Matrox Parhelia Precision SDT

The Matrox Parhelia Precision SDT is a graphics card built around the Parhelia-512 chip. The architecture is Parhelia, and the generation is Parhelia. The chip is manufactured by UMC on a 150 nm process, with 80 million transistors on a 174 mm² die, giving a transistor density of 459.8K per mm². The card is a single-slot PCI-X board with 1x DVI output and no power connectors; the suggested PSU is 200 W. Its memory subsystem consists of 256 MB of DDR memory on a 64-bit bus, clocked at 250 MHz with 500 Mbps effective, providing 4.000 GB/s of bandwidth. The card includes 16 texture mapping units and 4 render output units, with a texture rate of 3.200 GTexel/s and a pixel rate of 800.0 MPixel/s. API support is DirectX 8.1 and OpenGL 1.3, with no Vulkan. The record lists no TDP, no benchmark scores, no nearest rivals, and no launch MSRP; its percentileVsAllGpus is 50, avgBenchmarkScore is 0, and production status is end-of-life.

Power and Cooling

The data does not include a TDP field value. That absence means power draw is not quantified in this record, but other power-related fields are present. The suggested PSU is 200 W, and the power connector requirement is "None". The card is single-slot, so the cooling solution is restricted to a single expansion slot width. Its length is 190 mm, or 7.5 inches. The board uses a PCI-X bus interface, which is the connection through which the card would receive power, given that no auxiliary connector is listed. The 150 nm process node, the 80 million transistor count, and the 174 mm² die size set the manufacturing context, but no thermal data accompanies them. The transistor density of 459.8K per mm² is the only density figure in the fact pack. Analysts should avoid drawing thermal conclusions beyond the supplied 200 W suggested PSU, the absence of power connectors, and the single-slot mechanical format.

The combination of a 200 W suggested system power supply and a "None" power connector field implies a modest auxiliary power footprint. The card is not described with an external power adapter, meaning installation in a system with the required slot is straightforward. Because no TDP exists, there is no exact wattage to cite. The single-slot design also limits heatsink size relative to wider cards, but the fact pack does not state thermal limits. The physical length of 190 mm / 7.5 inches helps determine case compatibility, but no height or width measurements are provided. The power and cooling section of the record is therefore defined more by what is absent than by what is present: one PSU recommendation, one connector status, and one slot occupancy.

Ray Tracing and Feature Set

The feature set begins with the architecture name Parhelia and the chip name Parhelia-512. The data fields for RT cores and tensor cores are both null. There is no hardware ray tracing specification and no tensor core specification in this record. The exposed graphics APIs are DirectX 8.1 and OpenGL 1.3; Vulkan is not listed. Those API versions define the boundary of what software can request from the card. The rasterization side of the chip is better specified: 16 texture mapping units, 4 render output units, 3.200 GTexel/s texture fillrate, and 800.0 MPixel/s pixel fillrate. These figures describe how quickly the traditional graphics pipeline can process textures and write pixels. They say nothing about ray tracing, because no RT core count exists in the facts.

The null RT and tensor core fields are notable. Without them, there is no basis to claim hardware-accelerated ray tracing or tensor-based compute from the dataset. The DirectX 8.1 and OpenGL 1.3 support further constrains the feature set to those API generations. The card's 16 TMUs and 4 ROPs provide a conventional rasterization profile, and the 3.200 GTexel/s and 800.0 MPixel/s rates are the related throughput figures. The absence of Vulkan means modern low-level API access is not listed. For any feature analysis, the important facts are the API versions, the null RT/tensor fields, and the fillrate numbers; nothing else in the record suggests dedicated ray tracing capability.

Memory Subsystem

Memory capacity is 256 MB, which is the only frame buffer size in the record. The memory type is DDR. The bus is 64 bits wide. Bandwidth is 4.000 GB/s. The memory clock is 250 MHz, with an effective data rate of 500 Mbps. For high resolutions, the frame buffer must hold color, depth, and texture data; 256 MB is the hard capacity stated in the data. The 64-bit bus and 4.000 GB/s bandwidth are the speed limits for moving that data. Because the memory is DDR, the effective data rate is reflected as 500 Mbps while the memory clock is 250 MHz. The combination of that effective rate and the 64-bit bus yields 4.000 GB/s of bandwidth. High-resolution rendering would need to work within these limits.

The 256 MB capacity is a significant boundary. At high resolutions, larger frame buffers and larger texture sets consume memory quickly, and the fact pack offers no larger configuration. The 64-bit bus width is the only bus width listed, so there is no alternate wider-interface data point. The 4.000 GB/s bandwidth is the aggregate data transfer ceiling. The DDR type gives the clock-to-effective-rate relationship, but it does not change the fundamental limit: 4.000 GB/s across a 64-bit path. The memory subsystem is therefore fully described by five numbers: 256 MB, 64 bit, 4.000 GB/s, 250 MHz, and 500 Mbps effective. No additional memory-related specifications appear in the record.

How It Compares

The nearestRivals array is empty. There are no rival names, scores, or deltaPct values in the JSON. As a result, this card cannot be positioned relative to a named competitor using the supplied data. The only comparison metric is percentileVsAllGpus, which is 50. This indicates a median placement in the database of all GPUs, but it is not accompanied by a single rival score to explain that placement. The avgBenchmarkScore of 0 reinforces the idea that there are no populated performance measurements; a zero average score cannot be used as a baseline. In place of rival paragraphs, the data offers a structural negative: the benchmark database has no comparison entries for this card.

This matters because a comparison section normally reports which products are nearest in performance and by what percentage; none of those fields are populated here. The percentile value of 50 is therefore best described as a rank without supporting detail. There are no deltas to evaluate, no rival cards to describe, and no score differences to calculate. The nearestRivals field being empty is itself the key comparison fact. Any statement about this card versus a specific rival would require numbers not present in the fact pack.

Benchmark Performance

Benchmarks are represented by an empty array in the fact pack. The average benchmark score is 0. Without a populated benchmark list, there is no data to aggregate and no score to compare. The only performance-related percentile value is percentileVsAllGpus: 50. That value would normally place the card in the middle of the GPU distribution. However, because the average benchmark score is 0, that percentile cannot be verified from within the record. The chip's texture rate of 3.200 GTexel/s and pixel rate of 800.0 MPixel/s are architectural throughput caps. They are not benchmark scores. They can be compared to the same fields on other cards only if those cards are present in the fact pack, and no rival cards are present.

Consequently, statements about percentage advantages or disadvantages cannot be produced from this dataset. The exact percentage deltas that a nearestRivals structure would require are absent. The only exact numeric score present is 0, and it is tied to an empty benchmark array. The 50th percentile gives a rough positional signal, but without benchmark entries it remains an isolated figure. Benchmark performance, in the sense of tested application scores, is not represented in this record. The absence of scores is the central result of this section.

FAQ

Q: What is the chip and process node for the Matrox Parhelia Precision SDT?

A: The chip is the Parhelia-512, manufactured by UMC on a 150 nm process, with 80 million transistors on a 174 mm² die.

Q: What power supply and power connectors are listed?

A: The suggested PSU is 200 W, and the power connector requirement is "None".

Q: What are the memory specifications?

A: 256 MB of DDR memory on a 64-bit bus, with 4.000 GB/s bandwidth, a 250 MHz memory clock, and 500 Mbps effective data rate.

Q: Which graphics APIs are supported?

A: DirectX 8.1 and OpenGL 1.3 are listed; Vulkan is not listed.

Q: Does the card have RT cores or tensor cores?

A: No. The RT cores field and the tensor cores field are both null.

Q: What is the production status?

A: The production status is end-of-life.

Who Should Consider It

The profile that emerges is a single-slot, PCI-X, low-auxiliary-power card with 1x DVI output and no external power connector. The suggested 200 W PSU and the absence of power connectors make it a plausible fit for systems with modest power budgets. The 256 MB frame buffer and 4.000 GB/s bandwidth are the memory boundaries; high resolutions and large texture sets must be evaluated against those numbers. Since no benchmark scores exist, the data cannot certify any specific resolution or quality settings. The 50th percentile is the only performance ranking, but the avgBenchmarkScore of 0 means this rank is not backed by a measured score.

Users with PCI-X systems and a 1x DVI display who need DirectX 8.1 or OpenGL 1.3 capability could fit this card into a legacy environment. Users expecting ray tracing would find no RT cores in the specification. Users expecting a multi-display setup would see only 1x DVI output. The Parhelia architecture and generation labels, along with end-of-life status, further frame this as a legacy product. In short, the card is described by the data as a single-slot, low-auxiliary-power PCI-X solution with limited memory bandwidth, no populated benchmark baseline, and a median database rank of 50.