When Matrox took the wraps off their next generation GPU, last month, HotHardware brought you a full showcase of the chip's features, new capabilities and estimated performance level. Clearly Matrox is targeting the Gaming/Enthusiast market with this product and the competition could not be any more intense than at this moment in time. Rivals, ATi and NVIDIA are both in full ramp with very successful product launches and drivers that have gone through several iterations of maturity. The bar has been raised by NVIDIA with High Resolution Anti-Aliasing at great frame rates and by ATi recently, with more robust drivers offering better performance and configurability for features like Anisotropic Filtering. Add to that a few rumblings that next generation products such as the ATi R250 and R300, as well as the NV30, are not too far off on the horizon and you have the proverbial target rich battle field. If Matrox thought things were competitive back in the day of the Voodoo 5, then the current climate ought to get the boys in Marketing all spun up. Yep... it's downright ugly out there. Or should we say beautiful?