Graphics stalwart Matrox collaborates with Nvidia on new video card series

Shawn Knight

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What just happened? Longtime graphics player Matrox this week announced a partnership with former rival Nvidia to develop a new range of multi-display embedded graphics cards for high-density video walls. The cards will leverage Nvidia’s Quadro GPU to power commercial and 24/7 critical environment applications, we’re told.

Matrox is a name that longtime hardware folks are likely familiar with. The company launched its first graphics card in the late 70s and tried its hand at consumer-focused 3D accelerators in the mid-90s. Unfortunately, its offerings often fell short in comparison to similar products from Nvidia and ATI.

Eventually, Matrox pivoted, finding a home catering to industrial, government and enterprise clients with niche needs.

David Chiappini, executive vice president of research and development at Matrox, said they are thrilled to work alongside Nvidia, the leader in GPU computing, to bring to market a new standard of high-density video walls.

“This collaboration is yet another example of our commitment to expanding our video wall portfolio while customers continue to benefit from our graphics expertise, world-class engineering, dedicated technical support, and long product life cycles,” he added.

The new line will consist of single-slot graphics cards capable of powering up to four synchronized 4K displays at once although installers will be able to combine multiple cards to drive up to 16 displays from a single system. The cards will support the playback of HDCP protected content and are compatible with Matrox’s PowerDesk management software for configuration and customization purposes.

No word yet on pricing and availability.

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I did not even know Matrox was still around. I am surprised they are, but this kind of a collaboration is probably the only way they will be able to survive.
 
I did not even know Matrox was still around. I am surprised they are, but this kind of a collaboration is probably the only way they will be able to survive.

Same. If I recall correctly, I had the Matrox G400. This was before I knew of any performance review sites.
 
Matrox's Millennium and Mystique series were some of the most popular cards during the SVGA and 3D revolution for the PC. The name "Matrox" brings good nostalgia of the golden era of PC gaming.
 
Ahh yes .. the "other" Canadian GPU company (besides ATi). It's too bad they were unable to keep up with the pace of ATi and Nvidia in the 3D acceleration space. Having another vendor in the gaming GPU space certainly wouldn't have hurt in the last few years.

Good to see they didn't fizzle out completely, they certainly were a name early on in the game.
 
I did not even know Matrox was still around. I am surprised they are, but this kind of a collaboration is probably the only way they will be able to survive.

They downsized, abandoned the gaming market, and turned to niche markets, as somewhat indicated in the article. They do well for what they do - there's not much competition in that space, so they'll be around for a while.
 
For a while I thought that Maxtor and Matrox are really one company.....or maybe they are 2 different companies (but one of them was too lazy to create a name for their company!)
 
I did not even know Matrox was still around. I am surprised they are, but this kind of a collaboration is probably the only way they will be able to survive.

Matrox never went away. Ever since Matrox retreated from the home user market they always had a niche in the professional graphics cards segment, especially multimonitor solutions. I believe they're still doing fine in this area.


I've owned a Matrox MGA Millennium and later a Matrox Mystique, back in the 1990s. They have always been lackluster in 3D, but were the best and fastest cards for 2D (including 2D gaming) around their time. I'd love to see Matrox return to the gaming GPU market, but as a strong competitor of Nvidia and AMD. A Nvidia partnership is just meh...
 
For a while I thought that Maxtor and Matrox are really one company.....or maybe they are 2 different companies (but one of them was too lazy to create a name for their company!)

Lol. Well Matrox has been around since 1976 -- they literally were "The First" graphics acceleration company ... long before PCs were even a thing ...

The name is derived from parts of the two founders last names.
 
It's about time Matrox "sh!t, or got off the pot".

Newegg has a warehouse full of their product which isn't going anywhere soon.

In fact, they're still asking hundreds of dollars for cards that would be embarrassed by Intel's 2000 series IGPs.

 
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