New for the G450

Besides the die-shrink to 0.18 micron and the 64-bit memory bus change, there are several additional changes that differentiate the G450 from its older brother, the G400. Most of these changes involve the integration of components onto the card.

Secondary RAMDAC

One of Matrox's big points for the G400, and now for the G450, is the quality of the RAMDAC that is used. What the heck is a RAMDAC? A RAMDAC converts digital signals into analog ones, which are then used by an analog. The G450 has a 360 MHz primary RAMDAC, and a 230 MHz secondary RAMDAC. One of the prime advantages of having a faster RAMDAC is getting very sharp and very fast 2D, with high resolutions and color depths.

Directly related to this are the two integrated CRTCs on the G450. CRTC stands for CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) Controller. Each of the CRTCs can retrieve data from the G450's frame buffer (basically onboard memory) or from system memory via AGP from different locations. Having two integrated CRTCs allows Matrox to offer what is probably the primary selling feature for the G450, their "DualHead" technology. DualHead will be explained shortly.

Transmission-Minimized Differential Signaling! Beam me up Scotty!

I'm not a big Star Trek guy but some of this terminology sounds like it's straight out of Capt. Kirk's mouth. Transmission-Minimized Differential Signaling, thankfully known more commonly by the abbreviation TMDS, provides support for display output to a DVI-based digital flat panel. Apparently, you'll need to get the Millennium G450 DVI in order to take advantage of the TMDS integration. We assume the G450 DVI includes the proper connector. However, the integration of the TMDS does eliminate the need for a separate upgrade or "daughter" card.

TV-out encoder

The G450 has an integrated TV encoder, the MGA-TVO. The G450 comes with a connector featuring both an S-video out and a composite TV output.

TV-out connection options