couple G400max compatability questions...

[Iconoclast]

I'm planning on getting a G400MAX to go along with a Cornerstone P1700 monitor (www.bigmonitors.com looks to be better than the Viewsonic P817). Anyway, I have an Abit ZM6 motherboard (temp until Camino) with a C300a overclocked to 558mhz. From experience, do Matrox cards usually work well on such a high AGP bus? I'm planning on going for 600 with this CPU so that would give me an AGP speed of 87mhz. I've been posting this in a lot of places and I always get flamed for wanting Matrox. I'm perfectly willing to take a chance on the ICD. The looks of Descent3 make up for it all. Not to mention being able to run 1600x1200@100hz.

Anyway, thanks for the input, and I perfectly understand that your results aren't neccesarily what I'll get. I just want to learn about other peoples experiences.

[MarkV]

Hi,

Sorry, I don't know how friendly the G400 MAX is to AGP overclocking, but I have heard of some positive results here in the forums.

I'm just curious why you prefer the Cornerstone P1700 to the ViewSonic P817. I also looked at both of these, as well as Iiyama's and Sony's high-end models and I chose the P817 because it supports the highest refresh rates and its pixel clock matches the MAX's perfectly (360 MHz).

You are entitled to your opinion of course, I was just wondering if a particular feature of the Cornerstone stood out.


------------------
Mark Veneziano

Supermicro P6DGU; single Intel Pentium III 500 MHz; 256 MB PC100 ECC; AOpen HX08; Matrox Millennium G400 MAX with Rainbow Runner G-Series; ViewSonic P817; Creative Labs Sound Blaster Live! with digital and optical I/O; Cambridge Soundworks FPS2000; 3Com 3C905B-TX; LANcity LCPET-2; Epson Stylus Color 1520; 2.88 MB 3.5; 1.2 MB 5.25; Seagate Cheetah 9LP 9.1 GB Ultra2 Wide; Plextor UltraPlex Wide; Yamaha CRW4416S; Hewlett Packard ScanJet 4p; U.S. Robotics Courier V.Everything; Microsoft Natural Keyboard Elite; Microsoft IntelliMouse Pro; Microsoft IntelliMouse Trackball; Microsoft Sidewinders; Microsoft Windows 98 Second Edition with ACPI enabled.

[agallag]

That's one impressive list of stuff you've got there MarkV. I just have one question... why the 5 1/4" floppy?

------------------
Andrew Gallagher - andrew@agallagher.com
Asus P2B-S, PII-350, 64MB PC100, 12.7GB Quantum Fireball EX ATA-33, 3.2GB IBM Deskstar3 EIDE, 2x2.1GB Quantum Atlas I UWSCSI, Toshiba 6201 SCSI CD, Yamaha CRW4416S, WangDAT SCSI, MillG200 8MB (Anxiously awaiting my G400MAX), SBLive! Retail (Plugged into a JVC RX884V Dolby Digital Receiver@500W), Win98SE

[Iconoclast]

Well, the biggest thing is the depth, because I am limited in my available space. Second is the .22mm vertical dot pitch of the Cornerstone. In the WORST convergence zone (zoneB, .20 in zoneA) it is .25, which is better than the Viewsonic's best of .26. Sure the Viewsonic has .22 horizontal, but vertical is what really matters. I'll give up the 8hz, which the G400max can't handle anyway, at 1600x1200 for the better dot pitch. Didn't really consider the 360 vs 320mhz pixel clock. Do you think this would make a big difference? It seems like this is a completely new tech in this monitor (notice, no BNC?) in the overlay. I guess this allows for better overall DP, and a shorter depth. This might allow for a better image with a lower pixel clock. I'm not sure of that though (not exactly a CRT tech, better with hardware).

Anyway, I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to afford either of these monitors. I'm having a problem with my current monitor (POS MagInnovision). The oscillator in the vertical sync unit (don't ask me, a buddy told me this one) is defective and is causing me to lose all vertical hold at resolutions other than 640 and 1024 at ANY refresh. I decided to treat my self to the best. But I'll need two months to save for this CRT, so if this monitor dies before that I'll have to settle for less (maybe the Cornerstone C1001).

[Patryk2000]

Hi,

I don't know if this can help but I'm using a 103 bus speed (366->567) and the AGP is set to 1/1 and no problem up to now.

See ya.

[MarkV]

Iconoclast:

Thanks for your detailed reply! Based on what you said, the Cornerstone probably would be the better monitor for you. The reason why I was concerned with the pixel clock was that I wanted to run at 2048x1536 at the highest refresh rate possible. My last monitor was a .22 Hitachi, and my monitor before that was .25 ViewSonic, and I couldn't tell the difference, other than that the ViewSonic was 17" and the Hitachi was 21". When I started to get interested in the G400 MAX, I read Ant's review of it on the MURC main page and got interested in the P817 he paired it up with. I made a post here asking what others recommended, and most people said to go for the P817. When I looked at the specs at each vendor's web page, the P817 stood out with the highest pixel clock and the cool Host-On-Screen software. After all that, I decided to buy it. I guess it's just a matter of what features mean the most to you.

In any case, I would recommend saving up and getting whichever high-end one you choose, providing your MAG holds out long enough. There's nothing worse than settling with something less than what you really want, and boy, I was tempted with Voodoo3s and TNT2s while waiting for the MAX, but I'm glad I waited!

agallag:

I didn't realize how big that list got! Lots of people in the forums list their system specs in their signature, so I thought I'd do the same. I started to list just the main things, but then I started getting anal and listed everything. And then I pulled out all the abbreviations because at work (government electronics contractor) we use acronyms all over the place and I'm sick of them!!!

Anyway, I have a lot of reasons for the 5 1/4" floppy, none of which are really practical, but:
I've been moving it from system to system as I upgrade.
It doesn't take any extra system resources (IRQs, slots, etc.) except a drive bay.
I would hate to see A: and then C:, skipping B:, in Explorer (more analness).
I have some old software that I still use on 5 1/4" floppy (Sierra games, AdLib Visual Composer).


[This message has been edited by MarkV (edited 08-03-99).]