixed in the final release of their drivers.

Timedemo testing procedure used:

The computer has been rebooted for the next test.

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Unreal + Intel PII-350mhz
Graphic card	640 X 480 - 85hz	800 X 600 - 85hz
Matrox Mystique G200 16Mb AGP 2X	22.02 fps	17.08 fps

The Unreal Timedemo tests have been conducted with the original drivers (version 4.14) included on the installation CD. For some reasons out of my control, it has been impossible to run Unreal with drivers version 4.26 in their Beta 2 states. As shown in the preceding Benchmarks used, the Mystique G200 is not reaching performances similar to any Voodoo2 based graphic cards when used in a with pure 3D environment. However, Unreal being actually my favorite game, I played at it quite a while with the Mystique G200 and I have been totally satisfied of the performances and visual quality obtainned with this graphic card. Honestly, I noticed almost no difference between this card and a Voodoo 2 graphic card even if the later is exhibiting a higher frame rate.

Final Reality

The above values are the mean values obtained from 5 tests ran in a row by selecting the Advanced Benchmark option of Final Reality.

3D Winbench98

The Ziff Davis 3D Winbench98 is the only 3D Benchmark giving an advantage to the Mystique G200 and this is a clear indication of the inability of this Benchmark to correctly gauge the 3D performances of graphic cards in some cases !

Conclusions

In conclusion, the Mystique G200 16Mb AGP 2X is a very interesting 2D/3D graphic card developing enough horsepower to be used with todays most demanding 3D games. The visual quality and fluidity of this graphic card are very good even with the more complex 3D applications. The 2D performances are unbelievable and will satisfy even the more exacting desktop, office and professional applications users. For as long as this card will be installed on a poweerfull enough system it'll give very comfortablke perormances.

Click here for more information about the Mystique G200 AGP 2X.

Matrox Mystique G200's features chart
Feature	Benefit
MGA-G200 128 Bit DualBus graphics chip	Provides superior performance for 2D, 3D, and video
8 or 16 MB of memory	Provides true color displays at higher resolution, and increased performance
Full AGP* 2X support	Symmetrical Rendering Architecture for optimized AGP read and write support and texturing from system memory
230 MHz RAMDAC	Delivers fast screen refresh for flicker-free displays
3D acceleration	Fast 3D acceleration and frame rates for real-time game play
Hardware accelerated 3D features	Supports advanced 3D features such as alpha-blending, bi-linear filtering, tri-linear MIP-mapping, fogging, anti-aliasing, and specular highlighting to deliver realistic 3D images
Vibrant Color Quality rendering	Delivers sharp contrast and crisp, clear colors for maximum photo-realism
High quality video engine	High-speed software DVD playback
MGA-TVO	Video encoder chip provides PC to TV display output at up to 1024 x 768 resolution with advanced flicker-reduction and text enhancement feature
Maximum 2D resolutions	1920 x 1200 in 16-bit color 1920 x 1200 in 24-bit color
Maximum 3D resolutions	1600 x 1200** resolution in 16-bit color, 1152 x 864 in 32-bit color
Minimum system requirements	AGP enabled system with 8 MB of system memory, Windows 95 or NT, CD-ROM drive