Video Card: Matrox Parhelia Review :: The Drivers

Matrox might be thinking that power users don't use Windows 9x. There are no Win9x/ME drivers. You can either install drivers on Windows 2000 or Windows XP. Support page states that Linux and Windows NT 4.0 drivers are coming soon. The drivers require the Microsoft .NET framework. If you install from CD, it automatically installs .NET Framework. We preferred to install the .NET Framework via Windows Update and installed the latest 231 drivers. We couldn't find any bugs and it worked throughout all tests flawlessly. If you are installing it on all English settings, there are no problems at all. But if you like to install it with different regional settings, you have to be careful. I write my articles in different languages so when I tried to play with the 3D settings, I ran into a .NET error. When I changed back to the English regional settings it worked fine. This looks like a .NET bug rather than a driver problem. I would have preferred not to lean on .NET. Response time of the drivers was longer than conventional drivers.

After installation it asks you for your monitor configuration. It shows you which adapters and ports you can use and allow you to choose. The system lets you configure each monitors resolution and color depth. You can even configure when you open an application window, which monitor it will appear on.

With most of the VGA card drivers, when you want to play games with different 3D settings, it is not easy to figure it out how to set it up. You have to know what type of 3D language it's written on and find its place in driver settings. With Matrox it is easy. There is just one 3D settings page and it is very easy to understand.