Sorry for asking, but should I buy the g400 or wait for the max?

[Grego]

Im going to retire my good old Millennium 4mb and Im very interested in the g400 series.

My system specs:
k6-3 450
128mb pc100 ram

Im using my computer for gaming (mainly at resolutions of 1024x768 or below), and I plan to watch dvd on my tv. I have read most of the reviews and comparisons on the net but so far I havent found out whether it would be a waste of money buying the max, because my cpu cannot keep up with it, or if it would be foolish not to spend the extra $$.
Any enlightenment on this area would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Grego

[Genom]

If you dont plan on upgrading your CPU anytime soon a regular G400 is your best bet. Even if you plan to upgrade, unless it's to some monster like a Athlon or a 600Mhz P3, stick with the regular G400.

Just my spare change

[agallag]

...and, at 1024x768, there really isn't much difference between them with any processor. The Max just excels at extremely high res and monster processor speed.

Andrew

[rylan]

I also have an AMD K6-3 450, and I am going to wait for the MAX. I know some people say that the normal one is pretty much the same, but I'm also after the higher refresh rates at insane resolutions (1900x1600 etc) since I do some processor and board design work on a big monitor. I figure it is probably overclockable too, so it'll be faster yet.
As for the K6-3 450, you'll be surprised how fast it actually is with some tweaks. If you don't use it, try getting Powertweak for Winblows. You can enable some faster pci and cpu settings than the chip defaults at.

On a side note even though this is a matrox forum, have you tried O/C the processor? I'm looking for people with K6-3 450 who are trying overclock to 500 or bump up fsb etc.

[Grego]

First of all thanks for the input I really appreciate it.

I havent tried to oc my cpu, I must admit that I havent got the guts although I oc'ed my old p200, I wont do anything to risk a cpu that I paid about 300 US$ for.

Regarding information about oc'ing your k63 try visiting http://www.amdzone.com/
and visit the forums, I think that there are several examples of oc the K63, if I recall it correctly it is almost impossible to get it past 500mhz stable.

Grego

[The PIT2]

Well I've got a PII 400 overclocked to 448 and the G400 does me fine. The only game which it chugs at it's EA Sports Tiger Woods golf but I think thats the game rather than the G400 since it chugged with my old Voodoo2 as well.

[Spider]

hi !

The G400 32mb is realy a kickass Vicard & it is wey fast for exemp. I play Sin 1005 1024X768X32 32bit Zbf ON no OC ,VsincON default OPENGL , TRILINEAR,all settings HIGH smooth like glass..apsolutly all games are playeble at 1024x768x32 and it Outperform all TNT2 and some UTNT2 cards...so the G400 MAX is about 30% faster...

I have Matrox MILL-G400 32mb SingleHed & I wery,wery satesfied..

[Big Bertha]

Hey Pit2, in regards to the Tiger Woods game...it is the game that bogs down. When you try to do 3D acceleration with bitmaps, it makes it VERY difficult for a 3D card that is trying to render "textures" This is all supposed to change with TW2000. BTW, there is a new patch due out for TW99 sometime this month that will incorporate all new D3D graphics libraries and we may be able to see much better 3D rendering. The new libraries are designed to take advantage of all the new 3D cards that have come out since the game shipped a year ago. I am waiting to try it on my G400Max that should be here Friday!

Good Luck,

BB

[Big Bertha]

Hey Pit2, in regards to the Tiger Woods game...it is the game that bogs down. When you try to do 3D acceleration with bitmaps, it makes it VERY difficult for a 3D card that is trying to render "textures" This is all supposed to change with TW2000. BTW, there is a new patch due out for TW99 sometime this month that will incorporate all new D3D graphics libraries and we may be able to see much better 3D rendering. The new libraries are designed to take advantage of all the new 3D cards that have come out since the game shipped a year ago. I am waiting to try it on my G400Max that should be here Friday!

Good Luck,

BB

[Cloudy]

If you're thinking about upgrading your system anytime soon, u might read on the Athlon reviews that current cards aren't fast enought for him, so u best opt for the fastest kid in town, the MAX. If u feel cool with what u have right now and the next time you're going to upgrade will be many months from now, the G400 32MB is more than enough with your current system. Good luck 'n have fun.

------------------
Cloudy

P2B-DS 2x Celeron 400@75 - 900Mhz, ATI RAGE FURY, 128MB PC100, IBM 4.3GB S2, IBM 4.3GB U2W, A3D Xitel Storm Platinum, Diamond Voodoo II 8MB.