<s>
Matrox	O
Parhelia-512	O
is	O
a	O
graphics	B-Architecture
processing	I-Architecture
unit	I-Architecture
(	O
GPU	B-Architecture
)	O
with	O
full	O
support	O
for	O
DirectX	B-Application
8.1	I-Application
and	O
incorporating	O
several	O
DirectX	B-Application
9.0	I-Application
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
had	O
happened	O
with	O
previous	O
Matrox	B-Application
products	O
,	O
the	O
Parhelia	O
was	O
released	O
just	O
before	O
competing	O
companies	O
released	O
cards	O
that	O
completely	O
outperformed	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
this	O
case	O
it	O
was	O
the	O
ATI	B-Device
Radeon	I-Device
9700	I-Device
,	O
released	O
only	O
a	O
few	O
months	O
later	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Parhelia	O
remained	O
a	O
niche	O
product	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
Matrox	B-Application
's	O
last	O
major	O
effort	O
to	O
sell	O
into	O
the	O
consumer	O
market	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Parhelia	O
series	O
was	O
Matrox	B-Application
's	O
attempt	O
to	O
return	O
to	O
the	O
market	O
after	O
a	O
long	O
hiatus	O
,	O
their	O
first	O
significant	O
effort	O
since	O
the	O
G200	B-General_Concept
and	O
G400	B-Device
lines	O
had	O
become	O
uncompetitive	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Their	O
other	O
post-G400	O
products	O
,	O
G450	O
and	O
G550	O
,	O
were	O
cost-reduced	O
revisions	O
of	O
G400	B-Device
technology	O
and	O
were	O
not	O
competitive	O
with	O
ATI	B-Device
's	I-Device
Radeon	I-Device
or	O
NVIDIA	B-Application
's	I-Application
GeForce	I-Application
lines	O
with	O
regards	O
to	O
3D	O
computer	O
graphics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Parhelia-512	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
GPU	B-Architecture
by	O
Matrox	B-Application
to	O
be	O
equipped	O
with	O
a	O
256-bit	O
memory	O
bus	O
,	O
giving	O
it	O
an	O
advantage	O
over	O
other	O
cards	O
of	O
the	O
time	O
in	O
the	O
area	O
of	O
memory	O
bandwidth	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Parhelia	O
processor	O
featured	O
Glyph	O
acceleration	O
,	O
where	O
anti-aliasing	B-Algorithm
of	O
text	O
was	O
accelerated	O
by	O
the	O
hardware	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
supports	O
16×	O
fragment	O
anti-aliasing	B-Algorithm
,	O
all	O
of	O
which	O
were	O
featured	O
prominently	O
in	O
Matrox	B-Application
's	O
Coral	O
Reef	O
technical	O
demo	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
in	O
a	O
flight	O
simulator	O
or	O
sim	B-Application
racing	I-Application
,	O
the	O
middle	O
monitor	O
could	O
show	O
the	O
windshield	O
while	O
the	O
left	O
and	O
right	O
monitors	O
could	O
display	O
the	O
side	O
views	O
(	O
offering	O
peripheral	O
vision	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
cards	O
were	O
released	O
in	O
2002	O
,	O
simply	O
called	O
Matrox	B-Device
Parhelia	I-Device
,	O
initially	O
came	O
with	O
128	O
or	O
256MiB	O
memory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
To	O
further	O
improve	O
analog	O
image	O
quality	O
,	O
5th	O
order	O
low-pass	B-Algorithm
filters	I-Algorithm
are	O
used	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
a	O
top-of-the-line	O
,	O
and	O
rather	O
expensive	O
card	O
( $399	O
USD	O
)	O
,	O
the	O
Matrox	B-Device
Parhelia	I-Device
's	O
3D	O
gaming	O
performance	O
was	O
well	O
behind	O
NVIDIA	O
's	O
older	O
and	O
similarly	O
priced	O
GeForce	B-Application
4	O
Ti	O
4600	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Parhelia	O
was	O
only	O
competitive	O
with	O
the	O
older	O
Radeon	B-Device
8500	I-Device
and	O
GeForce	B-Application
3	O
,	O
which	O
typically	O
cost	O
half	O
as	O
much	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Parhelia	O
's	O
potent	O
performance	O
was	O
held	O
back	O
by	O
its	O
comparatively	O
low	O
GPU	B-Architecture
clock	O
speed	O
(	O
220MHz	O
for	O
retail	O
model	O
,	O
200MHz	O
for	O
OEM	O
and	O
256MB	O
models	O
)	O
,	O
initially	O
believed	O
by	O
many	O
commentators	O
to	O
be	O
due	O
to	O
the	O
large	O
(	O
for	O
that	O
time-frame	O
)	O
transistor	O
count	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
ATI	B-Device
's	I-Device
Radeon	I-Device
9700	O
was	O
released	O
later	O
that	O
year	O
,	O
with	O
a	O
considerably	O
larger	O
transistor	O
count	O
(	O
108	O
million	O
vs.	O
80	O
million	O
)	O
,	O
on	O
the	O
same	O
150nm	O
chip	B-Architecture
fabrication	I-Architecture
process	O
,	O
yet	O
managed	O
a	O
substantially	O
higher	O
clock	O
(	O
325MHz	O
vs.	O
250MHz	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
card	O
's	O
fillrate	B-General_Concept
performance	O
was	O
formidable	O
in	O
games	O
that	O
used	O
many	O
texture	O
layers	O
;	O
though	O
equipped	O
with	O
just	O
4	O
pixel	O
pipelines	O
,	O
each	O
had	O
4	O
texture	O
units	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Parhelia	O
was	O
also	O
hampered	O
by	O
poor	O
bandwidth	O
conserving	O
technologies/techniques	O
;	O
ATI	O
introduced	O
their	O
3rd	O
gen	O
HyperZ	B-Device
in	O
Radeon	B-Device
9700	I-Device
,	O
NVIDIA	O
touted	O
Lightning	O
Memory	O
Architecture	O
2	O
for	O
the	O
GeForce	B-Application
4	O
series	O
,	O
Matrox	B-Application
had	O
no	O
similarly	O
comprehensive	O
optimization	O
approach	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Later	O
in	O
Parhelia	O
's	O
life	O
,	O
when	O
DirectX	B-Application
9	I-Application
applications	O
were	O
becoming	O
quite	O
prevalent	O
,	O
Matrox	B-Application
acknowledged	O
that	O
the	O
vertex	O
shaders	O
were	O
not	O
Shader	O
Model	O
2.0	O
capable	O
,	O
and	O
as	O
such	O
not	O
DirectX	O
9-compliant	O
,	O
as	O
was	O
initially	O
advertised	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Despite	O
the	O
lackluster	O
performance	O
for	O
its	O
price	O
,	O
Matrox	B-Application
hoped	O
to	O
win	O
over	O
enthusiasts	O
with	O
the	O
Parhelia	O
's	O
unique	O
and	O
high	O
quality	O
features	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
"	O
Surround	O
Gaming	O
"	O
,	O
glyph	O
acceleration	O
,	O
high	O
resolutions	O
,	O
and	O
16x	O
fragment	O
anti-aliasing	B-Algorithm
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
these	O
aspects	O
,	O
some	O
reviewers	O
suggested	O
that	O
Parhelia	O
could	O
have	O
been	O
a	O
compelling	O
alternative	O
to	O
the	O
comparably	O
priced	O
GeForce	B-Application
4	O
Ti	O
4600	O
( $399	O
USD	O
)	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
the	O
performance	O
leader	O
but	O
only	O
DirectX	B-Application
8.1	I-Application
compliant	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
within	O
a	O
few	O
months	O
after	O
release	O
,	O
the	O
Parhelia	O
was	O
completely	O
overshadowed	O
by	O
ATI	O
's	O
far	O
faster	O
and	O
fully	O
DirectX	B-Application
9.0	I-Application
compliant	O
Radeon	B-Device
9700	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Radeon	B-Device
9700	I-Device
was	O
faster	O
and	O
produced	O
higher	O
quality	O
3D	O
images	O
,	O
while	O
debuting	O
at	O
the	O
same	O
price	O
as	O
the	O
Parhelia	O
( $399	O
USD	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
the	O
launch	O
of	O
Parhelia-512	O
,	O
Matrox	B-Application
released	O
Parhelia-LX	O
,	O
which	O
supports	O
only	O
128-bit	O
memory	O
and	O
has	O
only	O
2	O
pixel	O
pipelines	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
video	O
cards	O
using	O
it	O
included	O
Matrox	B-Application
Millennium	O
P650	O
and	O
Millennium	O
P750	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Originally	O
,	O
Matrox	B-Application
planned	O
to	O
produce	O
the	O
"	O
Parhelia	O
2	O
"	O
successor	O
,	O
codenamed	O
"	O
Pitou	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
when	O
Parhelia-512	O
failed	O
to	O
compete	O
in	O
the	O
gaming	O
market	O
,	O
the	O
project	O
was	O
never	O
again	O
mentioned	O
and	O
Matrox	B-Application
left	O
the	O
gaming	O
market	O
altogether	O
by	O
2003	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2006	O
,	O
Matrox	B-Application
re-introduced	O
Surround	O
Gaming	O
with	O
their	O
TripleHead2Go	O
,	O
which	O
utilizing	O
the	O
existing	O
GPU	B-Architecture
to	O
render	O
3D	O
graphics	O
,	O
splitting	O
the	O
resulting	O
image	O
over	O
three	O
screens	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
June	O
2008	O
,	O
Matrox	B-Application
announced	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
M-Series	O
video	O
cards	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
2014	O
,	O
Matrox	B-Application
announced	O
the	O
next	O
line	O
of	O
multi-display	O
graphics	O
cards	O
would	O
be	O
based	O
on	O
28nm	O
AMD	O
GPUs	B-Architecture
with	O
Graphics	O
Core	O
Next	O
technologies	O
with	O
DirectX	B-Application
11.2	O
,	O
OpenGL	O
4.4	O
and	O
OpenCL	O
1.2	O
compatibility	O
;	O
shader	O
model	O
5.0	O
;	O
PCI	O
Express	O
3.0	O
and	O
128-bit	O
memory	O
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
AMD-based	O
products	O
,	O
Matrox	B-Application
C420	O
and	O
C680	O
,	O
was	O
set	O
to	O
be	O
available	O
in	O
Q4	O
2014	O
.	O
</s>
