ATTENTION: Powerstrip users and G400 overclockers

[Kruzin]

Scytale - I don't have any expesive diagnostic equipment. I don't have Matrox's HAL tools. I am not a programmer or engineer. How do you expect I am going to determine exactly where the problem is? I relayed the info I have on the problem I experienced. It's now up to the author of the program to take it from here. If you want to dig deeper to find the exact answer, go for it.

Kookstick - Seems GBM has had some trouble with his server. Hopefully he will have his files re-posted ASAP.

DMan - On you drivers disk is all you need. In the Sysutil folder there is a util called MAKEDISK.EXE. Run it.

[Scytale]

Haig, I thought about what I said before I posted

'We do not support it' is probably the first spell a typical support engineer learns , but it's known to backfire...

If Matrox drivers don't support features the competition does offer (features like performance control, and for NT gamma correction, color management, etc) then Matrox is depending on 3rd party developers in order to be competitive. We all know Matrox has no time to code this stuff themselves, so alienating 3rd party developers does not appear to be a sound move. Call me silly

[DarkSyd]

What sort of gains does overclocking the G400 give you? Just wondering if it's worth the hassle. I've been using Performance Tuner to OC my V2, but didn't figure it was worth the risk on my G400. Actually, I don't really need any more FPS...I need a bigger monitor first.
Does just installing a proggie like PS or Perf Tuner change anything on the card? Or do you have to actually change and apply first?

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--My Stuff
Cel266@448,Asus P2B 1009 bios,128MB,16MB G400,Quantum Obsidian,Panasonic 17" S70,MX300,Fujitsu 5.25GB,Dlink 530CT+, 1 grey Cat, 1 orange Cat

[Haig]

Hi Scytale,

No one is alientaing any 3rd party developer to make thier own utilities.

Alot of these developers are in constant contact with us through dev rel.

Maybe my comments to Ashely led you to think that this is for all 3rd party utilities but it's not the case.

It's simple. Whoever goes thru Dev rel deals with dev rel and will get help, upto a certain degree to develope their utility. Obviously, we will not help anyone who is trying to write an overclocking utility or writing a utility that has a section for overclocking.

However, Technical Support will not provide support to the end users who have problems with these utilities. It is upto the utility developer to troubleshoot. In turn, the developer can get help from our dev rel.

Haig

[Haig]

Hi Scytale,

Doesn't matter what word people use, it's still messing with our clocks. I can't have technical support spent time on the phone troubleshooting problems because of these "performance enhancing" tools.

Ashley is free to get help from our dev rel people. I never said otherwise.

PS: I agree with the latter idea

Haig

[Jutai]

Haig,
HAL tools huh,
Probably a dumb question but can a consumer nobody like me have it. I strongly doubt it because it (as you said) provides overclockability.
Also this area of Overclocking is a huge market (Look at Celeron) there is usually a margin of growth each chip can produce and companies will set the, Standard Safe Operating Speed but it's nice to perform at peak. Maybe if you made an overclock utility that detected a specific chips Peak it would help to protect the hardware and allow qiuicker more reliable "perfomance tuning". We all know about the hated TNT2U's providing this option and it is widley accepted among the gaming public and I'm sure has increased sales marginally and is becoming a Desired Feature for Video and Proccessor chips. I definitly will be looking into overclocking when I finally get my G400MAX as I will want to operate at peak perfomance.

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Chris K.

[Haig]

I get the feeling that you guys think I'm against O/Cing.

Not true. I do it all the time at work and at home and so do most of my techies.

All I'm saying is that from a Technical Support point of view, we will not support end users having problems with O/Cing utilities when they call or email us.

Any developer needing more info about our cards know where to get the proper information from to better their utility.

Also remember that just because PS is having problems, it doesn't mean that some other util won't.

Haig

[Scytale]

Haig, next time you say 'I never said otherwise' you really should edit your previous message in which you said otherwise...

I understand your preference for an in house solution for performance control, but I came to think that the Matrox developers were already quite busy improving drivers and ICD's... So if I'd have to choose, I would prefer improved NT support above a W98 performance control applet. I know I can have both, since I already have the applet, it apparantly just needs fixing.

[Haig]

"Haig, next time you say 'I never said otherwise' you really should edit your previous message in which you said otherwise"

Example please.

[Steve C]

I was wondering that too!

[imemine]

after all is said and done, i still wonder-

1. where can i get the 1.3 current bios since i need to flash mine? any links would help....is it true one may be posted on murc?

2. when is the next rev of drivers due?

3. anyone ever get descent3 working past 640*480 with g400max? (i know, annoying gaming quesiton)

4. ive tried to get g4set but the download link isnt working, when it does ill post my clocks

5. i feel bad for everyone involved, assuming its not a witch hunt claiming ashley is ruining bios', and i dont think it is, then we've 'suffered' together, both the programmer who tried to help us out, and those of us who mistakenly got 'burnt'...
i think that performance tuner, by ashley as well is a great o/c util because it takes all the other fluff out thats in powerstrip, when all you want to do is slide a slider to o/c and benchmark...so id say powerstrip out, performance tuner in...i sure wish matrox would support dev who make o/c utils, it pushes the edge, but its understandable that they dont, although anyone who is truly devoted to something wants that something to run at peak and is always tweaking....so its the catch-22, where the most devoted get the least support because they do things outside the 'realm' of proper
id still be happy with working drivers, like those 5.2 ones, i know people can say 'well i dont have a problem with the drivers', which means nothing because they dont run such-such program which would give them a problem....

i called matrox last week telling them the drivers dont work in win98se, first he told me i had to uninstall norton pcanywhere, still didnt work, he said i had to uninstall norton utilities, didnt work, then he said norton winfax, then norton antivirus, and so forth....all the matrox tech did is have me slowly uninstall all my apps, hoping one of them would correct the situation...this was before i used powerstrip...now things work but only because i have 1/10 of my apps loaded until the new rev comes out....

ive had matrox cards since 93, and theyve been the longest to get, the hardest to get, and problems with the first drivers of all the cards historically, but i still prefer them, at least once all the bugs get worked, usually 4-6 months after the card is released...

good luck to all g400max owners who have had frustrations...

gary greenwald

[LAMFDTK]

It is AMAZING! Kruzin takes the time and posts detailed and important info.. and that ONE guy shows up and takes issue.... Geewiz Wally. Good job Kruzin.

[Scytale]

Haig, thank you for sharing this. Now that you mention this standpoint towards 'overclocking' it almost makes sense why you are not supporting Ashley.

My comment is that overclocking is just a dirty way of saying performance control. Performance control is a feature supported in the drivers of all major vendors, but not by Matrox PowerDesk.
Now Matrox is in an odd position, because it is seriously lacking an exciting feature, but the company apparantly has decided not to support 3rd party developers to deliver it.

My suggestion would be, either to support Entech to get this thing working (win-win situation), or, Matrox could allocate a programmer to add performance control to PowerDesk. I think the former would be cheaper (it's there and it's multi OS), but the latter would offer Matrox more control.

I don't think it's an issue if we want it

[Scytale]

Haig, Steve... Come on girls, just aim the eye and focus:

Quote: 'It's simple. Whoever goes thru Dev rel deals with dev rel and will get help, upto a certain degree to develope their utility. Obviously, we will not help anyone who is trying to write an overclocking utility or writing a utility that has a section for overclocking'

Since Ashley's PS has a section for overclocking, he was just categorised for 'obviously no help'.

Quote from next message: 'Ashley is free to get help from our dev rel people. I never said otherwise.'

Yes you did.

[Jutai]

So no HAL tools huh?

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Chris K.