Matrox Parhelia 256 MB vs Quadro FX 5500
Primary details
GPU architecture, market segment, value for money and other general parameters compared.
| Place in the ranking | 1188 | not rated |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Power efficiency | 0.46 | no data |
| Architecture | Curie (2003−2013) | Parhelia (2002−2006) |
| GPU code name | G71 | Parhelia-512 |
| Market segment | Workstation | Desktop |
| Release date | 20 April 2006 (18 years ago) | 25 June 2002 (22 years ago) |
| Launch price (MSRP) | $2,999 | no data |
Cost-effectiveness evaluation
Performance to price ratio. The higher, the better.
Detailed specifications
General parameters such as number of shaders, GPU core base clock and boost clock speeds, manufacturing process, texturing and calculation speed. Note that power consumption of some graphics cards can well exceed their nominal TDP, especially when overclocked.
| Core clock speed | 650 MHz | 200 MHz |
| Number of transistors | 278 million | 80 million |
| Manufacturing process technology | 90 nm | 150 nm |
| Power consumption (TDP) | 96 Watt | no data |
| Texture fill rate | 15.60 | 0.8 |
| ROPs | 16 | 4 |
| TMUs | 24 | 4 |
Form factor & compatibility
Information on compatibility with other computer components. Useful when choosing a future computer configuration or upgrading an existing one. For desktop graphics cards it's interface and bus (motherboard compatibility), additional power connectors (power supply compatibility).
| Interface | PCIe 1.0 x16 | AGP 4x |
| Length | 229 mm | 175 mm |
| Width | 2-slot | 1-slot |
| Supplementary power connectors | 1x 6-pin | None |
VRAM capacity and type
Parameters of VRAM installed: its type, size, bus, clock and resulting bandwidth. Integrated GPUs have no dedicated video RAM and use a shared part of system RAM.
| Memory type | GDDR3 | DDR |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 256 MB |
| Memory bus width | 256 Bit | 256 Bit |
| Memory clock speed | 505 MHz | 250 MHz |
| Memory bandwidth | 32.32 GB/s | 16 GB/s |
Connectivity and outputs
Types and number of video connectors present on the reviewed GPUs. As a rule, data in this section is precise only for desktop reference ones (so-called Founders Edition for NVIDIA chips). OEM manufacturers may change the number and type of output ports, while for notebook cards availability of certain video outputs ports depends on the laptop model rather than on the card itself.
| Display Connectors | 2x DVI, 1x S-Video | 2x DVI |
API compatibility
List of supported 3D and general-purpose computing APIs, including their specific versions.
| DirectX | 9.0c (9_3) | 8.1 |
| Shader Model | 3.0 | no data |
| OpenGL | 2.1 | 1.5 |
| OpenCL | N/A | N/A |
| Vulkan | N/A | N/A |
Pros & cons summary
| Recency | 20 April 2006 | 25 June 2002 |
| Maximum RAM amount | 1 GB | 256 MB |
| Chip lithography | 90 nm | 150 nm |
FX 5500 has an age advantage of 3 years, a 300% higher maximum VRAM amount, and a 66.7% more advanced lithography process.
We couldn't decide between Quadro FX 5500 and Matrox Parhelia 256 MB. We've got no test results to judge.
Be aware that Quadro FX 5500 is a workstation graphics card while Matrox Parhelia 256 MB is a desktop one.
Should you still have questions concerning choice between the reviewed GPUs, ask them in Comments section, and we shall answer.
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