Appian Hurricane vs Matrox G450/G550

Since I can't afford the upper echelon multi-monitor video cards, I have narrowed my choices down to two cards; The Appian Hurricane and either the Matrox G450 or G550. I thought the best economical solution would be the Matrox cards, but then I came across the Hurricane. The price is not bad and the Brand Name has a very good reputation. So now I need some more advice. Which one would you choose?

BTW, the Appian Hurricane is based on the ATI RADEON VE controller. I am bringing this up because I had heard bad reviews on the ATI dual-monitor cards. So would this also make the Hurricane inferior to the Matrox G450 or G550?

And what is the difference between the Hurricane and the ATI dual-monitor card that uses the same chip and is a lot less expensive?

Or would you recommend an entirely different card that is in the same price range?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated...

 

I just bought the Hurricane. I have a compaq with windows ME. Easy to install & it works great.

 

I was contemplating the Hurricane for my Compaq/ME
Did you install it yourself?How much was yours?Where did you
buy it? Thanks

 

I run two G450's on WIN NT...one AGP, one PCI. Easy to install. Easy to configure. Work great. Price is right too.

 

Redart11

1)Yes I installed it myself. (Tech support is great)
2)$156.00
3)Computers4sure.com

 

I have the matrox 450 with dual head. Works great under Windows 2000. Great image quality.

 

Honda
I have 128 RAM. Will I need 256?What type monitor works(looks) best?Is there anything else I need to install?
thanks

 

Redart11

I had 128MBs of RAM & bought a stick of 256 giving me a total of 384MBs. I then bought the video card. I don't know how it will operate on 128 because I haven't tried it. (My guess is that it will work fine on 128.)
RAM is cheap & easy to install also. (www.crucial.com)

As far as a monitor, take your pick. I'm using a KDS 19" & my old NEC 15" right now. It works for me.

 

Does anyone know the refresh rate for the Matrox G450 and G550 for the 2nd monitor at 1600x1200?
I checked the technical information sheet on Matrox's web site and it seems they don't have it there.

 

Sanjuro

I have two G450 PCIs in my computer and as far as I can determine you cannot set the second monitor to 1600x1200. You can only set it to 1600x600. In general though the G450 will let you set a refresh rate of 85 or less with any resolution you decide on.