Who else, besides me, is happy with PD5.13?

[mragsdale]

I am very pleased with the new drivers I see from Matrox. I get a decent OGL ICD and nice little bump in performance, but what I like most is the PD integrated into display properties. I think that this has to be one of the most powerful video control utility I have seen yet. You have easy control over monitor settings, that stick for every resolution that you set, you can tweak those settings right until your monitor says "hey, bud that is a little too far", You can even tweak settings that I have not seen adjustable in other utilities before. The only thing missing is integrated overclocking. But that does not concern me too much. If progress continues to be made, then I think rest assured there is a bright future for the current and yet-to-be-released cards. I wonder if anyone else feels this way, because I have seen so much negative feedback so far.
Matt

[enKoDed]

The new PD5 is working fine for me as well. One new feature I really appreciate is the monitor customizations. My favorite refresh rate is 75Hz, as it shows no flicker at all on my monitor, and I find that text is a little bit sharper with this refresh as opposed to higher refresh rates. Many people find this to be the case. I used to have to manually select each resolution and color depth, then change the default refresh rate for each mode to 75Hz, as 85Hz is the default for most resolutions with my Cornerstone monitor's .inf file. Now all I need to do is select the "Standard Monitor Types VESA 1280x1024@75Hz" from the customizations list, and Walla! The customization "overlays" my monitor's Windows .inf settings, and all of my most used resolutions and color depths default to 75Hz, and those that aren't covered in the customization modes are automatically routed to my Cornerstone monitor's default Windows .inf file settings. Pretty slick, and a big time saver for me.

[This message has been edited by enKoDed (edited 07-03-99).]

[CraigS]

I also am pleased with the new version of Powerdesk. All games I've plaed so far (mostly Outcast and Everquest) run like a dream (Admittedly Outcast is not Direct3D, but is a good game). I tried Quake2 just after installing the drivers and it ran very very well (and I only have a P2 233).

A big thanks to Matrox, Tech Support, and the Beta Testers.

Craig

[GD]

I'm also more than happy with the 5.13. I've had no problems with the installation, plus there's some increase in performace. I've also disabled all kinds of o/c (I only get 2600 3dMarkmax points @800x600 but all games run far more smoothly... )
btw the only thing which annoys me is that matrox has yet to include support for the hitachi CM753ET, (however it supports the two previous models, 751 and 752) This forrces me to use powerstrip to achieve higher refresh rates, which is not good at all (130Hz is actually 122Hz). The other solution is use Powerdesk's utility, but i can't just type in the refresh i want...i must use those buttons which increase/decrease by 1hz each time, but also configure the screen at that refresh without my having pressed the ok button..i 'm afraid that this will damage the monitor. i've already set it accidentally to 161hz once (my monitor can only go up to 160). However the monitor is set to the refresh i set (even with the 161hz the osd stated that the monitor was set to 161)...no 130=122 phenomenons...
i hope the next powerdesk will include 753 support in matrox's monitors... but i'll be using my max by then anyway :-)

[Kruzin]

GD-
It's up to Hitachi to send Matrox the inf stuff they need for Matrox to put it in PD. Most likely, that won't make a difference, because Hitachi would probably provide the same numbers they do with the windows inf. The best bet is to go ahead and customize a monitor profile for yourself. If you go too far, your monitor should go into stanby mode, and PD will revert to the last refresh rate after 15 seconds...

One of my monitors is a CTX, which is directly listed in Matrox's monitors. If I run that I can get to 1280x1024. If I use a custom monitor, I can get it to 1600x1200...

[This message has been edited by Kruzin (edited 07-03-99).]

[Paladyn]

Hi. Many of you may remember some of my posts where I vented my frustrations with Matrox over all of their lies and misrepresentations. However, on this particular issue, I can't say anything against Matrox yet. I've seen nothing but improvements in the drivers. Of course, I haven't done a whole lot of testing yet.

[maxie]

Oh, 5.13 runs fine for me, but to honest I cant notice much difference from 4.51. I cant notice any change in performance in games, but I have only tryed DX-games, maybe OGL-games runs better with 5.13...
But the installation was not good, I mean clearing registry etc. how can Matrox expect a normal user do to that, It is no problem for powerusers like most of readers on this forum but I think normal users will mess up things I they dare to do all this be themself...

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-[MAxie]-
P2/448, 128Pc100, 16 GB IBM HDD, G200, V2, Sb Live!, Eizo T57S 17", MS Gamepad, 4xDVD, Adaptec 2940UW, Ricoh CDRW

[FLswimmer]

Maxie, I see by your post that you have a G200 and a Voodoo 2 card. Why do you even care about the 5.13 driver?!? You would be better off using the Matrox WHQL certified driver (version 4.33C) and using 3DFX's latest Voodoo 2 drivers. Use the G200 for all 2D stuff and V2 for all 3D stuff. You shouldn't even be using 5.13 because of the problems people are having with it and it's not WHQL certified and you don't need it because you have a V2 card.

[mragsdale]

FLswimmer,
The reason why one would not want to use the voodoo2 is for the simple reason that there is hardly any support for OGL. Yeah, you got glide, but newer games are not supporting glide as heavily. And if you want to play Q3Atest then you need OGL.
Matt

[that guy]

mrmragsdale
no, to play Q3 arena, you just need the Q3Arena compatible drivers from 3DFX for the Voodoo 2 or Voodoo Graphics, or actually, they have drivers for all the chips they've ever made that will allow you to play Q3Arena on them. The latest drivers actually make it look fairly good on my SLI setup.

[This message has been edited by that guy (edited 07-03-99).]

[mragsdale]

I realize that, but the "ICD" you get is nothing more than a dressed-up wrapper that makes Glide calls from OGL. You don't have any more OpenGL functionality than what you had with Matrox's wrapper, or Beta ICD's, That is what I Meant. You have horrible game support for drivers like this. I am sure they will fix it in the future, but that is the state of things right now.
Matt

[mragsdale]

BTW--I used to be a huge VooDoo fan when I was running my SS7 system for games. Then I saw what other cards looked like, and I NEVER want to go back to that.

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Yes, I am serious and don't call me Shirley

[stevenscott]

Well, so far so good. I have run a few stuff and just a couple games. My computer is just running great. not much of a total endorsement, but time will tell. I have in the past expressed some anger and concern, so I am now praising Matrox.

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Steven S. Palmer
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Abit BX6 MB
Award V4.51PG Bios
Matrox Mystique G200 Video card
Win98
Celeron 300a
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[Wombat]

Well, I've noticed the difference in performance. HL now runs faster in OGL 1024x768 than 800x600 ran in D3D or OGL. Haven't pushed the system much yet in other ways, but it sounds like I may finally get those WinAmp plug-ins to work.
Oh, and why are you so concerned about WHQL certification? After all, you're talking about something being certified as being "stable", by the same people that released Windows. If you want stability, try a new OS

-Wombat


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503+ rev 1.2a, 128MB PC100 RAM, K6-2/350@400,RH6 & Win98,G200 Millenium (SGRAM), no plans to buy a G400

[maxie]

I always use my G200 in games instead of V2, because I think it is better imagequility and I cant notice any big downgrade in performance from V2.
And I always upgrade drivers if there is newer availble, I think newer drivers always is better (stoopid...I know)
The only reason I have my V2 in my machine is for UltraHLE, I want to play Zelda 64 and MArio 64.

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-[MAxie]-
P2/448, 128Pc100, 16 GB IBM HDD, G200, V2, Sb Live!, Eizo T57S 17", MS Gamepad, 4xDVD, Adaptec 2940UW, Ricoh CDRW