Matrox, one of many old-school graphics card markers, now not makes gaming merchandise. As an alternative, the corporate has diverted its consideration to the enterprise {and professional} markets, corresponding to digital signage and video partitions. Nonetheless, the YouTube channel Funds-Builds Official (opens in new tab) takes us for a stroll down reminiscence lane with the Matrox C420 in varied video games.
Matrox launched the C420 graphics card in 2014. The graphics card sports activities AMD’s Cape Verde silicon, which makes use of the Graphics Core Subsequent (GCN) 1.0 structure. Cape Verde debuted in 2012 and featured TSMC’s 28nm course of node. AMD used Cape Verde in varied Radeon graphics playing cards on the time, the extra notable fashions being the Radeon HD 7750 and Radeon R7 250X.
The Matrox C420 has 512 shaders out of the 640 that Cape Verde provides. The C420 has the identical quantity of shaders because the Radeon HD 7750, Radeon R7 250, Radeon R7 350, and Radeon R7 450. Sadly, the efficiency will not equal AMD’s Radeon choices for the reason that Matrox C420 is a 15W graphics card, limiting the clock pace considerably. The Matrox C420 checks in with a 300 MHz base clock and lacks increase know-how. You can not overclock it, both—the graphics card defaults to the manufacturing facility settings, in keeping with the YouTuber.
On the reminiscence aspect, the graphics card (C420-E2GBLAF) has 2GB of 1.2 Gbps GDDR5 reminiscence throughout a 128-bit reminiscence interface. Consequently, the Matrox C420 provides a most reminiscence bandwidth of as much as 19.2 GBps. As well as, Matrox additionally sells a 4GB variant (C420-E4GBLAF) of the C420. Show outputs on the graphics card embody 4 mini DisplayPort 1.1 ports. Consequently, the Matrox C420 can drive as much as 4 shows at 2560 x 1600 at 60 Hz or two shows at 3840 x 2160 at 30 Hz.
Based mostly on Cape Verde, the Matrox C420 helps DirectX 12, OpenGL 4.4, and OpenCL1.2, permitting you to make use of the graphics card for gaming. The drivers for the C420 borrow code from AMD’s Radeon Crimson code with some modifications from Matrox. That is why GPU-Z detected that the driving force used within the checks is from the Crimson 17.7 bundle. The YouTuber’s testbed contains the Ryzen 7 3700X, 32GB of DDR4 reminiscence, and Home windows 10.
Matrox C420 Benchmarks
| Common | 1% Lows | High quality | Decision | Scaling | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 37 FPS | 29 FPS | Regular | 1280 x 720 | N/A |
| The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim | 40 FPS | 33 FPS | Medium | 1280 x 720 | N/A |
| Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord | 36 FPS | 28 FPS | Low | 1280 x 720 | 75% |
| Pink Useless Redemption 2 | 16 FPS | 14 FPS | Lowest | 1366 x 768 | 50% |
| The Sims 4 | 55 FPS | 48 FPS | Medium/Excessive | 1280 x 720 | N/A |
| Counter-Strike: International Offensive | 72 FPS | 47 FPS | Aggressive | 720 x 480 | N/A |
| Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order | 15 FPS | 14 FPS | Regular | 1366 x 768 | N/A |
| Crysis | 34 FPS | 25 FPS | Medium | 1280 x 720 | N/A |
| Half-Life 2 | 71 FPS | 49 FPS | Excessive | 1280 x 720 | N/A |
The Matrox C420 flaunted its greatest efficiency in Counter-Strike: International Offensive and Half-Life 2, delivering a mean framerates above 70 FPS and 1% lows above 40 FPS. The Cape Verde-powered graphics card provided playable framerates above 30 FPS at 720p (1280 x 720) in different titles, together with Grand Theft Auto V, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, The Sims 4, and even Crysis. Pink Useless Redemption 2 and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order have been the one two titles that punished the Matrox C420 the place the graphics card was unable to hit the 30 FPS mark.
Regardless that it does not cater to the gaming market, the Matrox C420 is a succesful entry-level graphics card that gives an appropriate stage of efficiency. Its worth resides in the truth that it is a single-slot 15W graphics card that’ll fortunately slot into even the oldest of techniques so long as there is a PCIe x16 growth slot to deal with it.
It is a disgrace that scalpers are even flipping the eight-year-old Matrox C420. The graphics card begins at $120 on eBay. B&H Picture Video sells the 4GB mannequin for a whopping $639. The YouTuber obtained fortunate as he purchased his pattern for simply $30.
It could be fascinating to see how Matrox’s different C-series graphics playing cards carry out. The seller additionally provides the 50W C680 and 75W C900 fashions that ought to present greater efficiency than the C420, given they’ve extra thermal headroom to stretch their legs.
