Will Matrox P650 video board work?

[CteinPhoto]

Dear Folks,
I've currently got a Matrox G550 board that won't support Civ4-- no big surprise, seeing as it only has 32 meg of RAM and no vertex shader support. I'm considering a Matrox P650 card, which has 64 meg of RAM and, according to the video spec sheet at http://www.neeyik.info/3dspecs/ , vertex shader version 1.1. Is this card sufficient to run Civ4?

Thanks!

Ctein

 

[fatal0e]

looks like it should work, what about the Parhelia-512 it looks like it should be even better

 

[CteinPhoto]

Dear Fatal,
Well, the video spec sheet has a typo in it-- there is no "Parhelia-512" card; it comes in 128 MB and 256 MB versions. Both are extremely nice cards... but they are EXPENSIVE. The 64 MB P650 I'm considering lists for $170. The Parhelia-128 lists for $400 and the Parhelia-256 for $640!

I'm willing to plunk down $170 to be able to play Civ4, not $400. But I want to be *sure* before I buy. Is there any other spec besides the amount of RAM and the "vertex shader version" that I should be looking at to determine compatibility?

Thanks and hope you had a good Turkey Day!

pax / Ctein