The processor is the brain of a computer - Chris Long, IT journalist
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Matrox releases graphics cards
AFTER SPENDING SOME time below the radar screen, Matrox has come again to the market, this time with Millennium P690 Plus LP. P690 is a refresh of P650 series of graphics cards, manufactured in 90nm manufacturing process, and paired with DDR2 memory.
As usually happens with Matrox, the key application for these graphics cards are to work for aeons, providing multi-monitor support and not consuming much power - the P690 is passively cooled, specc'ed to consume 12W or less. The company is touting the availability of cards in several different formats, and the ability to fit as an upgrade in variety of case formats.
This
is P690 with "massive" 128MB of onboard DDR2 memory
The product line-up consists of P690 in all sorts of formats. PCIe x16, PCI, Low-Profile PCIe x16 and x1 - all with 128MB of memory. Top of the line is P690Plus, PCIe x16/PCI cards with 256MB of DDR2 memory, retailing for just a bit under 300 USD. Non-Plus cards go for $199 and $249.
Low profile cards come in PCIe x1 and x16 slots... first one is
perfect for those systems without x16 slots.
These two are also planned for low-profile... PCIe x16 and PCI with
256MB
There is also Quad-monitor upgrade cable, codenamed CAB-L60-4XAF. This one will set you back another $100 and will enable connectivity with four analogue monitors. Meaning - two graphics cards can give you connectivity up to eight monitors.
Overall, somehow I think Matrox missed the train with these ones, since we have received several questions from the professionals who wanted a low-power chip paired with 1GB of on-board memory, in order to drive multiple number of 30 " displays (with 256 MB memory, Windows would eat additional 500MB just to project picture on screen, according to IT dept). Gainward solved that dilemma with their excellent 8600GT cards with 1GB of memory. µ
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The "new" cards may finally have PCIe, but
they are still single-link. Max 1920x1200 on
each DVI screen. Apparently can't even
shotgun the two ports as a single dual-link.

If you want to run 2560x1600, you still have
to buy that preposterous Parhelia 256DL
PCI-X card. Meanwhile, all the competition
is dual link across most of their products.
I am sorry but that is a little too expensive for that specification. If I was an IT Manager, I would get a HD 2400 which I think consumes slightly more power, but is more than half the cost.
Wao 90nm can have 12 W, I wonder why they (Matrox) use 55 nM like G92 and R670. Matrox old style: Create expensive, slow, professional market, multimonitor, minimum memory, and have their on new api. Do this time they also support DX 10.1+ ?
ATI have their FireMV series of cards that does the same thing. 

PCI, PCIe x1 bus
Dual and Quad monitor support DVI

they have half height and fullheight mount brackets


I got the PCIe x1 version for $135 off ebay
and it has quad DVI support (no extra cables to buy) and it's 256 megs of ram.

this Matrox thing is just too little too late and too expensive