Would you really believe a $45 video card could outperform its $200 counterpart? Well...most likely not, however if we've learned anything from the computer hardware world we should know that once in a while the underdog upsets the reigning Goliath. It has happened with processors, motherboards, memory, hard drives, and now with Video Cards. As many of you have requested, here is a simple comparison between the more expensive Matrox Millennium and the new and maturing Jaton ET6000. Lets see how they compare, first lets take a look at the reviews of the two cards...

Who says there are no great deals in the computer industry anymore? The Jaton ET6000 video card is not just a low cost PCI video card, it is, in my opinion, a video card which really gives you the most bang for your buck. For under $50 you can have a PCI video card which gives you tremendous 2D acceleration as well as above average MPEG playback. The 2D performance of the Jaton ET6000 is a bit below that of the Matrox Millennium, however it does outperform the ATI 3D Xpression+ in standard 2D Windows acceleration which isn't to bad considering the price of the card. What powers this amazing card? Well, the 128-bit Tseng Labs ET6000 chipset plays a major part in the amazing performance which is ideal for any gamer, especially when paired up with the Diamond Monster 3D. However, since the current PCI bus of our Pentium and Pentium Pro class systems is only 64-bits wide, the Jaton ET6000 paired the chipset with ultrafast Multibank DRAM, or MDRAM for short. Which can access multiple data access rows at a time, hence the name Multibank DRAM, and in turn allows the true performance of a 128-bit graphics engine to be seen. Too good to be true? Lets find out...

I've only experienced a few problems with the Jaton ET6000 that I should mention. First, the card supports no form of 3D acceleration (c'mon, what do you expect from a $50 card) which is perfectly fine especially if you will be using it with an add-on card like the Monster or if you have no need for expensive 3D acceleration. The only other problem I've run into with the ET6000 is its lack of support, many DOS games will detect it at best as an ET4000 which isn't too bad but you're still limiting yourself a bit when using unoptimized gameplay drivers. Windows 95 also detects it as an ET4000 however the ET6000 drivers can be installed flawlessly over those, not really a major downside. All in all, the ET6000 is an excellent card with a more than excellent price.

Have you ever wondered why most benchmarks Magazines and other Hardware Review Sites are performed using a Matrox Millennium? Well, that is mostly because the Millennium performs VERY well in synthetic benchmarks as well as real world operations. The 2D performance of the Matrox Millennium is truly bone shattering. With the Millennium on my FX83-A I managed to get a Business Graphics Winmark (Winbench97 1.1) of 150 with my Pentium II running at 300MHz (75 x 4)!!! In Wintune97, a score of 61MP is as easy as flipping a light switch with the Millennium. Don't think that the Millennium only performs well in benchmark applications, it also performs excellent in gaming and business/high end applications. For example, in Quake, at 320 x 200 in E1M1 with the Millennium I receive a Timerefresh score of 174fps!!! (on the same Pentium II system). That is truly amazing for a 2MB video card. The MPEG playback of the Millennium closely rivals that of ATI's 3D Xpression+. And with the optional Media Playback card it surpasses the 3D Xpression+ by a significant amount. You also have the option of adding in a TV tuner (like the 3D Xpression+) so you can view Television Programs directly on your PC, neat feature if you don't have a TV in your computer work area.

The Matrox Millennium and its multitude of expansion capabilities does suffer from some problems here and there. Unfortunately, the 3D performance of the Matrox Millennium isn't anywhere near its 2D (Windows) performance. The Millennium has average 3D acceleration, however the card still lacks some of the major 3D functions (Mip Mapping etc...). Its SVGA Dos gaming performance is also lagging behind its 2D acceleration. In Quake, at 640 x 400 I only get 30fps on my Pentium II running at 300MHz compared to the ATI 3D Xpression's 50fps+. The Millennium II may prove to be a worthy successor to the original Millennium, possibly correcting some of its flaws.

Vendor(s): Megatrends Technologies / Sage Computer Solutions
WebSite(s): Megatrends - http://www.megacom.com / Sage Computer Solutions - http://www.sagecomp.com
Phone: Megatrends - 1-800-495-2955 / Sage Computer Solutions - 1-813-661-6125

When I first tested the Matrox Millennium I was left wanting much more, I felt that Matrox let us all down with the lackluster 3D support and poor direct draw performance. With the announcement of the Millennium II came high expectations, which were ALL fulfilled by its release. While still maintaining the excellent 2D and MPEG performance of its predecessor, the Millennium II added excellent 3D acceleration as well as the ability to support much higher resolutions courtesy of the increased RAM capacity (16MB). Although targeted mainly for professional use, the Matrox Millennium II surpassed the original Millennium in all synthetic benchmarks as well as the Jaton ET6000 in Direct Draw performance, something the original Millennium simply could not accomplish. The Millennium II is perfectly paired with the Diamond Monster 3D to make the ultimate professional video system as well as an awesome gaming system. As with other Matrox cards you have the option of adding a variety of expansion cards onto the Millennium II, including the Rainbow Runner, an award winning digital video editing card which increases the overall quality of the already superb video card. The 16MB RAM limit of the Millennium II makes it an viable option for high end users, and since it is optimized for use with the Pentium II as well as larger monitors it makes the perfect addition to any system used for professional video work. Like the original Millennium, the Millennium II comes with its own intelligently designed configuration utility which also allows switching resolutions/color depths on the fly. The installation is very user friendly, just make sure that you properly remove your previous video card before installing this one. The Millennium II should also work in multiple monitor configurations much like the Millennium, although I received no confirmation of this. As you might be able to tell by the power of the video card, the Millennium II's software bundle is mainly centered around professional applications, so don't look forward to play any games with the Millennium II when you open the box. Overall it is an excellent card, with its own set of flaws unfortunately....

The price of performance, how much are you willing to spend for the ultimate system? The $235 price tag on the Millennium II may be the scary factor of this video card. It should not be used as a gaming card, the Jaton ET6000 + Monster 3D combo makes a much more sensible decision if you are looking for a gaming system. The Millennium II is geared towards professional use, and the hefty price tag reflects that.

Now for the test. Basically, I used the same system while simply swapping out the video card to complete the tests. To balance out the tests I used the 2MB versions of both video cards, so without any further adieu, the tests...and the results

Matrox Millennium II WinBench 97 Version 1.1 Graphics Winmark Results
Resolution	Business Graphics Winmark 97	High End Graphics Winmark 97
800 x 600 x 8 bit Color (256 Colors)	162	No Result
800 x 600 x 16 bit Color (65K Colors)	146	No Result
800 x 600 x 24 bit Color (16.7M Colors)	126	No Result
800 x 600 x 32 bit Color (67B Colors)	116	No Result
1024 x 768 x 8 bit Color (256 Colors)	154	68.4
1024 x 768 x 16 bit Color (65K Colors)	118	57.0
1024 x 768 x 24 bit Color (16.7M Colors)	104	52.1
1024 x 768 x 32 bit Color (67B Colors)	71.4	47.6
1280 x 1024 x 8 bit Color (256 Colors)	154	68.0
1280 x 1024 x 16 bit Color (65K Colors)	107	55.8
1280 x 1024 x 24 bit Color (16.7M Colors)	78.6	48.9

The Millennium II is a worthy successor to the Millennium, blowing the ET6000 away in all tests, as well as the original Millennium. However, what looked to be an easy win for Matrox turned into a major upset by Jaton. It took a more expensive Millennium II to beat the direct draw performance of the Jaton ET6000. Check out the Direct Draw tests below...

WinBench 97 Version 1.1 Direct Draw Results in Million Pixels/Sec
Test	Jaton ET6000	Matrox Millennium	Matrox Millennium II
DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 640 x 480	134	54.9	138
DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 800 x 600	132	54.1	136
DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 1024 x 768	130	53.7	134
DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 1152 x 864	No Result	No Result	No Result
DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 1280 x 1024	122	53	132
DirectDraw/Animate Screen Size, 1600 x 1200	No Result	No Result	No Result
DirectDraw/Animate Color Depth, 8 bit	134	54.9	138
DirectDraw/Animate Color Depth, 16 bit	76.8	28.9	79.8
DirectDraw/Animate Color Depth, 24 bit	32.9	19.4	46.4
DirectDraw/Animate Color Depth, 32 bit	No Result	No Result	No Result
DirectDraw/Animate BltFast	134	54.9	138
DirectDraw/Animate Blt	134	54.8	138
DirectDraw/Animate Solid	134	127	134
DirectDraw/Animate Transparent	134	54.5	143
DirectDraw/Animate Full Screen	130	53.5	136
DirectDraw/Animate Windowed	99.2	46.9	112
DirectDraw/Animate Clipped	101	47.2	114
DirectDraw/Animate Memory, Source in video, Work area in video	134	54.9	138
DirectDraw/Animate Memory, Source in system, Work area in video	39.7	39.2	97.8
DirectDraw/Animate Memory, Source in video, Work area in system	59.1	58.7	140
DirectDraw/Animate Memory, Source in system, Work area in system	59.2	58.8	141
DirectDraw/Animate Blt size, 256 pixels	50.6	23.1	62.4
DirectDraw/Animate Blt size, 1024 pixels	86.6	42.1	89.0
DirectDraw/Animate Blt size, 4096 pixels	134	54.9	138
DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, 2.0x, 8 bit	8.77	6.7	16.9
DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, 1.7x, 8 bit	3.05	2.55	6.04
DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, Transparent, 1.7x, 8 bit	1.89	1.74	6.21
DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, 1.7x, 16 bit	2.02	2.54	4.61
DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, 1.7x, 24 bit	0.481	0.326	0.781
DirectDraw/Animate Stretch, Solid, 1.7x, 32 bit	No Result	No Result	4.54
DirectDraw/Fill Color Depth, 8 bit color	283	2580	2920
DirectDraw/Fill Color Depth, 16 bit color	143	1430	1770
DirectDraw/Fill Color Depth, 24 bit color	92.2	140	162
DirectDraw/Fill Color Depth, 32 bit color	No Result	731	940

Just look at these results. All the numbers in bold indicate a score at least 1.5x of the competing score. Most scores for the Jaton were at least 2 or 3 times that of the Matrox Millennium. Only in the DirectDraw/Fill Color Depth scores did the Matrox Millennium really come out on top of the Jaton ET6000. An interesting note, in the DirectDraw/Animate Memory tests, when the Source and Work Areas were placed entirely in Video Memory the Jaton ET6000 completely blew away the Millennium. Could this really be an indicator of how great of a team a 128 bit graphics engine and Multibank DRAM can be? In my upcoming RAM Guide I will explain the features of both MDRAM and WRAM, I believe a head to head comparison of the two is now necessary. The DirectDraw/Animate scores of the Jaton ET6000 are simply astonishing, and when running Business Winstone 97 tests you can hardly tell the difference between scores taken from ET6000 and Millennium systems. Both cards I tested were equipped with 2MB of RAM (2MB of MDRAM for the ET6000 and 2MB of WRAM for the Millennium) so there were no real handicaps placed on either of the cards. Of course if you require higher refresh rates and high resolutions the Matrox Millennium is definitely your card. However, based on these results, if you can survive at 1024 x 768 the Jaton ET6000 is definitely worth the trip. The extra $100 you saved by going with the Jaton over the Millennium could be put towards a Monster 3D, which might I add is perfectly paired with the Jaton ET6000. I only lost 0.1fps under Quake when using the Jaton instead of the Millennium, ah well. I'll be running some more tests tomorrow just to confirm the results, so check back for the latest information.

Now the Millennium II takes the place of the Jaton ET6000 as the fastest Direct Draw performer here, in some cases really wiping the floor with the Jaton ET6000 and the Millennium. The Jaton ET6000 is still the best bang for the buck, especially for gamers when paired with the Monster 3D but you simply can't beat the performance of the Millennium II.

MRM's Performance

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